Victim's parents testify at taser inquiry

May 6, 2008
Staff Reporter, The Province

VANCOUVER -- The Braidwood Commission inquiry into Taser use continued Tuesday with emotional evidence from Cathy and Joseph Gallagher, parents of a mentally ill Vancouver man who was subdued by seven police officers and Tasered twice.

Cathy Gallagher held up a small, red T-shirt with a hole in it showing where her son -- a slight, 37-year-old man who had an MBA from McMaster University -- was Tasered in the heart.

Christopher Gallagher has remained in hospital since the incident, which occurred on Feb. 24. The Gallaghers want a complete moratorium on Taser use.

The inquiry also heard from Victoria police Const. Mike Massine, a conducted-energy weapons trainer for the Victoria Police Department, who said Tasers pose very little risk and are useful weapons for police.

The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, continued Tuesday afternoon with evidence from an emergency-room physician and a prison warden.

On Monday the inquiry opened with presentations by two American experts who concluded after years of research that the weapon poses very little risk.

Electrical engineer J. Patrick Reilly, a consultant and Johns Hopkins University lecturer from Maryland, said "the hazards are very low, but probably not zero." Outside the inquiry, Reilly said the Taser is "not benign" and admitted he wouldn't want himself or any family member to be Tasered, but insisted the Taser may be one of the more acceptable weapons in the police arsenal.

"If you compare [the impact of a Taser] with a bullet, it's a no-brainer," said Reilly, adding "safety is relative." Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired Supreme Court judge, said there will be two inquiry phases -- the first, a series of public forums throughout May to get expert opinion on the use of "conducted-energy weapons [Tasers]," by B.C. police forces, sheriffs and corrections officers.

Wisconsin biomedical engineer John Webster outlined by videolink his detailed experiments on pigs that concluded the chances of Taser use causing a person's heart to stop "are extremely low." Webster said the probability that a Taser could stop a person's heart, even in the worst-case scenario where the darts hit a slight or thin person in vulnerable spots near the heart, would be one in several million.

More than 300 people across North America have died after being stunned by Tasers.

The "electrical stun weapons" manufactured by Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., can shoot two barbs attached to wires, or the gun can be applied directly to a person's skin.

The second phase of the commission will look into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, but will not start until the RCMP has finished its own investigation in the fall.

Public inquiry into taser use [in British Columbia] begins on Monday

May 4, 2008
Lora Grindlay, Vancouver Province, with Canwest News Service

A public inquiry into the use of the controversial Taser in B.C. begins Monday.

Headed by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, the first of two phases of the inquiry is a study into the use of the conducted energy weapons.

After reviewing written submissions and public forums to be held until May 23, Braidwood will make recommendations on the appropriate use of the weapons by B.C. police forces (other than the RCMP, who operate under federal regulations), sheriffs and corrections officers.

Braidwood has said he will also review Taser use by the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police. Input will focus on rules of use and training for officers, and the safety and effectiveness of the stun guns. Tasers are used to physically incapacitate a person by discharging controlled electric energy into the body.

Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, who has conducted extensive legal research into Taser use, and represents the family of Robert Bagnall who died after being Tasered by Vancouver Police in 2004, will speak at the inquiry on May 22.

Ward told The Province Sunday that until studies independent of the manufacturer and of law enforcement are conducted, there should be a moratorium on their use.

"Given the number of deaths that have occurred consequential to Taser use - well in excess of 300 in North America to date - I'm concerned that there has not been sufficient independent, rigorous, scientific and medical testing of the weapon to determine whether or not they are safe or whether they may cause death," Ward said.

He is hopeful Braidwood will recommend a moratorium. "If the Braidwood inquiry carefully considers the range of views offered by the presenters that certainly would be a possibility. It is certainly the approach I would advocate."

Ward will also speak of his concerns about "useage creep" of Tasers by police and others. "The weapon is being used often to get people to comply with direction and perhaps even as punishment," said Ward. "The use has gone way beyond that which originally the proponents were advocating which is as an alternative to lethal force."

