My heart breaks anew. Today, I received the following message from the sister of Howard Hyde, along with her permission to post it here:
"I am writing to you immediately following the hearing of the audio of the tape, for the first time, of my brother Howard Hyde getting tasered by the Halifax Regional Police. It was horrifying. That is the only description I can come up with, other than I feel that it is evidence of police brutality."
March 14, 2009
By DAVENE JEFFREY, Chronicle Herald
Halifax police say they’re not interested in capturing their stun gun use on camera.
Taser International, the company that makes stun guns used by police forces in Nova Scotia, sells a camera which fits onto the gun handle of some models.
"There’s too many issues with them," said Halifax police spokesman Const. Jeff Carr, explaining that his department is aware of the optional add-on.
According to Taser’s website, the camera records audio and video when the gun is used and offers increased accountability.
"A picture is worth a thousand words," the company’s website boasts. The company also says that citizen complaints are down by up to 50 per cent in jurisdictions where police forces use the Taser cam.
"It makes a lot of sense," said NDP justice critic Bill Estabrooks.
Mr. Estabrooks is very clear that he is not against police forces having stun guns and believes they have likely saved lives.
But an audio and video record of every time an officer uses a Taser sounds like "common sense." With a recording, it would be clear what an officer was facing when the weapon was drawn and deployed, the politician said.
Nova Scotia’s Justice Department is also not considering ordering police forces to add the cam to their stun-gun weaponry.
"This is not part of our government’s standards in Nova Scotia at this time," said Justice spokeswoman Sherri Aikenhead.
Some agencies may have gone ahead and purchased the cameras on their own, she said, but the government at this time is not going to make it mandatory.
"It’s really up to the individual agencies," she said.
Tasers have been under attack in Canada over the past couple of years.
Late last month the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police admitted that police have overused the weapon in this country and have not been transparent enough in reporting how they have used the stun gun.
A public inquiry is currently underway into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. He is one of at least 20 people who have died in this country after being zapped with a stun gun.
February 17, 2009
By Richard Foot, Canwest News Service
A public inquiry begins in Halifax on Wednesday into the death of a mentally ill man who died a day after he was hit with a Taser stun gun while in police custody.
Howard Hyde, 45, died in a jail cell in November 2007 — five weeks after the high-profile death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who was Tasered by the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport.
Dziekanski's death is the subject of an ongoing inquiry in B.C.
A Nova Scotia judge will now begin a similar investigation in Halifax, which both Hyde's family and mental-health advocates are hoping will lead to new national standards for the treatment of psychiatric patients in the criminal justice system.
Hyde suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He was arrested by Halifax Police on an assault charge after his girlfriend reported a domestic disturbance, and told police Hyde had not been taking his medication.
Hyde had been Tasered several years earlier, and reportedly had a deep fear of police. As he was being booked at the police station in 2007, he tried to flee. A violent struggle ensued, according to police, and Hyde was Tasered as officers brought him under control.
He was then taken to a hospital emergency department, and later locked up for the night in a corrections facility. The next day, during another struggle with authorities, he collapsed and died, about 30 hours after being shocked with the Taser.
He is the second Nova Scotian to die after being hit with a Taser in the past four years.
Nova Scotia's medical examiner ruled Hyde's death accidental — a result of "excited delirium" due to his mental illness — and not a result of the Taser strike.
But that hasn't stopped family members or health-care advocates asking whether he received proper psychiatric care after his arrest.
In a letter to the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, Hyde's girlfriend Karen Ellet says Hyde was not admitted to the East Coast Forensic Hospital — which treats mentally ill people involved in the justice system — based on an examination of him by a nurse, but not a doctor.
The nurse's decision "has me boiling over," says Ellet in her letter to the Society. "Since when does a nurse (make) such major decisions . . . It should have been a medical mental-health doctor.
"Because of her very, very poor decision, Howard may have been alive today. He was treated as a prisoner, not as a mental-health patient."
Ellet's letter was read to Canwest News Service by Stephen Ayer, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society, who agrees that Hyde should have been admitted to the mental-health hospital.
"There's a lot of questions we want to see addressed in this inquiry," says Ayer, "and they're all very relevant, not only to Mr. Hyde's situation, but to people who live with mental disorders and who come into contact with the law and are restrained, or Tasered, or both.
"There will be lessons out of this for the whole country, and for all police forces that deal with people who live with psychosis and become acutely agitated."
Halifax Police have said they did everything possible to restrain Hyde before using the Taser.
Provincial justice and health officials have declined to comment on the details of the case until the inquiry finishes its work.
RCMP Commissioner William Elliott announced last week that firing a Taser at an "acutely agitated" person does pose a risk of death, and said the force has changed its policy to only allow officers to use Tasers to protect themselves or the public.
February 1, 2008: Halifax teen girl’s tasering was "by the book," police insist
January 30, 2008: Halifax cops had no right to arrest girl they tasered - judge; 'Set up circumstances for intense confrontation'
January 21, 2009 - Judge: tasered girl assaulted police
By DAVENE JEFFREY, Chronicle Herald (Halifax)
A Dartmouth girl who was Tasered by police in her bedroom in February 2007 assaulted police and resisted arrest, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled.
The decision of Justice Heather Robertson, released Tuesday, overturns an earlier decision by provincial court Judge Anne Derrick, who acquitted the girl on Jan. 29, 2008, in Halifax youth court.
Judge Derrick ruled that the girl, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was justified in resisting arrest because officers had overstepped their authority.
