KSL-TV editorial director's son dies after being tased by police

Taser International responds to yesterday's needless death of Brian Cardall, son of KSL-TV editorial director Duane Cardall. Taser International's response completely IGNORES the elephant in the room. At least 412 dead and counting.

June 9th, 2009 @ 11:00pm
Statement from Taser:

Until all the facts surrounding this tragic incident are known, it is inappropriate to jump to conclusions on the cause of death. We believe that TASER® technology protects life and if called upon we are prepared to help the investigation of this unfortunate incident.

Although, no use of force device is risk free including TASER technology, when used properly, medical and law enforcement experts have concluded that TASER technology is among the most effective response to resistance available to law enforcement officers to halt potentially violent situations that may pose a safety risk to an officer, suspect or innocent citizens.

For the past two years, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has conducted a review and study of in-custody deaths which have occurred following the use of a TASER brand devices. The interim report, release last summer concluded in its findings that:

"Although exposure to CED is not risk free, there is no conclusive medical evidence within the state of current research that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death from the direct effects of CED exposure. Field experience with CED use indicates that exposure is safe in the vast majority of cases. Therefore, law enforcement need not refrain from deploying CEDs, provided the devices are used in accordance with accepted national guidelines."

"While we continue to acknowledge that TASER® technology is not risk free, the NIJ report speaks volumes affirming our previous statements concerning the safety of TASER devices and provides an invaluable independent report to our critics.

STATS: As of March 31, 2009 TASER International has sold approximately 406,000 TASER® brand electronic control devices (ECDs) to more than 142,200 law enforcement and military agencies. There are 177 law enforcement agencies in Utah that deploy our TASER technology.

Sincerely,
Steve Tuttle
Vice President of Communications

Son of KSL-TV editorial director dies after tased by police
June 9th, 2009
By John Hollenhorst, KSL.COM

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- A 32-year-old man died Tuesday afternoon after he was tased by a Hurricane police officer. Brian Cardall is the son of KSL's Editorial Director Duane Cardall.

He and his wife, who is six months pregnant, were traveling south on State Road 59 just outside of Hurricane after visiting his family in Salt Lake City.

According to his wife, Cardall, who has a recent history of mental illness, was having an episode prompting them to pull over to medicate.

Once stopped, Cardall got out of the vehicle and began to run down the road.

His wife called 911.

Not long after, she found out he had been tased and was unresponsive.

CPR was administered on scene. Cardall was taken to the Dixie Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

In a press release on its website, the Sheriff's office writes:

Police and medical personnel responded to a call for assistance with an agitated subject on State Route 59 this afternoon in Washington County. During the incident, a Hurricane City Police Officer deployed a taser and the subject lost consciousness. The subject was treated within moments by EMS personnel, but was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital.

Cardall was a doctoral candidate in biology at Northern Arizona University.

In a statement his family said, "Brian is a wonderful son, brother, father, and husband who loved being with people. He was full of personality and wanted to make a difference in this world. He was working on his PhD in Molecular Ecology at Northern Arizona University. He loved being in the outdoors and with his daughter Ava and beautiful wife Anna. We will miss Brian but are comforted by our faith."

Related: Police chiefs want more training for officers who deal with mentally ill
Officers are responding to an increasing number of calls for help or assistance and finding that someone involved is suffering from mental illness. Some police chiefs say more training is needed. The Washington County Sheriff's Office is investigating.