EDITORIAL: Trailblazing on tasers

June 15, 2011
The Halifax Chronicle

THREE years ago, a mentally ill man died in custody 30 hours after being Tasered at an HRM police station. Howard Hyde’s heart stopped and he had to be revived. The subsequent inquiry determined that it was a restraint hold — properly applied a day later by correctional officers — which caused his heart to stop forever.

Mr. Hyde’s death could have been avoided if he had been handled differently at every turn. Many Nova Scotians still suspect the Tasering was a contributing factor.

Ironically, they might be surprised to hear that many Quebecers were left wondering last week why Montreal police didn’t Taser a mentally ill man who allegedly charged them with a knife. Tragically, the suspect was shot dead instead, and an innocent bystander was killed in the crossfire.

We do not yet know the answers to these questions. If the officers believed they were in immediate, mortal danger, they would not have reached for a (generally) non-lethal weapon. Most likely, they were not armed with Tasers anyway — the Montreal force only has 42 stun guns on hand, compared to Toronto’s 700.

The use of Tasers, especially on emotionally disturbed people, is an emotional issue. But last week, Nova Scotia contributed something useful to the debate: the voice of reason.

In becoming the first province to clarify the rules of engagement in such circumstances, Justice Minister Ross Landry has found the right balance and created a model for other jurisdictions to follow.

We agree with Nova Scotia’s new guidelines that law enforcement officers should consider whether an agitated person is mentally ill and do everything in their power to de-escalate a confrontation, before deploying a stun gun.

We further agree with the precaution — although it’s not always practical — of calling paramedics to the scene before making the call to Taser a medically precarious or disturbed individual.

Most important, police as well as correctional and sheriff’s officers in Nova Scotia will be better trained to recognize signs of a mental illness.

The Hyde inquiry made the salient point that the jail guards didn’t know how to de-escalate confrontations. Better training is certainly the key to enforcing this province’s policy of minimizing harm to the mentally ill.

New N.S. guidelines for stun gun use

June 9, 2011
CBC News

Nova Scotia has issued new guidelines for the use of stun guns and they go into effect immediately.

The guidelines call on police officers, court security and jails guards to consider whether a person is mentally ill before they use a shock to try to subdue them.

When confronting someone who is known to suffer from a mental illness, the officer or guard should only use a conductive energy weapon — more commonly known as a stun gun or Taser — as a last resort.

If there's a danger that shock could seriously hurt that individual, paramedics should be called to the scene before deploying a stun gun.

"We're educating not only the officers that are involved, but the health care services when an incidence occurs what the response should be," said Justice Minister Ross Landry.

Landry said Nova Scotia is the first province in the country to spell out when a Taser should be used on someone who may be mentally ill.

Officials with the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia are pleased.

"These guidelines direct the officer to make the best possible decision as to whether or not this individual... actually is affected by a mental illness and in crisis," said Stephen Ayer, the executive director of the society.

Ayer said the key to the new rules is proper training and awareness.

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."

Hyde report will inform N.S. mental health strategy

December 10, 2010
The Canadian Press/CTV

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's health minister says she will direct her department's mental health policy working group to look at recommendations from a fatality inquiry into the jail cell death of Howard Hyde.

Maureen MacDonald says provincial court Judge Anne Derrick used some very specific language regarding mental health issues in her report on Howard Hyde's death.

Hyde, a 45-year-old musician diagnosed with schizophrenia, died while in custody in a Halifax jail in November 2007 after he was restrained by guards.

MacDonald says she will review the directions she has already given department officials to make sure the parameters outlined by Derrick are covered.

She says a direct response to the concerns raised by Hyde's death will follow shortly.

MacDonald expects to deliver government's new mental health strategy next year.

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.

Vulnerable targets

September 9, 2009
The Globe and Mail

The taser's days as a police weapon of choice are numbered. It is not only that the taser can kill, as an inquiry in British Columbia found this summer. It is that the population it is often used on, the mentally ill or drug users in the grips of the supercharged state of anxiety that some call excited delirium, are at high risk of death, according to a Nova Scotia medical panel, in a report released this week.

A weapon that can kill, a population that is on a precipice. It is a bad combination. To be fair, police have a hugely difficult job when facing a man or woman who may be high on drugs or severely mentally ill, and is out of control. But police have been too quick to rush in with the taser blazing (or zapping), arguing that it is safe - and that if people die afterward, well, it was their "underlying condition" that killed them. The police absolved themselves of responsibility.

Not so fast, says the Nova Scotia panel, set up by the health and justice ministries and chaired by Stan Kutcher, who holds the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health at Dalhousie University. It recommends that, when police recognize the agitated state in someone, they ask for backup and summon emergency health services. They are then to try to de-escalate the situation, if there is no imminent danger. They are to do so in part by removing hazardous objects and bystanders who may be increasing the agitation or noise. "Demands should be made in a non-challenging manner." Police should make offers to assist.

In other words, they should do everything that the RCMP didn't do when four Mounties surrounded a distressed Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, at the Vancouver International Airport in October, 2007, zapped him five times and then sat on the back of his neck. He died within minutes, and no definitive cause of death has been established.

Police in many jurisdictions have been using the taser at low levels of risk - where people posed no physical threat. The logic supporting its widespread use has crumbled. Tasers are not safe; the studies supporting their supposed safety are iffy; police have a responsibility to exercise extreme caution with people at risk of death, and to use force only in proportion to the threat to public safety. Nova Scotia and British Columbia now insist the use of the taser must be restricted to violent situations of serious danger. The rest of the country should follow their lead.

