Ontario Provincial Police closer to getting defibrillator

The lawyer for the family of James Foldi made the same recommendation at the inquest into Mr. Foldi's death, but the recommendation was NOT SUPPORTED by the Niagara Regional Police lawyer, who argued in court that officers are not medical personnel.

So, which is it??

October 27, 2010
By DANIEL PEARCE, QMI Agency

OPP are getting closer to putting defibrillators in detachments across the province in light of the recommendation of an inquest jury, says the head of the Norfolk County detachment.

"We're in discussions now," said Insp. Zvonko Horvat. "We're moving in that direction. It'll happen sooner rather than later."

Two weeks ago, the jury at the inquest into the death of Jeffrey Marreel, a Delhi man who collapsed at the Norfolk detachment after being tasered and later died, urged all police stations to get the devices.

Any decision, said Horvat, will apply across Ontario, not just in Simcoe.

"It is a decision being made corporately with regional staff and the risk management unit in Orillia," he said. "In all likelihood, that recommendation will be implemented . . . It only makes sense we have them."

Recommendations from inquest juries are not mandatory but are usually acted upon.

The inquest, held in Hamilton, heard that Marreel, 36, a known drug user with a long history of arrests, died from cocaine poisoning. In June 2008, police answered a call at the lakeside hamlet of Fisher's Glen where they found Marreel acting erratically. Police used a Taser to try to subdue him. He was taken to the Norfolk detachment in Simcoe and then rushed to hospital after he collapsed. Evidence at the inquest suggested Marreel may have been suffering from what's known as excited delirium, a potentially fatal condition.

As a result, the jury also urged all police forces to consider excited delirium as a "medical emergency" that requires immediate medical intervention and that police be trained to recognize its signs.

The jury made nine recommendations.

Horvat said "training is always good . . . We felt the jury was fair. Th e recommendations are legitimate concerns."

Niagara Regional Police changes Taser use policy

October 13, 2009
Grant LaFleche, St. Catharine Standard

Niagara Regional Police have joined the growing ranks of police forces changing their Taser policies following a warning by the weapon’s manufacturer.

Last week, the NRP changed its use of Taser policy, instructing officers not to shoot the weapons into the chests of suspects after Taser International said it might be dangerous.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jacquie Forgeron said Taser International sent out a bulletin to police services on Sept. 30, advising that striking the chest with the conducted electrical weapon could put the suspect’s heart at risk.

Taser International now recommends officers aim for the legs, back or abdomen.

Forgeron said the NRP made its policy change on Oct. 7.

“Our training unit will start instructing officers on the change,” she said.

The RCMP, along with the Calgary and Winnipeg police services, are among those that are also instructing officers to aim lower when firing a Taser.

The use of Tasers by police in Canada has been in the spotlight because of the hearing into the death of Robert Dziekanksi, who died after being jolted with the weapons by RCMP officers in 2007 in Vancouver.

Some of the controversy over Taser use has reached Niagara. Michael Parsons successfully sued the NRP in civil court after officers used the weapon on him. He was awarded $50,000 after suing the police service and five officers for negligence, false arrest, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The NRP had originally planned to appeal the decision, but has recently withdrawal its challenge.

In 2005, James Foldi of Beamsville died after being Tasered by NRP officers. However, an inquest found Foldi’s death was an accident, caused by acute cocaine toxicity leading to sudden cardiac death, in the setting of excited delirium.

Most NRP patrol officers are not armed with Tasers. Only NRP supervisors and members of the tactical unit are authorized to use the weapons.

In 2008, Tasers were used by NRP officers in 44 incidents, down from 98 in 2007.

Jury makes recommendations in Beamsville man's death

July 16, 2009
KARENA WALTER, ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD

Training for police in the use of Tasers should include courses with "judgment scenarios," a jury from a coroner's inquest has recommended to the province.

The jury, which heard evidence over seven days about the death of 39-year-old James Foldi of Beamsville, made seven recommendations Wednesday, adopting or modifying six suggestions from lawyers.

They also determined Foldi's death was an accident, caused by acute cocaine toxicity leading to sudden cardiac death, in the setting of excited delirium.

That cause was modified from a pathologist's ruling that Foldi died from excited delirium due to acute cocaine poisoning.

A lawyer for Foldi's family had argued excited delirium in itself was not a cause of death.

Foldi died July 1,2005, around 3:35 a. m. after going through a tear in his Beamsville neighbourhood. Jurors heard he seemed "out of it" and ran into three homes that night, waving his arms, calling for help and leaving a trail of blood.

Police tried using a Taser in probe mode and pepper spray to control Foldi and eventually tackled him to the ground next to a garage, where he had jumped through a window to get outside.

He was again Tasered on the ground in the stun mode several times and handcuffed, when he suddenly stopped breathing.

Juries are not obligated to make any recommendations at the end of an inquest.

Jurors in the Foldi case made recommendations directed to Niagara Regional Police, Niagara Emergency Medical Services and the ministries of Health and Community Safety and Correctional Services.

They included a suggestion to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services that Taser qualification and annual re-qualification training courses also include "judgment scenarios."

The recommendation was not suggested by any of the lawyers, but during the inquest, jurors heard that the province is currently coming up with a new training model for police using Tasers.

The ministry was also told it should promptly distribute any updated or new information from an excited delirium study to police services.

It was also recommended the ministry equip police supervisor vehicles with portable automatic external defibrillators and that other appropriate personnel receive training to properly use the defibrillators.