It was recently revealed that members of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service used their Tasers 10 times since January 2007, twice against fare-evaders.

Braidwood is set to hear from electrical engineer J. Patrick Reilly Monday morning and biomedical engineer John Webster Monday afternoon.

He will also hear from a prison warden, doctors, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, police forces and the manufacturer of the guns, Arizona-based Taser International Inc.

The second phase of the inquiry - for which a date has not been set - will probe and report on the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport in October.

Dziekanski died moments after being Tasered by airport Mounties.

Video shot by a passerby horrified people all over the world who watched an erratic, frustrated and confused Dziekanski die on the airport floor.

Braidwood is expected to report back on the first phase to the B.C. government by June 30. Victoria ordered the inquiry following Dziekanski's death.

Walter Kosteckyj, lawyer for Dziekanski's mom Zophia Cisowski, will speak to the inquiry on May 15.

Can taser directly cause ventricular fibrillation?

"Conclusions: It is possible to cause ventricular fibrillation in pigs using a taser EMD device. From these data we can now proceed to investigate the probability of taser induced VF in humans."

CBC Documentary - Taser Deaths

In a Radio-Canada/CBC in-depth documentary on Tasers, produced by Frederic Zalac and aired nationally on Canadian television at the end of last year, the conclusions of recent independent medical reviews of Tasers were revealed which raised some very serious questions about the lethality of Tasers.

The documentary, in which I very enthusiastically participated, is about 20 minutes in length and is available online at CBC News. Scroll down and click on (or search for) “Taser Deaths”.

Highlights include:

Dr. Stanley Nattel, Cardiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute, Director of the Paul-David Chair in Cardiovascular Electrophysiology and leading cardiology researcher at the University of Montreal, and an associate professor at McGill University, analyzed a study performed at the University of Toronto (see below) and concluded that “A rapid rhythm induced by a Taser, called a Ventricular Tachycardia, may not cause very severe symptoms and particularly if the person is very excited, frightened, etc., they might not even notice it. But that kind of rhythm can eventually what we call “degenerate” to Ventricular Fibrillation, which is an even faster and irregular rhythm that is rapidly lethal.”

Dr. Nattel said further that “the way in which the Taser causes death is by provoking a very rapid, irregular heart rhythm, and that doesn’t leave any traces in the body. So basically if you don’t see anything there, you don’t know what the cause is and it could be a lethal dose of drugs or it could be an extreme mental stress or it could be the Taser. I don’t think it’s possible to differentiate those possibilities in most cases.”

An independent study in Canada on the effects of Tasers on pigs was performed at the University of Toronto by Kumaraswamy Nanthakumar, MD; Ian Billingsley, MD, Stephane Masse, MASc, Paul Dorian, MD, Douglas Cameron, MD, Vijay S. Chauhan, MD, Eugene Downar, MD and Elias Sevaptsidis, DEC. This study injected into pigs a substance that mimics the adrenaline rush that would be experienced during a stressful arrest by police or a cocaine high. The pigs were then shocked with Tasers. The study found that, in circumstances of increased adrenalgenic stress, arrythmias (irregular heart rhythms) were caused and, in some cases, were lethal. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

In the U.S., Dr. John Webster, Biomedical Engineer, University of Wisconsin tried to duplicate the situation that would occur with humans … and “we got very different results. I don’t think that they’re non-lethal weapons but I think that there’s a probability, albeit small, that the Taser could electrocute a person.”

When asked by Radio-Canada reporter, Frederic Zalac, what he would do if a study showed there was a risk, Taser International spokesperson Steve Tuttle answered by saying, “We would have an obligation to disclose that to our customers and to the public. That’s pure and simple.”

To the best of my knowledge, Taser International has never disclosed these results to its customers or to the public.

The safety of tasers is questioned again

May 25, 2006
By ALEX BERENSON, New York Times

The safety of Tasers, the electric pistols that are widely used by police, is under new scrutiny after a study by a Wisconsin scientist showed that shocks from the guns cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating.