Reacting to that decision and the public uproar that followed, Halifax Regional Police took the unusual step of commenting publicly on the case. They said the public only knew about the judge’s decision and did not hear the officers’ testimony about the situation they faced Feb. 19, 2007, in a townhouse on Fundy Lane.
The force defended its officers’ actions in using a stun gun on the girl and announced it was asking the Crown to seek an appeal.
Justice Robertson’s decision also supports the officers. "In short, the police were doing their job and performing their duties lawfully," Justice Robertson wrote.
Police were called to the home by the girl’s mother because trouble was brewing. The 17-year-old was angry with her sister, who had taken her purse without asking, and the girl was threatening to damage the house, the court heard during the trial.
When officers walked into the bedroom, the girl was quietly looking out the window. But when officers told the girl that her mother had asked them to take her out of the house, her attitude changed.
"Certainly (the girl’s) rude and aggressive posturing was a signal to the police of things to come," the judge wrote.
"Her conduct then escalated and became a breach of the peace once the officers began the arrest."
Justice Robertson ordered the girl to go back before Judge Derrick to be sentenced.
September 17, 2008
The Canadian Press
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's medical examiner has found that the death of a man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and collapsed 30 hours after he was Tasered by police was not caused by the powerful stun gun.
Justice Minister Cecil Clarke released the long-awaited findings Wednesday, 10 months after the 45-year-old musician was arrested at his Dartmouth, N.S., apartment over a domestic dispute and later died in a police cell.
Clarke also said he would launch a fatality inquiry into the case to determine what happened to Hyde when he was taken into custody and if the man with a known history of mental illness should have instead been taken to a psychiatric facility.
"That will be a component of the inquiry because it's specific to the process of a person with a mental illness and the appropriateness of where they were and when," Clarke told reporters.
"That's why we need to have that independent assessment."
Medical examiner Dr. Matthew Bowes concluded that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia. He said Hyde's coronary artery disease, obesity and the restraint used by police during a struggle were all factors in his death.
A recent independent report commissioned by the RCMP slammed the use of the term "excited delirium," which is used by police officers to describe combative, resistant suspects.
The report, ordered after a Polish immigrant died following multiple Taserings by Mounties at Vancouver International Airport last October, said the condition is not a recognized medical diagnosis and is used as an excuse to justify firing the 50,000-volt charge.
Some 20 people in Canada have died after they were Tasered.
Stephen Ayer of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia also criticized the finding, saying excited delirium is not a legitimate medical condition.
He said it should be referred to as acute agitation, a condition he says can be fatal if someone is not properly restrained.
"I'm finding it very surprising and extremely concerning that he would rule the death to excited delirium," he said. "It is well known that if you restrain an individual who is acutely agitated, that person can die.
"So how can he rule this as being accidental?"
Clarke said he recognized the controversy around the diagnosis, but added that the examiner's report was peer-reviewed and that he would monitor opinion from the medical community on the issue.
The province has held three separate investigations into the Hyde case to examine police conduct and the use of Tasers.
They found police acted appropriately, but Clarke later modified the rules for Taser use by police. He said the changes would restrict when officers deploy the guns and require a more rigorous explanation as to why they used one.
NDP justice critic Bill Estabrooks said the inquiry only prolongs a process that should have produced answers long ago on what happened to Hyde and why he ended up dying in a police cell.
"We have another layer of bureaucracy, we have another example of delay," he said. "We're not getting many answers today. Now we're going to have to wait even longer."
Hyde had been arrested at his home on Nov. 22 for spousal abuse and taken to police headquarters, where he was shot with a Taser more than once. He later died after struggling with guards in the Dartmouth jail.
In a government news release, excited delirium is described as a disorder characterized by extreme agitation, violent and bizarre behaviour, insensitivity to pain, elevated body temperature, and superhuman strength. It says not all of these characterizations are always present in someone with the disorder.
The fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia will be conducted by a judge, who will have the authority to hold public hearings and hear witnesses.
The independent RCMP report also suggested more attention be paid to factors that may affect risk of harm, including the subject's body weight, pregnancy, medical devices such as pacemakers, psychosis, ingestion of drugs and prolonged acute stress and exhaustion.
September 17, 2008
The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
It was excited delirium, not being zapped with a Taser, that killed Dartmouth resident Howard Hyde in November, Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner ruled today. Matthew Bowes met with the Hyde family today to tell them his findings, according to a government news release.
Mr. Hyde, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, died Nov. 22 about 30 hours after he was Tasered by Halifax police. He had been involved in a scuffle with jail guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.
Dr. Bowes has concluded, however, that Mr. Hyde's death was an accident and that he died from excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia. "Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, obesity and restraint during a struggle were all contributing factors," the government's news release.
Justice Minister Cecil Clarke is holding a news conference in downtown Halifax to explain Dr. Bowes's findings.
Excited delirium has been a controversial diagnosis in Taser-related deaths. The disorder is characterized by extreme agitation, violent and bizarre behavior, insensitivity to pain, elevated body temperature, and/or superhuman strength.
Dr. Bowes's examination found that Mr. Hyde did not die of asphyxiation due to restraint or of being Tasered by police the day before his death. "At my request, the case file was independently reviewed and summarized by Dr. Marnie Wood, a forensic pathologist who was not involved in the initial investigation," Dr. Bowes said in the release.
The province's medical examiner says this marks the end of his investigation.
