The shocking truth about Tasers

September 24, 2006
Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald

Almost one year after Calgary police began using Tasers to subdue civilians, five controversial Alberta cases are raising questions about whether officers are using stun guns recklessly as "cowboy policing."

In Red Deer, a man died in hospital last month after being Tasered. In Edmonton, two police officers are facing assault charges after zapping suspects in separate incidents.

A Stettler man is feeling the sting of being Tasered by Calgary cops after he cornered a drunk who urinated on his 12-year-old daughter.

And only days ago, a provincial court judge convicted a Morinville RCMP officer of assault for firing his Taser at a man he wrongly arrested for refusing to pay cab fare.

The cases highlight questions surrounding the use of a weapon that police believe saves lives. Critics, however, say stun guns lead to officers needlessly shooting first, and asking questions later.

"It's become a problem-solving device for police -- instead of taking the time, talking to people, calming them down, and then arresting them quietly, they're depending on Tasers," says Stephen Jenuth, president of the Alberta Civil Liberties Association.

"They're moving officers away from good police work to bad police work."

Leo Knight, a former Vancouver police officer and securities expert who now runs a security company, agrees these cases suggest Tasers can lead to lazy policing, highlighting the fact some officers aren't being properly instructed.

"Tasers can be too easy to fall back on -- especially if the proper training isn't there.

"They should only be used in serious incidents where officers are in danger . . . some of these cases would indicate that isn't happening."

Janel Boettger, whose husband Darcy was shot twice by a Taser earlier this year, says the stun guns are a clear excuse for inexperienced officers to skip verbal negotiations and shoot before even knowing who their bad guy is.

"It's cowboy policing and it's totally unnecessary," she says.

The Stettler family was attending a Calgary funeral in January when suddenly a drunken mourner inside the community hall exposed himself and began urinating on the couple's daughter.

Livid, Darcy ran down the drunk and chased him through a glass door. The drunk quickly closed it behind him, leaving Darcy to smash his head through broken glass.

Ultimately Darcy, a 6-foot-one, 250-pound "pussycat" with a shaved head, subdued the man in a corner of the hall.

Janel says when police arrived and saw her husband covered in blood, they mistook Boettger for the bad guy and tasered him -- twice.

The family has issued a complaint with Calgary police, which is still investigating the matter.

Sgt. Chris Butler, who heads up the Calgary Police skills and procedures unit that trains officers in Taser-use, can't speak to the details of the case until the probe is finished.

"My husband wasn't doing anything, he wasn't threatening. He actually said to them 'I'm not the guy,' " says Janel, who witnessed the incident.

"But this young 20-year-old cop didn't even listen, he just walked right up to him and shot the Taser.

"Everybody in the hall couldn't believe it. They were all upset, they were all saying 'You Tasered the wrong guy!' "

Police say when suspects are Tasered, a 50,000-volt zap of electricity jolts their body causing severe cramps, leaving them with no muscle control for up to five seconds.

But Janel believes her husband suffered long-term physical damage, and is still battling high blood pressure and nightly muscle cramps.

Butler, however, says there is no conclusive medical evidence that Tasers injure or cause death.

Ald. Craig Burrows, a member of the city's police commission, argues the use of Tasers is still an excellent alternative to shooting a gun and that lives are saved because of them.

He added the police commission studied the issue closely last year, and found not using a Taser was more dangerous to the public.

"Tasers are a nice opportunity where it's force, but not lethal force.

"And I guarantee anytime you get a bullet, you're going to hospital. When you get Tasered, it's very rare that you'll have to go to hospital."

Still, the question of whether Tasers can cause physical harm was brought to light yet again last month in the alarming death of a Red Deer man.

Jason Doan, 28, died in hospital three weeks after RCMP subdued him with a Taser.

Officers were called to a Red Deer neighbourhood after a man was seen damaging vehicles.

The man, who had fled when Mounties arrived, resisted arrest after he was apprehended and zapped three times.

