Taser use not "relevant factor" in tattoo artist's death

June 5, 2012

CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/06/04/edmonton-fatality-inquiry-report-trevor-grimolfson.html

The use of a Taser stun gun on Edmonton tattoo artist Trevor Grimolfson was "not a relevant factor" in his death, according to a fatality inquiry report obtained by CBC News prior to its release later this month.

The two-page report into Grimolfsen's death on Oct. 29th, 2008 also contains no recommendations, which concerns his mother Beverly."All you can get are recommendations and you don't even get one to prevent a similar death? Not even one?" she asked. "That's what my son would want. He would not want anyone else to die like that."

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died after police tried to subdue him outside his tattoo parlour at 153rd Street and Stony Plain Road. Officers were called after Grimolfson rampaged through a nearby pawnshop and assaulted the store owner.

Police used the Taser on him three times. Grimolfson lost consciousness after he was put in handcuffs and was pronounced dead by the time he arrived at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

In his report, fatality inquiry judge Frederick Day wrote that the last use of a Taser needs to be within 15 seconds of a loss of consciousness for it to be considered a factor in someone's death.

In Grimolfson's case, "a few minutes passed, not seconds, from the time of last Taser use to time of unconsciousness; therefore, the Taser use is not a relevant factor," the judge wrote.

The medical examiner found that Grimolfson died of "excited delirium" triggered by "multiple drug toxicity." He was found to have high levels of the street drugs ecstasy and ketamine in his blood.

Beverly Grimolfson plans to protest outside of future fatality inquiries with relatives of others who have died after Taser use.

During the inquiry, she recommended that researchers at the University of Alberta conduct studies on the effects of the device.

"Something has to be done to get proper testing going here and that's what I'm going to focus on," she said.

Autopsies thrown into question

Grant William Prentice, 40 - Brooks, AB - May 6, 2009 - RCMP - tasered at least 2 times - "Official" cause of death: acute cocaine toxicity and "the medical examiner also concluded the taser did not play a role in the death"

February 17, 2011
Alex Mccuaig, Medicine Hat News

A Calgary pathologist whose work is being called into question was involved in at least two investigations stemming from deaths in southeastern Alberta, the News confirmed Wednesday.

Concerns about the quality of Dr. Michael Belenky's work arose publicly after Calgary Police requested a review on Jan. 26 of one of the pathologist's reports.

Alberta Justice announced five days later that 12 cases handled by Belenky at Alberta Medical Examiners Office Calgary will be reviewed.

The News learned autopsies connected to the February 2010 alleged homicide of Morbe Buluk in Medicine Hat and the fatality of Grant Prentice, who died during an arrest in May 2009 in Brooks, were performed by Belenky.

Regarding Prentice's death, Cliff Purvis, director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — which investigates deaths involving police — said, "he was the medical examiner."

But Purvis added, "the findings of the medical examiner's office didn't rest solely on Dr. Belenky's opinion and won't affect the outcome of our file."

Died during arrest

Prentice, 40, died after Brooks RCMP officers used a Taser and physical force to subdue the man after witnesses reported he was acting erratically. The ASIRT investigation cleared Mounties of any wrongdoing, attributing the death to acute cocaine toxicity. Purvis stated the toxicology report wasn't conducted by Belenky.

"That was done by a separate expert in the medical examiner's office," Purvis said.

ASIRT's role, regardless of the ME's report, he added, is to investigate whether police committed any criminal offence. In this case, ASIRT found, police actions were justified.

"I'm not reopening the investigation because it has little impact on our case," said Purvis.

Informed of Belenky's connection to the investigation of his son's death, Bill Prentice said he suspected the pathologist's involvement in the file when Alberta Justice announced its review of Belenky's examinations. "It makes you wonder," said Prentice. "The whole thing sounds to me like it could have been a problem." He said he never had much faith in the report into his son's death. "We could have raised a bunch of hell but guess what's going to happen? Nothing... They'll deny everything no matter what.'

