James Foldi taser death inquest to continue next month

June 16, 2009
St. Catharine's Standard

An inquest into the death of a Beamsville man who died after being Tasered by police during a bizarre night of activity is set to resume July 13.

James Foldi, 39, died July 1, 2005 after breaking into houses in his Beamsville neighbourhood, calling for help and at one point, jumping through a glass window.

A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.

A coroner’s jury in St. Catharines heard witnesses testify during the last week of May, but the inquest was interrupted due to scheduling problems.

Lawyers will continue to question the last witness in the stand on July 13 at 9:30 a.m. in the St. Catharines courthouse, before making their closing submissions.

Jurors have heard that a Taser used in the confrontation with Foldi was discharged 12 times, but there’s no way of knowing from the device how often it made contact with his body.

A police officer testified he deployed the Taser twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running and five times in the stun mode while Foldi was struggling with officers on the ground.

Coroner’s inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.