The term excited delirium seems to be used only in special contexts usually when people die in police custody. Although it is a nice sounding phrase it is not recognised psychiatric terminology except perhaps by those testifying or writing for Taser Int. or police groups. For a coroner to use the term in a report just serves to help absolve police and Taser Inc. from blame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium
Restraint, Taser use under scrutiny as Hyde inquiry resumes
Last Updated: Monday, July 6, 2009 10:48 AM AT
CBC News
An inquiry has resumed into the 2007 death of Howard Hyde, a Nova Scotia man who died 30 hours after he was jolted with a Taser.
Hyde, 45, was arrested Nov. 21, 2007, and taken to police headquarters in Halifax, where officers used a stun gun on him. He died in a Dartmouth jail after a struggle with guards.
Lawyers gathered in a Halifax courtroom Monday morning to discuss whether video surveillance tapes from the police station and the jail should be available online.
The inquiry is being webcast — the first time a fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia is visible to people outside the hearing room.
Judge Anne Derrick is expected to hear opening statements from lawyers later Monday, but no testimony.
Kevin MacDonald, the lawyer representing Hyde's family, said his clients are looking for more detail about what happened when Hyde was arrested.
"They're not sure what role the Taser played," MacDonald told reporters. "There are other aspects of this that are just as concerning to them, such as the way Mr. Hyde was restrained."
Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner ruled last fall that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia, and declared his death accidental.
The inquiry, ordered by former justice minister Cecil Clarke, is expected to focus on the circumstances surrounding Hyde's death, including the transfer process from police headquarters to the jail.
Derrick can make recommendations relating to any matter that arises during the hearing.
Showing posts with label Taser use. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taser use. Show all posts
Monday, July 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Now we have Taserum delirium
This condition is the result of threats to Taser Inc. profits and lessening public support for Taser use. It often attacks Taser officials but law enforcement officers have been known to suffer from it as well. The symptoms are overblown rhetorical attacks on people who react normally to deaths that may have been associated with taser use.
Taser reaction 'near insanity'
Company vice-president says concerns over stun-gun safety overblown
By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
The Calgary Sun
CALGARY -- Knee-jerk reactions to a recent Calgary police call involving a Taser, and ultimately a man's death, are another example of baseless fearmongering about the device rampant in Canada, says a company official.
Although Steve Tuttle, Taser International communications vice-president, couldn't comment on the case here last week -- where a man died shortly after being arrested by cops who used a Taser in a bid to subdue him -- he said it appears to be another example where "hard science and fact is overlooked" in favour of conjecture and controversy.
And, he said, it is ultimately to the detriment of taxpayers who rely on police who have the tool as one way to protect the public.
"The absolute hysteria that has grabbed Canada ... borders on near insanity," Tuttle said yesterday from Scottsdale, Ariz.
"Not one coroner in Canada has ruled any death as caused by a Taser device or even contributory to date."
His comments come days after Gordon Bowe died shortly after being arrested by Calgary police during a Saturday night southeast break-in.
Police said the 30-year-old B.C. man was acting irrationally in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., before he jumped through a window into a basement of a vacant duplex and a Taser was used to try and subdue him.
A police union official said Bowe, who appeared be under the influence of drugs, was hit by a Taser but only one probe struck him.
And such a scenario would render a Taser entirely ineffective, said Tuttle, explaining both a positive and negative probe on the device must make contact with an individual for it to work.
"It's an all-or-nothing scenario," he said.
"Either you get a circuit or you don't ... the bottom line is, you need two probes for a five-second application."
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the case to determine if police actions were lawful and see if the Taser strike was successful or not.
ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis said findings could take months with investigators now waiting on a medical examiner's report to determine cause of death.
And Tuttle said -- in any case where the facts are still unfolding -- it's premature and irresponsible for speculation on the Taser's role, if any, in a death.
"Of course, whenever you have a tragic death, emotions will run high, but you have to wait for the facts to come out," he said.
"All that fearmongering and hysteria is jeopardizing citizens in terms of safety."
Taser reaction 'near insanity'
Company vice-president says concerns over stun-gun safety overblown
By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
The Calgary Sun
CALGARY -- Knee-jerk reactions to a recent Calgary police call involving a Taser, and ultimately a man's death, are another example of baseless fearmongering about the device rampant in Canada, says a company official.
Although Steve Tuttle, Taser International communications vice-president, couldn't comment on the case here last week -- where a man died shortly after being arrested by cops who used a Taser in a bid to subdue him -- he said it appears to be another example where "hard science and fact is overlooked" in favour of conjecture and controversy.
And, he said, it is ultimately to the detriment of taxpayers who rely on police who have the tool as one way to protect the public.
"The absolute hysteria that has grabbed Canada ... borders on near insanity," Tuttle said yesterday from Scottsdale, Ariz.
"Not one coroner in Canada has ruled any death as caused by a Taser device or even contributory to date."
His comments come days after Gordon Bowe died shortly after being arrested by Calgary police during a Saturday night southeast break-in.
Police said the 30-year-old B.C. man was acting irrationally in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., before he jumped through a window into a basement of a vacant duplex and a Taser was used to try and subdue him.
A police union official said Bowe, who appeared be under the influence of drugs, was hit by a Taser but only one probe struck him.
And such a scenario would render a Taser entirely ineffective, said Tuttle, explaining both a positive and negative probe on the device must make contact with an individual for it to work.
"It's an all-or-nothing scenario," he said.
"Either you get a circuit or you don't ... the bottom line is, you need two probes for a five-second application."
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the case to determine if police actions were lawful and see if the Taser strike was successful or not.
ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis said findings could take months with investigators now waiting on a medical examiner's report to determine cause of death.
And Tuttle said -- in any case where the facts are still unfolding -- it's premature and irresponsible for speculation on the Taser's role, if any, in a death.
"Of course, whenever you have a tragic death, emotions will run high, but you have to wait for the facts to come out," he said.
"All that fearmongering and hysteria is jeopardizing citizens in terms of safety."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Ontario man dies after being hit by Taser
This is from the National Post.
The guidelines suggested by the RCMP report do not seem very restrictive and would justify the use in this situation where the victim died. The taser can be used if a person becomes combative. Of course the article may not have the details of the restrictions correct but as it is described here the taser would still be allowed in many situations where it would still be dangerous to use. For example, if the person has a serious medical condition or is on drugs the effect of the taser could be lethal in combination with the condition. As Taser Corp. points out ad nauseam it is not usually (if ever according to them) that the Taser itself causes death.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ontario man dies after being hit by Taser
Tiffany Crawford, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, June 23, 2008
Julie Oliver/Canwest News Service
An Ontario man is dead after Ontario Provincial Police used a Taser after they said the man became combative and disturbed others.
The OPP said the incident happened at about 10:30 a.m. Monday after police responded to a call of a disturbance in Norfolk County, about 130 kilometres southwest of Toronto.
The Taser incident reportedly happened at the beach hamlet of Turkey Point, which is a three-kilometre long sandy beach onlake Erie popular for fishing and hiking. The hamlet is home to very few year-round residents.
"During the encounter police deployed a conducted energy weapon," provincial police said in a statement Monday.
Officers said ambulance personnel attended the scene and the man was taken into police custody. He was then transported to the Norfolk County OPP detachment, where he collapsed.
Officers said they administered first aid until the ambulance arrived. The male was transported to Norfolk General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A spokesman for the OPP, Sgt. Pierre Chamberland, refused to divulge the name or age of the dead man.
He said the police had no further comment on the matter, adding that because he died while in police custody, Ontario's Special Investigation Unit is investigating.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates incidents involving police in which people are hurt or killed.
Since 2003, there have been 20 Taser-related deaths in Canada. More than 300 people across North America have died.
The RCMP's watchdog released a report last week saying he wants stricter guidelines on the use of Tasers but did not recommend an outright ban or moratorium on the weapons.
Paul Kennedy, chair of the RCMP's public complaints commission, said he supports the continued use of the stun gun, but only if the RCMP implements all of the recommendations contained in the commission's report.
Kennedy wants Tasers classified as "impact weapons"' and to only be allowed in situations where the person is combative or poses a risk of death or major harm to the officer, themselves and the public.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day asked the commission to look into RCMP use of Tasers after the high-profile death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport last fall.
Dziekanski died following an encounter with RCMP officers, who used a Taser on him.
Video of the incident sparked international outrage, debate over use of the devices and several investigations.
The RCMP has been using the weapon since 2001.
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
The guidelines suggested by the RCMP report do not seem very restrictive and would justify the use in this situation where the victim died. The taser can be used if a person becomes combative. Of course the article may not have the details of the restrictions correct but as it is described here the taser would still be allowed in many situations where it would still be dangerous to use. For example, if the person has a serious medical condition or is on drugs the effect of the taser could be lethal in combination with the condition. As Taser Corp. points out ad nauseam it is not usually (if ever according to them) that the Taser itself causes death.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ontario man dies after being hit by Taser
Tiffany Crawford, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, June 23, 2008
Julie Oliver/Canwest News Service
An Ontario man is dead after Ontario Provincial Police used a Taser after they said the man became combative and disturbed others.
The OPP said the incident happened at about 10:30 a.m. Monday after police responded to a call of a disturbance in Norfolk County, about 130 kilometres southwest of Toronto.
The Taser incident reportedly happened at the beach hamlet of Turkey Point, which is a three-kilometre long sandy beach onlake Erie popular for fishing and hiking. The hamlet is home to very few year-round residents.
"During the encounter police deployed a conducted energy weapon," provincial police said in a statement Monday.
Officers said ambulance personnel attended the scene and the man was taken into police custody. He was then transported to the Norfolk County OPP detachment, where he collapsed.
Officers said they administered first aid until the ambulance arrived. The male was transported to Norfolk General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A spokesman for the OPP, Sgt. Pierre Chamberland, refused to divulge the name or age of the dead man.
He said the police had no further comment on the matter, adding that because he died while in police custody, Ontario's Special Investigation Unit is investigating.
The SIU is an independent agency that investigates incidents involving police in which people are hurt or killed.
Since 2003, there have been 20 Taser-related deaths in Canada. More than 300 people across North America have died.