Come on people - if the RCMP officer says that William Drummond was only tasered once, then it *must* be true! If the RCMP "file itself" has no indication that there was more than one Taser being used, then it *must* be true! RCMP files are never wrong, are they??
Note to William Drummond: Be VERY skeptical of the RCMP's statement that the "electronic record" of the device shows that the taser was deployed only once that day. It has been proven time and again (my brother's case is a classic example) that the electronic record or data download feature cannot be relied upon for any degree of accuracy.
RCMP played that card early in the Dziekanski incident as well (before witnesses and a video came forward with a much different story).
July 30, 2008
ROBYN YOUNG, METRO HALIFAX
William Drummond was allegedly hit with a Taser several more times by a plain-clothes police officer after being tasered once by an RCMP officer Jun. 22.
Rev. Michael Alden Fells of Digby told reporters outside the Halifax Regional Police station yesterday that a witness to the Jun. 22 altercation reported the additional Tasering. “He actually witnessed one of the officers Taser William Drummond three or four times,” Fells said. “He asked him to stop because he thought he was going to kill him.”
Fells says the witness, a young white man named Chad Tid, was reluctant to come forward with this information, but finally filed a statement with Digby RCMP on Monday night. Tid was not at home yesterday but a family member said “he made his statement to police” and he’s not going to answer any more questions about what he saw that night.
Drummond, who was at the protest yesterday said he doesn’t know if he was hit with more than one Taser, but he knows he was shocked three or four times. “I felt two more zaps and then when I was on the ground I felt another one,” he said. Police have confirmed Drummond was Tasered once by an RCMP officer.
Sgt. Mark Gallagher with the RCMP said Drummond was only struck once with a Taser. “The file itself does not have any indications that there was more than one Taser that was being used,” Gallagher said.
April 21, 2008
By KELLY SHIERS, Halifax Chronicle Herald
Police officers used a stun gun on a driver after he tried to flee the scene of an accident in Dartmouth on Sunday night.
The officers had earlier decided not to pursue the man on city streets because he was driving too fast. "He tries to leave the scene and he is Tasered by responding officers because he’s not complying with the orders they’re giving him — basically he was keeping his hands in his pockets and they believed he might be armed," Halifax Police Staff Sgt. Sean Auld said. "He’s been transported to hospital with minor injuries and he’s been arrested for impaired driving and fleeing police."
Staff Sgt. Auld said the vehicle the man was driving had been reported stolen in Cole Harbour and was believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run accident before Halifax police spotted it.
At the time, officers were responding to a call from another driver who reported that he had followed a vehicle from Cole Harbour Road to Portland Street and then to Highway 111. The driver being followed was driving erratically and "at a high rate of speed," the officer said. The caller believed the driver was impaired, he said.
Just before 8:30 p.m., officers observed the vehicle near the Burnside exit on Highway 111, he said.
"They started to pursue it, to try to catch up to it, and he was driving too fast," Staff Sgt. Auld said. "We made the decision to shut down the pursuit. It didn’t last more than 30 seconds."
But just a short time later, the driver lost control of the vehicle on Chappell Street. He drove through a yard and hit a car, then attempted to leave the scene on foot, he said.
March 12, 2008
By BRIAN MEDEL and DAVENE JEFFREY, Halifax Chronicle
Justice officials won’t comment on a document that suggests staff at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth were aware that Howard Hyde was mentally ill. Mr. Hyde, 45, died last Nov. 22 after struggling with guards at the jail. The previous day, Halifax Regional Police had Tasered him at about 2 a.m. as he became highly agitated when he was being booked after his arrest on a spousal assault complaint.
After he was shocked with the stun gun, possibly as many as four times, his face reportedly turned blue and he went into severe distress.
Click here to see the documents
When he was taken to hospital, an emergency room physician at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre observed he was psychotic and suffered from schizophrenia. The doctor agreed to release Mr. Hyde to attend court on condition that he be returned to the hospital, unless a judge ruled he should instead be sent to another medical facility for a forensic psychiatric assessment.
The hospital released him back into police custody shortly after 9 a.m., but Mr. Hyde was not called before a judge until so late in the afternoon that the court did not have time to deal with him that day. But instead of being returned to the hospital, Mr. Hyde was taken to jail, where he scuffled with guards the next morning when they tried to take him back to court. He collapsed and soon died.
In November, Fred Honsberger, the executive director for correctional services in Nova Scotia, said jail staff may have known, "only anecdotally," that Mr. Hyde suffered from schizophrenia. And on Tuesday, Justice Department spokeswoman Carla Grant said: "We wouldn’t want to discuss this particular case. We wouldn’t have anything further to add."
But a transfer document prepared at the jail when Mr. Hyde was rushed to Dartmouth General Hospital after collapsing clearly shows that jail staff knew Mr. Hyde was ill, said his brother-in-law, Dr. Hunter Blair. "Psychosis" and "schizophrenia" are both written on the form that confirms Mr. Hyde was in an unresponsive state with no pulse. The form describes the destination as "DGH," lists escorting officers by last name and says medical information is attached. CPR was begun and 911 called, the form states.
Deputy Chief Tony Burbridge of Halifax Regional Police said documents accompany all prisoners taken to hospital. "In Nova Scotia, when we take somebody to the hospital, there’s a form that we take . . . so everybody is aware or should be aware of what has happened to somebody," he said.
Mental illness often is not considered to be as serious as other types of conditions, said Dr. Blair, a Barrington Passage physician. "If I’m in jail and I complain of chest pain, they’re going to have me off to hospital so fast," he said. "But there is a prejudice against psychotic people."
