N.S. government trying to hide cause of Hyde's death, sister says

May 13, 2011
By MICHAEL MacDONALD The Canadian Press

The sister of a mentally ill Nova Scotia man whose death in a jail cell prompted a public inquiry is accusing the Nova Scotia government of trying to hide the cause of Howard Hyde's death.

Joanna Blair has written a scathing letter to Premier Darrell Dexter, saying she is ``shocked and saddened'' by the government's official response to the inquiry, released Thursday.

Blair's letter says the government has ``failed'' her brother and all Nova Scotians because its response is at odds with the inquiry's conclusion that Hyde's death was caused by a struggle with guards whose restraint techniques may have interfered with his breathing.

Instead, Blair says, the government's response revives a medical examiner's conclusion that Hyde died of a condition known as excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia — a controversial finding rejected by the head of the inquiry, provincial court judge Anne Derrick.

``This 52-page brochure ... succeeds only in propounding the use of the term 'excited delirium,''' Blair writes in the letter, released Friday.

``We requested the inquiry because we did not believe my brother died of the now renamed 'autonomic hyperarousal state.'''

The government's response says the province has yet to clarify its guidelines for Taser use, saying a ``clear understanding of how the use of conducted energy weapons may affect individuals in an autonomic hyperarousal state is needed.''

A spokeswoman for Dexter confirmed his office received the letter, but the premier had yet to read it.

In her inquiry report released in December, Derrick said she agreed with one expert who testified that citing excited delirium as a cause of death resulted in Hyde being ``identified as the culprit.''

``The only useful approach is to understand that Mr. Hyde died because of physiological changes in his body brought on by an intense struggle involving restraint,'' Derrick wrote. ``He did not die because he was mentally ill.''

She also said there is considerable controversy within the medical community as to whether excited delirium is a legitimate medical condition.

The issue received considerable scrutiny during Derrick's 11-month inquiry, as it did during the public inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died in October 2007 after he was Tasered by a Mountie at Vancouver International Airport.

A subsequent independent report commissioned by the RCMP also criticized the use of the term, saying the condition is sometimes used as an excuse to justify firing stun guns.

In February 2009, the RCMP restricted the use of stun guns to cases involving threats to officers or public safety, confirming that officers had previously been instructed to use the weapons to subdue suspects thought to be in a state of excited delirium.

That term no longer appears in RCMP operational manuals because the force has taken the position that its officers can't be expected to ``diagnose conditions.''

In her letter, Blair also suggests it was wrong to describe her brother as mentally ill.

``That the government of Nova Scotia could attempt to mask the actual cause of death, restraint, and couch my brother's fate within the fabrication of the ignorant and unthinking terminology of 'mental illness' — a term he never agreed with — is staggeringly disheartening.''

During Derrick's inquiry, which wrapped up last June, the judge was told Hyde had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was in his 20s.

Hyde death prompts N.S. changes

May 12, 2011
CBC News

The Nova Scotia government says it is still trying to mend gaps in the justice system more than three years after the jail cell death of a mentally ill man.

Howard Hyde died on Nov. 22, 2007, after a struggle with guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, N.S., in which the 45-year-old schizophrenic man was shocked with a Taser up to five times in the 30 hours before he died.

"People with mental illness are from time to time going to come into the justice system. We really need to have a much better, seamless, relationship between these two departments," Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said of her department and the Justice Department.

Hyde fell through the cracks between the justice system and the health system, with doctors releasing him to police, expecting he would be sent for a mental-health assessment. He was never sent for an assessment and died in police custody.

Three weeks ago, Nova Scotia opened an intensive care ward at the East Coat Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Burnside. Hyde would likely have been sent there, had it existed at the time.

Call for stun gun restraint

In December, provincial court Judge Anne Derrick released a report into Hyde's death that concluded the repeated jolts from the Taser did not cause him to die. She also said excited delirium — a condition characterized by increased strength, paranoia and suddenly violent behaviour marked by profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate — was not the cause of death.

"The only useful approach is to understand that Mr. Hyde died because of physiological changes in his body brought on by an intense struggle involving restraint," Derrick wrote at the time.

"He did not die because he was mentally ill."

As one of Derrick's 80 recommendations, she said stun guns should not be used against emotionally agitated people, except as a last resort.

In its formal response to Derrick's report, the government said Thursday that the use of stun guns has dropped since Hyde's death but provincial guidelines on the use of conducted energy weapons are still being finalized.

Better than lethal options

Justice Minister Ross Landry and MacDonald had little to say about the other recommendations in Derrick's report and simply said the training program for those dealing with mentally ill people had been revised.

"You can see upon some occasions where not having that instrument you might have to resort to another piece of equipment that could give lethal force," Landry said.

The ministers said all of the judge's recommendations were considered, including increasing funding for mental health services.

MacDonald said a mental health strategy, to be released in the fall, will provide more details on the 90 actions the government is taking. Of those actions, 20 have to do with training in dealing with people with mental health issues as well as conducted energy weapons.

The government did not say how much it would cost to implement these actions or when it would be in place.

"Unfortunately Howard died and that's very troubling," said Stephen Ayer of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia. 'However things have changed immensely because of his death."

Culture shift needed in society, system

December 9, 2010
MARILLA STEPHENSON, Chronicle Herald

In the end, who failed Howard Hyde?

Perhaps, to some degree, we all did.

There is really no way to dress up the realities of mental illness. It is not pretty, and it can be a very tough challenge to support people in crisis. The people who live closest to those who suffer from mental illnesses are victims of the illnesses, too.

There is also no way to disguise or excuse how our society has continued to respond to people who experience mental illnesses. The stigmas are clear and well understood, even by young children in our schools. The branding begins early.