The RCMP's watchdog released a report last week saying he wants stricter guidelines on the use of Tasers but did not recommend an outright ban or moratorium on the weapons.
Paul Kennedy, chair of the RCMP's public complaints commission, said he supports the continued use of the stun gun, but only if the RCMP implements all of the recommendations contained in the commission's report.
Kennedy wants Tasers classified as "impact weapons"' and to only be allowed in situations where the person is combative or poses a risk of death or major harm to the officer, themselves and the public.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day asked the commission to look into RCMP use of Tasers after the high-profile death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport last fall.
Dziekanski died following an encounter with RCMP officers, who used a Taser on him.
Video of the incident sparked international outrage, debate over use of the devices and several investigations.
The RCMP has been using the weapon since 2001.
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Heart surgeon: Taser could trigger a heart attack.
At least some counter testimony to Taser experts is finally emerging. Taser has been overly confident in maintaining that Taser's could never cause a heart attack. It is highly unlikely if used properly but then a recent case involved an 82 year old heart patient and the Taser was used because the police were in a hurry it would seem.
Wednesday » May 21 » 2008
Taser could trigger a heart attack
Heart surgeon tells inquiry the stun gun's consequences are not trivial
Neal Hall
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The electrical shock from a police Taser stun gun could cause cardiac arrest, a Vancouver heart surgeon told a Taser inquiry Tuesday.
"One can conclude the risk of death from a Taser is small but not insignificant," said Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital.
"Tasers must be regarded as being capable of causing cardiac arrest," he said. "The device appears to be safer for all concerned, including bystanders, than guns and clubs, but its consequences are not trivial."
He told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood that hearts don't simply stop.
There has to be underlying heart disease or other contributing factors, such as lack of oxygen due to asphyxia or massive blood loss or severe metabolic abnormalities such as acidosis or abnormal potassium levels, Janusz said.
Tasers almost certainly can cause cardiac arrest, particularly in people with underlying heart disease, he said.
He also questioned the credibility of Taser International, the manufacturer of the gun, which delivers a five-second jolt that incapacitates the muscles. The company maintains Tasers do not cause cardiac arrest.
"This creates a problem with credibility of the company and could lead to difficulty in dealing with the company in matters of safety standards and training requirements," Janusz said.
The inquiry also heard from cardiologist Dr. Charles Kerr, a specialist in electrophysiology and head of the arrhythmia management program at St. Paul's Hospital and University of B.C.
He told the inquiry that a heart beats as the result of an electrical impulse. He was most concerned about how Taser use might affect the electrical function of the heart ventricles, the main pumping chambers of the heart.
There is a potential for Tasers to cause harm and cardiac arrest, Kerr said.
"It is my opinion that there is a small possibility that an electrical discharge from a Taser dart could directly induce ventricular fibrillation," he said.
Ventricular fibrillation is an extremely rapid rhythm in the lower chambers of the heart, which simply quivers and cannot pump blood. Unless it is interrupted, cardiac death follows, he said.
Kerr said the pain inflicted by a Taser causes intense muscle contraction, an increase in heart rate and adrenalin-like chemicals and sympathetic nerve discharge.
"This coupled with subsequent physical restraint of the individual could also result in the inability to breathe adequately and possibly a drop in oxygen levels and changes in the acid balance in the blood, which would make the patient more prone to ventricular arrhythmias."
While the Taser appears to be a much safer weapon than guns for both victims and police, police do not seem to recognize that Taser use could lead to death, Kerr said.
In such situations, he said, people should be ready to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use automatic external defibrillators.
Outside the inquiry, Kerr was asked by a reporter if he had an opinion about multiple shocks from a Taser. He said it would probably cause more muscle contraction and more acidosis of the blood.
"I think we need to know a lot more about them [Tasers]," he said. "My opinion is it's probably better than a bullet. There may be circumstances where there are no good alternatives."
The Taser inquiry was called by B.C.'s attorney-general after the death last Oct. 14 of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, was Tasered and killed at the airport.
nhall@png.canwest.com
What's next at the inquiry
- Dr. John Butt, a pathologist, and Dr. Maelor Vallance, a psychiatrist, will make presentations at the inquiry at Federal Court, 701 West Georgia.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Wednesday » May 21 » 2008
Taser could trigger a heart attack
Heart surgeon tells inquiry the stun gun's consequences are not trivial
Neal Hall
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The electrical shock from a police Taser stun gun could cause cardiac arrest, a Vancouver heart surgeon told a Taser inquiry Tuesday.
"One can conclude the risk of death from a Taser is small but not insignificant," said Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital.
"Tasers must be regarded as being capable of causing cardiac arrest," he said. "The device appears to be safer for all concerned, including bystanders, than guns and clubs, but its consequences are not trivial."
He told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood that hearts don't simply stop.
There has to be underlying heart disease or other contributing factors, such as lack of oxygen due to asphyxia or massive blood loss or severe metabolic abnormalities such as acidosis or abnormal potassium levels, Janusz said.
Tasers almost certainly can cause cardiac arrest, particularly in people with underlying heart disease, he said.
He also questioned the credibility of Taser International, the manufacturer of the gun, which delivers a five-second jolt that incapacitates the muscles. The company maintains Tasers do not cause cardiac arrest.
"This creates a problem with credibility of the company and could lead to difficulty in dealing with the company in matters of safety standards and training requirements," Janusz said.
The inquiry also heard from cardiologist Dr. Charles Kerr, a specialist in electrophysiology and head of the arrhythmia management program at St. Paul's Hospital and University of B.C.
He told the inquiry that a heart beats as the result of an electrical impulse. He was most concerned about how Taser use might affect the electrical function of the heart ventricles, the main pumping chambers of the heart.
There is a potential for Tasers to cause harm and cardiac arrest, Kerr said.
"It is my opinion that there is a small possibility that an electrical discharge from a Taser dart could directly induce ventricular fibrillation," he said.
Ventricular fibrillation is an extremely rapid rhythm in the lower chambers of the heart, which simply quivers and cannot pump blood. Unless it is interrupted, cardiac death follows, he said.
Kerr said the pain inflicted by a Taser causes intense muscle contraction, an increase in heart rate and adrenalin-like chemicals and sympathetic nerve discharge.
"This coupled with subsequent physical restraint of the individual could also result in the inability to breathe adequately and possibly a drop in oxygen levels and changes in the acid balance in the blood, which would make the patient more prone to ventricular arrhythmias."
While the Taser appears to be a much safer weapon than guns for both victims and police, police do not seem to recognize that Taser use could lead to death, Kerr said.
In such situations, he said, people should be ready to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use automatic external defibrillators.
Outside the inquiry, Kerr was asked by a reporter if he had an opinion about multiple shocks from a Taser. He said it would probably cause more muscle contraction and more acidosis of the blood.
"I think we need to know a lot more about them [Tasers]," he said. "My opinion is it's probably better than a bullet. There may be circumstances where there are no good alternatives."
The Taser inquiry was called by B.C.'s attorney-general after the death last Oct. 14 of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, was Tasered and killed at the airport.
nhall@png.canwest.com
What's next at the inquiry
- Dr. John Butt, a pathologist, and Dr. Maelor Vallance, a psychiatrist, will make presentations at the inquiry at Federal Court, 701 West Georgia.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Taser boss invokes Star Trek
I imagine that Taser is already working on or has developed a version that will kill but I wonder if the vaporisation version is on track. It could be marketed as a green version of the weapon. This article has some helpful critical remarks about Taser use. I have always thought that the question of whether tasers directly cause death is significant but less so than the question whether they contribute to death in certain conditions.
Taser boss invokes Star Trek
By Carlito Pablo
Publish Date: May 15, 2008
Strip away Tom Smith’s corporate persona as chair of Taser International Inc., and you’ll find an unabashed Star Trek fan.
When Smith fielded questions from the media after defending the 50,000-volt stun gun before a provincial inquiry on May 12, the Arizona-based executive couldn’t help but make a reference to the TV science-fiction series that he and his brother and company cofounder, Rick, grew up watching.
“We believe today we are the wired version of the Star Trek phaser, trying to get to that point where we’re using the minimum amount of force necessary to end the confrontation as safely as possible,” Smith told reporters at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver.
In the Star Trek universe, phasers are energy-beam weapons that can be set to stun, kill, or even vaporize an enemy. Smith claimed that in the real world and in the hands of law enforcers, Tasers are nonlethal devices that are designed only to incapacitate a person at the receiving end of two metal probes attached to wires.
Earlier in the day, Smith told the inquiry, being conducted by former B.C. Court of Appeal justice Thomas Braidwood, that Tasers aren’t entirely risk-free because they cause people to fall down. However, he stressed that the use of the stun gun actually prevents other injuries and even deaths caused by other weapons, primarily firearms.
But according to Vancouver lawyer and police watchdog Cameron Ward, Tasers have been involved in far too many deaths across North America since they were introduced.
“Many of those deaths, if not most of them, remained unexplained,” Ward told the Georgia Straight at the sidelines of the inquiry, which was ordered following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski after he was tasered at the airport.
Ward represents the family of Robert Bagnell, who died in June 2004 after he was shot with a Taser by the Vancouver police.
According to a blog maintained by Bagnell’s sister, Patti Gillman, 344 North Americans, including 20 Canadians, have died since 1999 after they were shocked with the device. “Twenty-seven people have died in the U.S. since the beginning of this year,” the TNT—Truth…Not Tasers blog states. “Seventy-seven North Americans (that we know of) died in 2007, five of them Canadian.”
Amid often-conflicting claims about the safety of Tasers, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an editorial on May 1 panning Taser International–funded studies indicating that the weapon is safe.
“They even set up demonstration booths where, like some bizarre extreme sport, people line up voluntarily to experience a taser shock for themselves,” the editorial stated. “Notably, volunteers are almost always shocked in the back and not in the chest, where the electrodes might cross the heart, nor do the volunteers experience the repeated and sustained shocks often used in the field, a feature that has led the United Nations to classify the Taser as a form of torture.”
The CMAJ also stated that new and independent research is needed to settle the issue of whether or not Tasers kill.