RCMP said they used Tasers after an officer was hit with the wooden handle of a pitchfork.

Members of the Doan family have not spoken to the media, but the Alberta Medical Examiner's office is now investigating.

Butler says the cause of death won't be known for several weeks until toxicology tests and a coroners' report are complete.

But he believes Doan's death may have been caused by "excited delirium" a common medical condition -- often exacerbated by alcohol or drug use, or mental illness -- that causes severe chemical imbalances in the brain.

The mix can lead a suspect to act extremely agitated, excited or violent, in such a way that police are usually called.

Butler says that when police arrest such suspects, using a Taser or not, the overload with excited delirium can lead to heart failure

"Many of these suspects that we arrest, in this agitated state, will die anyway even if we don't use a Taser. And many were dying well before we even introduced tasers, simply because of excited delirium."

RMCP officers in Alberta were the first in the country to start using stun guns as a pilot project in 1999.

One year later, other parts of the country followed suit. Last year, RCMP officers across the province deployed them 80 times.

But many city police detachments, like Calgary, didn't start using Tasers until well after the RCMP.

In Calgary, police officers have fired tasers 84 times since January.

A study done last year by the Canadian Police Research Centre found the advantages of Tasers far outweigh the risks and although there have been reports of deaths, no evidence exists showing the devices alone are to blame.

The study, which included police and medical professionals, stated the conducted energy devices are "effective law enforcement tools that are safe in the vast majority of cases."

Butler stresses that Calgary officers are specifically trained to never shoot a Taser unless they are being physically threatened or assaulted by a suspect.

But Knight says as hard as police departments try to train officers, there are members who shoot before they should.

"It's just the law of averages. You're always going to get a few people who just don't follow the rules."

On Wednesday, Const. Stephen Shott of the Morinville RCMP detachment was reassigned to administrative duties following his conviction of assault with a weapon in an Edmonton court.

Judge Allan Lefever said Shott had no legal justification to arrest Gordon Brown at his home in Gibbons in February 2004.

Shott fired his Taser at Brown, who was holding a cat in his arms, then handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a cruiser.

Shott later discovered Brown was not the person he suspected of refusing to pay a cab fare and released him without charge.

Lefever wrote in his 40-page decision that "the force used by the accused on Brown was unnecessary" and that Shott "did not act on reasonable and probable grounds."

Earlier this month, an Alberta judge said an Edmonton police officer looking for an excuse to fire his Taser chose to punish a 15-year-old boy following a break-in. The officer then tried to cover up his blatant abuse of authority, the judge said.

Judge Patricia Kvill stayed the charges against the boy, citing a violation of the teenager's Charter rights.

She described the behaviour of Edmonton police Const. Todd Hudec as a "shocking abuse of police powers," and noted Hudec did not record the Taser incident in his notebook, nor file a mandatory report about firing the weapon.

The police officer was himself charged earlier this year with assault with a weapon against the teen and his trial is set to begin in January.

Hudec's case comes on the heels of another Edmonton officer being charged with assault for using his Taser on two sleeping men.

Const. Jeffrey Resler, charged with two counts of assault and two counts of assault with a weapon, testified earlier this month that he believed firing his Taser at the men was a safe way to wake them up.

He and three other officers had entered a hotel room looking for an armed robbery suspect, and found two men in the bed and another lying face down on the floor.

The hotel was well-known for violent crime and drugs and Resler had said in a statement that the room smelled strongly of chemicals.

But Const. Jeff Minten, an expert in the Edmonton police department's use of force model, testified that using a Taser to wake a sleeping person is inconsistent with police standards.

The three cases outline the strict policies police have surrounding Taser use, and the consequences officers face when Tasers aren't used properly, says RCMP Const. Blaine Kobeluck, an expert in tasers who also trains officers and instructors.

"If they overstep their boundaries, they are liable to criminal charges just like anyone else.

"When it does happen, it usually means there has been a miscommunication in training."

Resler's trial is set to resume Oct. 25.