Utah Citizen who wanted Hurricane police to put a hold on Tasers says he's being followed

June 25, 2009
By Paul Rolly, Salt Lake City Tribune

A member of the St. George Citizens Review Panel says the Hurricane Police Department has put tails on him and harassed him at work since he told a St. George television station the police chief refused his request to put a hold on the use of Tasers after the death of Brian Cardall.

Ronald Smith says the review panel recommended a delay in the use of Tasers by police during the investigation of the death of Cardall, who was shot twice with a Taser by a Hurricane Police officer while in the middle of a psychotic episode.

But when he asked Chief Lynn Excell on behalf of the panel for the temporary moratorium, the chief refused. Later, in an interview with KCSG TV in St. George, Smith spoke of the conversation with Excell and the chief's refusal to put a stay on the use of Tasers.

That, according to Smith, angered the chief, who came to the convenience store where he works and berated him. He said a police car remained for hours at his place of employment and a person who claimed the chief was a relative suggested to Smith's boss he should be fired.

The police department has refused to speak to the media about the case, but attorney Peter Stirba, who was hired to represent Hurricane after the Cardall incident, released this statement:

"Mr. Smith's allegations of harassment by the Hurricane City Police Department are pure fiction, plain and simple. Nobody in the Hurricane Police Department is following Mr. Smith or otherwise observing what he does, monitoring him or causing him any difficulty, period."

Antonio Calderon, another member of the citizens review panel, says several witnesses have corroborated that the police appeared to have a surveillance on Smith, however.