Liberal justice critic Michel Samson said justice officials need to act now to prevent prisoners like Mr. Hyde from dying in custody. According to documents released to the Hyde family, doctors wanted Mr. Hyde in hospital. "How could (that) be overlooked?" Mr. Samson said. He said he is not demanding a full public inquiry into Mr. Hyde’s death but the Justice Department must review the case immediately.
"Somewhere along the way, information wasn’t shared and medical advice was not followed," Mr. Samson said. "The minister should be calling for a review so he has all the facts in front of him and has a full understanding of why the doctor’s advice was ignored. He has a responsibility to ensure everything is done to prevent this tragedy from happening again."
Mr. Samson is worried about any appearance of bias against the mentally ill in the legal system. "The real fear is that our justice system continues to not give appropriate consideration, not only to all accused, but certainly to accused who suffer from a mental illness," he said.
The Justice Department said it is waiting for two other reports before it decides what to do next. "At this point, it would be premature to consider a public inquiry into this matter in light of the fact that both the RCMP investigation and the chief medical examiner’s report have yet to be completed or have yet to come forward," Ms. Grant said.
The department was unsure when the medical examiner’s or RCMP reports would be finished, but RCMP spokesman Sgt. Mark Gallagher shed some light on the timeline. He said the RCMP cannot finish their work until they read the medical examiner’s report, but that is coming soon. "We’re hoping to have it by the end of the month," he said.
RCMP investigators will read that report and then make their recommendations, he said. NDP Leader Darrell Dexter has called for an inquiry under the Fatality Investigations Act that would cover the last few days of Mr. Hyde’s life.
March 7, 2008
DAVENE JEFFREY, Halifax Chronicle Herald
Canada needs a national database to track deaths that occur in custody, says a senior Halifax Regional Police officer. "I believe that this is something that this country should be tracking," said Deputy Chief Tony Burbridge.
Deputy Chief Burbridge is part of a national committee reviewing the safety of stun guns like Tasers. The committee, which is part of the Canadian Police Research Centre, studied Taser use in 2005 and deemed them safe. But the committee was asked to take a second look at the safety of stuns guns after several people died following the use of the weapons. Two people have died in Nova Scotia after being shocked with stun guns.
The deputy chief said officials are missing a vital tool for assessing the safety of any weapon or method of restraint. "The more information we have when we start using different types of tools, equipment or weapons on people, it may go a long way to identifying who are (at risk) in certain hazardous situations. Right now, I don’t think anybody really knows."
The committee, which met in early January in Victoria, will have its report ready to present at a Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference in August.
The committee will also look at any new medical literature that may have been published since 2005 on Taser use.
All Canadian police forces have been asked to submit frequency-of-use reports relating to stun guns. "I’ll be interested to see the data and how it compares nationally to Nova Scotia." Nova Scotia forces recently submitted their Taser-use statistics to a provincial panel that made its initial Taser report public on Wednesday. Deputy Chief Burbridge is also part of that expert panel.
Halifax Regional Police track the number of times officers unholster their Tasers and when the stun guns are fired during the course of duty. Every police force in the country should have a minimum standard of information they must report regarding the use of force, including Taser use, Deputy Chief Burbridge said.
The committee is also trying to compile a minimum standard for stun gun training across the country.
The first part of the Nova Scotia report, released Wednesday, revealed that there are many discrepancies in training among provincial police forces. The veteran officer would like to see a national weapons-evaluation centre established.
Besides the Nova Scotia review of Taser use and the Canadian Police Research Centre’s study, there are several other reviews being conducted into the death of a Polish man at the Vancouver International Airport late last year.
Robert Dziekanski’s death catapulted the stun gun controversy into the national forefront.
March 6, 2008
CBC News
Halifax's police chief says some officers are ignoring their Tasers and reaching for their night sticks instead, leading to more violent confrontations and injuries. Police Chief Frank Beazley said officers are reluctant to use the stun guns because of the controversy swirling around the weapons.
Halifax police Chief Frank Beazley says the notoriety of Tasers has officers reaching for other tools instead. "It's having a negative impact on officers and the public who are both being injured because we're resorting to other tools," he said, "and when you resort to tools like pepper spray or batons, injuries are going to increase."
The hand-held stun guns deliver a jolt of electricity to the person targeted. Recent Taser-related deaths have re-ignited a national debate about the use of the weapons in Canada. In Nova Scotia, the use of the devices has gone up 80 per cent since 2005, from 101 to 182 times in 2007, according to a provincial report released Wednesday.
The review of stun guns found the Halifax Regional Police, which first acquired nine Tasers in 2002, reported a big drop in injuries in interactions between police and citizens in 2006, after more stun guns were acquired and more officers were trained to use them.
The review also said injury rates went up from 2006 to 2007, though no numbers were given. The authors speculated this was the result of officers being more reluctant to use Tasers.
The review also found that standards for use and training vary among police and correctional agencies. For example, municipal police and officers with sheriff services are required to have eight hours of training to use stun guns, while RCMP and correctional officers need 16.
Beazley said officers under his command are well-trained on how to use the devices. He questions one of the report's suggestions to look at a standard set of rules on Taser use, saying he's not sure that will help. Ian Atkins, the assistant commissioner of the RCMP in Nova Scotia, isn't sold either. "Whether there's actually written policies that say, 'I can use it here and I can't there,' policing is really discretionary," Atkins said. Atkins and six others have been named to an advisory panel that will review the report and make recommendations to Justice Minister Cecil Clarke. Clarke ordered the review of Taser use in Nova Scotia after the death of a Dartmouth man last November.