That recommendation, made by the lawyer for Foldi's family, was not supported by the NRP's lawyer, who argued in court that officers are not medical personnel.

The ministry was given a fourth recommendation that product warning and training materials for use of force options and equipment, including Tasers, is promptly distributed to all appropriate police members.

During the inquest, the jury heard that an e-mail bulletin from Taser International on June 28, 2005, sat in a police officer's inbox while he was on holiday and wasn't distributed to other officers until August that year.

Other jury recommendations: The Ministry of Health and Health and Welfare Canada should make sure all reasonable efforts are made to alert the public to the dangerous effects of cocaine.

NRP and EMS should continue to work together in developing communications protocols aimed at prompt ambulance response.

NRP should review its general order dealing with use of force to ensure it reflects any product warnings and training memoranda for use of force options and equipment, including Tasers.

Jurors deliberate on Beamsville Taser death

July 14, 2009
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine's Standard

Jurors at an inquest into the death of a Beamsville man high on cocaine who was Tasered several times are being asked to recommend that police be trained to identify excited delirium.

The lawyer for James Foldi’s family told jurors Tuesday it was clear the 39- year-old man was suffering extreme distress before he was tackled, Tasered and subsequently stopped breathing in a laneway July 1, 2005.

“It’s a shame that nobody tried to calm Mr. Foldi,” Ian Brisbin said in closing submissions to the jury in St. Catharines. “There is no evidence police officers took any steps whatsoever to calm him down.”

But the lawyer representing the Niagara Regional Police Service said officers are trained to detect excited delirium and there was no evidence they require more training.

Sara Premi asked jurors to consider what was happening the night Foldi was arrested: It was dark and he was unresponsive to police commands, was covered in blood and had been involved in a home invasion.

She said it was the job of police to get Foldi under control for the safety of neighbourhood residents.

“You would expect nothing less for your safety and your family’s safety.”

Lawyers finished their arguments Tuesday. Jurors will continue to deliberate on a cause of death and potential recommendations today.

Jurors have heard police were called to the Beamsville neighbourhood of Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue around 2:30 a.m. after reports of a man breaking into homes and calling for help.

One officer who came face-to-face with Foldi said he was covered in blood and his eyes were wide, like “something out of a horror movie.”

Police caught up with Foldi after he ran into the bungalow of strangers and began yelling in a bedroom. One officer testified he told Foldi, “We’re trying to help you. Get down on the ground” but Foldi jumped out a open window.

Police then confronted Foldi in a garage where he was pounding on a car with his fists. Again Foldi ran and jumped out a window, this time through a pane of glass.

Police tried to Taser him twice with the gun in the probe mode and used pepper spray, but said Foldi kept running.

A violent struggle between officers and Foldi ensued next to the garage, where Foldi was taken to the ground and Tasered in the stun mode as he continued to struggle. Police said soon after he was handcuffed, he stopped breathing.

A pathologist found the cause of death was excited delirium from acute cocaine poisoning.

But Brisbin asked jurors to find that the cause of death was sudden cardiac death from ventricular fibrillation.

He also asked jurors to recommend that police not allow individuals to remain in the prone position longer than necessary and that police carry defibrillators in their vehicles.

Foldi, who was a large man, was Tasered several times and was lying handcuffed, face down with an officer’s foot between his shoulder blades, Brisbin said. He said that asking jurors to accept Foldi’s breathing wasn’t compromised would be asking them to ignore common sense.

But Premi said there was no evidence that positional asphyxia played a role in Foldi’s death. There was also no evidence that defibrillators were needed in cruisers, she said, adding police are not paramedics.

Lawyer David Pickering, representing the Niagara Region Police Association, said Foldi’s use of cocaine was the driving force that night.

“Don’t criticize police for responding, when you’ve caused the need for response,” he said.

Pickering said the abuse of cocaine affected Foldi’s mental state.

“It was his abuse of cocaine that caused the struggle,” he said. “You think officers wanted to struggle?”

Four other suggested recommendations were made to jurors jointly by all the lawyers.

They included that the NRP and Emergency Medical Services continue working together to get prompt ambulance service, that the NRP quickly notify members of product warnings, such as those from Taser International, and that police review a general order dealing with use of force. They also recommended that the Ministry of Health have more public education about cocaine use.

Taser inquest resumes in Beamsville death

July 13, 2009
Posted By KARENA WALTER, Sun Media

Ontario is looking into a new training model for police officers to keep them at arm’s length from Taser International, a coroner’s inquest heard Monday.

The province’s officers use training techniques from the manufacturer of the stun gun, but that could change, said Chris Lawrence, an expert from the Canadian Police Research Centre on use of force and excited delirium.

“Smith and Wesson don’t provide training on firearms. General Motors doesn’t show officers how to drive,” he told the jury in the case of James Foldi, who was Tasered during a 2005 struggle with police.

Lawrence said the training group, put together by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and of which he is a part, met a couple of times last week and will gather again in August to design scenarios used in training.

They want to instruct Ontario officers how the Taser should be used, as opposed to it coming from instructions from the United States, he said.

Lawrence said there has been some criticism about relying on the manufacturer on how to use the Taser appropriately.

“Just to let the public know, we’re not just taking what the manufacturer said and not thinking for ourselves.”