Anniversary Approaches

As she prepares to mourn the one-year anniversary of her son Morbe's death on Family Day, Stela Buluk said she feels lost without her boy. Morbe Buluk was involved in a physical altercation on the evening of Feb. 17, 2010 with a 26-year-old man in Medicine Hat. Afterwards, he made his way home but began to act erratically and the family contacted police. The 18-year-old was taken into custody and was examined by paramedics, according to Medicine Hat police, but was found in medical distress a few hours later in his cell on the morning of Feb. 18. He died three days later at a Calgary hospital. A Medicine Hat man is currently facing manslaughter charges in connection with this case. Buluk's mother said she was informed three weeks ago that the her son's autopsy will be reviewed. "I hope at the end they do the right thing," said Buluk, who emigrated from Sudan with her three children and husband in 2003. "I'm struggling. I feel like I'm stuck in one place and don't know what to do. You just lose a son like that and now you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know," said Buluk. That autopsy was conducted on Feb. 24, 2010. However, questions began to surface last December when a local defence lawyer told the court he hadn't received the ME's report nine months after the autopsy was completed.

Alberta Justice spokesperson David Deer said the department cannot currently comment on specific cases but said Belenky left the ME's office prior to the announcement of the review. Deer added Belenky's departure was not connected to the investigation. "The first goal of the review is to review every criminal file this pathologist worked on regardless of whether it involved a conviction or acquittal," said Deer. "We'll take whatever time necessary to do that," Deer said Belenky had the recognized qualifications to practise forensic pathology in the province and was licenced by the College of Physicians & Surgeons. "Dr. Belenky certainly did have the credentials as well as being licenced," said Deer.

Medicine Hat defence lawyer Bill Cocks said he has never seen the work of a pathologist called into question like this in his 35 years of practicing law in Alberta. "The pathologist in some kinds of murder cases is critical," said Cocks. "We can't put the pieces together ourselves and we rely on this person's expertise." He said evidence presented by a pathologist is rarely questioned. "Who's to challenge it? Most people don't have the resources to hire their own pathologist and conduct the examination or review the report to make their own determination."

Alberta Justice has announced it will launch fatality inquires for both Morbe Buluk and Grant Prentice but dates have yet to be set.

Mother overcome by autopsy pictures

November 25, 2010
Andrea Sands, Edmonton Journal

Beverly Grimolfson began sobbing then gasping for air during a fatality inquiry after she saw autopsy pictures of her son, who died two years ago after he was repeatedly Tasered by police.

Two security officers were called in as a precaution when Grimolfson became increasingly agitated while looking through binders of inquiry material during the lunch break Thursday afternoon.

"I have to try to calm down," she said, sobbing, after seeing autopsy photos of Trevor Grimolfson, who died after violent struggle with police.

"I've just never looked at these before."

She was led out of the room in Provincial Court, where she could still be heard yelling and sobbing outside as two court security officers came in.

She returned to her seat at the front of the courtroom, where she continued crying.

"I want to ask the judge how he thought I could come here and do this ... Why didn't he let me have a lawyer? A lawyer could have helped me. That's my kid in there. I never got to see him. I don't understand the cruelty of it all."

Hands shaking violently, gasping for breath, Grimolfson was given a plastic bag to breath into, and court officials urged her to calm down before she was led out of the courtroom a second time.

Grimolfson has been representing herself during the fatality inquiry that began Monday.

Family members of those who have died are allowed to speak and ask questions at an inquiry, but provincial legislation does not provide funding for their legal representation. Beverly Grimolfson was unsuccessful in her request for funding to hire a lawyer.

Inquiry counsel Glenn Epp asked that the inquiry be adjourned until Friday morning to give Grimolfson time to recover.

She told Judge Fred Day she is convinced police used excessive force on her son.

"My son is dead and I have the right to get to the bottom of this," he said. "I truly believe that excessive force was used here."

Det. Lee Scott painted a different picture in his testimony Thursday morning.

Trevor Grimolfson struggled violently against police and seemed oblivious to repeated jolts from their Tasers, said Scott, who was a constable at the time he fought with Grimolfson during the man's drug-fuelled rampage through a pawnshop.

The inquest heard testimony this week from Alberta's chief medical examiner that Grimolfson, 38, died of excited delirium caused by high levels of the drugs ecstasy and ketamine, an animal tranquillizer. The levels of each drug in Grimolfson's body were high enough to have been fatal, Dr. Graeme Dowling said.

Scott told the fatality inquiry Thursday he thought his Taser wasn't working when he fired the device at Grimolfson on Oct. 29, 2008, while trying to subdue him in the pawnshop on Stony Plain Road.

Scott said when he entered the pawnshop the smell of bear spray hung in the air.

He said Grimolfson's skin was yellow and he was sweating profusely and flailing his arms. Scott said he fired the Taser repeatedly at Grimolfson, who was heading toward another officer at the end of a long glass counter.