Hyde is the Dartmouth man who died in custody in 2007. He suffered from schizophrenia. The police were told of his mental illness when he was taken into custody over allegations of domestic abuse. He later died after an intense struggle with prison guards.

Provincial court Judge Anne Derrick released the fatal inquiry report into Hyde’s death on Wednesday. She firmly rejected a previous finding by a pathologist that he had died due to a condition termed "excited delirium."

Derrick dismissed that finding as a "red herring" that did not exist in Hyde’s case.

She also found that while the repeated use of a Taser on Hyde during his time in police custody "worsened the situation," it was not the cause of his death. She did, however, remind justice officials that so-called stun guns are to be used as an alternative to lethal force rather than as a front-line option to subdue suspects who are emotionally disturbed.

His death was accidental, Derrick found, but it came as a direct result of his struggle with prison guards.

In the comprehensive list of 80 recommendations, Derrick tossed the ball firmly into the hands of the provincial government.

She begins by calling for the establishment of a long-promised, but still absent, mental health strategy. It is clearly not by accident that this basic framework is at the top of the list as a necessary building block from which other improvements would naturally evolve.

The judge also calls on the province to increase funding for mental health, but not to do it by reallocating funds from within the existing envelope of health-care funding. This reflects the fact that mental health issues have for too long languished on the list of health-care priorities.

We are left with a fractured, often inaccessible mental health system where vanishing waiting lists are proudly waved around by government as proof of treatment for patients. Improvements are being made, and Derrick’s report makes note of policy changes that have already occurred in the justice system in the wake of Hyde’s death.

But it is hard to comprehend that none of the guards involved in the struggle with Hyde minutes before he died had any training to help them deal with prisoners who suffer from mental illness.

One seemingly innocuous recommendation, No. 49 on Derrick’s list, speaks volumes. Directed at justice system staff and other front-line officials who are in contact with prisoners who suffer from mental illness, it is brief and to the point:

"Training should have, as its overarching purpose, the development of a culture of respect and empathy for persons with mental illness in the justice system."

This is a statement that reaches beyond the justice system and into our society as a whole. While mountains have been moved in reducing the acceptance of stereotypes linked to mental illnesses, many of the most basic government services — justice and health among them — are still handcuffed by systemic ignorance.

The judge called for alternatives for people with mental illness who come in conflict with the law, and says the responsibility reaches well beyond the justice system.

"As the evidence before the inquiry has vividly illustrated, grasping this nettle is not just the responsibility of the justice system; creativity and commitment to change are required of the health system and the community, too."

The principles of respect and empathy provide a good place from which to start.

Major recommendations from inquiry report into death of Howard Hyde

December 8, 2010
Charlottetown Guardian

HALIFAX - Major recommendations contained in the Nova Scotia fatality inquiry report into the death of Howard Hyde:

Stun guns should not be applied to people in a state of agitation due to an emotional or psychological disturbance except as a last resort once it has been determined that crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques have not worked.

The province's Justice Department should overhaul the manual it uses for stun gun training to significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the reliance on Taser International resource materials.

Crisis intervention training should be provided to all correctional officers at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.

Video surveillance cameras should be installed in health care segregation cells to ensure that correctional officers are able to more readily identify that a prisoner is in crisis.

Training should improve for front-line police officers, correctional officers and physicians on a variety of fronts, from note-taking to the preparation of health information transfer forms.

The province's justice minister should conduct an annual review on the implementation of these recommendations.

Taser-inquiry judge rejects excited delirium as cause of Nova Scotia man’s death

December 8, 2010
Globe and Mail

A Nova Scotia judge probing the death of a paranoid schizophrenic man who was tasered during violent struggles in custody rejected an official finding of excited delirium, calling the diagnosis “riddled with issues.”

Provincial Court Justice Anne Derrick noted in a massive report into the death of Howard Hyde that excited delirium is not recognized in the psychiatric lexicon and can be a convenient way to explain otherwise mysterious fatalities.

“The use of excited delirium to explain sudden deaths with no anatomic findings implies that the person had something wrong with them that caused their inexplicable death,” she wrote. “Manner of death may then be classified as ‘natural’ rather than ‘accidental.’ I ... do not accept that this would have been appropriate in Mr. Hyde’s case or in similar cases.”

Her finding contradicts that of the province’s chief medical officer, who determined that Mr. Hyde’s death in November of 2007 was due to “excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.”

Judge Derrick concluded that Mr. Hyde’s death was accidental, resulting from the struggles to restrain him.

Mr. Hyde, a 45-year-old musician who was off his medication, was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. His booking spiralled out of control and he was tasered repeatedly and physically restrained as he tried to flee police headquarters.

He was revived by police and kept until morning in hospital, where he was given anti-psychotic medication. A psychiatric assessment was recommended but police said he had to be brought before a judge. The day after his arrest Mr. Hyde was transferred to a local jail. The assessment had not been done and he had no medication.

Mr. Hyde collapsed and died the next day after struggles with guards at the jail.

Judge Derrick concluded that both police and jail guards used reasonable and proportionate force. She found that the taser did not cause the Dartmouth man’s death and ruled out a ban on the weapons. But she determined that its deployment in this case, although within existing police guidelines, was “ill-advised.”

“In Mr. Hyde’s case it subjected an acutely anxious man to excruciating pain,” she wrote. “I have found on the evidence that the use of the [conducted-energy weapon] on Mr. Hyde worsened the situation.”

She concluded that Mr. Hyde did not assault any of the police officers and that physical contact he made with them was related to his “terrified attempts to get away .. or ward off the CEW.”

Judge Derrick recommended that police use these weapons on agitated people only as a last resort and that the Department of Justice should “reduce if not eliminate” reliance on resource materials from Taser International.

Lawyers and family members involved with the inquiry received their copies of the report at the same time as it was made public Wednesday and are not expected to comment until later in the day.

