Link between excited delirium, taser deaths to be studied

January 14, 2006
Edmonton Journal

CALGARY -- A Calgary physician is leading a national study to see whether a medical condition that causes violent behavior and superhuman strength can turn deadly when police Taser or pepper- spray suspects.

Dr. Christine Hall is undertaking a three-year analysis of subjects who die in police custody and what role the little-understood disorder, known as excited delirium, may play.

The condition, while not universally recognized by the medical establishment, has been linked to the deaths of several police suspects, including cases in which detainees died after being Tasered or pepper-sprayed.

"We think there's something systematically different from the people who die in custody than the people who don't," said Hall, an emergency room doctor and epidemiologist.

The study will also examine any association between police use of pepper spray or stun guns and custody deaths.

Hall's research, which must still be approved by an ethics review board, follows the Christmas Eve death of a man who was Tasered by Edmonton police after he went into a fit of rage at an intersection.

The Tasers can deliver a 50,000-volt shock to temporarily immobilize a suspect and have been the subject of heated debate in recent years.

While supporters argue they are less lethal than other weapons, groups like Amnesty International blame the stun guns for dozens of police custody deaths in North America.

Hall's research, which has received $1.5 million in funding from the Canadian Police Research Centre, could begin as early as this summer, pending approval from an ethics committee.

She hopes the study will unravel some of the mysteries surrounding excited delirium, a disorder that hasn't been studied extensively.

The condition appears to strike men who are mentally ill or high on drugs.

People suspected of having excited delirium are often agitated, violent, hot to the touch and don't feel pain at all, Hall said.

Hall will work with 11 police forces around the country to collect reports on all suspects who physically resist arrest, comparing the data to reports on suspects who die in custody.

The study will examine whether the suspects exhibited signs of excited delirium and what forms of restraint, such as Tasers, police used in the cases.

"We have to figure out if there's a way to know who the people at risk are," said Hall.

Since the devices came into use in Calgary last October, police officers there have used Tasers 37 times on suspects without any serious ill effects, according to Staff Sgt. Kevin de Villenfagne of the Calgary Police Service.

He said the move to study excited delirium and its relationship to Tasers is helpful for police.

"Anytime we can do research to determine the validity of the tools we're using to ensure we're doing the best with the tools we have, that's a good thing," he said.