"I could hear it (working), absolutely, but it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do ... He should have been on the ground. He should have been incapacitated, but he wasn't," Scott said.

"I knew I wasn't going to let him leave the pawnshop. I knew there were people outside. I knew he was going to try to kill someone. I knew he was going to try to kill Matt (the other police constable)."

Grimolfson didn't react to the Taser and didn't obey police orders to get down on the floor, said Scott.

Police wrestled Grimolfson to the floor on his stomach, where he continued to twist and fight as Scott handcuffed him.

Scott Tasered Grimolfson again. "I did that on top of his back and he didn't even flinch."

Grimolfson was spitting and chanting "OK, OK" as Scott told him to stop fighting. He didn't seem to tire despite the intense struggle, Scott said.

"He was not calming down," Scott said.

"I'd never seen anything like this before.

Police immediately called emergency medical crews and superior officers, as is policy when a Taser is deployed, Scott said.

Roughly five minutes after police got the handcuffs on him, Grimolfson lost consciousness and stopped breathing, he said.

Scott started CPR but was later told Grimolfson had died.

Taser had no effect, fatality inquiry told

November 25, 2010
CBC News

The Edmonton police officer who deployed a Taser on Trevor Grimolfson moments before he died told a fatality inquiry Thursday that the stun gun appeared to have no effect.

"We're not using this anymore," Det. Lee Scott said he told his police colleagues during the daytime altercation with Grimolfson in a west Edmonton pawn shop two years ago. "It's not working."

Grimolfson, 38, died on Oct. 29, 2008, not long after police stunned him three times with the Taser. A fatality inquiry looking into Grimolfson's death is underway this week in Edmonton.

Scott, then an Edmonton police constable, testified he first met Grimolfson earlier that day when he responded to a call about a fight. Grimolfson seemed rational when Scott spoke to him in a back alley. He was released without charges.

About 40 minutes later, Scott raced to a call at a pawn shop in the same area. When he arrived, he heard yelling and the sound of glass breaking. A man Scott believed was the son of the pawn shop owner ran up to the police cruiser.

"He's going to kill my dad," he reportedly told Scott. "You've got to do something,"

When Scott entered the shop, he saw the man he had seen earlier in the alley — Grimolfson — covered in sweat and wildly flailing his hands around.

Grimolfson was standing on the other side of the counter and started walking toward police, Scott said.

Grimolfson refused to heed police instructions to get down on the ground.

Scott said he used his Taser once, but with no effect. Another officer deployed his Taser, but again, Grimolfson was not subdued.

'He could feel nothing'
Scott told the inquiry he struck Grimolfson twice in the jaw. Scott deployed a stun gun on Grimolfson a third time.

"Nothing was working," Scott said. "He could feel nothing."

Grimolfson was frothing, spitting and continued to fight. "Still chanting. Just not normal," Scott said.

Police were able to handcuff Grimolfson and put a spit mask on him, but then Grimolfson stopped struggling and ceased breathing.

Scott took off the handcuffs and Grimolfson's tongue flopped out as he removed the spit mask.

Scott could only detect a faint pulse and started doing chest compressions. Paramedics rushed Grimolfson to hospital where he was declared dead.

The medical examiner later ruled the cause of death as "excited delirium due to the consequences of multiple drug toxicity." Ketamine, ecstasy and cocaine were found in Grimolfson's blood.

Earlier this week, a man told the inquiry that when he arrived to do demolition work at Grimolfson's tattoo parlour, he was attacked.

Minutes later, Grimolfson went into the pawn shop. The owner told the inquiry Tuesday that Grimolfson broke a window on the front door of his store and threw a glass of water that hit him in the head.

Two pictures of Trevor Grimolfson emerge at inquiry

November 24, 2010
Alexandra Zabjek, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — Two portraits of Trevor Grimolfson emerged during a fatality inquiry into his death in provincial court on Tuesday.

A close friend described Grimolfson as a generous and popular man, who loved his children fiercely and was never violent.

A worker who encountered Grimolfson on the day he was Tasered several times by police said he met an agitated man who appeared high on drugs and couldn’t be reasoned with.

Melinda Parasynchuk told the fatality inquiry she had known Grimolfson for nine years. They had once dated and remained close friends at the time of the Oct. 29, 2008, incident, when Grimolfson was Tasered by police in a pawnshop on Stony Plain Road.