On May 12, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh also appeared before the Braidwood. As B.C.’s attorney general, Dosanjh approved the introduction of the stun gun in the province in 1999. Dosanjh told the inquiry that he is “absolutely disappointed” that back then he was briefed that Tasers were safe and that their use had been thoroughly researched. “Now we know that is not true,” he said.
Dosanjh told reporters after his testimony that “all public officials are at the mercy of those who advise them.”
Although noting that there is “absolutely no conclusive evidence that Tasers don’t kill”, Dosanjh also said that he doesn’t want to “take away Tasers from the police forces”.
“I want them properly restrained in terms of the use,” he said. “I want the police officers really properly trained, and I want better research, and more and better reporting. If they don’t do any of those things, I believe that there ought to be a moratorium placed on the use of Tasers.”
Outside the Thomas Braidwood inquiry, three key players offered their views about the use of Tasers
Ujjal Dosanjh Vancouver South MP, Liberal public-safety critic, and former B.C. premier and attorney general
“I think that ultimately the Taser is a device that [police] may be required to use under appropriate circumstances. The fact is that the RCMP and other police forces need to have stronger national standards for using these kinds of devices. We need to do more research. You want to know under what conditions they ought to use it and what the guidelines ought to be.”
Tom Smith Chairman of the board and cofounder, Taser International Inc.
“We’ve done as long as 45 seconds in human exposures. We’re not seeing increased risks. I was the first person ever hit by our technology, in 1993. I’ve been tasered numerous times. We’ve had a number of studies that have been ongoing. I encourage studies. It just again goes back to this being the most studied nonlethal technology available today in the world.”
Cameron Ward Vancouver lawyer and police watchdog who represents Robert Bagnell’s family
“The device is being used far too frequently, and not as an alternative to lethal force but as a tool for compliance. Before 2000, police were able to deal with nonviolent people in distress by talking to them and, if necessary, by using soft physical force. What we’re finding is that they’re using it as a weapon of first resort. They’re using it before making any attempt to talk people down or subdue them in conventional ways.”
Source URL: http://www.straight.com/article-145633/taser-boss-invokes-star-trek
Taser boss invokes Star Trek
By Carlito Pablo
Publish Date: May 15, 2008
Strip away Tom Smith’s corporate persona as chair of Taser International Inc., and you’ll find an unabashed Star Trek fan.
When Smith fielded questions from the media after defending the 50,000-volt stun gun before a provincial inquiry on May 12, the Arizona-based executive couldn’t help but make a reference to the TV science-fiction series that he and his brother and company cofounder, Rick, grew up watching.
“We believe today we are the wired version of the Star Trek phaser, trying to get to that point where we’re using the minimum amount of force necessary to end the confrontation as safely as possible,” Smith told reporters at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver.
In the Star Trek universe, phasers are energy-beam weapons that can be set to stun, kill, or even vaporize an enemy. Smith claimed that in the real world and in the hands of law enforcers, Tasers are nonlethal devices that are designed only to incapacitate a person at the receiving end of two metal probes attached to wires.
Earlier in the day, Smith told the inquiry, being conducted by former B.C. Court of Appeal justice Thomas Braidwood, that Tasers aren’t entirely risk-free because they cause people to fall down. However, he stressed that the use of the stun gun actually prevents other injuries and even deaths caused by other weapons, primarily firearms.
But according to Vancouver lawyer and police watchdog Cameron Ward, Tasers have been involved in far too many deaths across North America since they were introduced.
“Many of those deaths, if not most of them, remained unexplained,” Ward told the Georgia Straight at the sidelines of the inquiry, which was ordered following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski after he was tasered at the airport.
Ward represents the family of Robert Bagnell, who died in June 2004 after he was shot with a Taser by the Vancouver police.
According to a blog maintained by Bagnell’s sister, Patti Gillman, 344 North Americans, including 20 Canadians, have died since 1999 after they were shocked with the device. “Twenty-seven people have died in the U.S. since the beginning of this year,” the TNT—Truth…Not Tasers blog states. “Seventy-seven North Americans (that we know of) died in 2007, five of them Canadian.”
Amid often-conflicting claims about the safety of Tasers, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an editorial on May 1 panning Taser International–funded studies indicating that the weapon is safe.
“They even set up demonstration booths where, like some bizarre extreme sport, people line up voluntarily to experience a taser shock for themselves,” the editorial stated. “Notably, volunteers are almost always shocked in the back and not in the chest, where the electrodes might cross the heart, nor do the volunteers experience the repeated and sustained shocks often used in the field, a feature that has led the United Nations to classify the Taser as a form of torture.”
The CMAJ also stated that new and independent research is needed to settle the issue of whether or not Tasers kill.
On May 12, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh also appeared before the Braidwood. As B.C.’s attorney general, Dosanjh approved the introduction of the stun gun in the province in 1999. Dosanjh told the inquiry that he is “absolutely disappointed” that back then he was briefed that Tasers were safe and that their use had been thoroughly researched. “Now we know that is not true,” he said.
Dosanjh told reporters after his testimony that “all public officials are at the mercy of those who advise them.”
Although noting that there is “absolutely no conclusive evidence that Tasers don’t kill”, Dosanjh also said that he doesn’t want to “take away Tasers from the police forces”.
“I want them properly restrained in terms of the use,” he said. “I want the police officers really properly trained, and I want better research, and more and better reporting. If they don’t do any of those things, I believe that there ought to be a moratorium placed on the use of Tasers.”
Outside the Thomas Braidwood inquiry, three key players offered their views about the use of Tasers
Ujjal Dosanjh Vancouver South MP, Liberal public-safety critic, and former B.C. premier and attorney general
“I think that ultimately the Taser is a device that [police] may be required to use under appropriate circumstances. The fact is that the RCMP and other police forces need to have stronger national standards for using these kinds of devices. We need to do more research. You want to know under what conditions they ought to use it and what the guidelines ought to be.”
Tom Smith Chairman of the board and cofounder, Taser International Inc.
“We’ve done as long as 45 seconds in human exposures. We’re not seeing increased risks. I was the first person ever hit by our technology, in 1993. I’ve been tasered numerous times. We’ve had a number of studies that have been ongoing. I encourage studies. It just again goes back to this being the most studied nonlethal technology available today in the world.”
Cameron Ward Vancouver lawyer and police watchdog who represents Robert Bagnell’s family
“The device is being used far too frequently, and not as an alternative to lethal force but as a tool for compliance. Before 2000, police were able to deal with nonviolent people in distress by talking to them and, if necessary, by using soft physical force. What we’re finding is that they’re using it as a weapon of first resort. They’re using it before making any attempt to talk people down or subdue them in conventional ways.”
Source URL: http://www.straight.com/article-145633/taser-boss-invokes-star-trek
Monday, May 12, 2008
Patient 82 Tasered in hospital bed..
The whole story here is in the quote: "I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,' " Mr. Lasser said.
So a Taser is used on an 82 year old with a very serious heart condition because the police are in a hurry! The cops condemn themselves in their own words. I would think that a Taser should not be used on a patient with a serious heart condition recovering from pneumonia. The outcome was fortunate for everyone that's the best that can be said.
Patient, 82, Tasered in his hospital bed
B. C. senior recovering from pneumonia pulls knife on staff
James Cowan , National Post, With Files From Canwest News ServicesPublished: Saturday, May 10, 2008
An 82-year-old former heart bypass patient was zapped three times with a Taser fired by the RCMP as he lay in a hospital bed in Kamloops, B. C.
But a spokeswoman for the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops said yesterday that police had no choice but to jolt Frank Lasser with the stun gun because he had a knife and posed a threat to hospital staff and his fellow patients.
Mr. Lasser, who requires a special oxygen device to breath and was recovering from pneumonia at the time of the incident, said he becomes delirious when he is unable to breathe.
Hospital staff said despite his health problems they were unable to restrain Mr. Lasser when he became agitated last Saturday and pulled an eight centimetre knife from his pocket, spokeswoman Darshan Lindsay said.
"This was a very serious situation and our staff did try to manage it, but they did the right thing by calling the RCMP," Ms. Lindsay said.
"The patient was physically threatening the staff and he posed a danger to the staff and his fellow patients."
Ms. Lindsay said both hospital medical staff and security attempted to subdue Mr. Lasser before police were called. The spokeswoman could not say how long the incident lasted nor how much time passed before the hospital contacted the RCMP.
When RCMP officers arrived they used a Taser to apply three separate electric shocks to Mr. Lasser's torso.
Mr. Lasser suffered bruising where the stun gun came in contact with his skin.
A woman who answered the phone at Mr. Lasser's home yesterday said he was not well enough to speak with the media.
In an interview with the CBC, Mr. Lasser said he could not explain why he did not drop the knife when confronted by the RCMP.
"I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,' " Mr. Lasser said.
"And then bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser. And I tell you, I never want that again."
Mr. Lasser, a former prison guard, contends police could have restrained him without using the Taser.
"They could have gone in there and taken an old man without any trouble at all," he told the CBC.
A RCMP spokeswoman yesterday declined to comment on the incident, saying the officer authorized to speak on the issue was taking the day off.
Corporal Scott Wilson told the CBC on Thursday that the officers had no other choice but to stun Mr. Lasser.
"Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand," Cpl. Wilson said.
He said police could not use their pepper spray for fear of contaminating the whole hospital.
The incident involving Mr. Lasser comes the same week that a public inquiry into the use of Tasers began in Vancouver. The inquiry was called after Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died after being shocked with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport last October.
Kevin Begg, a former Mountie and now a provincial civil servant, told the inquiry on Wednesday that police are becoming too reliant on Tasers to defuse tense situations.
"This is not how the government originally envisioned and endorsed the use of Tasers," Mr. Begg said.
jcowan@nationalpost.com
So a Taser is used on an 82 year old with a very serious heart condition because the police are in a hurry! The cops condemn themselves in their own words. I would think that a Taser should not be used on a patient with a serious heart condition recovering from pneumonia. The outcome was fortunate for everyone that's the best that can be said.
Patient, 82, Tasered in his hospital bed
B. C. senior recovering from pneumonia pulls knife on staff
James Cowan , National Post, With Files From Canwest News ServicesPublished: Saturday, May 10, 2008
An 82-year-old former heart bypass patient was zapped three times with a Taser fired by the RCMP as he lay in a hospital bed in Kamloops, B. C.