Lawrence, a former police officer and use-of-force trainer, was the last person to testify in the Foldi case, which wrapped up evidence Monday after a six-week scheduling delay.

Foldi, 39, died July 1, 2005, after a bizarre night of breaking into houses in Beamsville, calling for help and at one point jumping through a glass window.

A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine posioning.

The coroner’s jury has heard from the officer who deployed the Taser that it was used twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running. It was applied another five times on stun mode to Foldi’s calves and thighs while he was struggling with officers on the ground.

Another four discharges of the Taser, recorded by the device, are unaccounted for.

Coroner’s inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.

Lawrence, who wrote a report about the Foldi matter, testified he concluded the officers’ actions were consistent with prudent police practice.

He told Sara Premi, the lawyer representing the NRP, that police need to gain control of a person in an excited delirium state so the person can get medical treatment.

He said there are cases where people still die in that state without being Tasered.

{THAT LINE OF THINKING HAS BEEN SHREDDED TO PIECES MANY TIMES OVER AT WWW.EXCITED-DELIRIUM.COM}

The jurors will hear closing submissions from lawyers today and will decide whether or not to make recommendations in the case.

Lawrence said the training group has done a lot of groundwork over the last year and started an instruction manual.

When asked if the Foldi case would be used as a training scenario, Lawrence said it’s consistent with other events, but any examples will be generic.

Tony Brown, a spokesman for the ministry reached later by phone in Toronto, said the ministry is conducting a study with policing partners on the Taser. Operational and policy considerations in relation to training are being discussed, he said.

Brown said the study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

James Foldi taser death inquest to continue next month

June 16, 2009
St. Catharine's Standard

An inquest into the death of a Beamsville man who died after being Tasered by police during a bizarre night of activity is set to resume July 13.

James Foldi, 39, died July 1, 2005 after breaking into houses in his Beamsville neighbourhood, calling for help and at one point, jumping through a glass window.

A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.

A coroner’s jury in St. Catharines heard witnesses testify during the last week of May, but the inquest was interrupted due to scheduling problems.

Lawyers will continue to question the last witness in the stand on July 13 at 9:30 a.m. in the St. Catharines courthouse, before making their closing submissions.

Jurors have heard that a Taser used in the confrontation with Foldi was discharged 12 times, but there’s no way of knowing from the device how often it made contact with his body.

A police officer testified he deployed the Taser twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running and five times in the stun mode while Foldi was struggling with officers on the ground.

Coroner’s inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.

No knowing how many times Taser made contact with man, inquest told

It's like a re-run. Same old dog and pony show - the taser fan club song and dance at the coroner's inquest has become the norm. Tell me, when will we hear from Christine Hall, excited-delirium expert extraordinaire?

I suppose it would be too much to hope that the sudden "intermission" in this coroner's inquest will give this corrupt process a chance to have some oversight through the newly announced STRONGER, MORE ACCOUNTABLE CORONER SYSTEM IN ONTARIO, which promises:

The establishment of an oversight council for Ontario's death investigation system
An improved complaints system under the oversight council
The establishment of an Ontario Forensic Pathology Service
A registry of pathologists authorized to conduct coroner's autopsies in Ontario
Improved death investigation services to northern and First Nations communities.

May 29, 2009
Posted By KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine's Standard

The police Taser used in a confrontation with James Foldi was discharged 12 times, but there is no way of knowing from the device how often it made contact with his body.

A coroner’s inquest was told Friday the Taser was activated over a period of three minutes and five seconds as Foldi ran from and struggled with police in a Beamsville neighbourhood.

The 39-year-old, who lived in the neighbourhood, died July 1, 2005, after a bizarre night of breaking into houses, calling for help and at one point jumping through a window.

A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.

It will be up to a jury to make the final determination. Coroner’s inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.

The Foldi inquest was supposed to continue next week, but because of a scheduling problem will continue at a later, undetermined date. The last witness was giving testimony Friday when the inquest broke for the day.

Chris Lawrence from the Canadian Police Research Centre, an expert in use of force and excited delirium, prepared a report that said police actions in the Foldi case were consistent with prudent practises.

Backing away from Foldi instead of arresting him may not have been the best option for officers because he was bleeding, Lawrence said.

“Waiting may not be in his best interest. It’s a very hard call to make.”

Lawrence presented downloaded information from the Taser used on Foldi that morning.

He told the jury Tasers are one of the few weapons that record data, such as how long it was used and when, but it cannot determine whether it made contact.

Niagara Regional Police Sgt. Richard Ciszek testified earlier in the week that he deployed the Taser twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running. He applied the Taser, set on stun mode, five times to Foldi’s calves and thighs while Foldi was struggling with officers on the ground between a garage and fence.

Ciszek, who was holding Foldi’s ankles while other officers tried to handcuff him, said he also discharged the Taser in the air to see if it was working, because it didn’t seem to have an effect.

The other four discharges have been unaccounted.

Lawrence said Friday that it’s been well-documented that while an officer is gripping a subject with one hand and a Taser in the other, he or she can inadvertently pull the trigger without touching the person.

During the time Foldi was on the ground, the Taser was discharged over a 97-second period and was only off for 13 seconds.

Jurors heard earlier in the week from the other three officers who were involved in the struggle with Foldi on the ground. One officer heard the Taser go off once and the other two officers didn’t hear it at all.

Lawrence testified that as circumstances become more intense for officers and their concern about the outcome more pertinent and focused, it’s possible for them to block out information around them.