“He was very giving, he was like a year-round Santa Claus,” Parasynchuk said, noting Grimolfson especially liked to spoil children at Christmas.

She said Grimolfson’s own children were “his everything.”

Grimolfson, 38, was a talented tattoo artist and a well-known wrestling commentator who was “very, very funny,” said Parasynchuk, who broke down in tears at several points in her testimony.

“Trevor was someone easy to reason with, easy to talk to. I can’t imagine Trevor being violent.”

But Patrick Saunders told the fatality inquiry Grimolfson assaulted him in his tattoo shop that day, leaving him with a fractured cheek bone, three broken teeth, and bruises on his body.

Saunders said he had met Grimolfson the day before the incident, when Grimolfson offered him demolition work at his tattoo shop on Stony Plain Road. Grimolfson seemed like a normal, trustworthy person, he testified.

When Saunders arrived the next morning, he said Grimolfson was sweating profusely, jumping around, and that he uttered the nonsensical phrase, “Bruce Lee’s revenge, bullets are flying.”

When Saunders tried to leave the shop, he said Grimolfson struck him. Saunders fought back, but was hit repeatedly before he was able to leave.

He said he saw Grimolfson approach a group on Stony Plain Road before he entered a nearby pawnshop, breaking a glass door.

When the pawnshop owner and his father asked Grimolfson to leave, Saunders said the man appeared, “lost, dazed, and confused.”

He said Grimolfson threw a cup at the older man’s head and the situation worsened from there.

“You could have said a million things to calm him down, it wouldn’t have worked,” he said.

Saunders told the inquiry Grimolfson was in a “rage” when police arrived and that he charged at one of the officers.

At one point, when questioned by Beverly Grimolfson, who is acting as her own lawyer at her son’s fatality inquiry, Saunders said: “I’m really sorry for what happened with Trevor that day.”

A medical examiner has testified Grimolfson’s death was caused by excited delirium, brought on by multiple drug toxicity. Fatal levels of ecstasy and ketamine were found in his body after his death.

Beverly Grimolfson has said she believes her son would still be alive if police hadn’t deployed a Taser.

The inquiry continues.

Two moms whose sons died after being Tasered by police lobby against stun guns

November 22, 2010
John Cotter, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON - The mothers of two men who died after being Tasered by police say they are forming a national group that will work to ban the use of electronic stun guns.

Zofia Cisowski, mother of Robert Dziekanski, made the pledge Monday outside a fatality inquiry into the death of an Edmonton man who was zapped with police Tasers a year after her own son died in Vancouver at the hands of RCMP.

Cisowski said it was painful to sit beside Bev Grimolfson at the inquiry as she asked questions about her son Trevor's death.

"I just want to support Bev because my son was Tasered at Vancouver International Airport," Cisowski said as she stood beside Grimolfson outside court.

"I am very frustrated because it reminded me of my son's death, struggling on the floor with his life."

Grimolfson said she is grateful for Cisowski's help. Together, they say they hope to make police more accountable in such deaths.

"I feel that there are a lot of questions that need to be asked," Grimolfson said.

"I was not allowed any funding for a lawyer so I had to come and stick up for my son by myself. I intend to get to the bottom of this."

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died after Edmonton police shot him with a Taser several times on Oct. 29, 2008. A government investigation determined that Grimolfson was so violently out of control as he smashed up a pawn shop that officers were justified in firing at least three Taser darts into him, jolting his chest with numbing electric shocks.

When he finally fell to the ground, police handcuffed him and placed a spit mask over his face. Another officer also zapped him in the neck with a hand-held Taser.

After a few minutes, Grimolfson lapsed into unconsciousness until paramedics arrived. The former resident of Selkirk, Man., was pronounced dead soon after arrival in hospital.

The medical examiner said Grimolfson suffered from a heart condition and was extremely high on potentially lethal doses of ketamine and ecstasy. Cause of death was listed as excited delirium, a controversial term that has been linked to people who have died after being zapped by stun guns.

Last year, Alberta government investigators announced that no police officers would face criminal charges in Grimolfson's death.

Dr. Graeme Dowling, Alberta's chief medical examiner, reiterated his findings Monday as he testified at the inquiry.

When it was Grimolfson's turn to ask questions, she barraged Dowling: "Was he was aware that torturers use electrical devices in dictatorships? Did he know that Tasers have been used to subdue women and children in other countries?"

Judge Fred Day ruled that some of her questions were beyond the scope of the inquiry, which cannot find blame but works to glean information to prevent future deaths.