But a spokeswoman for the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops said yesterday that police had no choice but to jolt Frank Lasser with the stun gun because he had a knife and posed a threat to hospital staff and his fellow patients.
Mr. Lasser, who requires a special oxygen device to breath and was recovering from pneumonia at the time of the incident, said he becomes delirious when he is unable to breathe.
Hospital staff said despite his health problems they were unable to restrain Mr. Lasser when he became agitated last Saturday and pulled an eight centimetre knife from his pocket, spokeswoman Darshan Lindsay said.
"This was a very serious situation and our staff did try to manage it, but they did the right thing by calling the RCMP," Ms. Lindsay said.
"The patient was physically threatening the staff and he posed a danger to the staff and his fellow patients."
Ms. Lindsay said both hospital medical staff and security attempted to subdue Mr. Lasser before police were called. The spokeswoman could not say how long the incident lasted nor how much time passed before the hospital contacted the RCMP.
When RCMP officers arrived they used a Taser to apply three separate electric shocks to Mr. Lasser's torso.
Mr. Lasser suffered bruising where the stun gun came in contact with his skin.
A woman who answered the phone at Mr. Lasser's home yesterday said he was not well enough to speak with the media.
In an interview with the CBC, Mr. Lasser said he could not explain why he did not drop the knife when confronted by the RCMP.
"I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,' " Mr. Lasser said.
"And then bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser. And I tell you, I never want that again."
Mr. Lasser, a former prison guard, contends police could have restrained him without using the Taser.
"They could have gone in there and taken an old man without any trouble at all," he told the CBC.
A RCMP spokeswoman yesterday declined to comment on the incident, saying the officer authorized to speak on the issue was taking the day off.
Corporal Scott Wilson told the CBC on Thursday that the officers had no other choice but to stun Mr. Lasser.
"Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand," Cpl. Wilson said.
He said police could not use their pepper spray for fear of contaminating the whole hospital.
The incident involving Mr. Lasser comes the same week that a public inquiry into the use of Tasers began in Vancouver. The inquiry was called after Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died after being shocked with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport last October.
Kevin Begg, a former Mountie and now a provincial civil servant, told the inquiry on Wednesday that police are becoming too reliant on Tasers to defuse tense situations.
"This is not how the government originally envisioned and endorsed the use of Tasers," Mr. Begg said.
jcowan@nationalpost.com
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Taser rushed into use, competitor tells inquiry.
This is from the Star. Finally there are a few critical assessments of Tasers. It is too bad that some of these are from a competitor but many of the positive assessments are by experts that have been funded by Taser at some time or other. Certainly, there needs to be a lot more really independent research and more information collected when Tasers are used. Part of the problem seems to be that they are used in situations which are not recommended even as things are now.
Taser rushed into use, competitor tells inquiry TheStar.com - Canada - Taser rushed into use, competitor tells inquiry
Says weapon marketed despite faulty safety and medical research
May 10, 2008 Terri TheodoreTHE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER–Taser International rushed its product to market with faulty safety and medical research, claims the head of a company that plans to market a device to compete with the Taser.
Ken Stethem, founder and chairman of Ageis Industries, told a public inquiry into Taser use that Taser International's methodology was flawed in designing, developing and deploying the conducted energy weapons.
Normally a company would develop medical and safety data, then test the product on animals and humans, Stethem told the inquiry, launched after the public video of the minutes before Robert Dziekanski's death was aired world-wide. It showed the Polish immigrant creating a disturbance last October at the arrivals area of the Vancouver airport and being twice shocked by an RCMP Taser.
"In my humble opinion that's not how the current CEWs were developed and deployed. And that's why we're having problems today.
Stethem disputed several claims made by Taser on medical evidence and safety connected to the device.
He pointed to Taser's patent information that says the device puts out between 100 and 500 milliamps of electricity.
Medical experts say it only takes about 100 milliamps to cause the heart to go into a fatal rhythm, Stethem told the inquiry. He said medical studies say low voltage electrocutions can happen without any visible evidence of injury.
"Now the burden of proof has been shifted to the public that these aren't safe, instead of law enforcement and manufacturers that they are," Stethem told the inquiry.
Stethem's company designs intermediate force options, similar to a conducted energy weapon, in a baton that incapacitates muscles via an electrical output.
"I'm not here to bang Taser International or anybody else," he told commissioner Thomas Braidwood. "I'm here to report what we've learned through our research."
A heart-rhythm expert also told the inquiry there are real risks to Taser use, despite the company's safety claims.
"Just because somebody collapses of sudden death minutes later after a Taser application doesn't mean that the two are not connected," said Dr. Zian Tseng, a San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist.
Tseng said any normal, healthy person could die from a jolt of the conducted energy weapon if the shock was given in the right area of the chest and during the vulnerable point in the beating of the heart.
He stressed the risk of death is far greater if there is adrenaline or illicit drugs coursing through the body or if the person has a history of heart or other medical issues.
Tseng said there needs to be much more real-world studies on the use of the weapon, instead of using police officers – often large, healthy males – to test the device.
He also said medical examiners should be given more freedom to investigate such deaths.
"If there's a person that dropped dead suddenly after Taser application and you can find nothing else on the autopsy, I would venture to say that's due to arrhythmic death."
The risk to suspects being shocked could almost be zero to the heart if police avoided using the weapon in the chest area, and Tseng suggested that be one of Braidwood's recommendations.
Taser rushed into use, competitor tells inquiry TheStar.com - Canada - Taser rushed into use, competitor tells inquiry
Says weapon marketed despite faulty safety and medical research
May 10, 2008 Terri TheodoreTHE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER–Taser International rushed its product to market with faulty safety and medical research, claims the head of a company that plans to market a device to compete with the Taser.
Ken Stethem, founder and chairman of Ageis Industries, told a public inquiry into Taser use that Taser International's methodology was flawed in designing, developing and deploying the conducted energy weapons.
Normally a company would develop medical and safety data, then test the product on animals and humans, Stethem told the inquiry, launched after the public video of the minutes before Robert Dziekanski's death was aired world-wide. It showed the Polish immigrant creating a disturbance last October at the arrivals area of the Vancouver airport and being twice shocked by an RCMP Taser.
"In my humble opinion that's not how the current CEWs were developed and deployed. And that's why we're having problems today.
Stethem disputed several claims made by Taser on medical evidence and safety connected to the device.
He pointed to Taser's patent information that says the device puts out between 100 and 500 milliamps of electricity.
Medical experts say it only takes about 100 milliamps to cause the heart to go into a fatal rhythm, Stethem told the inquiry. He said medical studies say low voltage electrocutions can happen without any visible evidence of injury.
"Now the burden of proof has been shifted to the public that these aren't safe, instead of law enforcement and manufacturers that they are," Stethem told the inquiry.
Stethem's company designs intermediate force options, similar to a conducted energy weapon, in a baton that incapacitates muscles via an electrical output.
"I'm not here to bang Taser International or anybody else," he told commissioner Thomas Braidwood. "I'm here to report what we've learned through our research."
A heart-rhythm expert also told the inquiry there are real risks to Taser use, despite the company's safety claims.
"Just because somebody collapses of sudden death minutes later after a Taser application doesn't mean that the two are not connected," said Dr. Zian Tseng, a San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist.
Tseng said any normal, healthy person could die from a jolt of the conducted energy weapon if the shock was given in the right area of the chest and during the vulnerable point in the beating of the heart.
He stressed the risk of death is far greater if there is adrenaline or illicit drugs coursing through the body or if the person has a history of heart or other medical issues.
Tseng said there needs to be much more real-world studies on the use of the weapon, instead of using police officers – often large, healthy males – to test the device.
He also said medical examiners should be given more freedom to investigate such deaths.
"If there's a person that dropped dead suddenly after Taser application and you can find nothing else on the autopsy, I would venture to say that's due to arrhythmic death."
The risk to suspects being shocked could almost be zero to the heart if police avoided using the weapon in the chest area, and Tseng suggested that be one of Braidwood's recommendations.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Charge from Taser alone not deadly, Taser inquiry told
This is from CBC. While it is likely true that the taser jolt alone is not deadly it seems plausible that it along with other conditions could lead to death. However, if the charge is close to the heart it seems from studies on pigs that it could be quite dangerous. One problem is that a lot of studies done on the Taser have been paid for by Taser Intl. and many of the experts have connections to the firm. Also, police do not collect that much information about Taser use so that it becomes difficult to do research on the effects of Tasers. What is clear is that there have been quite a few cases where people have died after being tasered and often in situations where it seems that taser use was not warranted or was even counter-indicated.
Charge from energy weapon alone not deadly, Taser inquiry told
First phase of inquiry scheduled to run until May 23
Last Updated: Monday, May 5, 2008 8:36 PM ET
CBC News
Four RCMP officers subdue Robert Dziekanski after stunning him with a Taser on Oct. 14 at Vancouver airport. (Paul Pritchard)
A Taser gun doesn't routinely kill people, although the conducted energy weapon delivers electric current up to 85 times what's lethal, an American electrical engineer told a public inquiry in Vancouver Monday.
The Taser sends out a high jolt of electric current, but the charge from the weapon isn't deadly on its own because it's pulsed and not constant, said J. Patrick Reilly, the first person to testify at the two-phase inquiry prompted by the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport last October.
The Taser is not a "benign device" but it has a "low, small probability" of causing injury or even death, said Reilly, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., who studied the Taser for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice four years ago.
In a slideshow presentation, Reilly walked the inquiry commissioner, retired B.C. Appeal Court justice Thomas Braidwood, through a lesson in electricity, and explained why the Taser doesn't routinely kill people.J. Patrick Reilly, an electrical engineer for more than 40 years, testified at Monday's Taser inquiry that it's possible the shock weapon could cause a fatal incident. (CBC)
Reilly documented a variety of human and animal studies that demonstrated the Taser's effect on blood chemistry and respiration, but said he was unable to determine why some people die after being stunned.
"I concluded the use of Tasers was … there were hazards, but they were rare," Reilly testified.
"You could not rule out the possibility of affecting the heart and possibly even causing a fatal incident."