Howard Hyde, 45, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, was shocked with a stun gun by police. He died 30 hours later in jail, immediately following a struggle with guards. Officials would not link his death to the use of the weapon. A month earlier, Robert Dziekanski, a 40-year-old Polish man, died at Vancouver International Airport shortly after being stunned with a Taser by police. Quilem Registre, 38, of Montreal, was shocked and died later in hospital.
March 5, 2008
Charles Mandel, Canwest News Service
HALIFAX - Police in Nova Scotia are quicker than ever to use Tasers, says a new report released by the provincial Justice Department on Wednesday. But the RCMP says the frequency of use is directly related to an increase in the number of violent incidents that police are responding to, and that the weapon is being used appropriately.
The report found Taser use in Nova Scotia has increased substantially, but standards around the weapon's use and training with it vary widely across provincial police forces.
The application of the weapon rose over the past three years, to 182 times in 2007 from 101 times in 2005, an 80 per cent increase. The hike could be attributed to an overall increase in the number of conducted energy weapons currently in use, the report said.
Although the 42-page report endorsed Tasers as a "promising 'less-lethal' weapon" that allows police to subdue violent attackers, it said several aspects of the weapon need further review. The report noted that the Taser's advantages include its rapid impact, use from a distance, potential for reducing injuries to officers, subjects and bystanders and "its reportedly short duration of physiological impact."
The reported also noted: "But these are the very characteristics that may render the CED (Conducted Energy Device) open to misuse or even abuse, particularly over-reliance on the weapon to subdue subjects when less intrusive means could be effective."
Among the report's recommendations are that the adequacy of current training programs be examined; whether operational procedures clearly outlining Taser use should exist and to what extent the government should be involved in establishing such procedures; and whether current accountability measures are adequate.
Police officials defended the use of the conducted energy weapon. "We feel it's being used when it should be used and at the appropriate time," said Halifax RCMP spokesman Sgt. Mark Gallagher. Gallagher said an increase in the number of violent incidents explains the rise in Taser use by the RCMP provincially - of 55 incidents in 2007, 25 involved armed individuals. Twenty-two of the Taser applications "defused" the situation, Gallagher said. "That could have gone another way had we not had the Taser, so there's certainly a place and a time for it."
Halifax police Chief Frank Beazley said the report's findings that Halifax Regional Police receive less training than provincial RCMP on the use of the device is a misunderstanding. He said his officers receive eight hours of training, while the RCMP's 16 hours of training include other aspects such as the use of pepper spray and first aid. "They do not train for two days just on the Taser."
In Nova Scotia, two people have died after being hit with Taser fire. In 2005, Paul Saulnier died shortly after being stunned, clubbed and pepper-sprayed by police. But it was the death of the second man, 45-year-old Howard Hyde, that prompted Nova Scotia to launch the review into Taser use. Hyde died in a Dartmouth prison last November more than a day after he was shocked with a Taser.
Both men suffered from schizophrenia, and Stephen Ayer of the Nova Scotia Schizophrenia Society criticized the Taser report as ignoring mental health issues.
The Nova Scotia Taser review is one of at least seven probes in Canada over the use of the weapon. Several of the probes are into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after RCMP officers first applied a Taser and then subdued him in December at Vancouver International Airport.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said in the vast majority of cases the use of the Taser has been "a very good thing," with some "unfortunate" exceptions. But Liberal justice critic Michel Samson said the report shows "unacceptable" inconsistencies in the training police receive in Taser use.
February 1, 2008
DAVENE JEFFREY, Halifax Chronicle Herald
Public doesn’t have all the facts, force says
Halifax police struck back at detractors Thursday, insisting their officers went by the book when they Tasered a 17-year-old girl in her bedroom last year. Police said Thursday that the public has no idea what the officers confronted that night and hasn’t heard their side of the story, which a trial transcript says includes an angry crowd gathered outside the room.
Earlier this week, Provincial Court Judge Anne Derrick acquitted the girl of two counts of assaulting police and one count of resisting arrest. In her ruling, Judge Derrick said she was disturbed and disconcerted by the spectacle of the girl’s Tasering.
Since The Chronicle Herald ran that story Wednesday, Halifax Regional Police have been under fire from members of the public and at least one political party. "We are concerned that limited information has been relayed about this matter; only the judge’s decision and comments, and not the details presented as evidence by our officers during the trial, were released to the public," says a police department release. "Further, it is disconcerting to us that individuals and persons of office are weighing in on this matter publicly without having all the facts."
The release says the force would like to tell the whole story but it doesn’t want to jeopardize an appeal or future court proceedings. The department has asked the Public Prosecution Service to determine whether any errors in law were made in the case that would be grounds for an appeal.
On Wednesday, NDP justice critic Bill Estabrooks said he was alarmed by the incident and urged the government to fast-track its review of the use of stun guns in Nova Scotia.
The province, however, won’t be rushed. Justice Minister Cecil Clarke ordered the review last fall after a Dartmouth man died in jail 30 hours after police shocked him with a stun gun. The first phase of the review is expected to be finished by the end of the month. In the meantime, Mr. Clarke is refusing to comment on specific incidents.