Judge Derrick began the fatality inquiry 11 months ago; it is the longest in the province’s history.

Surveillance video viewed during the inquiry showed part of the lead-up to the fracas at police headquarters. Other parts happened off camera but were audible.

The audio recording from the surveillance video indicated that tension escalated quickly in the fingerprint room, an area just off the booking room. Police testified that Mr. Hyde looked “scared” and tried to back away as police went to cut the knotted drawstring on his shorts.

Audio from the surveillance recording includes a passage that sounds like “we're just going to cut one of those balls off.” This, police said, was a reference to the drawstring.

Judge Derrick called the choice of words “unfortunate” but added that the officer couldn’t have known the effect they would have on Mr. Hyde.

Voices were raised and then someone – the three officers present testified under oath that it was not them – is heard making an expletive-laden statement resembling “you're going to be doing the dance next.”

Judge Derrick accepted that the officers had not said this. She wrote that the words had likely come from Mr. Hyde, “reflecting his perception” that police were going to harm him.

Seconds later, Mr. Hyde apparently tried to make a run for it. He was tackled behind the booking counter of police headquarters and tasered. He broke free, leapt over the counter and was tasered again in a nearby hallway. He stopped breathing there and had to be revived.

From there, Mr. Hyde was brought to hospital and then jail. He was convinced there were “demons” in the jail and struggled with guards. He collapsed and died in jail, 30 hours after his arrest.

“Mr. Hyde died because of physiological changes in his body brought on by an intense struggle involving restraint,” Judge Derrick concluded. “The manner of Mr. Hyde’s death was accidental.”

Hyde report to be released today

December 8, 2010
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

Three years after Howard Hyde died in a Halifax-area jail cell, a provincial court judge will release an inquiry report today that is expected to recommend far-reaching changes to the way police, corrections and health authorities deal with the mentally ill.

The 11-month probe, led by Judge Anne Derrick, was the longest fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia’s history.

"I’m looking forward to her recommendations," said Dan MacRury, the inquiry’s lead council. "I’m very hopeful they will be a catalyst for positive change in the system . . . There is change coming."

During the hearings, which wrapped up last June, Derrick learned Hyde was a 45-year-old musician from Dartmouth who had long taken medications to cope with schizophrenia.

But on the night of Nov. 21, 2007, something went terribly wrong.

Hyde’s common-law wife, Karen Ellet, called a crisis hotline to complain he had assaulted her while in a psychotic state.

Police were dispatched and Hyde was arrested, but not before Ellet told them her husband had not been taking his medication and required psychiatric help.

Despite her plea, Hyde was never given the help he needed. The inquiry heard from multiple witnesses who testified that a psychiatric assessment would have helped the man, but a series of snafus, misunderstandings and overlapping jurisdictions got in the way.

In his final submission to the inquiry, MacRury said: "The system has to ensure that if someone like Mr. Hyde comes into contact with the justice system and the health system in need of psychiatric care, they receive it in a timely manner."

Police officers testified they had to bring Hyde before a judge because he was facing allegations of domestic abuse. But the booking process quickly spiralled out of control inside the Halifax police station.

A surveillance camera captured the moment when an officer told Hyde a utility knife would be used to remove a knot from the drawstring in Hyde’s shorts, saying: "I just have to cut off one of those balls there."

At that point, Hyde sprinted toward the booking counter, where he was tackled and Tasered.

The officers involved in the scuffle testified that Hyde displayed incredible strength as he fought them off, eventually vaulting over the counter and running toward a hallway, where he was again Tasered as officers struggle to control him.

Police testified that Hyde went limp and his heart had stopped after the Tasering. But paramedics revived the man and took him to hospital, where he received anti-psychotic medication and a recommendation for a psychiatric assessment.

But there was confusion over who would handle the assessment, given that police were saying Hyde had to be brought before a judge.

Hyde was released from hospital in the morning with a doctor’s note scrawled on a health information transfer form, saying he should be returned to the emergency department if the court failed to provide him with an assessment.

Again, there was confusion as to how those instructions would be carried out.

Police testified they didn’t have the jurisdiction to detain Hyde, and the sheriff’s deputies at the court said they weren’t allowed to disclose health documents to the Crown and defence lawyers.

In the end, Hyde was transferred from the court to the province’s largest jail — without medications and without an assessment.

The inquiry heard that early on Nov. 22, 2007, Hyde tried to escape from a correctional worker because he believed there were "demons" at the end of a long, windowless hallway. Two struggles ensued. Hyde died in a holding cell amid a tangle of guards.

A medical examiner concluded the cause of death was excited delirium with three contributing factors: the restraint technique used by guards and Hyde’s obesity and heart disease.

Excited delirium is a condition characterized by increased strength, paranoia and suddenly violent behaviour marked by profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate.

Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer representing Hyde’s sister, Joanna, told Derrick that the cause of death was likely a guard’s restraint method, which he said left Hyde on his stomach, struggling to breathe.

MacDonald recommended Derrick call for a ban on the use of Tasers and an overhaul of police restraint techniques.

"We want to hear from the judge as to her views on what happened to Mr. Hyde," MacDonald said. "That is part of her mandate: determining cause of death and the circumstances leading to his death."

Report in Hyde fatality inquiry expected Wednesday

December 3, 2010
By Greg Bennett, The Coast Guard

A report from the fatality inquiry into the death of the former Shelburne man, who died 30 hours after being tasered by Halifax Regional Police in November 2007, will be released this Wednesday.

Justice Anne Derrick will release the fatality inquiry report into the death of Howard Hyde, which will examine the circumstances under which he died, the cause of death and the manner of death. Justice Derrick may make recommendations about any matters arising from the inquiry.

The inquiry opened on Feb. 18 at Halifax Provincial Court and heard submissions mainly over the summer

Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner, Dr. Matthew Bowes, concluded in 2008 that Hyde died of “excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.”