He told the inquiry what's needed is a central clearing house for police reports to keep track of fatal Taser incidents.
Lot to learn about Taser: commissioner
Braidwood opened Monday's proceeding by saying that there's still a lot to be learned about the Taser but he expects by the end of the inquiry to be able to conclude whether the shock weapons should continue to stay in the hands of B.C.'s police forces.Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood opened Monday's proceedings by saying that there's a lot to learn about the Taser but he expects to conclude whether the shock weapons should continue to be used by B.C.'s police forces. (CBC)
The first phase of the inquiry, which focuses on the medical and scientific aspects of the stun gun's use, is scheduled to run until May 23 and Braidwood has until the end of June to file a report. He's already asked for an extension to October, which has not yet been granted.
The second phase of the inquiry will focus on Dziekanski, who died in the arrivals lounge of Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, 2007, shortly after RCMP officers used a stun gun on him. But the second phase and a coroner's inquest into Dziekanski's death have been put on hold while B.C.'s Crown prosecutor makes a decision on possible criminal charges.
During his testimony, Reilly said studies commissioned by Taser International have pronounced the weapon as safe, but he pointed out that those studies avoided delivering the Taser's probes to the chest.
"If you were concerned about avoiding a heart incident, that would be one reason why you'd put the Taser darts on the back," he told the inquiry.Before police arrived, Robert Dziekanski picked up a small table and put it in the doorway between the customs exit area and a public lounge. (Paul Pritchard)
Reilly's findings came as no surprise to Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, Zophia Cisowski.
"As far as my client's concerned, if there was no Taser, there would be no death. Her son would still be walking around today," Kosteckyj said Monday.
Dziekanski, 41, died shortly after RCMP officers stunned him twice with a Taser.
Millions of people around the world watched a bystander's video on the internet showing the RCMP confrontation with Dziekanski, prompting a public outcry and more than 10 investigations across Canada into the use of Tasers by police.
The two-phase provincial inquiry may result in restrictions on the use of Tasers by municipal police forces, but not by the RCMP because the inquiry has no jurisdiction over the federally regulated RCMP.
Charge from energy weapon alone not deadly, Taser inquiry told
First phase of inquiry scheduled to run until May 23
Last Updated: Monday, May 5, 2008 8:36 PM ET
CBC News
Four RCMP officers subdue Robert Dziekanski after stunning him with a Taser on Oct. 14 at Vancouver airport. (Paul Pritchard)
A Taser gun doesn't routinely kill people, although the conducted energy weapon delivers electric current up to 85 times what's lethal, an American electrical engineer told a public inquiry in Vancouver Monday.
The Taser sends out a high jolt of electric current, but the charge from the weapon isn't deadly on its own because it's pulsed and not constant, said J. Patrick Reilly, the first person to testify at the two-phase inquiry prompted by the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport last October.
The Taser is not a "benign device" but it has a "low, small probability" of causing injury or even death, said Reilly, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., who studied the Taser for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice four years ago.
In a slideshow presentation, Reilly walked the inquiry commissioner, retired B.C. Appeal Court justice Thomas Braidwood, through a lesson in electricity, and explained why the Taser doesn't routinely kill people.J. Patrick Reilly, an electrical engineer for more than 40 years, testified at Monday's Taser inquiry that it's possible the shock weapon could cause a fatal incident. (CBC)
Reilly documented a variety of human and animal studies that demonstrated the Taser's effect on blood chemistry and respiration, but said he was unable to determine why some people die after being stunned.
"I concluded the use of Tasers was … there were hazards, but they were rare," Reilly testified.
"You could not rule out the possibility of affecting the heart and possibly even causing a fatal incident."
He told the inquiry what's needed is a central clearing house for police reports to keep track of fatal Taser incidents.
Lot to learn about Taser: commissioner
Braidwood opened Monday's proceeding by saying that there's still a lot to be learned about the Taser but he expects by the end of the inquiry to be able to conclude whether the shock weapons should continue to stay in the hands of B.C.'s police forces.Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood opened Monday's proceedings by saying that there's a lot to learn about the Taser but he expects to conclude whether the shock weapons should continue to be used by B.C.'s police forces. (CBC)
The first phase of the inquiry, which focuses on the medical and scientific aspects of the stun gun's use, is scheduled to run until May 23 and Braidwood has until the end of June to file a report. He's already asked for an extension to October, which has not yet been granted.
The second phase of the inquiry will focus on Dziekanski, who died in the arrivals lounge of Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, 2007, shortly after RCMP officers used a stun gun on him. But the second phase and a coroner's inquest into Dziekanski's death have been put on hold while B.C.'s Crown prosecutor makes a decision on possible criminal charges.
During his testimony, Reilly said studies commissioned by Taser International have pronounced the weapon as safe, but he pointed out that those studies avoided delivering the Taser's probes to the chest.
"If you were concerned about avoiding a heart incident, that would be one reason why you'd put the Taser darts on the back," he told the inquiry.Before police arrived, Robert Dziekanski picked up a small table and put it in the doorway between the customs exit area and a public lounge. (Paul Pritchard)
Reilly's findings came as no surprise to Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, Zophia Cisowski.
"As far as my client's concerned, if there was no Taser, there would be no death. Her son would still be walking around today," Kosteckyj said Monday.
Dziekanski, 41, died shortly after RCMP officers stunned him twice with a Taser.
Millions of people around the world watched a bystander's video on the internet showing the RCMP confrontation with Dziekanski, prompting a public outcry and more than 10 investigations across Canada into the use of Tasers by police.
The two-phase provincial inquiry may result in restrictions on the use of Tasers by municipal police forces, but not by the RCMP because the inquiry has no jurisdiction over the federally regulated RCMP.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Journal calls for independent studies on Tasers
This is from CTV. While the idea of this study seems valid enough I have two concerns: i) many experts on tasers are indirectly connected to the main company making them ii) the problem is not just direct effects on the heart as studied in pigs but indirect effects caused by the trauma.
Journal calls for independent studies on Tasers
Updated Fri. May. 2 2008 11:27 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Tasers may not be as safe as their manufacturer claims they are, says a new report, which calls for an independent study into the impact they may have on the human heart.
The analysis, published in the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, points to three studies that exhibited that Tasers stimulated the hearts of pigs. The manufacturer of these stun guns has long maintained that Tasers only have an effect on skeletal muscles.
"I think the assertion that's been made that Tasers cannot possibly cause any direct action on the heart is incorrect. Tasers can affect the heart in particular circumstances," one of the study's authors, Dr. Paul Dorian, told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
"It's important to note that we didn't do our research in human beings and we are not saying that Tasers are necessarily dangerous to the human heart. But I think we're fairly confident that in certain circumstances, turning a Taser on when it's in contact with the chest wall in a particular way definitely has effects on the heart."
The findings showed that 74 of a total of 150 electrical discharges aimed at six anesthetized pigs stimulated the pigs' heart muscles. Ninety-four of the total discharges were aimed directly at the heart.
Dorian noted that a Taser pointed at another area of the body, such as the abdomen or the back, did not have an effect on the heart.
"The consequence of a Taser discharge in certain circumstances, not in all circumstances, is that the rapid discharge causes the heart to beat very, very quickly and when the Taser's turned off the heart returns back to its normal heart beat," Dorian said.
"The concern is that when the heart beats very quickly, it doesn't pump blood effectively and, in rare cases, after the electricity is turned off it keeps beating very quickly, and that can potentially have very dangerous consequences."
There have been 300 reported cases of death after Taser use, and about 20 of those have been in Canada.
The most recent case in Canada was that of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died last October shortly after being Tasered by the RCMP at the Vancouver airport.
An inquest into his death is expected to begin in a few days.
Dziekanski had been acting erratically after arriving at the airport on a flight from Poland.
The report points out that in one study, the pigs' blood pressure was suddenly lost after they were Tasered, while two pigs died in another study after being Tasered and developing a rapid heart rate.
While Dorian cautioned against applying the data directly to humans, he noted a great deal of heart research has been conducted on pigs.
"We are quite confident that pig hearts are comparable to human hearts at least with respect to the effects of electrical circuits on the heart muscle," Dorian said.
Dorian said that the aim of the research was not to call for the end of Taser use in law-enforcement situations.
"I think the community in general, and particularly police communities and others who use the Taser, need to be aware of the fact that there are potential risks associated with the Taser, these are cardiac risks, and we definitely need more research to better understand them," said Dorian.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Journal calls for independent studies on Tasers
Updated Fri. May. 2 2008 11:27 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Tasers may not be as safe as their manufacturer claims they are, says a new report, which calls for an independent study into the impact they may have on the human heart.
The analysis, published in the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, points to three studies that exhibited that Tasers stimulated the hearts of pigs. The manufacturer of these stun guns has long maintained that Tasers only have an effect on skeletal muscles.
"I think the assertion that's been made that Tasers cannot possibly cause any direct action on the heart is incorrect. Tasers can affect the heart in particular circumstances," one of the study's authors, Dr. Paul Dorian, told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
"It's important to note that we didn't do our research in human beings and we are not saying that Tasers are necessarily dangerous to the human heart. But I think we're fairly confident that in certain circumstances, turning a Taser on when it's in contact with the chest wall in a particular way definitely has effects on the heart."
The findings showed that 74 of a total of 150 electrical discharges aimed at six anesthetized pigs stimulated the pigs' heart muscles. Ninety-four of the total discharges were aimed directly at the heart.
Dorian noted that a Taser pointed at another area of the body, such as the abdomen or the back, did not have an effect on the heart.
"The consequence of a Taser discharge in certain circumstances, not in all circumstances, is that the rapid discharge causes the heart to beat very, very quickly and when the Taser's turned off the heart returns back to its normal heart beat," Dorian said.
"The concern is that when the heart beats very quickly, it doesn't pump blood effectively and, in rare cases, after the electricity is turned off it keeps beating very quickly, and that can potentially have very dangerous consequences."
There have been 300 reported cases of death after Taser use, and about 20 of those have been in Canada.
The most recent case in Canada was that of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died last October shortly after being Tasered by the RCMP at the Vancouver airport.
An inquest into his death is expected to begin in a few days.