But he gave her latitude as she questioned Dowling on the public health risks associated with police use of Tasers.

"I found no evidence in this case that it was the cause of death," he replied. "I see no evidence of that."

More than 25 people have died in Canada after being stunned by Tasers.

The U.S. company that makes the devices points out that they have never directly been proven to have caused a death in Canada.

Cisowski said she will continue attending the fatality inquiry this week to give moral support to Grimolfson. She knows firsthand that such fact-finding takes time. She is still waiting for British Columbia to decide whether the four Mounties involved in the death of her son will be charged.

"We will work together to make something better for mothers like Bev and me and other mothers," she said.

Mother represents son at Taser inquiry

November 22, 2010
CBC News

A mother is pressing for answers in the death of her son after Edmonton police used a stun gun while arresting him in 2008 during a drug-fuelled rampage.

The five-day inquiry into the death of Trevor Grimolfson begins in an Edmonton courtroom on Monday.

"This is the only chance I have to get some sort of justice," said Bev Grimolfson, 58.

Grimolfson is representing herself, because she can't afford a lawyer and a provincial court judge turned down her application for funding.

She said that without legal representation, it will be hard to ask the right questions.

"I don't know courtroom etiquette. I don't speak legalese, but I will do my best."

Her son, 38, died on Oct. 29, 2008, after police tried to subdue him with a stun gun.

He was high on drugs, smashing his way through a pawnshop in the west end. He died later in hospital. The cause of death was ruled “excited delirium due to the consequences of multiple drug toxicity.”

Grimolfson’s mother will be joined in the courtroom by the mother of Robert Dziekanski, whose son died after being shocked numerous times by police in the Vancouver airport.

“We are grieving mothers,” Zofia Cisowski wrote in a statement Sunday. “Many good people supported me. I am here to support her.”

Grimolfson said police misled her about the investigation into her son’s death.

“They have never told me anything,” she said. “I feel that I have been lied to right from the beginning; lied about what kind of Tasers they were; lied about how many times he was Tasered; where he was Tasered.

“It's just been a nightmare. And now this is the only chance I have to get some sort of justice.”

Alberta Justice won't comment on a pending inquiry, but a spokesperson said the process is designed to ensure an objective hearing.

Last year, the Alberta Serious Incident Repsonse Team, which investigates any death involving police, cleared the officers of any wrongdoing during Grimolfson's arrest.

The judge may make recommendations on how to prevent similar deaths.

Mothers united by Tasers & death

November 22, 2010
iNews 880

The mother of a city man, who died after he was Tasered by Edmonton police two years ago, will be joined at his fatality inquiry this week by the mother of the man Tasered at Vancouver International Airport.

Zofia Cisowski says she'll be at the inquiry into the death of Trevor Grimolfson to support his mother, Bev, because: "We are grieving mothers. Many good people supported me. I am here to support her."

Cisowski slams the refusal to provide legal aid to Grimolfson' mother and adds "because I had a lawyer, I was able to fight for the truth and get some justice for my son Robert (Dziekanski)." She goes on to say: "The police tried to blame my son for his death. They were wrong. We cannot put blind trust in the authorities."

Trevor Grimolfson died after he was Tasered by police during a drug-fueled rampage at a pawn shop on Stony Plain Road in late October, 2008. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has ruled officers were justified in their actions.

The fatality inquiry is automatic because Grimolfson died in police custody.

Dziekanski's mother to attend another Taser death inquiry

November 22, 2010
NEWS 1130

EDMONTON (NEWS1130) - The mother of Robert Dziekanski is becoming an advocate for other mothers who've also lost their sons in police Tasering incidents.

Zofia Cisowski is in Edmonton to show her support for Bev Grimolfson, whose son died two years ago. An inquiry into the death of her son Trevor begins in Alberta Provincial Court tomorrow. Grimolfson was Tasered at an Edmonton pawn shop, then went into medical distress and died shortly afterward.

Unlike Cisowski, Bev will have to question witnesses herself, because she can't afford a lawyer.

Zygmunt Riddle with the Canadian Civil Rights Movement says the prospects of getting to the bottom of what happened to her son are bleak. "On one hand you have government lawyers, you have Taser company lawyers, and on another you have just motherly grief without lawyers. So I don't think we'll learn much about the truth [of] what happened."

He says it was important for Cisowski to be at Grimolfson's side. "That is what Zofia was always promising that after her case is closed one way or another, she would support other mothers."