Coronary artery disease, obesity and restraint during a struggle were also contributing factors, according to the findings released on Sept. 17, 2008.

Dr. Bowes didn’t uncover evidence that the taser, used on Hyde by Halifax Regional Police, caused his death.

Hyde, who was living in Dartmouth at the time of his death, had a history of paranoid schizophrenia.

Excited delirium is a controversial disorder characterized by extreme agitation, violent and bizarre behavior, and insensitivity to pain, elevated body temperature, and superhuman strength.

Restraint technique led to Hyde's death: lawyer

June 9, 2010
CBC News

The death of a mentally ill Nova Scotia man who fell unconscious after struggling with jail guards was the result of a dangerous restraint technique that stopped his breathing, a lawyer for the man's family told an inquiry Wednesday.

Kevin MacDonald made the argument in his closing submission to an inquiry into the 2007 death of Howard Hyde, a 45-year-old man who battled schizophrenia for most of his adult life.

"It is our view that, but for the restraint, Mr. Hyde would still be alive today," MacDonald said afterwards. "And it was that prone restraint that caused a chemical imbalance in his body that led to his death."

Evidence presented at the inquiry, including a surveillance video, showed that correctional officers at the Halifax-area jail had placed Hyde on his stomach. One officer held his shoulders while two others held his legs, locking his left ankle behind his right knee.

As well, MacDonald argued that a fourth guard — Sgt. Todd Henwood — placed his weight on Hyde's back, even though he testified that he did no such thing.

"He was struggling to survive, struggling to breathe," MacDonald told the inquiry.

Henwood had testified that he was only holding Hyde's wrists, which were cuffed behind his back.

MacDonald said he didn't accept a medical examiner's finding that Hyde died of a rare condition known as excited delirium, which is characterized by increased strength, paranoia and suddenly violent behaviour marked by profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate.

He said Halifax Regional Police must change its restraint policies, noting that the existing guidelines state that people should not be held in the prone position for longer than three minutes.

"It's a dangerous position for three minutes," the lawyer told the inquiry. "It was too long in this case, for sure."

Lawyer criticizes police
MacDonald focused much of his criticism on Halifax police, who he accused of making faulty assumptions and failing to pass along key information. He also said they treated Hyde with contempt and used excessive force.

Sandra MacPherson Duncan, the lawyer representing Halifax police, said the department was unfairly criticized during the inquiry through supposition, innuendo and conjecture.

"Nobody meant Mr. Hyde any harm," she said, noting that he showed little insight to his problems and was prone to violence when he was off his medication.

MacPherson Duncan also challenged recommendations that police require more training in crisis intervention.

"All the crisis intervention training in the world will not help if the mentally ill don't get the treatment they need," she said, suggesting that the lack of resources within the health care system was a key factor in Hyde's tragic case.

She cited testimony from officers who said they remain frustrated with a system that routinely turns away people pulled off the streets in the throes of psychotic behaviour.

A resident of nearby Dartmouth, Hyde was arrested in the early hours of Nov. 21, 2007, after his common-law wife, Karen Ellet, accused him of assaulting her. She told police he was having a psychotic episode and had not been taking his medication.

Closing submissions wrap Thursday
Hyde was taken to the Halifax police station, where he was stunned with a Taser up to five times when he tried to flee the building.

The inquiry heard that Hyde bolted from a search room after an officer told him he was about to use a knife to cut the knotted drawstring on his shorts.

The repeated stuns from the Taser left Hyde unconscious, but he was revived and taken to hospital where he received medication. Doctors at the hospital concluded he needed a psychiatric assessment, but that never happened.

Instead, he was taken to court and then to the jail, where he died on the morning of Nov. 22, 2007.

MacPherson Duncan argued that the use of the stun gun was justified as a means to quickly immobilize a person who posed a threat to the officers' safety.

She stressed that police were following provincial standards when they zapped Hyde during a "logical escalation" of events as they struggled with him.

"To suggest that the CEW (conducted energy weapon) is not viable in those circumstances is just wrong," she said. "Offenders, mentally ill or not, have no right to put officer safety and the public's safety as risk."

The closing submissions wrap up Thursday.

Tasers shouldn't be used on mentally ill: inquiry

June 9, 2010
CTV

HALIFAX — Tasers should not be used to restrain people known to be suffering from a mental illness or showing signs of emotional disturbance, the lead counsel for an inquiry into the death of a schizophrenic Nova Scotia man recommended Tuesday as the probe drew to a close.

Dan MacRury, in his closing submission, said the inquiry heard expert evidence that Howard Hyde's death in a Halifax-area jail cell on Nov. 22, 2007, was not linked to the repeated jolts he received from a stun gun while in police custody 30 hours earlier.

However, MacRury said a decision by Halifax police to repeatedly use a Taser on Hyde when he tried to flee a downtown police station only served to enrage a man who needed psychiatric treatment instead of incarceration.

"The use of the Taser on Mr. Hyde had the opposite effect than the officers had anticipated," MacRury told the inquiry, noting that police were told by Hyde's common-law wife that he was suffering a psychotic episode and had not been taking his medication for months when he allegedly assaulted her.

"The Taser, rather than being a debilitating influence, escalated the level of agitation, strength and mental disturbance of Mr. Hyde."

The inquiry, which started last July, heard that Hyde's sudden burst of strength could be attributed to a condition known as autonomic hyperarousal or excited delirium.

The condition is characterized by several traits, including incoherence, paranoia and suddenly intense, violent behaviour marked by profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate. In some cases, individuals die suddenly. Researchers have yet to determine why this happens.

In Hyde's case, police testified that they believed his heart stopped when he was eventually tackled and restrained in a hallway of the station.