There are a number of incidents in which officers didn’t hear a gun fire next to them or even hear their own gun, he said.

“One person can be on the legs, another at the waist and one officer doesn’t see the other there.”

Pepper spray had no effect on man, inquest told

This testimony is all too sickeningly familiar to me.

"I've had time to digest what happened and the time frame is clearer after talking to other officers." - Constable Ronald Traub (Good of Const. Traub to ADMIT he had help "remembering" by "talking to other officers".)

Was James Foldi "fighting and aggressive" or was he, as I suspect, thrashing around violently in the ultimate fight for his very life after being tasered at least 7 times, and reportedly closer to 12 times??

May 28, 2009
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine Standard

It took four Niagara Regional Police officers to apprehend James Foldi after he went on a wild run through Beamsville in the last hour of his life, jurors at a coroner’s inquest have heard.

Foldi was blasted twice with pepper spray, hit with a baton and Tasered at least seven times.

The last of the four officers who arrested 39-year-old Foldi that July 1, 2005 morning — and who were with him when he died — testified about the arrest Thursday in St. Catharines.

Jurors have heard that Foldi broke into three houses in the Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue area around 2:30 a.m. and called “help me.” Residents said he appeared confused and out of touch with reality and left a trail of blood.

A pathologist testified earlier this week the cause of death was excited delirium, brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.

Const. Christopher Doyle testified Thursday he arrived at the scene outside a home and went up the driveway. He knew pepper spray had been deployed because it smelled and made him cough. He heard Const. Patrick Diver, already there with Sgt. Richard Ciszek, say, “Police, get down on the ground” and heard the firing of a Taser stun gun.

Doyle said he saw Foldi throw himself through a window into a garage. “Glass was shattering in every direction,” Doyle said.

Jurors have heard officers testify that inside the garage, Foldi began punching a car. Doyle said another officer pepper sprayed Foldi again, but it had no effect. Foldi continued making incoherent comments, yelling and screaming.

Const. Ronald Traub said that at one point Foldi bent down and started to bite the car’s mirror. He said officers were telling him to stop. “It was like he was looking through us, not at us,” Traub said, adding Foldi was agitated and his eyes were wide open.

Foldi then jumped backwards out the broken window, Traub said.

Outside, Foldi, who was 5-foot-11 and 243 pounds, was taken down to the ground on his back by officers, who said he continued to struggle.

Doyle testified Foldi grabbed Doyle’s right thigh in an attempt to pull himself up, so he used his baton to hit Foldi’s left forearm. He then rolled him on his side.

“He was continuing to struggle,” Doyle said. “He was thrashing around quite violently.”

At one point Foldi rolled onto his stomach and Doyle said Diver was able to handcuff a hand.

Traub said while Diver was holding one hand, Doyle was attempting to get Foldi’s other arm and Ciszek was trying to control the man’s legs.

“It appeared to me he was trying to raise his head and bite at Const. Diver and Const. Doyle,” Traub said. Traub said he put his right foot between Foldi’s shoulder blades to avoid the biting but the man was still kicking.

Traub said he heard a Taser once during the struggle on the ground. Doyle said he didn’t hear it at all.

But Ciszek testified on Wednesday he Tasered Foldi at least five times on the ground and twice when he was running.

Police eventually got both handcuffs on Foldi.

Traub testified Doyle tried to roll Foldi to his side and sit him up but when Foldi continued to fight and be aggressive, they put him back down on his side.

Shortly after the cuffs were on, police said Foldi stopped breathing.

Foldi’s family lawyer asked Traub why he told investigators five days after the incident that Foldi was placed on his side after he went limp, not before.

Traub said he’s had time to digest what happened and the time frame is clearer after talking to other officers.

Evidence in the inquest is expected to conclude today.

James Foldi inquest continues

May 28, 2009
KARENA WALTER, ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD

Sleeping soundly in bed, James Casson and his wife were suddenly awakened at 2:30 a. m. by a crash at their Beamsville home's front door.

When it was followed by a second crash and the sound of the casing breaking on the steel door, they knew it wasn't the paper carrier, James Casson told jurors Wednesday at the coroner's inquest into the death of James Foldi .

Casson got out of bed and went to the stairs, where he discovered Foldi, a Village Park Drive neighbour.

"I said, 'You don't live here. Go home!' " Casson said he told Foldi, who seemed "out of it" and wouldn't make eye contact.

"They're after me. They're after me," Foldi said, waving his arms. "Help me! Help me!"

Residents of the Beamsville neighbourhood described for jurors Wednesday the bewildering encounters they had with the 39-year-old man in the last hour of his life on July 1, 2005.

Jurors also learned from police on the third day of the inquest that Foldi was Tasered at least seven times as they attempted to arrest him.

A pathologist ruled the death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.

Excited delirium is characterized by aggressive behaviour, super-human strength, high temperature, incoherence and imperviousness to pain, the jury has heard.

Niagara Regional Police were called to the neighbourhood that morning on reports of break-ins.

Casson said he called 911 after he and his wife physically pushed Foldi out their front door. They made three attempts before they were successful.

Afterwards, they found blood on both sides of the door, which Casson said had been bent "like an accordion."

Nearby on Crescent Avenue, Jeffrey Tallman was in bed and was also about to be awakened.

"I went from sound asleep to thinking I was having a strange dream to realizing someone was in our house," Tallman told jurors.