Riddle adds Cisowski vowed to support other mothers of Tasering victims after her own inquiry was concluded earlier this year.

Mom seeks answers in Edmonton Taser death

November 21, 2010
Alexandra Zabjek, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — The mother of a man who died after being Tasered by city police two years ago is worried that she won’t get any answers at a fatality inquiry into the incident because she can’t afford a lawyer to represent her.

Beverly Grimolfson, who is raising her son Trevor’s three children in Dauphin, Man., plans to attend the inquiry which is scheduled to begin Monday in Edmonton. Without a lawyer to speak on her behalf, she is determined to question witnesses herself.

It won’t be an easy process.

“There are far too many questions for me to have answered, for me not to have a lawyer there,” she said. “I feel the victim’s family should have representation in order for it to be a fair inquiry.”

Trevor Grimolfson died on Oct. 29, 2008, after a drug-fuelled rampage through a west-end pawnshop.

Police were called and confronted him in the shop, a 10-minute ordeal in which he was Tasered several times. After he was arrested, he went into medical distress and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His cause of death was listed as “excited delirium due to the consequences of multiple drug toxicity.”

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which investigates any death that may have been caused by a police officer, last year ruled officers were justified in their actions. No criminal charges were laid.

However, a fatality inquiry was automatically called since Trevor Grimolfson died while in police custody. The inquiry is scheduled for five days, and the presiding judge must report on the circumstances, causes, and manner of the death. The judge may present recommendations on how to prevent similar deaths in the future.

A fatality inquiry is not a trial and the judge cannot assign blame for an incident. Family members of those who have died are automatically granted standing to speak and ask questions at an inquiry, but provincial legislation does not provide for their legal funding.

Beverly Grimolfson said she was denied Legal Aid in her home province of Manitoba, as well as in Alberta. She applied to Provincial Court Judge F.A. Day, who is presiding over the inquiry, to recommend she receive funding, but he declined to do so.

Day ruled there was no legal authority to mandate funding. He noted that if financial need was a sufficient basis to recommend public funding, then provincial legislation or Legal Aid would have made provisions for that.

Alberta Justice says it is not common for families to bring lawyers to a fatality inquiry.

Julie Siddons, a spokeswoman for the department, said next of kin can speak at an inquiry and bring lawyers if they want.

“It’s a factual inquiry, it’s not a trial, so legal representation is not required,” she said.

Grimolfson’s inquiry comes in the wake of the high-profile and lengthy Braidwood Inquiry in B.C, which examined the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski who died at the Vancouver International Airport in 2007 after he was Tasered multiple times by Mounties. Video of the incident was viewed widely and prompted debate about the use of Tasers by police in Canada.

In his lengthy report released in 2009, former judge Thomas Braidwood said police should continue to use Tasers but warned it is not “helpful” to blame deaths on “excited delirium,” since it avoids having to “examine the underlying medical condition or conditions that actually caused death, let alone examining whether use of the conducted energy weapon and/or subsequent measures to physically restrain the subject contributed to those causes of death.”

Alberta Justice says it expects Dr. Graeme Dowling, Alberta’s chief medical examiner, will discuss the relevance of Braidwood’s findings at the Grimolfson’s inquiry.

When writing in 2009, Braidwood found 25 people had died in Canada since 2003 after a conducted energy weapon was deployed against them.

Beverly Grimolfson said she knows her son was in bad shape when he encountered police two years ago, but insists he was not “a monster.” She said he was a loving father and a generous person.

She thinks it is important the circumstances of her son’s death are investigated completely. She thinks that can’t be done without investigating the use of Tasers by police forces in general.

“We can’t forget any one of (those deaths). Just because there is no video of the other 25, their cases are no less important.”

Charge against Edmonton officer stayed in Taser incident

May 21, 2009
The Edmonton Journal

A charge against a city police officer accused of assaulting a jaywalker with a Taser in August 2004 has been stayed.

Const. Aubrey Zalaski had been previously convicted on the charge, but that was overturned on appeal in Nov. 2007 after a judge found the pedestrian's testimony evasive and contradictory.

Since then, Zalaski's case has not been scheduled for a new trial. On May 11, the charge against him was stayed.

"It is the duty of the Crown to end a prosecution when the evidence no longer offers a reasonable likelihood of conviction, and we had reached that point in the case of officer Zalaski," said David Dear, Alberta Justice spokesman. "Issues of credibility had arisen around key witness testimony, and we believe those issues ended any reasonable likelihood of officer Zalaski being convicted a second time."