Hyde, a 45-year-old musician, was revived by paramedics and later taken to hospital where he was given anti-psychotic medication. But he was released several hours later on the condition he get psychiatric help once he appeared before a judge.

But that never happened.

He died the next day as guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility wrestled him to the ground after he refused to walk down a hallway, saying he thought there were "demons" at the other end.

The medical examiner ruled that the cause of Hyde's death was excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia with three contributing factors: restraint, obesity and heart disease.

MacRury said police in Nova Scotia should be told to stop using Tasers on mentally ill people, or those showing symptoms, because of the increased risk of serious injury and death, particularly for those in a state of excited delirium.

The recommendation was one of 62 MacRury submitted to the inquiry.

"The evidence is clear: crisis intervention techniques do work and the application of Tasers do not," MacRury said.

However, the lawyer representing Nova Scotia's attorney general said the provincial government can't support MacRury's recommendation.

Dana MacKenzie said that police, sheriffs and corrections officers would be put in the awkward position of having to guess whether or not a threatening person is mentally ill.

"It would be incredibly difficult to implement," she told the inquiry.

Later, MacRury stressed that the inquiry's focus was not on the use of stun guns.

"This is an inquiry on how we treat the mentally ill when they come in contact with the system," he said.

Most of MacRury's other recommendations called for improved training and communication systems for those who encounter the mentally ill within the criminal justice system and the health-care sector.

The inquiry heard that there were numerous miscues and persistent confusion among health and justice officials as Hyde's case moved through the system.

Information about his mental illness and previous scrapes with the law was not passed on and there was confusion about the use of a key health form and the proper use of various psychiatric assessments.

"From the first contact with Mr. Hyde by police, it is clear that there was a need for mental health training and better communications," MacRury said.

He said a senior official at the deputy minister level should be appointed as director of mental health in criminal justice to oversee the province's mental health strategy and manage a committee that would help implement the inquiry's recommendations.

As well, MacRury recommended:

-- Expanding the role of the province's mobile mental health crisis team, transforming it into a 24-hour service.

-- Providing training for police to recognize and handle people suffering from mental illness, including the addition of classroom instruction and role playing.

-- Requiring all police, sheriffs and correctional officers to take part in crisis intervention training.

-- Training emergency room doctors about the court system and the role of forensic psychiatric assessments and their options under the Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Act.

-- Appointing two Crown attorneys who specialize in mental illness.

"Mr. Hyde suffered from schizophrenia which, in itself, should not be a death sentence," MacRury told the inquiry.

"However ... it is the fervent belief that as sad and needless as Howard Hyde's death may have been, it will serve as a catalyst to improve our institutions and the community for people suffering from schizophrenia."

The inquiry, described as one of the biggest of its kind in Nova Scotia history, heard from 86 witnesses during 54 days of hearings, creating 12,000 pages of testimony.

The head of the inquiry, Judge Anne Derrick, is expected to hear 196 recommendations from inquiry lawyers before she turns her attention to writing a final report.

Final submissions are expected to wrap up Thursday.

Fatality Inquiry Into The Death Of Howard Hyde

Live webcast coverage of the closing submissions (June 8-10, 2010) at the fatality inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde can be seen HERE.

Final submissions for N.S. Taser death inquiry

June 8, 2010
CTV

HALIFAX — Closing submissions begin today at a public inquiry into the death of mentally ill Nova Scotia man in a Halifax-area jail cell more than two years ago.

The official record says Howard Hyde died of a condition known as excited delirium as he struggled with jail guards.

But the inquiry heard in February from a clinical psychiatrist who said excited delirium is a term favoured by law enforcement and coroners even though it is not accepted as a medical or psychiatric diagnosis.

The 45-year-old Hyde was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 20s.

He died on Nov. 22, 2007, a day after he was Tasered up to five times by Halifax police shortly after his arrest for an alleged assault.

Officers have testified that Hyde was soaked in sweat and possessed superhuman strength as he tried to flee the building.

Hyde was later taken to hospital but he was released several hours later on the condition he get psychiatric help once he appeared before a judge, but that never happened.

Hyde died the next day as guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility wrestled him to the ground after he refused to walk down a hallway because he thought there were "demons" at the other end.

MD at taser inquiry doubts ‘excited delirium' caused Nova Scotia man's death - Term is ambiguous and often misapplied by police: psychiatrist

February 3, 2010
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

The official record says Howard Hyde died of a condition known as excited delirium as he struggled with guards inside a Halifax-area jail cell more than two years ago.

But an inquiry into the sudden death of the mentally ill Nova Scotia man heard Wednesday from a clinical psychiatrist who said those who use that term subscribe to an “ideology” that he doesn't accept.

Dr. Joseph Noone, an expert on the clinical aspects of violent behaviour, said excited delirium is a term favoured by law-enforcement officials and coroners even though it is not accepted as a medical or psychiatric diagnosis.

“I'm not a fan of excited delirium,” he testified. “It's a controversial term used strongly in certain areas.... There's a real concern that the term could be misused.... It's very unsatisfactory from a psychiatry point of view.”

The mysterious condition is characterized by several traits, including incoherence, paranoia and suddenly intense, violent behaviour marked by extraordinary strength, profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate. In some cases, individuals die suddenly. Researchers have yet to determine why this happens.

The inquiry has heard that Mr. Hyde, a 45-year-old musician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 20s, demonstrated most of the traits in the hours before he died on Nov. 22, 2007.

Causes of excited delirium may include schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses, drug intoxication, alcohol withdrawal and heat stroke, experts say.

Soon after he was arrested for an alleged assault, Mr. Hyde was tasered up to five times when he tried to escape from the police station in downtown Halifax. Officers have testified that Mr. Hyde was soaked in sweat and possessed superhuman strength as he tried to flee the building.