Tallman testified he heard a call for help. He followed his dog down the stairs to the front of his house where a man was standing. The man said something about a wolf and left, Tallman said.

There was a great deal of blood on the walls and Tallman said he believed Foldi had been looking for light switches.

Amanda Philbrick was in a Crescent Avenue home watching a movie downstairs with her boyfriend when they heard a noise upstairs and the word "help."

She went up and saw a man she didn't know inside the home trying to shut the front door. "He said, 'Help!' and he say, 'Help!' " she testified. "And he also said, 'Wolf.' "

She thought the wolf comment may be in reference to a husky dog lying nearby on the dining room floor.

"I was in shock. Who is this guy? What's going on? Why is he in the house?" she testified.

Philbrick told jurors Foldi rested his hands on her arms and said "Help," but she didn't feel threatened by him.

She said Foldi seemed panicked. "He seemed very scared. He didn't know what he was doing."

Police eventually confronted Foldi in a back bedroom of the bungalow, where he jumped out the window. Philbrick said he must have opened the closed window and punched out the screen to escape.

Outside the house, Tallman was on the sidewalk and saw a lot of commotion with police swarming the area. He said he heard Foldi say, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

He also heard Taser sounds. It was the middle of the night and the action was between two buildings. "It was quite a loud electrical sound," Tallman said.

The inquest continues today.

Inquest hears Taser didn’t stop man's heart

From a June 18, 2008 Canadian Press report entitled Taser damage questioned: Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, says officers need to assume they may hurt someone when they use the Taser and treat all injuries seriously.

From a June 17, 2008 CBC News report entitled One-third of people shot by Taser need medical attention: probe: Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, said police officers need to assume they may hurt someone when they use a Taser and treat all injuries seriously. " He conducted a study on pigs on the effects on the heart of Taser shocks and found multiple hits with a stun gun can cause heart stress. "If there is injury and illness, as a physician, I would have to say those people, even if they are accused criminals, should be taken care of," he said.

From a June 1, 2008 Toronto Star report on the inquest into the death of Jerry Knight, entitled Tasers: More questions than answers: Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist at St. Michael's Hospital and the author of the most recent Taser study, would never say it's impossible to meet a deadly fate at the end of a Tom A Swift Electric Rifle (Taser). But it's rare. According to his research, an analysis of the existing literature coupled with his own observations and study, the odds of a "death by Taser" are the same as dying from, say, living next to power lines, getting breast implants, or drinking from a bisphenol-leaching plastic water bottle. "It's unlikely," he says, acknowledging these concerns are real and should be taken seriously once they are put into perspective. "But never say never." It would take a confluence of factors, Dorian says, for a Taser to force a victim's heart into fatal contractions that outlast the Taser's jolt. Pre-existing heart damage is a must, he says. So is a surge of adrenaline through a victim's blood, which could be caused by drugs, such as the cocaine found in Knight's blood, alcohol, agitation, or the stress of facing police and the crackling end of a live Taser. To turn deadly, officers must shoot at close enough range for the weapon's two metal darts, barbed like fishhooks, to land next to, or right on, each of the victim's nipples, where the electricity from the Taser is most likely to disrupt normal pulses in the heart. "They have to penetrate the skin," Dorian says. "And the charge has to be sufficiently prolonged. "And if the Taser is to blame for a death, the victim would not hang on for a few hours, Dorian says. He would be dead within minutes, like Dziekanski ... Whatever the outcome, Dorian says, research shows Tasers are a potential health hazard, no matter what the odds against them causing someone's death. While everyone is trying to figure out if they kill, or if they're safe, he says, it would be wrong to continue using them without making any changes – or at least trying to minimize the risk. What about not shooting at someone's chest? he offers. Or, reconfiguring the device? "There's a lot of possibilities, but so far none have been discussed," he says. "Nothing in the world is safe. But we haven't taken this as seriously as we should."

From a May 7, 2008 CTV British Columbia report on the Braidwood Inquiry: Canadian medical researchers are disputing the theory that stun guns do not cause irregular heart rhythms that are sometimes fatal. Tests had shown that Taser shock could cause fibrillation -- a very rapid, irregular contraction of muscles fibers -- in any muscle, except the heart. "Bottom line is we think that assumption is incorrect," said Dr. Paul Dorian, a medical researcher from the University of Toronto. "Under certain circumstances, the Taser electrical discharges can, in fact, cause the heart muscle to beat and to beat very fast." Dorian and his team shocked six pigs with stun guns looking for signs of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and other adverse heart effects. The results echo a recent Chicago study, where prolonged stun gun shocks caused VF. Two pigs died in the Chicago study. One pig died of VF in Dorian's study and the other five pigs showed cardiac disturbance. When it occurs in humans, VF can be lethal, Dorian said. "When this rapid irregular heart rhythm occurs, the heart doesn't beat effectively," Dorian told CTV News. "No blood is pumped from it, and the victim, unless they get CPR and gets an electrical shock to the heart, will die within 10 minutes." In response to the Toronto study, manufacturer Taser International said it will present results from three cardiac studies of its own later this month at the Heart Rhythm Conference in San Francisco, California. "Taser International is dismayed by attempts to present this information as something it is not," the company said in a statement. "I can understand if they're dismayed," Dorian said. "I'm dismayed as well. Dismayed that we have a technology that potentially can cause harm."