Once a charge is stayed, Alberta Justice has a year to reverse that decision and bring the case back to court.

In August 2004, Zalaski spotted Paul Cetinski jaywalking near the downtown police station. When Zalaski called to him, Cetinski ignored him.

Zalaski then followed Cetinski and tried to handcuff him after he refused an order to sit on the curb.

The defence argued that Cetinski turned in a "menacing fashion" and was then Tasered. Cetinski claimed he only looked around in surprise when handcuffed.

In granting an appeal, Court of Queen's Bench Justice James Lewis ruled the original trial judge relied on evidence from Cetinski despite "real concerns" with the jaywalker's testimony and finding the man evasive, contradictory and unable to recall events accurately.

Taser death may take weeks to unravel

May 9, 2009
Calgary Herald

It could be weeks before investigators know the official cause of death of the man who was involved in a Taser incident in Brooks this week, police say.

An autopsy was performed on Friday in Calgary on the body of Grant William Prentice, 40, to determine how he died.

Clifton Purvis, director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, said the procedure has been completed, but the results of an important component, toxicology tests, could still be weeks away.

The team, the provincial body that investigates police use of force, is leading the investigation into what happened in Brooks on Wednesday night.

Prentice's family is not speaking publicly about the case, but Justice Minister Alison Redford weighed in on the subject of Tasers Friday, calling the incident a"really unfortunate situation."

Redford said she could not speak directly about the Brooks case, but said that it's better for police to have Tasers than not.

"When you speak to police officers about this, what they will say is that in many cases it is still a better alternative than they would have without (Tasers)," she said.

Residents on Lake Bevan Place in Brooks say Prentice was seen running down the street Wednesday night, knocking on doors and demanding to be let inside homes.

The RCMP and EMS were called and a Taser was deployed once, but it's not clear if it made contact with Prentice.

He quickly went into medical distress and was rushed to the Brooks Hospital, where he died later that night.

Death due to excited delirium

March 27, 2009
By MICHELLE THOMPSON, SUN MEDIA

Excited delirium killed an Edmonton tattoo shop owner who died after being shot with a stun gun, an autopsy determined.

"Excited delirium is a state of extreme excitation that can be fatal - it can lead to a state of exhaustion where the heart stops," said Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear.

"Alberta's Fatality Review Board will review this case to determine whether to recommend a fatality inquiry be held."

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died Oct. 29 after police deployed a stun gun in an attempt to subdue him.

Before police brought him under control, Grimolfson had been rampaging through a west-end pawn shop near his tattoo shop and even attacked a man, witnesses said.

Multiple witnesses said police reacted appropriately when they used the weapon.

Dear said the cause of Grimolfson's death was brought on by drug use, but could not say which narcotics Grimolfson had taken before becoming erratic.

On the social networking site Facebook, some expressed skepticism about the autopsy's findings.

"It was announced today that Trevor died from excited delirium - a dubious condition at best and one that only ever shows up when Tasers are involved," writes Patti Gillman Nee Bagnell on a memorial page for Grimolfson. "It's meant to take the blame off of police and put it onto the victim.

"With current developments, I'm blown away by the Alberta government's use of that as a cause of death."

'Excited delirium' killed Tasered man

March 27, 2009
By Ben Gelinas, with files from Laura Drake
The Edmonton Journal

A crazed man brought down by a police Taser last October died from what the medical examiner calls excited delirium caused by drugs.

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, was hit twice by the Taser after he attacked a man who came into his Stony Plain Road tattoo parlour and then smashed up a nearby pawnshop. Witnesses said Grimolfson was combative, violent and couldn't be calmed. After he was hit with the Taser, police handcuffed him. He soon lost consciousness and was declared dead in hospital.

"The cause of death was excited delirium brought on by drugs he'd taken," Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear said.

No further details on the ruling were released.

A representative from the medical examiner's office could not be reached for comment.

Asked about excited delirium, Michael Webster, a police psychologist who gave testimony at the inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport, said that "it's a fantasy.

"Police and medical examiners have taken something that was initially descriptive and have made it into something prescriptive. And that's where the controversy comes from, because it's just not a diagnosis, nor is it a cause of death."

Webster said the vast majority of physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists do not recognize that excited delirium exists.

"I would challenge your medical examiner to show me excited delirium in that corpse."