Dziekanski had been acting erratically after arriving at the airport on a flight from Poland.
The report points out that in one study, the pigs' blood pressure was suddenly lost after they were Tasered, while two pigs died in another study after being Tasered and developing a rapid heart rate.
While Dorian cautioned against applying the data directly to humans, he noted a great deal of heart research has been conducted on pigs.
"We are quite confident that pig hearts are comparable to human hearts at least with respect to the effects of electrical circuits on the heart muscle," Dorian said.
Dorian said that the aim of the research was not to call for the end of Taser use in law-enforcement situations.
"I think the community in general, and particularly police communities and others who use the Taser, need to be aware of the fact that there are potential risks associated with the Taser, these are cardiac risks, and we definitely need more research to better understand them," said Dorian.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Taser use left to Transit Officers' discretion..
This is from the Vancouver Sun.
The trouble with many Taser studies is that they are sometimes done by experts who have connections to Taser International. Often they also provide expert witness testimony at trials. It must be a lucrative area for experts.
Leaving a great deal of discretion to the transit police makes it more likely the tasers will be used rather often. Some officers are likely to see the taser as an easy control weapon but using such a weapon for minor offences seems a case of "overkill"!
Transit police's Taser use left to officers' discretion, force says
Department defends use of weapons on 'non-compliant' passengers, fare evaders
David Hogben
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Greater Vancouver's transit police, under fire for Tasering so-called "non-compliant" passengers, said Friday the department's policy for Taser use is very broad and leaves a lot to individual officers' discretion.
Insp. Bob Huston made the statement in a news conference on the sidewalk outside transit police headquarters in New Westminster. He had been asked whether allowing Tasers to be used against anyone who is "non-compliant" is a pretty broad policy.
"Yes," Huston responded. "We depend upon the judgment of our officers to deploy the Tasers properly."
Huston spent 20 minutes vociferously defending the use of Tasers.
"If we didn't fully believe that Tasers save lives, reduce and prevent injuries and are effective we wouldn't use them," he said, reading from a written text.
The latest controversy over Taser use erupted this week after an article on The Vancouver Sun's editorial pages revealed the TransLink police -- Canada's only armed transit police force -- has used Tasers at least 10 times since last July.
The department's own records state that in four of those cases, the electro-shock device was used against non-violent, non-threatening passengers. In three of the incidents, the passengers Tasered were being investigated for possible fare evasion.
The use of Tasers by law enforcement officers created an international black eye for Canada last October when Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport.
Despite recent controversy over whether Tasers represent too great a danger to be used against "non-compliant" fare evaders, Huston maintained there is sufficient medical evidence to support their use.
He could not cite independent studies to support his case.
"All I can tell you is I believe, our department believes, that the Taser is a safe and effective tool."
Huston acknowledged he was not aware of any Taser testing done on subjects with medical problems such as heart disease.
"I know there has been studies done in relation to animals," he said. "I am not aware of any specific studies in relation to people with heart problems."
Meanwhile, the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association re-entered the Taser debate Friday.
Despite the association's earlier support for the use of Tasers as an alternative to lethal force, it said in a news release the device should be used only in extreme situations.
The association recommended that:
- "Rigorous, independent research into the effect of Tasers on vulnerable persons" be conducted, especially those suffering from mental illness, psychosis or heart problems.
- Police use-of-force policies "should be changed to place Tasers as a last choice before lethal force."
- A separate use-of-force policy be developed "for individuals apparently suffering from a psychiatric crisis."
Solicitor-general John van Dongen could not be reached for comment Friday.
dhogben@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
The trouble with many Taser studies is that they are sometimes done by experts who have connections to Taser International. Often they also provide expert witness testimony at trials. It must be a lucrative area for experts.
Leaving a great deal of discretion to the transit police makes it more likely the tasers will be used rather often. Some officers are likely to see the taser as an easy control weapon but using such a weapon for minor offences seems a case of "overkill"!
Transit police's Taser use left to officers' discretion, force says
Department defends use of weapons on 'non-compliant' passengers, fare evaders
David Hogben
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Greater Vancouver's transit police, under fire for Tasering so-called "non-compliant" passengers, said Friday the department's policy for Taser use is very broad and leaves a lot to individual officers' discretion.
Insp. Bob Huston made the statement in a news conference on the sidewalk outside transit police headquarters in New Westminster. He had been asked whether allowing Tasers to be used against anyone who is "non-compliant" is a pretty broad policy.
"Yes," Huston responded. "We depend upon the judgment of our officers to deploy the Tasers properly."
Huston spent 20 minutes vociferously defending the use of Tasers.
"If we didn't fully believe that Tasers save lives, reduce and prevent injuries and are effective we wouldn't use them," he said, reading from a written text.
The latest controversy over Taser use erupted this week after an article on The Vancouver Sun's editorial pages revealed the TransLink police -- Canada's only armed transit police force -- has used Tasers at least 10 times since last July.
The department's own records state that in four of those cases, the electro-shock device was used against non-violent, non-threatening passengers. In three of the incidents, the passengers Tasered were being investigated for possible fare evasion.
The use of Tasers by law enforcement officers created an international black eye for Canada last October when Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport.
Despite recent controversy over whether Tasers represent too great a danger to be used against "non-compliant" fare evaders, Huston maintained there is sufficient medical evidence to support their use.
He could not cite independent studies to support his case.
"All I can tell you is I believe, our department believes, that the Taser is a safe and effective tool."
Huston acknowledged he was not aware of any Taser testing done on subjects with medical problems such as heart disease.
"I know there has been studies done in relation to animals," he said. "I am not aware of any specific studies in relation to people with heart problems."
Meanwhile, the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association re-entered the Taser debate Friday.
Despite the association's earlier support for the use of Tasers as an alternative to lethal force, it said in a news release the device should be used only in extreme situations.
The association recommended that:
- "Rigorous, independent research into the effect of Tasers on vulnerable persons" be conducted, especially those suffering from mental illness, psychosis or heart problems.
- Police use-of-force policies "should be changed to place Tasers as a last choice before lethal force."
- A separate use-of-force policy be developed "for individuals apparently suffering from a psychiatric crisis."
Solicitor-general John van Dongen could not be reached for comment Friday.
dhogben@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The dark lure of "pain compliance"
In many countries the taser is used as a weapon of torture a type of pain compliance in order to get questions answered. Although not sanctioned to be used as pain compliance it no doubt often is used for such by police forces without any sanction against those who so use it.
At least in Canada the taser is not for sale for use by anyone except police. In the US many states allow sales to individuals. As this article points out the taser is not classified as a weapon such as a gun unlike the very first models.
The taser is generally non-lethal in controlled circumstances used on healthy individuals. However, often the taser is used on highly disturbed or drugged individuals and often with health conditions. Of course when a person dies in these circumstances almost always the death can be blamed on the underlying conditions rather than the taser. Right and diabetes never kills anyone either. You die of a heart attack, failed kidneys etc...
The dark lure of `pain compliance'
TheStar.com - News - The dark lure of `pain compliance'
Nothing in the curious history of Tasers suggested just how powerful an appeal the weapons would hold for police officers
December 01, 2007
Jerry Langton
Special to the Star
A video that shows Vancouver police officers Tasering Robert Dziekanski has now been viewed by at least 15 million people online. The video and news of Dziekanski's subsequent death caused an international outcry and spurred debate about the use of the electro-shock weapon. But despite the fact that police in Canada and the United States have been using them quietly – if not entirely without consequence – since 1999, few people actually know what Tasers are, how they work and why police and other agencies have them.
Fewer still are aware, as human rights advocates claim, that the weapon – intended to replace firearms in life-threatening situations – is more frequently used for "pain compliance." That's a euphemism for inflicting pain to get someone to do what you want.
The development of the Taser can be traced to a NASA researcher named Jack Cover who, in 1969, started to develop a non-lethal weapon that could be used by police to control unruly suspects, so that officers did not have to resort to firearms.
Cover surmised that a high-voltage, low-ampere electric shock would disorient and disarm someone long enough for police to assume control without lasting damage to the suspect. His views were reinforced after a series of experiments on large pigs.
By 1974, he had created a device that featured a powerful battery pack attached to two darts with long, insulated wires. A blast from the handheld device sent the sharp darts flying at a target.
When the darts connected to an object – like a human body – it completed a circuit and sent a current of electricity through the object. That kind of shock can interrupt most people's central nervous systems profoundly enough to render them helpless. It's extremely painful. But, since the human body can't store electricity, its effects are temporary.
Cover named the weapon Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle (or Taser) after his childhood hero, an adventurous youth from early 20th-century comic books.
But Cover made one elementary mistake: He used a gunpowder charge to fire the darts from the weapon. That prompted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to classify the Taser in the same group of weapons as a sawed-off shotgun. Not only did that drastically reduce the amount of legal sales to individuals, it scared off police forces and military sales.
In 1993, an entrepreneurial pair of Arizona-based brothers, Rick and Tom Smith, bought the Taser name and idea from Cover and replaced the gunpowder charge with a blast of compressed air.
The ATF eventually reclassified the new Taser as a non-firearm and the Smiths began testing the weapons, mostly in Eastern Europe, ironing out the kinks and marketing them to individuals in places they were legal.
When the weapon was finally approved for police use in 1998 – starting with the Orlando, Fla., force – it was quickly accepted and arrived in Canada the following year.
Modern Tasers deliver a 50,000-volt shock for five seconds and the darts can penetrate up to four centimetres of clothing as far as 11 metres away.
In interviews, police on both sides of the border were unanimously and enthusiastically in favour of the Taser as an essential piece of equipment.
"It's a fact of life that police are sometimes confronted by desperate, violent individuals," said one Ontario officer who didn't want to be named. "And it's a good feeling to know that you can stop that kind of person without resorting to deadly force."
Studies in major cities in the U.S. – Canadian ones don't make such information public – have consistently shown that the addition of Tasers to a police force's arsenal leads to a significant drop in shootings by officers. In 2003, two years after introducing Tasers, Seattle reported its first full year without a shooting by police in 25 years.
But the problem is that while Tasers may be considered a non-lethal alternative to firearms, they can kill people. Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International has called for a nationwide suspension of police Taser use after uncovering 19 cases of suspects dying after being Tasered by police in Canada.