From a May 3, 2008 Globe and Mail Editorial, entitled Tasers do affect the heart: ... the CMAJ study from the University of Toronto researchers found major weaknesses in the pig studies, and clear evidence, both in a study they did on pigs and in pig studies they reviewed, that the heart could be affected when the gun's two barbs struck in such a way that the electricity passed through the heart (without the barbs actually penetrating the heart). In one study, researchers opened a pig's chest when it was zapped and observed that the heart was affected. The stun gun could cause the pigs to abruptly lose their blood pressure. Two pigs died immediately after the stun-gun discharge in the study. As for the inquests, the CMAJ makes no reference to them, but in an interview, co-author Paul Dorian said that "as a scientist, I'm sympathetic to the difficulty of ascribing cause with very limited information." His study concludes: "It is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings."

AND TODAY, IN A REPORT FROM THE ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD (by Karena Walter) from the inquest into the death of James Foldi, tasered TWELVE (12) times by Niagara Regional Police:

It’s unlikely the jolts from a Taser to James Foldi’s back, thighs or legs had a direct effect on his heart, a coroner’s jury heard Tuesday.

Cardiologist Dr. Paul Dorian testified the Beamsville man would have difficulty moving after a few seconds of being hit with the stun gun if it directly affected his heart.

Jurors at the coroner’s inquest into the death of the 39-year-old man heard in earlier testimony by police that Foldi continued to run after being struck twice in the back with Taser probes on July 1, 2005.

Officers said once Foldi was tackled to the ground, he was hit again with a Taser in the drive stun mode on his calves and upper thighs but continued to violently struggle and yell.

A pathologist ruled he died of excited delirium due to acute cocaine poisoning.

A Taser strike is very painful because the electricity causes a direct stimulation of nerve endings, Dorian, from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, told the inquest. He said it can also cause muscles to contract, like a major cramp.

It would be “extraordinarily unlikely” that the Taser had effects on heart muscles if a person continued to run or move after being hit with one, Dorian said.

But he did say there are possible indirect effects on the heart when a person is Tasered. Anything which causes serious pain can cause the heart to work harder, he [Dorion] said.

Niagara Regional Police were called to the Beamsville neighbourhood of Crescent Avenue and Village Park Drive around 2:30 a.m. on that July, 2005 day after reports of a person breaking into homes and yelling for help.

Jurors have heard that Foldi was bloodied and at one point ran into a bungalow, down a hall to a bedroom and jumped out a window. He then ran beside the house, smashed through a garage window, where he pounded on a vehicle with his fists.

He was eventually tackled to the ground outside and four officers struggled to handcuff him. A short time later he stopped breathing and died at the scene.

Toxicologist Dr. Margaret Thompson testified excited or agitated delirium is characterized by aggressive behaviour, “super-human” strength, high temperature, incoherence and imperviousness to pain.

After exhibiting agitated behaviour, the person collapses and dies, and in very few cases doctors are able to revive a patient, she said.

The condition is associated with severe psychiatric illness or abuse of substances, usually cocaine.

“Mr. Foldi got to a point of no return,” Thompson said. “By the time the ambulance got there and had him on a monitor, he had a flatline.”

Thompson, who is also medical director of the Ontario Poison Centre, testified she believed Foldi took a large amount of cocaine a few hours before his death.

Foldi had 1.3 mg of cocaine per litre of blood in his system when he died and 8.6 mg per litre of Benzoylecgonine, which reflects the metabolic breakdown of cocaine.

Based on those amounts, Thompson estimated Foldi had 10 mg of cocaine per litre of blood two or three hours before he died.

Thompson said cocaine has a short life and it’s unusual to find it in blood. When a person takes cocaine, half of the amount used is gone in 45 minutes, with most gone in about three hours.

The inquest continues today and is expected to hear testimony from other police officers and Beamsville residents.

A coroner’s inquest is mandatory when a person dies in police custody.

Inquest begins into Taser death in Beamsville

See also: "How Can You Justify Using A Taser 12 Times?" which reported: "one fired an X-26 taser once ... one officer discharged his taser 11 times, using what's known as a drive stun technique, where the device is pressed against a person and fired. Mr. Foldi fell to the ground and was handcuffed. He started breathing heavily, lost consciousness and never recovered." Niagara police had been using tasers for only a week when the Foldi incident took place.

May 25, 2009
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharines The Standard

A man who went on a tear through a Beamsville neighbourhood and died after being Tasered seemed unaffected when the stun gun hit him, police officers testified Monday.

James Foldi, 39, continued to run and smash windows, even when his back was visibly sparking from the electrical jolt, a coroner’s inquest jury was told.

The jury began hearing testimony Monday in St. Catharines into the July 1, 2005 death.

Niagara Regional Police had been called to the area of Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue around 2:30 a.m. after reports of a man breaking into residences.

“It was similar to something out of a horror movie,” said Const. Patrick Diver, who spotted Foldi walking through the fog on Crescent Avenue.

“I could see his face was covered in blood. His eyes were wide. He looked anxious.”

Diver had been dispatched to a residence on Village Park Drive for a break in, but when he arrived was advised to go to another call on Crescent Avenue, where a resident was pointing down the street.

After he spotted Foldi, Diver said Foldi ran into a nearby bungalow and people inside started screaming.

Foldi ran into a bedroom in the house and the residents, who didn’t know who he was, let Diver and Sgt. Richard Ciszek inside.

