Driving while pregnant? Enjoy being tortured?

Has anyone noticed Tasers are routinly being used to coerce suspects into complying with commands from police officers? Isn't inflicting physical pain as a means of coercion considered torture? Isn't torture illegal? Is torture justified in some circumstances?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223578_taser10.html The key sentence is "The officers testified that was meant as a final warning, as a way to demonstrate the device was painful and that Brooks should comply with their orders."

"Brooks testified she didn't even know what it was when Jones showed it to her and pulled the trigger, allowing her to hear the crackle of 50,000 volts of electricity. The officers testified that was meant as a final warning, as a way to demonstrate the device was painful and that Brooks should comply with their orders. When she still did not exit her car, Jones applied the Taser." Apparently the police applied the taser to the woman at least 3 times on different parts of her body.

Definitions from dictionary.com:

tor·ture
- Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.

co·erce
- To force to act or think in a certain way by use of pressure, threats, or intimidation; compel.
- To dominate, restrain, or control forcibly: coerced the strikers into compliance.
- To bring about by force or threat: efforts to coerce agreement.