The group's findings, according to Andrew Buxton, chair of Amnesty's Toronto office, have shown that people who die after being Tasered are usually subjected to a number of restraint efforts by police, including batons and pepper spray. He noted that Rodney King was Tasered as police were beating and restraining him, as seen in the notorious 1991 video.
Taser-related deaths often come as a shock to police officers, not only because they have been told the Taser is non-lethal, but because they have seen it tested. Many, no doubt, have even felt the weapon's effects as police instructors are known to commonly demonstrate Tasers on their students.
The fact is a Taser will not kill a normal, healthy person under controlled circumstances. The problem is that Tasers are rarely used against normal, healthy people in controlled circumstances.
Amnesty's research also indicated that the people who died after being Tasered were usually in a state of delirium and extreme stress at the time of the incident.
Certain street drugs can prompt delirium and also increase the heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature to dangerous levels. That same delirium that puts suspects at the greatest risk from Tasers also makes them less likely to feel their effects.
Seeing a suspect unaffected by a Taser has historically made officers fire at them repeatedly, greatly increasing the risk of lethality.
Buxton points out that at least two, possibly three, Taser shots are audible in the Dziekanski tape.
But Buxton doesn't want people to think Amnesty favours the use of firearms by police in situations where Tasers would be more effective. The group advocates a suspension of the Taser until a definitive study can set rules for its application and to end the use of Tasers when they are not replacing deadly force.
"They are just so effective and so easy to use," he said. "They can easily be abused."
Buxton points out that Taser Inc.'s own literature admits that 20 per cent of Taser use is for pain compliance. The officer who didn't want to be named admitted that was the case, but that he'd never done it himself.
"Pain compliance is an unfortunate fact of life," he said. "You can't expect people who really don't want to be arrested to do what you need them to do just because you ask them."
At least in Canada the taser is not for sale for use by anyone except police. In the US many states allow sales to individuals. As this article points out the taser is not classified as a weapon such as a gun unlike the very first models.
The taser is generally non-lethal in controlled circumstances used on healthy individuals. However, often the taser is used on highly disturbed or drugged individuals and often with health conditions. Of course when a person dies in these circumstances almost always the death can be blamed on the underlying conditions rather than the taser. Right and diabetes never kills anyone either. You die of a heart attack, failed kidneys etc...
The dark lure of `pain compliance'
TheStar.com - News - The dark lure of `pain compliance'
Nothing in the curious history of Tasers suggested just how powerful an appeal the weapons would hold for police officers
December 01, 2007
Jerry Langton
Special to the Star
A video that shows Vancouver police officers Tasering Robert Dziekanski has now been viewed by at least 15 million people online. The video and news of Dziekanski's subsequent death caused an international outcry and spurred debate about the use of the electro-shock weapon. But despite the fact that police in Canada and the United States have been using them quietly – if not entirely without consequence – since 1999, few people actually know what Tasers are, how they work and why police and other agencies have them.
Fewer still are aware, as human rights advocates claim, that the weapon – intended to replace firearms in life-threatening situations – is more frequently used for "pain compliance." That's a euphemism for inflicting pain to get someone to do what you want.
The development of the Taser can be traced to a NASA researcher named Jack Cover who, in 1969, started to develop a non-lethal weapon that could be used by police to control unruly suspects, so that officers did not have to resort to firearms.
Cover surmised that a high-voltage, low-ampere electric shock would disorient and disarm someone long enough for police to assume control without lasting damage to the suspect. His views were reinforced after a series of experiments on large pigs.
By 1974, he had created a device that featured a powerful battery pack attached to two darts with long, insulated wires. A blast from the handheld device sent the sharp darts flying at a target.
When the darts connected to an object – like a human body – it completed a circuit and sent a current of electricity through the object. That kind of shock can interrupt most people's central nervous systems profoundly enough to render them helpless. It's extremely painful. But, since the human body can't store electricity, its effects are temporary.
Cover named the weapon Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle (or Taser) after his childhood hero, an adventurous youth from early 20th-century comic books.
But Cover made one elementary mistake: He used a gunpowder charge to fire the darts from the weapon. That prompted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to classify the Taser in the same group of weapons as a sawed-off shotgun. Not only did that drastically reduce the amount of legal sales to individuals, it scared off police forces and military sales.
In 1993, an entrepreneurial pair of Arizona-based brothers, Rick and Tom Smith, bought the Taser name and idea from Cover and replaced the gunpowder charge with a blast of compressed air.
The ATF eventually reclassified the new Taser as a non-firearm and the Smiths began testing the weapons, mostly in Eastern Europe, ironing out the kinks and marketing them to individuals in places they were legal.
When the weapon was finally approved for police use in 1998 – starting with the Orlando, Fla., force – it was quickly accepted and arrived in Canada the following year.
Modern Tasers deliver a 50,000-volt shock for five seconds and the darts can penetrate up to four centimetres of clothing as far as 11 metres away.
In interviews, police on both sides of the border were unanimously and enthusiastically in favour of the Taser as an essential piece of equipment.
"It's a fact of life that police are sometimes confronted by desperate, violent individuals," said one Ontario officer who didn't want to be named. "And it's a good feeling to know that you can stop that kind of person without resorting to deadly force."
Studies in major cities in the U.S. – Canadian ones don't make such information public – have consistently shown that the addition of Tasers to a police force's arsenal leads to a significant drop in shootings by officers. In 2003, two years after introducing Tasers, Seattle reported its first full year without a shooting by police in 25 years.
But the problem is that while Tasers may be considered a non-lethal alternative to firearms, they can kill people. Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International has called for a nationwide suspension of police Taser use after uncovering 19 cases of suspects dying after being Tasered by police in Canada.
The group's findings, according to Andrew Buxton, chair of Amnesty's Toronto office, have shown that people who die after being Tasered are usually subjected to a number of restraint efforts by police, including batons and pepper spray. He noted that Rodney King was Tasered as police were beating and restraining him, as seen in the notorious 1991 video.
Taser-related deaths often come as a shock to police officers, not only because they have been told the Taser is non-lethal, but because they have seen it tested. Many, no doubt, have even felt the weapon's effects as police instructors are known to commonly demonstrate Tasers on their students.
The fact is a Taser will not kill a normal, healthy person under controlled circumstances. The problem is that Tasers are rarely used against normal, healthy people in controlled circumstances.
Amnesty's research also indicated that the people who died after being Tasered were usually in a state of delirium and extreme stress at the time of the incident.
Certain street drugs can prompt delirium and also increase the heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature to dangerous levels. That same delirium that puts suspects at the greatest risk from Tasers also makes them less likely to feel their effects.
Seeing a suspect unaffected by a Taser has historically made officers fire at them repeatedly, greatly increasing the risk of lethality.
Buxton points out that at least two, possibly three, Taser shots are audible in the Dziekanski tape.
But Buxton doesn't want people to think Amnesty favours the use of firearms by police in situations where Tasers would be more effective. The group advocates a suspension of the Taser until a definitive study can set rules for its application and to end the use of Tasers when they are not replacing deadly force.
"They are just so effective and so easy to use," he said. "They can easily be abused."
Buxton points out that Taser Inc.'s own literature admits that 20 per cent of Taser use is for pain compliance. The officer who didn't want to be named admitted that was the case, but that he'd never done it himself.
"Pain compliance is an unfortunate fact of life," he said. "You can't expect people who really don't want to be arrested to do what you need them to do just because you ask them."
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Excited Delirium
We are about to catch up and surpass the US in cases of excited delirium. What is excited delirium? Well the main psychiatric reference book doesn't recognise its existence. However the symptoms are extreme aggressiveness, almost superhuman strength, and most important resistance to arrest should police intervene. If police have really big problems restraining someone during arrest this may be because the person is suffering excited delirium and thus according to recent RCMP manuals they can taser the person not just once but multiple times. If the person dies as a result the death will likely not be because of the tasering but because of excited delirium. This is a win win conclusion. The cops get to control people without hurting themselves and Taser Inc. and the cops get to win any lawsuits because death is not due to tasering. With animals we have a tranquilizer dart. Instead of developing one for humans apparently we prefer a weapon that is used by numerous countries as an instrument of torture.
The following quote is from this site.
The chief psychiatric reference book, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, does not specifically recognize "excited delirium" as a diagnosis. The International Association of Chiefs of Police says not enough is known about it.
"It is not a recognized medical or psychiatric condition," said spokeswoman Wendy Balazik. "That is why we don't use it and have not taken a position on it."
Never mind the Psychiatric establishment does not recognise. THe police are given
study sessions on it as this NPR piece points out.
Excited delirium has helped Taser International in the past. In recent years, the company has successfully defended itself against at least eight lawsuits involving people who died in police custody, arguing that the cause of death was excited delirium, not the Taser.
Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle acknowledges that each year, his company sends hundreds of pamphlets to medical examiners explaining how to detect excited delirium. Taser also holds seminars across the country, which hundreds of law-enforcement officials attend. But Tuttle says his company is only providing information that has been vetted by researchers.
"We're not telling departments [that] excited delirium is always the cause of death following a Taser application," Tuttle said. "We're simply pointing out the facts: that excited delirium is an issue out there, and they need to treat this as a medical emergency if they see these signs."
Taser is also reaching out to the medical community.
John Peters is president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, a prominent consulting company in Henderson, Nev. His firm specializes in training law-enforcement officers, coroners, emergency-room physicians and others in the medical community about sudden death from excited delirium.
A Conflict of Interest?
Peters is also one of Taser International's star witnesses against claims that the weapon kills people. He and his staff were paid by Taser for a year and a half to instruct at the company's training academy.
Peters says that training law enforcement to embrace excited delirium does not affect his impartiality on the stand.
"Some people would say, 'Well, obviously you're on their side,'" Peters said. "But the Taser is just one piece of this. I'm not a Taser instructor. I don't hold stock in Taser. So we try to maintain a distance or separation."
But Eric Balaban, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, worries that the messages police receive about excited delirium may actually exacerbate confrontations with people in custody.
"If police officers are being trained about this condition known as excited delirium, and are being told the people suffering from it have superhuman strength, and [these people] are being treated as if they are somehow not human, it can lead officers to escalate situations," he said.