The two officers went down a hall, where Diver said Foldi was yelling nonsensically.

“I kept saying to him, ‘We’re trying to help you. Get down on the ground, do what we’re telling you to do,’ ” Diver said.

“At that point, he jumped out the window of the bedroom.”

As Foldi went through the window, Ciszek testified he pointed a Taser in the probe mode and hit Foldi in the back.

Ciszek said Foldi’s two arms went up at the elbows and there were sparks on his back, but he continued running beside the house.

Police went out the front door and met Foldi at the side of the house, who was trying to climb a gate.

Ciszek said he pepper-sprayed Foldi but the man turned around and started running. “I could see the whites of his eyes and there wasn’t even a blink,” Ciszek testified.

Ciszek discharged the Taser a second time, again hitting Foldi in the back. He said Foldi ran and jumped through a glass window in the garage.

“Mr. Foldi was wildly beating on the vehicle parked in the garage with his fists,” Ciszek told the inquest.

Foldi ran out of the garage as officers came in. They ended up getting him to the ground outside and Ciszek said it was a violent struggle.

Ciszek said he fired the Taser in stun mode at Foldi’s calves and upper thighs.

“Mr. Foldi continued to yell and scream. There was no change in behaviour at all,” he said.

Ciszek held Foldi’s legs and ankles while Diver and two other officers tried to handcuff him.

Ciszek said soon after Foldi was handcuffed, he stopped struggling. When police discovered he wasn’t breathing, Ciszek preformed chest compressions.

Pathologist Dr. John Fernandes testified he found the cause of death was excited delirium, a consequence of acute cocaine poisoning.

The inquest is scheduled for two weeks and is expected to hear testimony today by police officers, a cardiologist, medical toxicologist and members of the Beamsville neighbourhood.

CANADA - Inappropriate and Excessive Use of Tasers

May 23, 2007
Amnesty International

How Can You Justify Using A Taser 12 Times?

February 14, 2006
Joe Friesen, Globe and Mail (Canada)

BEAMSVILLE, ONT. -- Samantha Foldi faces life as a widow from her wheelchair. For nearly 10 years, since a car accident left her partially paralyzed, she relied on her husband Jim for so much. He quit his construction job to help with her rehab and to care for their four children. He once rescued them from a fire, lowering his wife to safety out a bedroom window.

Mr. Foldi, 39, died last summer -- after a late-night confrontation with police. Officers fired a 50,000-volt taser stun gun 12 times during the struggle; it's not known how many times he was hit.

The province's Special Investigations Unit, the civilian body that probes fatal incidents involving police, said last week that the police are not criminally responsible for his death.

Mr. Foldi is one of 13 people in Canada to have died after being hit with a stun gun. Amnesty International has called for police to stop using the devices; Ontario's deputy chief coroner says they're a safe alternative to deadly force.

In an interview last week, Ms. Foldi, 35, sat at the dining room table she and Jim shared with their children in Beamsville, Ont., halfway between Hamilton and St. Catharines. Photos of her husband, a huge, square-jawed man with the look of a tough-guy actor, were spread in front of her. Her body shook when she spoke, and the effort of forming the words gave her voice the sound of a slow, southern drawl.

"It's hard all the time now without Jim," she said. "It took my man from me. I'm just really confused why they did that."

Mr. Foldi, 6 foot 2, 250 pounds, began behaving erratically at 2:40 a.m. last Canada Day, prompting several 911 calls to Niagara Regional Police, the SIU says. He ran to a house on Crescent Drive, a half block from his home, pounded on the door and shouted, "Help me."

He ran to a second home and smashed a window, cutting his hand badly. Bleeding, he entered another home just as police arrived. Two officers followed him into the home and one fired an X-26 taser once. The SIU says the probes did not remain in or on Mr. Foldi's body.

Mr. Foldi leaped from a first-floor window. When the officers confronted him again, he ignored orders to give up. They pepper-sprayed him twice, and he tried to run away. Three officers grabbed him and fought to subdue him.

During the three-minute struggle, one officer discharged his taser 11 times, using what's known as a drive stun technique, where the device is pressed against a person and fired. Mr. Foldi fell to the ground and was handcuffed. He started breathing heavily, lost consciousness and never recovered.

The SIU says police were justified in using force to arrest Mr. Foldi.

His family is furious.

"That's the biggest letdown. How can you justify using a taser 12 times?" asked Mr. Foldi's younger brother, Steven.

"He was a threat to nobody. He didn't have a weapon on him. An injured man asking for help, and this is the response?"

A coroner's inquest will eventually be asked to determine what killed Mr. Foldi.

The SIU says he had a potentially lethal amount of an illegal substance in his system. Foldi family members have been told it was cocaine.

They say they didn't know about his drug use, and they were in Hamilton the night he died, but they reject the idea of an overdose.

"If he overdosed he would've been doing the chicken dance on the floor," Ms. Foldi said.

The SIU report says that during the struggle Mr. Foldi showed "phenomenal strength," one of the signs frequently ascribed to a state known as excited delirium.

Excited delirium is not a medical diagnosis but a term forensics experts use to describe a combination of signs and symptoms that can lead to sudden death. It is usually associated with cocaine use, but can be connected to psychiatric illness or acute alcohol withdrawal.

"People in excited delirium are impervious to pain and they have superhuman strength and they need to be subdued for their safety and the safety of others," Jim Cairns, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, said. Often, even several officers are unable to bring a person in that state under control, he said.