It is Webster's opinion that the continuing diagnosis of excited delirium as a legitimate cause of death further drives a wedge between law enforcement and the majority of the medical community.

Alberta's chief medical examiner has been outspoken in his belief that excited delirium is a legitimate condition. Someone in the state could die without being touched or even when alone. It seems to have nothing to do with the method of restraint, Dr. Graeme Dowling told the Canadian National Committee for Police in November.

"They may die in spite of what we do."

Dowling said that it wouldn't be uncommon to need six to eight police officers to restrain someone in an excited delirium, as it is characterized by abnormal strength.

Following Grimolfson's death, the use of a Taser promptly became the public focus.

The medical examiner's ruling "once again shows that when these arrest-related deaths occur, jumping to conclusions is the wrong way to go," Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle said. "We have seen this time and time again repeatedly, and it has sadly affected public opinion."

The Arizona company has been under intense public scrutiny in Canada since Dziekanski's death was captured on amateur video.

Tuttle said that incident ignited something that borders on hysteria in this country.

"We call it a crisis in Canada."

A fatality review board will determine whether a fatality inquiry will be recommended in Grimolfson's case.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team which looks into deaths involving police is still investigating.

Alberta Solicitor General spokesman Andy Weiler said no one from the response team will comment on the medical examiner's report until the investigation is complete.

"Excited delirium" strikes again

TODAY'S QUESTION, IN HONOUR OF TREVOR GRIMOLFSON (and because his family and friends DESERVE to know) IS:

How did we get from HERE:

From the Toronto Star
February 13, 2009
"...The RCMP has admitted that firing a Taser poses a risk of death" ... "have also dropped the term "excited delirium" - a phrase that had no medical foundation, and was criticized earlier by the Commons committee, the RCMP's public complaints commissioner, independent consultants and civil liberty groups."

To HERE just over a month later:

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
March 26, 2009

Edmonton man who died after Taser shock was killed by excited delirium: Report

Alberta Justice says a man who was Tasered by Edmonton police in October died from a condition called excited delirium — not from the effects of being hit by the electronic stun gun.

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died on Oct. 29 after going on a rampage in a pawn shop.

The provincial medical examiner said the cause of death was excited delirium brought on by multiple drug toxicity.

Officers on the scene said Grimolfson could not be controlled after just one Taser use, so a second electronic jolt was needed.

More than 25 people have died in Canada after being stunned by Tasers.

The U.S. company that makes the devices points out that they have never been directly proven to have caused a death in Canada.

The RCMP yesterday announced they'd loosened a restriction on multiple Taser shocks amid growing evidence that repeated stun gun jolts increase risk of death.

A new statistical analysis by Montreal biomedical engineer Pierre Savard suggests the chances of someone dying after being hit with a police Taser increase the more times they are stunned.

That research comes as a public inquiry examines the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who got five shocks from an RCMP Taser in October 2007 at the Vancouver airport. An amateur video of Dziekanski writhing on the floor was beamed around the world, sparking new questions about stun gun safety.

Savard carried out the study using a database of over 3,200 RCMP Taser incidents from 2002 to 2007 compiled by The Canadian Press and the CBC/Radio-Canada. He also looked at an Amnesty International study of Taser cases involving more than 300 deaths in the United States.

During the six-year period, nine people died in Canada after being Tasered by the RCMP. In at least seven of the nine deaths, accounts indicate the person was jolted multiple times.

And here it is again, from the Edmonton Journal:

Taser didn’t kill man who smashed pawnshop: medical examiner
By Journal Staff, edmontonjournal.com
March 26, 2009 5:01 PM

EDMONTON — Trevor Grimolfson did not die from the Taser strike he received from city police last October after he busted up a Stony Plain Road pawnshop, according to the medical examiner's office. "The cause of death was excited delirium brought on by drugs he'd taken," said Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear. Grimolfson, 38, was Tasered twice by Edmonton police after he attacked a man at his tattoo parlour and went on to smash windows and destroy a nearby pawnshop. He died shortly afterwards. A fatality review board will determine whether or not a fatality inquiry will be recommended. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is still investigating to determine whether or not the police officers involved will press criminal charges. Alberta Solicitor General spokesman Andy Weiler said no one from ASIRT will comment on the medical examiner's report until the investigation is complete.

Is Alberta Justice (like BC Justice) just having one big long nap until this nasty anti-taser business blows over?? Seems they haven't been keeping up with what's new in news ... they're not getting with the program.