Balaban says the fear is not just that excited delirium may not exist, but that it is already being overused — in lawsuits and on the streets.
Related NPR Stories
Nov. 12, 2005http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=fe6d51d7-a2a6-44ce-bb04-701d6cb69806&k=56893http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=fe6d51d7-a2a6-44ce-bb04-701d6cb69806&k=56893
The following quote is from this site.
The chief psychiatric reference book, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, does not specifically recognize "excited delirium" as a diagnosis. The International Association of Chiefs of Police says not enough is known about it.
"It is not a recognized medical or psychiatric condition," said spokeswoman Wendy Balazik. "That is why we don't use it and have not taken a position on it."
Never mind the Psychiatric establishment does not recognise. THe police are given
study sessions on it as this NPR piece points out.
Excited delirium has helped Taser International in the past. In recent years, the company has successfully defended itself against at least eight lawsuits involving people who died in police custody, arguing that the cause of death was excited delirium, not the Taser.
Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle acknowledges that each year, his company sends hundreds of pamphlets to medical examiners explaining how to detect excited delirium. Taser also holds seminars across the country, which hundreds of law-enforcement officials attend. But Tuttle says his company is only providing information that has been vetted by researchers.
"We're not telling departments [that] excited delirium is always the cause of death following a Taser application," Tuttle said. "We're simply pointing out the facts: that excited delirium is an issue out there, and they need to treat this as a medical emergency if they see these signs."
Taser is also reaching out to the medical community.
John Peters is president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, a prominent consulting company in Henderson, Nev. His firm specializes in training law-enforcement officers, coroners, emergency-room physicians and others in the medical community about sudden death from excited delirium.
A Conflict of Interest?
Peters is also one of Taser International's star witnesses against claims that the weapon kills people. He and his staff were paid by Taser for a year and a half to instruct at the company's training academy.
Peters says that training law enforcement to embrace excited delirium does not affect his impartiality on the stand.
"Some people would say, 'Well, obviously you're on their side,'" Peters said. "But the Taser is just one piece of this. I'm not a Taser instructor. I don't hold stock in Taser. So we try to maintain a distance or separation."
But Eric Balaban, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, worries that the messages police receive about excited delirium may actually exacerbate confrontations with people in custody.
"If police officers are being trained about this condition known as excited delirium, and are being told the people suffering from it have superhuman strength, and [these people] are being treated as if they are somehow not human, it can lead officers to escalate situations," he said.
Balaban says the fear is not just that excited delirium may not exist, but that it is already being overused — in lawsuits and on the streets.
Related NPR Stories
Nov. 12, 2005http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=fe6d51d7-a2a6-44ce-bb04-701d6cb69806&k=56893http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=fe6d51d7-a2a6-44ce-bb04-701d6cb69806&k=56893
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Save outrage for drunk drivers: Day
Outrage for drunk drivers is safe political ground even though MADD has been caught out paying like drunken spenders for fundraisers. The comparison shows the lack of training in elementary logic on the part of Day. I wonder how the RCMP likes being compared to drunk drivers? There really does not seem to be much basis for the comparison and in any even surely we do not have a limited supply of outrage. We should be able to summon up enough outrage for both if we just try a bit harder!
I could add my own irrelevancy: We have long waiting lists for operations and an infrastructure in dire need of repair while we spend billions on an illegal campaign in Afghanistan helping out the hegemon USA. Where is the outrage?
Save outrage for drunk drivers: Day
`Where's the shock and horror' for road crime, asks minister of public safety after Taser death in B.C.
Nov 19, 2007 04:30 AM
KELOWNA, B.C.–Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says he wishes Canadians were as outraged over impaired driving deaths as they are over the death of a Polish immigrant shot with a Taser by police.
Worldwide condemnation has been heaped upon Canadian authorities after a video was released showing RCMP officers using a stun gun on Robert Dziekanski only 30 seconds after encountering him at the Vancouver airport last month. The 40-year-old man died shortly after.
Day has refused to comment about the Vancouver incident, saying he wanted to wait until various investigations and reviews are complete, including one he ordered four days after the death.
The minister told a crowd in the B.C. Interior on Saturday that Dziekanski's death was "tragic."
"Quite rightly, the whole nation is aghast.... One person was killed who didn't have to be killed," said Day, MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla.
But he says drunk-driving accidents also claim the lives of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and other loved ones, "and where's the shock and horror?"
The Tories introduced new legislation last month that would see harsher fines and sentences for impaired drivers and give police more powers for roadside testing.
This weekend, Gary Bass, RCMP deputy commissioner for the Pacific region, said in a statement he had invited Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an external and independent review of the investigation into the Vancouver Taser incident.
The RCMP announced the officers involved in the incident have been reassigned to other duties pending the outcome of the probe.
RCMP Commissioner William Elliot also said in a statement this weekend that the force still supports the use of Tasers but agrees further research is needed into its impact on people suffering from a medical condition known as excited delirium.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could add my own irrelevancy: We have long waiting lists for operations and an infrastructure in dire need of repair while we spend billions on an illegal campaign in Afghanistan helping out the hegemon USA. Where is the outrage?
Save outrage for drunk drivers: Day
`Where's the shock and horror' for road crime, asks minister of public safety after Taser death in B.C.
Nov 19, 2007 04:30 AM
KELOWNA, B.C.–Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says he wishes Canadians were as outraged over impaired driving deaths as they are over the death of a Polish immigrant shot with a Taser by police.
Worldwide condemnation has been heaped upon Canadian authorities after a video was released showing RCMP officers using a stun gun on Robert Dziekanski only 30 seconds after encountering him at the Vancouver airport last month. The 40-year-old man died shortly after.
Day has refused to comment about the Vancouver incident, saying he wanted to wait until various investigations and reviews are complete, including one he ordered four days after the death.
The minister told a crowd in the B.C. Interior on Saturday that Dziekanski's death was "tragic."
"Quite rightly, the whole nation is aghast.... One person was killed who didn't have to be killed," said Day, MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla.
But he says drunk-driving accidents also claim the lives of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and other loved ones, "and where's the shock and horror?"
The Tories introduced new legislation last month that would see harsher fines and sentences for impaired drivers and give police more powers for roadside testing.
This weekend, Gary Bass, RCMP deputy commissioner for the Pacific region, said in a statement he had invited Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an external and independent review of the investigation into the Vancouver Taser incident.
The RCMP announced the officers involved in the incident have been reassigned to other duties pending the outcome of the probe.
RCMP Commissioner William Elliot also said in a statement this weekend that the force still supports the use of Tasers but agrees further research is needed into its impact on people suffering from a medical condition known as excited delirium.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Newfoundland Constabulary Halts Taser Use
This is from the CBC. Day refuses to mount a national review at this time. Actually, his reaoson makes sense: there are a lot of investigations already in place, one by the RCMP complaints group and also the RCMP themselves. There is some conflict of interest though in the RCMP investigating themselves. Alberta may also reconsider taser use. You would think that the RCMP would be well trained on when and how to use tasers but the Vancouver incident shows that at least four officers don't seem to have a clue. They waited only about half a minute and the video shows that there was no obvious threat. Also, the first police reports were outright lies.
Newfoundland Constabulary halts Taser use
Vancouver airport incident prompts suspension, review of weapons
Last Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 6:44 PM NT
CBC News
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has suspended its use of Tasers, following a fatal incident at Vancouver's airport.
The RNC, which has for several years equipped its officers with Tasers as a presumably safer alternative to firearms, had posted a tender two weeks ago to buy more of the weapons.
However, the force — which polices urban areas in Newfoundland and Labrador, including metropolitan St. John's — is reassessing that plan.
"We put that on hold, pending the outcome of the review in Vancouver, just because this incident has occurred," said Const. Shawn O'Reilly.
"We think it would be prudent to wait for that review to see how we move forward."
The RNC has also decided, for the time being, not to use Tasers in the field. An exception is being made for its tactics and rescue unit.
The revelation comes in the wake of Wednesday's release of a video recording that shows RCMP officers subduing Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14.
Dziekanski died after being stunned with at least two hits from a Taser.
The RNC had begun using Tasers after an officer shot and killed Corner Brook resident Darryl Power, who had had critical mental health problems, during an October 2000 confrontation.
A judicial inquiry — which examined the Power case and a similar fatal shooting involving the RCMP — recommended in its December 2003 report that Tasers be used as an alternative to lethal force.
Bob Buckingham, a St. John's criminal defence lawyer, said the RNC is making the right move.
"There hasn't been a need exhibited for them. That's one thing," Buckingham said.
"Secondly, use of them across North America has produced unnecessary deaths because [police] don't know how to properly use them."
Newfoundland Constabulary halts Taser use
Vancouver airport incident prompts suspension, review of weapons
Last Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 6:44 PM NT
CBC News
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has suspended its use of Tasers, following a fatal incident at Vancouver's airport.
The RNC, which has for several years equipped its officers with Tasers as a presumably safer alternative to firearms, had posted a tender two weeks ago to buy more of the weapons.
However, the force — which polices urban areas in Newfoundland and Labrador, including metropolitan St. John's — is reassessing that plan.
"We put that on hold, pending the outcome of the review in Vancouver, just because this incident has occurred," said Const. Shawn O'Reilly.
"We think it would be prudent to wait for that review to see how we move forward."
The RNC has also decided, for the time being, not to use Tasers in the field. An exception is being made for its tactics and rescue unit.
The revelation comes in the wake of Wednesday's release of a video recording that shows RCMP officers subduing Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14.
Dziekanski died after being stunned with at least two hits from a Taser.
The RNC had begun using Tasers after an officer shot and killed Corner Brook resident Darryl Power, who had had critical mental health problems, during an October 2000 confrontation.
A judicial inquiry — which examined the Power case and a similar fatal shooting involving the RCMP — recommended in its December 2003 report that Tasers be used as an alternative to lethal force.
Bob Buckingham, a St. John's criminal defence lawyer, said the RNC is making the right move.
"There hasn't been a need exhibited for them. That's one thing," Buckingham said.
"Secondly, use of them across North America has produced unnecessary deaths because [police] don't know how to properly use them."
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