"After this huge fight that often goes on, they suddenly go quiet and tranquil. It seems as though they're getting a second wind. In fact, they're not. They're dying at that point," Dr. Cairns said. The cause of death is often an irregular heartbeat brought on by abnormalities in blood chemistry, he said.

Dr. Cairns said tasers can mitigate the need to resort to deadly force.

A probe fired from a taser delivers 50,000 volts, usually overwhelming a person's nervous system and sending muscles into uncontrollable contractions.

But if it's used in drive stun mode, although it emits the same amount of electrical energy, it can't cause a neuromuscular response.

"It's not effective at all if someone's in a state of excited delirium," Dr. Cairns said.

Guidelines suggest you shouldn't use the drive stun mode any more than necessary, he said, adding there's no evidence it can kill.

The Niagara police, who had been using tasers for only a week when the Foldi incident took place, said they couldn't comment while a coroner's inquest is pending.

Ms. Foldi had hoped for answers from the SIU probe. Now the family will consider launching a lawsuit.

"Not for the money, but we can't let them get away with it," she said. "Jim is gone. It's like a part of my heart is, too."

Break-in suspect dies shortly after being shot by stun gun

July 2, 2005
JONATHAN JENKINS, TORONTO SUN

ONLY A few days after Niagara police front-line supervisors were issued Tasers, a man died yesterday shortly after being shot with one.

"They told me he went into a house and all that, but they also said they used that Taser gun on him," Apat Foldi, the father of James Foldi, 39, said.

"He was going around in circles and the police didn't want to go near him. So they used this gun on him and boom -- done."

Niagara police said they were called out to Beamsville around 2:30 a.m. after several complaints of a man breaking into homes.

They said they tracked down a suspect in the area and arrested him, then noticed right away he needed medical attention

He was taken to West Lincoln hospital and pronounced dead.

The province's Special Investigations Unit confirmed a Taser was used on Foldi.

"An autopsy is being held as we speak and the pathologist is determining what the cause of death is -- we'll go from there," SIU spokesman Rose Bliss said.

"Obviously, it's also important to note the Taser is an approved, less-than-lethal-use-of-force weapon that the police are authorized to use."

Apat Foldi said he last spoke to his son on Tuesday.

"He was fine, everything was no problem," he said.

He acknowledged his son did have problems with drugs and alcohol and wondered whether that may have played a role.

"They test them on normal people. They don't test people on alcohol or drugs to see if it works on them," Foldi said.

"If someone's drunk or on drugs and they use it on them, maybe it kills them."

However, Foldi stressed he didn't know many details of what happened and was waiting to see the result of the investigation before he came to any conclusion.

"I have to wait to see what's coming out of it," he said.

Niagara cops announced May 13 that front-line supervisors would begin carrying Tasers on routine patrol starting in the last week of June.

Members of Niagara's Emergency Response Unit also carry the weapons, as do tactical teams in Toronto, Peel and Durham.

At least nine people have died after being hit with Tasers in Canada since the weapon was approved.

Alternative to taser needed, coroner says

July 2, 2005
JONATHAN WOODWARD, Globe & Mail

VANCOUVER -- The death of a fifth person in B.C. after being shocked with a taser means that police and the medical community need to look for other ways to deal with a condition known as "excited delirium," the province's chief coroner says.

Some thrashing, violent people have elevated hormone levels that put them at risk no matter what type of restraint -- handcuffs, pepper spray, or electrical shock -- police use to subdue them, Terry Smith said yesterday.

"It's a medical emergency, in the truest sense of the word," he said. "Do we need to look at the taser? Absolutely. Certainly, nobody's going to dismiss the fact that we need to determine what the physiological impact, if any, of the taser is.

"But whether you put that person [who is in a state of excited delirium] in handcuffs or you put them in a straitjacket and strap them to a gurney, there's a high probability of negative outcome, even death."

Early Thursday, 41-year-old Gurmeet Sandhu was shocked with up to 50,000 volts from a taser in an altercation with the RCMP outside his Surrey home.

His wife told reporters that her husband was shocked multiple times, while the Surrey RCMP say they are waiting for their investigation to finish before the circumstances of the death can be confirmed.

Mr. Sandhu died two weeks after the Victoria police department released a long-awaited report on taser use. It had been commissioned in response to the death of Robert Bagnell in his Granville Street hotel room after he was subdued with a taser in June of 2003.

The report said police should get more training on taser use, deploy the weapon only when people are actively resisting arrest or posing a threat to others, and that the device shouldn't be used multiple times.

The report also said a person shocked by a taser should be restrained in a way that allows them to breathe easily.

Constable Mark Searle of the Surrey RCMP said he couldn't comment on whether police had followed the report's recommendations. He did say, however, that the attending officer had felt he was in danger and pressed an emergency button to call for help.

"That's a drop-everything call," he said, adding that the officers had gone through their full possible range of options -- using physical force, pepper spray, and finally, the taser weapon -- in attempting to subdue Mr. Sandhu.

Mr. Smith's warning about the use of tasers came on the same day that a man in Beamsville, Ont., died after police used a stun gun in his arrest.

The B.C. Coroner's Office has begun investigating Mr. Sandhu's death, Mr. Smith said. It will perform an autopsy and do toxicology tests to determine the levels of drugs that were in Mr. Sandhu's body. Mr. Smith said he didn't know when the investigation would be complete.