The latest furor over Taser use stems from events that occurred Feb. 19, 2007, in a townhouse on Fundy Lane in Dartmouth. A transcript of the girl’s trial obtained Thursday by The Chronicle Herald provides the officers’ account. The court heard about a domestic incident call that quickly became one of the scariest incidents at least one experienced officer had ever been involved in.
Constables Philip MacKenzie, Tara Doiron and Brendan Harvey answered a call from a woman who wanted her angry teenage daughter out of the house before she caused damage. The 17-year-old had been arguing on the telephone with a younger sister, who had taken her purse. The officers testified that they had been told the older girl wanted to get even. When the 17-year-old refused to come downstairs, the officers went upstairs to her room. The girl was standing quietly by a window, and nothing had been damaged.
Const. MacKenzie tried to convince the girl to leave the home, but she refused and became angry. The officers admitted that they had no authority to arrest the girl at that point. Judge Derrick said that the officers should have backed off and spoken further to the girl’s mother. "By not leaving the bedroom that evening, the police set up the circumstances for an intense confrontation," she said.
According to the officers’ evidence, an intense confrontation is what they got. Const. MacKenzie testified that when he reached for the girl’s arm, she swung at him. He said he then pushed her onto the bed. The girl said she snatched her arm away and was pushed to the bed. All agree that the girl began fighting, trying to get two officers off of her. They got a cuff on one of her hands but couldn’t get hold of the other hand.
The girl, who was described as average-size, was yelling, swearing, spitting and growling, the officers testified. That’s when Const. MacKenzie told Const. Harvey to use his stun gun.
"I took off the cartridge and dry-Tasered or touch-Tased her in the lower back," Const. Harvey said. "The idea is just pain compliance to gain compliance for the arrest."
Seconds later the cuffs were on, but the girl was still struggling. At that point, the officers testified, they realized they were in danger. There was a large crowd in the hallway. The girl’s mother had come into the room, as well as a cousin, Wayne Thompson. "All you can see is people outside this door frame," Const. MacKenzie testified. "(Mr. Thompson is) literally (like) this at the door, keeping those people from coming at us." During the ruckus, the lights went out for a few seconds.
"It’s the first time in my career that I felt scared for my safety to the point where (I thought), ‘Oh my God, I’m in grave personal danger here,’ " Const. MacKenzie told the court.
More officers arrived and helped lead the girl through the crowd, downstairs and to the police vehicles. The Crown argued that the officers had the grounds to arrest the girl after her behaviour "crossed the line." Judge Derrick ruled that if a breach of the peace did occur, it happened because of an unlawful arrest.
The girl has said she intends to file a complaint with the police and may sue. Police spokesman Const. Jeff Carr said no complaint had been filed as of late Thursday afternoon.
Taser use made national headlines after a Polish immigrant died at the Vancouver airport on Oct. 14 after he was shocked during a confrontation with RCMP.
British Columbia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador are also conducting reviews of the use of the weapons in their provinces.
January 30, 2008
BRODIE FENLON, Globe and Mail
Troubling new questions are being raised about the police use of tasers just as a House of Commons committee hears Wednesday from one of the inventors of the controversial stun guns.
Top of mind for many MPs will be the acquittal Tuesday of a 17-year-old Halifax girl who was charged last year with assaulting police and resisting arrest after she was tasered in her bedroom during a confrontation with three officers.
Politicians will also be interested in a Chicago study unearthed by CBC News which reportedly found the weapon may not be as safe as the manufacturer claims.
Tom Smith, co-founder of Arizona-based Taser International Inc. and chairman of the company, appeared before the Commons public safety committee Wednesday afternoon.
His testimony follows a provincial court decision Tuesday in which a Halifax judge had harsh words for the city's police service for stunning a teenager when she resisted arrest inside her home. “The spectacle of a 17-year-old girl being tasered in her bedroom is a very disturbing and disconcerting one,” Judge Anne Derrick said.
The arrest happened last February in Dartmouth after the girl's mother asked police to remove the teen from their home. Two male officers and a female officer confronted the girl in her bedroom. When they tried to arrest her for breaching the peace, she fought back. Two officers struggled with the teen while a third hit her once with the taser. Judge Derrick said the police had no legal grounds to arrest her, because there had been no breach of the peace, said Megan Longley, a legal aid lawyer who represented the teen.
“I still am astounded that ... three-full grown police officers cannot find some way to deal with a 17-year-old girl apart from using a taser,” Ms. Longley said, noting her client was unarmed at the time and has no criminal record. “It certainly highlights for me the need for specific policies on taser use,” she said.
The girl, who is now 18 and can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, told reporters outside court she intends to file a complaint against the Halifax Police service and is considering a lawsuit. “I just don't understand why I was tasered because I'm not a criminal,” she said.
Halifax Regional Police Const. Jeff Carr, spokesperson for the service, said he couldn't comment on the arrest or the tasering. However, he said police are taking a close look at the evidence presented at trial and are in discussions with the Crown about an appeal of the judge's decision. Const. Carr also noted that the media did not cover the trial, only the decision, and would not have heard all the evidence.
Mike Taylor, president of the Nova Scotia Criminal Lawyers' Association, agreed that the case raises serious questions about when and why police officers use tasers. “To me, the taser is the last line before the gun is drawn. It's supposed to take the place of that,” said Mr. Taylor, a former Calgary police officer. “It's just completely ludicrous that they would taser a 17-year-old because she was being non-compliant when there was no weapon,” he told globeandmail.com. Mr. Taylor said his view on the necessity of the taser as a police tool has been shaken recently by some high-profile arrests and deaths. He said he welcomes the committee hearing in Ottawa. “There has to be something done in a formal fashion, because some internal report from a police force is not going to satisfy the public at large that the police are being monitored appropriately in the use of the taser.”