Mr. Hyde was later taken to hospital, where he was given medication; but he was released several hours later on the condition he get psychiatric help once he appeared before a judge.

That never happened.

Mr. Hyde died the next day as guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility wrestled him to the ground after he refused to walk down a hallway because he thought there were “demons” at the other end.

Dr. Noone, manager of psychiatric intensive care at the Riverview Hospital, in Coquitlam, B.C., produced a report for the inquiry that states use of the term excited delirium when describing cause of death can result in the deceased being labelled as the culprit.

“The attractiveness of the term may relate to some of its proponents having ... the subjective perception that conducted energy weapon use and physical, mechanical restraint used by law enforcement officers deserves to be excluded or absolved as contributing in any way to an in-custody death,” the report says.

“The deceased is identified as the culprit and must have had the condition of excited delirium.”

Dr. Noone testified that the term implies those in the throes of excited delirium “had something wrong with them” to begin with. “And if they died, they were going to die anyway.

“Excited delirium (proponents) say that people walk around in this state where they could drop at any moment. In my experience, they are not dropping at any moment.”

He said he preferred the term emotionally disturbed person, “because then you're not making any assumptions about what you've got or what you've think you've got.... There's no implications of diagnosis or cause.”

An independent report commissioned by the RCMP also criticized the use of the term excited delirium. The report, ordered after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after multiple taserings by Mounties at Vancouver International Airport, said the condition is sometimes used as an excuse to justify firing stun guns.

Dr. Noone's provocative comments followed testimony Monday from Dr. Christine Hall, an expert in excited delirium who told the inquiry there were many warning signs suggesting Mr. Hyde was suffering from the condition as he was taken into custody.

Dr. Hall, a researcher and emergency-room doctor based in Vancouver, said the “constant and repetitive nature” of Mr. Hyde's pacing inside a jail cell was a strong clue he was in a highly agitated state. She stressed that excited delirium, a term coined by pathologists in the 1980s, is not a diagnosis but rather a condition stemming from an underlying disorder. Dr. Hall also testified that she didn't believe the tasering caused Mr. Hyde's death.

Hyde suffered mental condition before jail death: expert

February 1, 2010
The Canadian Press

An expert says there were "many red flags" warning that Howard Hyde was suffering from excited delirium in the hours before he died in a jail cell.

Christine Hall, an emergency room doctor based in Vancouver, testified Monday at an inquiry into Hyde's death at a provincial jail in the Halifax area in November 2007. He had been shocked with a stun gun 30 hours earlier.

Hall, a researcher with the Canadian Police Research Centre, says the "constant and repetitive nature" of Hyde's behaviour was one strong clue that the diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic was suffering from a condition known as excited delirium.

In Hyde's case, surveillance videotapes show him constantly pacing in his cell for hours on end in an unchanging pattern. Hall says this behaviour suggests Hyde was in a highly agitated state — a clear signal that he was suffering from excited delirium.

After Hyde's death, a medical examiner concluded that the cause of death was excited delirium, a sometimes-fatal condition stemming from schizophrenia.

Hyde, a 45-year-old musician, had a long history of paranoid schizophrenia.

Last year, the inquiry was told that Halifax police are training officers to better defuse volatile situations with the mentally ill before having to resort to the use of a Taser.

The officer responsible for training police on the use of force said last year that he expects new training guidelines will emphasize that people displaying signs of excited delirium should be treated as medical emergencies in need of immediate attention.

The inquiry has heard that some signs of the condition are profuse sweating, super-human strength, delusions and being impervious to pain— some of which Hyde displayed at the time.

Hyde was arrested following a complaint of domestic assault. He was taken to police headquarters, where he was shocked with a Taser, after becoming agitated as officers tried to fingerprint him. He died the following day at the correctional facility.

The inquiry is looking at how police officers and others in the justice system treated Hyde, who was off his medications and had been acting erratically leading up to his death.

Howard Hyde Inquiry - Proposed Witness List

February 1-2 - Dr. Christine Hall
February 3-4 - Dr. Joseph Noone
February 8 - Dr. J. Kinlay
February 9-10 - Dr. Charles Kerr
February 11 - Dr. Theriault and a psychiatric nurse from QEII
February 15-16 - Dr. Stephen Hucker
February 17-18 - Dr. Michael Howlett
February 19 - Dr. Sarban Singh
February 22 - Cst. Delton MacDonald (Cape Breton Regiobnal Police Liaison Officer)
February 23 - Steve Lurie, CBMHA, Ontario
February 24-25 - Dr. Michael Webster
February 26 - Paul Kennedy, Training Officer, Department of Justice

Lawyer tells inquiry he wanted Taser victim released

December 12, 2009
The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — The lawyer representing a mentally ill man who died in police custody says he didn't ask for a psychiatric evaluation of his client, Howard Hyde, because he was trying to get him released.

Speaking through his lawyer Mark Knox, Peter Planetta says he runs into people with mental health issues on a daily basis and rarely asks for an assessment because it's not a therapeutic endeavour.

He says it also means a client will spend up to 30 days in jail.

Knox says Planetta, who testified Friday at the Hyde inquiry in Halifax, was also concerned that his client would have run the risk of giving incriminating evidence to a doctor, who wouldn't have legal privilege.

Knox says Planetta knew too that in Hyde's case, the Crown had agreed to release him, asking only that someone act as a surety for him.

Planetta was assigned as Hyde's counsel on Nov. 21, 2007, after the musician had been arrested on a complaint of domestic assault.

The inquiry is looking into how Hyde was treated by the health and justice systems after he was arrested and then Tasered while trying to break free from police at Halifax police headquarters.

Hyde, who had schizophrenia, died on Nov. 22, 2007, at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility, one day after he was Tasered by police.