The finding contradicts previous studies that showed that Taser shocks did not cause heart disturbances in pigs, whose hearts are similar to those in humans.

John G. Webster, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin who conducted the new study, said the earlier studies contained serious errors because they did not account for the fact that pigs have a thick layer of muscle insulating their hearts from their skin. Humans do not.

Dr. Webster removed the muscle from the pigs' chests and placed Taser barbs close to their hearts before shocking the animals. "The previous research made a mistake," Dr. Webster said. "I was a little surprised. But I believe this research more accurately reflects the anatomy of humans."

While most Taser shots land too far from the heart to be lethal, barbs that penetrate the spaces between the ribs that surround the heart may have the potential to cause electrocution, he said.

Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, which makes the weapons, said Dr. Webster's research was flawed and did not reflect the way that Tasers were used in humans. The current from a Taser shock is dispersed through the body rather than running directly into the heart, Mr. Tuttle said in an e-mail statement.

The earlier studies on pigs were financed by Taser International. The Justice Department paid for Mr. Webster's study, which is not yet completed. An abstract is posted on Dr. Webster's Web site, http://www.engr.wisc.edu/bme/faculty/webster--john.html

Tasers are pistol-shaped weapons that fire barbs up to 35 feet, delivering a 50,000-volt shock. Because they propel the barbs with compressed nitrogen instead of gunpowder, Tasers are not considered firearms and are not regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms or any other federal agency.

Dr. Ted Chan, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Diego who has studied the effect of Taser shocks on human volunteers, said Mr. Webster's research did not prove that Tasers could cause lethal heart disturbances.

In his research, which is also financed by the Justice Department, Dr. Chan has shocked more than 100 people and not found any changes in heart rhythms. More sophisticated tests conducted on about a dozen people have also failed to find damage, Dr. Chan said.

"Animal studies can point in certain directions, but ultimately you have to look at humans," he said.

Dr. Chan did add that most of the volunteers he tested were not shocked directly over their hearts.

More than 150 people have died after being shocked by Tasers, according to data compiled by Amnesty International, which has called for a moratorium on use of the guns. The weapons are used by almost 10,000 police departments in the United States and internationally, as well as the military. Tasers have been used or tested on volunteers about 200,000 times, Mr. Tuttle said.

Coroners have attributed most of the deaths to causes other than the Taser shock, like cocaine overdoses. But in a handful of cases Tasers have been listed as the primary or contributing cause.

Doctors and scientists have questioned whether Tasers can cause ventricular fibrillation, a lethal heart rhythm disturbance, as well as acidosis, a dangerous change in blood chemistry. Taser International says that many of the deaths have resulted from drug overdoses and that its weapons are safer than most other ways that police officers can use to restrain people.

Since 2002, Tasers have become popular with police departments because they offer officers a way to incapacitate people without having to touch them and because most people do not appear to suffer long-term injury after being shocked. Concerns about safety hurt Taser sales last year, but they have picked up in 2006, with Taser International reporting $14 million in sales in the first quarter.

In October, the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit group that is dedicated to improving police tactics and strategies, recommended that officers be allowed to use the weapons only on suspects who are actively resisting arrest. Some police departments have allowed officers to use Tasers on people who are simply refusing to follow their orders.

The forum's recommendations are not binding. But police departments that do not follow them could face greater legal liability.

Dr. Webster shocked 10 anesthetized pigs with a Taser after removing the skin and muscle over their hearts. On average, the pigs suffered ventricular fibrillation when a Taser barb was placed within 0.7 inch of their heart, according to the abstract of the clinical trial posted on Dr. Webster's Web site. In humans, the heart is situated 0.4 to 2 inches under the skin, Dr. Webster said.

Ventricular fibrillation is an electrical disturbance that causes the heart to beat irregularly and be unable to pump blood. It causes death within minutes unless the heart's normal rhythm is restored.