CBC News reported Wednesday on a study by a team of doctors and scientists at the trauma centre in Chicago's Cook County hospital that found 11 pigs stunned twice with tasers were left with heart rhythm problems. Two of the animals died from cardiac arrest, one three minutes after being shocked, CBC reported.
A 17-year-old girl who was Tasered by police in her bedroom was acquitted Tuesday of assault by a judge who said the officers had no legal grounds to arrest her. Judge Anne Derrick found the girl not guilty of resisting arrest and assaulting two officers by kicking them in the face during a struggle on her bed.
After her acquittal, the girl said outside court she intends to file a complaint with Halifax Regional Police and is contemplating a lawsuit. "I just don't understand why I was Tasered because I'm not a criminal," she said.
Three officers went to the girl's Dartmouth home last February after her mother asked her to leave following a dispute over the phone with her sister. Upset that the officers were standing in her room, the girl swore at them. When police tried to arrest her, she fought back, was wrestled to her bed and shocked.
Derrick suggested the officers could have done more to try to defuse the situation and wondered why they simply didn't leave the bedroom and speak with the girl's mother. By not doing so, police "set up the circumstances for an intense confrontation," Derrick said. And since the arrest wasn't lawful, the girl was entitled to resist, the judge ruled.
Tasers have been the subject of much discussion in Nova Scotia and elsewhere in Canada in recent months. In November, Howard Hyde died in a Dartmouth, N.S., jail, 30 hours after he was shocked by police during a violent struggle.
The province has since ordered a review of Taser use by police.
December 8, 2007
GRAHAM NORTH, Halifax News
The province outlined a promised review of Taser use in Nova Scotia yesterday, which comes in the wake of the death of Howard Hyde. Hyde, 45, who suffered from schizophrenia, died Nov. 22 in custody 30 hours after he was Tasered twice by the Halifax Regional Police. No connection has been established between the Tasering and Hyde's death, but the incident sparked controversy about the frequency of Taser use.
The review will involve 90 days of collecting data on policies and procedures related to the training, authorization and frequency of Taser use in Nova Scotia, as well as looking at research being conducted across Canada. After a report of the findings is published in February, a panel of experts chosen by the Justice Department will analyze the results and give advice to the minister.
Stephen Ayer, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, welcomes the Taser review, but said he will "demand" representatives with mental illness on the panel of experts. "Experts are experts to the point that they're able to study a phenomenon," he said. The phenomenon can only be studied through a person who lives with the illness, which is why the panel must include those with experience, he said. Karen Moerman agrees. "People with lived experience are experts," she said. Moerman, who has lived with psychoses, hopes the Taser review will ensure that people with mental illness are dealt with in a stepped manner, where the least force is always used first. "There should be no jump to, 'Gee, we don't know how to handle this person ... We better Taser them,'" she said.
Hyde's sister, Joanna Hyde, is skeptical of the investigation, calling it "a diversion from the real question." "I'm wondering if the Department of Justice is trying to get attention onto the Tasers to take away from attention on the judge, who made the decision to return my brother to the correctional centre (rather than sending him to a hospital)," she said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are conducting a formal review of that incident, which they won't release until medical examiners finalize their report. That report could take between four to six months, the province told Joanna Hyde.
November 27, 2007
The Canadian Press
HALIFAX — It could be up to a year before officials clearly understand what killed a Nova Scotia man who died in custody after being tasered by police a day earlier, the RCMP said Tuesday.
Sgt. Mark Gallagher said there are specialized tests that might be needed to determine why Howard Hyde, 45, collapsed and then died last Thursday at a correctional facility following a struggle with guards.
"Toxicology and some of the other samples need to be forwarded to laboratories," he said. "One of the processes could take up to a year." Sgt. Gallagher wouldn't reveal which tests might be needed, but said few labs do them and they are backed up with other cases.
Preliminary autopsy results from tests on Mr. Hyde's organs have been inconclusive, possibly raising the need for the more specialized examinations, he said.
Mr. Hyde, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his 20s, died after being forcibly subdued twice by security guards at the facility in nearby Dartmouth.
Fred Honsberger, executive director of Correctional Services with the provincial Justice Department, said Mr. Hyde refused to enter the admissions office and four or five other officers were called to help subdue him. As he was being lowered to the floor or shortly after, he stopped resisting and stopped breathing. Health staff were immediately called in and attempted to revive him using CPR. It's not clear how much the security guards knew about his health before trying to restrain him, but Mr. Honsberger said Hyde would have been evaluated by nurses when he arrived.
Health Minister Chris d'Entremont said an ongoing RCMP investigation into the case should shed some light on what happened to the amateur musician who had previous run-ins with police. When asked if he was concerned whether health-care workers at the jail might not have told guards of his mental illness for confidentiality reasons, Mr. d'Entremont said there might have been some "miscommunications going on."
"It's always a concern that certain informations are not made public or shared for those kinds of reasons," he said Tuesday. "I don't know until I see a full report on that."
Mr. Hyde had been arrested for assault last Wednesday and was tasered once or twice as he was engaged in a violent struggle with officers at the police station. Critics say Mr. Hyde, whose psychiatric problems were well known to mental health officials, should have received special treatment for his illness rather than being placed in a correctional facility.