Police rethinking Taser use on mentally ill, inquiry told

December 1, 2009
The Canadian Press/CBC

The Halifax police service is training its officers to better defuse volatile situations involving mentally ill individuals so they don't have to resort to using stun guns, a fatality inquiry was told Tuesday.

Sgt. Dean Stienburg, who trains police on the use of force, said the department is trying to equip officers with the skills to detect signs of mental illness and to de-escalate situations before having to deploy stun guns.

He said the force has changed its policies on mental health training since Howard Hyde, a 45-year-old with a long history of paranoid schizophrenia, died in custody 30 hours after being shocked with a Taser by police.

"What we're focusing on now is when is it appropriate to use this device," he told the inquiry.

"What we're trying to do is raise awareness and how to recognize subtle clues … that the person needs assistance."

The inquiry is looking at how police officers and others in the justice system treated Hyde, who was off his medications and had been acting erratically leading up to his death.

Stienburg said police routinely adapt their training on mental health and the use of stun guns as research yields new information on the best use of the devices.

He said the force will change training guidelines next year to include emphasis on so-called empty-hand controls — or those that don't involve restraint devices — to restrain a person and avoid using a stun gun.

It also plans to train dispatchers to recognize signs of mental health disorders when a 911 call is made and to deploy Emergency Health Services in such cases.

Police not experts on psychological disorders
Stienburg said the force expects to instruct officers that people displaying signs of excited delirium should be treated as medical emergencies in need of immediate attention.

Some signs of the condition are profuse sweating, extreme strength, delusions and being impervious to pain — some of which Hyde displayed at the time.

The revisions by police come two years after Hyde was arrested following a complaint of a domestic assault. He was taken to police headquarters, where he was stunned with a Taser after becoming agitated as officers tried to fingerprint him.

He died the following day at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as excited delirium, linked to schizophrenia.

Stienburg said the force has also been training officers since 2008 in the use of verbal techniques designed to defuse a possibly volatile situation with someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

"We're on the right track with the training we're delivering," he said.

But he cautioned that research around the use of force on people with mental health disorders is an evolving issue and officers are not experts on recognizing psychological disorders.

"This is a health issue," he said. "We're not going to be able to fix this problem. … We're thrust into it."

Taser training evolves with research: officer

December 1, 2009
The Canadian Press/CBC

A Halifax police officer in charge of training says the force changes its policies on the use of Tasers as new information becomes available.

Sgt. Dean Stienburg said the force is constantly adapting its practices with the weapons as scientific research dictates. He was testifying Tuesday at an inquiry into the case of Howard Hyde, a paranoid schizophrenic who died 30 hours after being shocked with a police Taser in 2007.

Stienburg said the force now trains officers to recognize subtle clues that may indicate someone is having a mental health crisis.

When they do, he said they should immediately involve Emergency Health Services to help prevent the person in crisis from hurting themselves or others.

The inquiry is looking at how police officers and others in the justice system treated Hyde, who was off his medications and had been acting erratically leading up to his death.

Guard's memory scrutinized at Hyde inquiry

October 28, 2009
CBC News/Canadian Press

A corrections officer who helped restrain a mentally ill man moments before he died in a Halifax jail cell says his memory of what he did that morning two years ago is better today than it was when he gave a statement to the RCMP in the hours after Howard Hyde died.

Michael Green testified Wednesday at an inquiry which is trying to determine why the man never received the psychiatric help he needed and how to prevent similar deaths.

The probe has heard that the 45-year-old, who had not been taking his medication to deal with schizophrenia, was arrested for an alleged assault and taken into custody at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Nov. 21, 2007.

Hyde died the next morning after two struggles with guards, about 30 hours after police repeatedly stunned him with a Taser as he tried to escape from a downtown Halifax police station.

Green told the inquiry that when he gave his statement to the RCMP in 2007, he was "very emotional" after he learned of Hyde's death and he wasn't certain that he described the events he witnessed in the right order.

Green said he now has a more "vivid recollection" of the moment during the second struggle when Hyde's body went limp and he stopped responding to the officers trying to subdue him on the floor of the cell.

"I do not recall certain events in my mind today occurring in the same order that they did in my statement," he told lawyer Kevin MacDonald, who represents Hyde's sister and brother-in-law.

"I've been playing my role in this incident inside my head since the incident."

Hyde unconscious
Green testified that Hyde was on his stomach with his hands cuffed behind his back when he suddenly went limp and officers immediately decided to remove the cuffs and roll him on his side.

Evidence presented at the inquiry shows Hyde was unconscious and his face quickly turned from red to blue, indicating he wasn't getting enough oxygen.

When Green was shown a surveillance video recorded inside the cell, he couldn't pinpoint when Hyde went limp.

The chain of events is important because it could shed new light on what caused Hyde's death.

A medical examiner concluded Hyde died from a condition known as excited delirium stemming from paranoid schizophrenia.

Hyde's mental state is also a key issue because the doctor who observed Hyde after he was stunned by the Taser had included a note on his health transfer form that said police should bring him back to the hospital if he did not receive a court-ordered psychiatric assessment.

Hyde never received an assessment and he wasn't returned to the hospital, mainly because of confusion over the form and questions over who had jurisdiction over Hyde as he moved from police custody into the court system and then to the correctional facility.

Green recalled that Hyde was yelling as he struggled with corrections officers. He said Hyde was shouting something about needing a haircut to get into the RCMP.

Another officer has told the inquiry Hyde started struggling with the guards after he said he didn't want to walk down a hallway in the jail because there were "demons" there.

Physical struggle
Before Hyde lost consciousness, Green recalled that he was focused on controlling Hyde's legs, which he eventually locked together by forcing Hyde's left ankle behind his right knee while raising the right leg.

"His legs were very difficult to control," Green testified, stressing that he couldn't remember what other officers were doing to Hyde.