Mr. Hyde was tasered by police in 2005, and was convinced the shock had hurt his heart. After he was tasered last Wednesday night, Mr. Hyde went into "medical distress" and was taken to hospital, examined and later released into the custody of correctional officials, police said.
November 26, 2007
Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service
HALIFAX - Staff at a Dartmouth jail followed proper procedure even though a man died last week, a day after he was shocked with a Taser, a review of the death has found. Howard Hyde of Dartmouth, N.S. was shocked last Wednesday after a "violent" struggle with officers at police headquarters as he was being booked into custody.
He died after a second scuffle, with staff at the Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, some 30 hours after he was hit by the police Taser. "Our findings indicate that staff followed proper procedures while this person was in our custody and we are now supporting RCMP in their phase of the investigation," said Fred Honsberger, executive director of Correctional Services with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice. Honsberger made his conclusion following a critical incident review into the death of the 45-year-old Hyde, a paranoid schizophrenic who was off his medications at the time of his death.
Hyde was arrested last Wednesday on charges including assault and resisting arrest. After he was hit with the Taser, he was brought to hospital where he was medically cleared and taken to the correctional facility. Last Thursday, Hyde had a second episode with corrections staff. He was placed in handcuffs and struggled as he was put in a holding cell. Shortly after, he collapsed. Staff called 911 and began CPR. Paramedics took over as they rushed him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
RCMP are conducting their own investigation of the death, which has also led to the provincial government ordering a ministerial review of Taser use in Nova Scotia.
November 23, 2007
Dan Arsenault, Halifax Chronicle Herald
The last hours of Howard Talbot Walden Hyde’s life were spent in conflict with the justice system and in hospital in metro, according to Halifax Regional Police. What follows is a chronology of Mr. Hyde’s final day as outlined by police and a spokesman for the company that provides ambulance service.
Wednesday:
• Police arrest Mr. Hyde, 45, in connection with an assault in Dartmouth just after midnight. He’d been involved in a domestic dispute.
• While being fingerprinted at police headquarters on Gottingen Street in Halifax, Mr. Hyde attempts to jump over the counter in the booking area and flee the building.
• The man struggles violently with officers attempting to subdue him.
Mr. Hyde is shot with a stun gun either once or twice because police were unable to control him.
• He continues to fight, leaps over the counter and attempts to run out the back door in the booking area. Police chase him, and another struggle takes place.
• Mr. Hyde is eventually brought under control but suffers medical distress. Officers at the scene administer first aid.
• Police call Emergency Health Services for an ambulance at headquarters.
• 2:11 a.m.: Paramedics respond to the call. Mr. Hyde is unconscious but breathing.
• Paramedics take him to the new Infirmary at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. Mr. Hyde is assessed in the emergency department and discharged from hospital two to three hours later. He’s released back into police custody.
• Mr. Hyde makes an appearance in Dartmouth provincial court Wednesday afternoon. He’s then returned to custody and sent to the jail in Dartmouth.
Thursday:
• At 7:47 a.m., paramedics are summoned to the jail to attend to a prisoner in cardiac arrest. Sources say Mr. Hyde was involved in a struggle with correctional staff.
• Mr. Hyde is taken to Dartmouth General Hospital. He dies later Thursday morning.
• Provincial justice minister orders a ministerial review into the use of stun guns in Nova Scotia. The review applies to all police forces, correctional staff and sheriff’s deputies.
• An RCMP spokesman says the force will be investigating the circumstances of Mr. Hyde’s sudden death.
November 22, 2007
The Canadian Press
THE RCMP HAS BEEN ASKED TO REVIEW THIS DEATH - OUTRAGEOUS!!!
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's justice minister has ordered a review of the use of Tasers after the death Thursday of a man who was tasered by police a day earlier. But Cecil Clarke said there will not be a moratorium placed on the use of the devices after the death of the unidentified 45-year-old at a correctional facility in nearby Dartmouth.
A police source said the man was involved in a separate "incident" today that might also be linked to his death.
Clarke said he has also asked the RCMP and the province's chief medical examiner to review the death. The RCMP is also conducting a review of the man's arrest by Halifax Regional Police.
Details of what happened were sketchy as Clarke refused to say precisely when the man was shocked or what the time he died, other than it was early Thursday.
"The situation was while within police custody," Clarke told reporters at the provincial legislature.
"It's important the RCMP do their investigation at this time and we hear that investigation and as well that the chief medical examiner undertake the review and give a full report in terms of cause of death."
Clarke said the review will examine Taser practices of authorized users of the devices in the province, including law enforcement, corrections officers and sheriffs.
Tasers have come under heavy scrutiny after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after RCMP officers tasered him at Vancouver International Airport.
Nova Scotia's opposition parties are calling for a broader review of the use of Tasers, but agreed with the government that a moratorium isn't necessary.
Liberal justice critic Michel Samson said a review is also needed of the procedures surrounding the use of Tasers.
"There obviously needs to be a message sent out of assurance to Nova Scotians, but more importantly to our police officers and correctional services that they should almost be a weapon of last resort after what we've been able to learn," he said.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has asked the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to review the force's use of Tasers. As well, the B.C. government will launch a full public inquiry into the Oct. 14 death of Dziekanski.
Dziekanski's death brought to 16 the number of Canadian cases since 2003 in which people died after police use of Tasers.
See the archived map for the period February 2009 to February 2010 here.