The video shows there were at least three other officers crouched over Hyde as they struggled in the cell.

"I do not recall anything anyone had said inside the cell, nor do I recall what each person was doing inside the cell, other than myself," Green said.

Other corrections officers have testified that at no time did any of them place their entire body weight on Hyde.

Green said he didn't release Hyde from the leg hold until he was told to do so by the corrections officer in charge, Todd Henwood. He said he couldn't recall when the handcuffs were removed.

The officer said his memory of what happened was limited because of the intense focus he placed on controlling Hyde's legs.

"Your focus becomes very narrow to the point that, I guess you could say, tunnel vision. You are only focused on what you are doing."

No psychiatrist to help officer, inquiry hears

October 27, 2009
CBC/The Canadian Press

The corrections officer in charge of the scene when a Nova Scotia man died in custody almost two years ago says he could have used the help of a psychiatrist that morning, had he known the inmate was mentally ill.

Capt. Todd Henwood testified Tuesday at an inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde, who died after twice struggling with guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside on Nov. 22, 2007.

The inquiry, which started in July, is trying to determine why Hyde, who was under arrest for an alleged assault, never received the psychiatric help he needed and what can be done to prevent similar deaths in the future.

Henwood, a corrections officer for 18 years and a sergeant at the time of Hyde's death, told the inquiry he was unaware that Hyde had long suffered from schizophrenia and hadn't been taking his medication.

Like most of the corrections officers who have testified at the inquiry, Henwood confirmed he hadn't been trained to deal with the mentally ill even though he dealt with them almost every day.

As well, he said he wasn't told that Halifax police had stunned the 45-year-old with a Taser up to five times the day before, when he tried to escape from a downtown police station.

Lawyer Kevin MacDonald, who represents Hyde's sister and brother-in-law, pointed out that another corrections officer, Chris Dixon, had testified that he told Henwood about the Taser incident and about Hyde's mental illness.

But Henwood told the inquiry he didn't recall that conversation.

Hallway struggle
Asked to describe what happened the day Hyde died, Henwood testified he rushed to a hallway near the jail's admitting area when he received word that other corrections officers needed help.

When he arrived, Hyde was on the floor, face down, surrounded by several officers and handcuffed behind his back. The inmate was then lifted to his feet and pulled backward down the hallway to a nearby cell.

Henwood said Hyde was making "odd" comments about his hair and being a Mountie after the first struggle, but the officer said he didn't consider sending Hyde to the jail's health-care unit.

He said it would have been unsafe to bring Hyde to the unit because he was "rebellious," and it wasn't clear to him that the man was having a psychotic episode.

However, shortly after Hyde's death, Henwood gave a statement to the RCMP in which he said Hyde "wasn't in a mental state that was normal."

Even if he knew Hyde was mentally ill, Henwood said he wouldn't have had the proper resources to deal with his condition, mainly because there was no psychiatrist on duty that early in the morning.

When asked what resources would have helped, Henwood said he probably would have sought the help of a psychiatrist had one been working.

Once inside the cell, Hyde continued to struggle with the guards, the inquiry was told.

Henwood said he grabbed the man's legs and pulled them out from under him, forcing Hyde to the floor. He said Hyde's landing was "as soft as it could have been."

The senior officer said he recalled Hyde bucking his hips back and forth as he lay on his side. To gain control, he said he used a hold called a wrist-lock to force Hyde onto his stomach.

Images from a surveillance camera inside the cell show at least four officers crouched over Hyde, but it is difficult to determine what is happening because most of Hyde's body can't be seen.

Hyde's final moments
Henwood insisted he didn't place his weight on Hyde's body, though he said he couldn't speak for the other officers in the room. The officer said he weighed about 290 pounds at the time.

"I was bridged over the top of him," he told the inquiry, explaining that he was in a squatting position next to Hyde with one hand on the chain linking the cuffs on the man's wrists.

Henwood testified that he thought Hyde had held his breath for a few seconds before his body went limp and he stopped responding to the officers.

"Mr. Hyde was not responding verbally," Henwood said, noting there was blood coming from his nose.

At that point, Henwood recalled taking off the cuffs and saying to the other officers, "Boys, we have a problem here."

He said he was monitoring Hyde's breathing and detected a pulse just before health-care staff arrived a few minutes later.

However, Henwood also admitted that shortly after he learned Hyde had died, he had told the RCMP that he wasn't sure if Hyde had a pulse. Henwood said Tuesday the stress of that day had taken its toll and he was second-guessing himself.

"But upon reflection, I'm confident … that I had a pulse."

He said Hyde's face turned purple just as health-care staff arrived in the cell and a nurse quickly determined that Hyde did not have a pulse. They started CPR, but Hyde never regained consciousness.

A medical examiner later concluded that Hyde died of excited delirium stemming from paranoid schizophrenia.

N.S. corrections officer didn't know man who died in custody was schizophrenic

October 26, 2009
Canadian Press

HALIFAX, N.S. - A Nova Scotia corrections officer says he did not know a man who died in custody 30 hours after being Tasered by Halifax police was schizophrenic nor that he had been hit with the stun gun.

Ian Prall responded to a call for help from corrections officers at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Nov. 22, 2007, as they struggled with Howard Hyde, who was being held on an assault charge.

An inquiry into Hyde's death has heard that the 45-year-old was escorted down a corridor to a nearby cell, where another struggle ensued and he blacked out, never regaining consciousness.

Under questioning today by lead counsel Dan MacRury, Prall testified that he did not know that Hyde had been up all night, pacing in his cell and talking to himself.

Had he known, Prall said he wouldn't have done anything differently in the situation because officers still needed to control Hyde.

But Prall later told Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer who represents Hyde's family, that he might have contacted a nurse if he had been told about Hyde's behaviour and officers suggested he might need health care.