Excited delirium is a real risk, Nova Scotia report into taser death warns

See also NOVA SCOTIA REPORT ON "EXCITED DELIRIUM" MISSES THE ENTIRE POINT

September 7, 2009
OLIVER MOORE, Globe and Mail

Excited delirium is real and anyone showing symptoms of it should be "considered at risk of sudden death," according to a report commissioned by the Nova Scotia government.

The chairman of a panel of medical and mental-health experts dismissed as pointless the continuing debate over whether excited delirium, often cited in the deaths of people who have been tasered, actually exists.

"Does it exist as a medical diagnosis? That's a useless discussion - the phenomenon exists," Stan Kutcher, an expert in adolescent mental health at Dalhousie University's department of psychiatry, said. "The point is, what is this phenomenon, how can we best identify it, how can we best intervene?"

The panel's report warns that efforts to restrain someone suffering from excited delirium, which the report calls an autonomic hyperarousal state, may be risky. Medical personnel should be summoned as soon as possible, the panel recommends. "The state itself is a medical emergency," Dr. Kutcher said. "People in this state have a higher risk of death."

According to the report, given to the government in June and released publicly Friday, first responders should try to de-escalate the situation and negotiate when dealing with such a person. But if physical restraint proves necessary, it must be done as rapidly and safely as possible because a long struggle may pose greater risk to the subject.

The authors do not specify what form that restraint should take. That raised concerns for a lawyer acting for the family of Howard Hyde, a paranoid schizophrenic Dartmouth man who died in custody 30 hours after being tasered by police.

"From what I can see, the police [handling Mr. Hyde] felt that they were doing just that by using the taser," Kevin MacDonald said. "That's seen as the quickest and safest way to restrain someone."

Justice Minister Ross Landry said that more research needs to be done to determine whether there should be greater restrictions on how the stun weapons are used.

"I was a police officer for 30 years and I don't think this report takes away the need for the taser at this time," he said. "We're still trying to determine the relevance of the taser and what impact it has with regards to excited delirium."

The panel, which was struck last fall, included Nova Scotia chief medical examiner Dr. Matthew Bowes, who found that Mr. Hyde's death was caused by excited delirium because of his mental illness. It was tasked with cutting through what the government viewed as public confusion surrounding the condition.

More training in mental illness

September 5, 2009
David Jackson, The Chronicle Herald

Police and jail guards will get more training to recognize mental illnesses and how to deal with people afflicted with them, Justice Minister Ross Landry said Friday.

The province commissioned an expert panel last year to look at the phenomenon called excited delirium and what role it could play in in-custody deaths, to examine the risks of using stun guns and other restraints on people in that state, and to recommend how law enforcement officials should deal with those people.

Mr. Landry said the most significant recommendation in the eight-member panel’s new report is ensuring that front-line justice workers are trained to recognize people with symptoms of excited delirium, or as the panel suggests calling it, autonomic hyperarousal state.

The minister, a former RCMP officer, said officers do get training in dealing with people with mental illnesses but new information is always coming along, as with this condition.

"A couple of years ago, who knew about this?" Mr. Landry said in a telephone interview. "It’s not that long ago. And yet, people over time have passed away in this condition."

It was the death of Howard Hyde, a Dartmouth man who had a history of mental health issues, that led to the panel’s review. Mr. Hyde died in November 2007, 30 hours after Halifax Regional Police Tasered him when he scuffled with them at the police station.

The province’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Matthew Bowes, said Mr. Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia. Dr. Bowes said the death was accidental and he found no evidence that the Taser caused the death.

The death led to a provincial review of Taser use, and that led to the review of excited delirium.

The panel, of which Dr. Bowes was a member, said the symptoms of excited delirium are common to other medical and psychiatric conditions and recommended that the term autonomic hyperarousal state be used for people showing those symptoms.

Panel chairman Dr. Stan Kutcher, a psychiatrist at Dalhousie University, said there’s been a useless debate about whether excited delirium is or isn’t a medical diagnosis. He said the panel found the phenomenon well-described in medical literature going back 120 years, just under different names.

The symptoms include extreme agitation, aggressive behaviour, paranoia or delirium, incoherent and rambling speech, extraordinary strength and numbness to pain, and profuse sweating, the report said.

Dr. Kutcher said the key thing to keep in mind in dealing with people in that state is they need medical attention.

"I think the most important thing here is to realize that this is a medical emergency and that this situation requires the combined efforts of law enforcement and medical first-responders," he said in an interview.

The panel recommends creating a provincial training program for all first-responders in recognizing signs of mental illness and responding appropriately.

The report also says call-takers and dispatchers should get special training to help them recognize whether a call involves someone with a mental illness.

Dr. Kutcher said a dispatcher can get an indication of that by asking certain questions, such as whether the caller knows if the person they’re calling about is aware of his or her surroundings. The information would help a dispatcher know whether to send police and paramedics to the scene right away.

The panel recommended first-responders first try to calm the person in a hyperaroused state by talking to them, but if that doesn’t work, to restrain them quickly because a prolonged struggle could jeopardize the person’s life.

Dr. Kutcher said the panel couldn’t find scientific evidence suggesting that one form of restraint is better or safer than another, including stun guns. He said that’s why the panel recommended the province create a database on incidents involving the use of force.

Halifax Regional Police already adhere pretty well to the review’s goals, said Const. Brian Palmeter, the force’s spokesman.

"Our training and practices are consistent with the recommendations," he said.

"That being said, we are looking forward to working with the province to review and update our training where necessary."

Still, Const. Palmeter doubts there will ever be a single case in which an officer would be able to handle the crisis and follow all the recommended advice completely.

Mr. Landry said his department will consult with police, jail guards and sheriff’s services in developing procedures for dealing with people with mental illnesses. He said officers often have to make split-second decisions when dealing with people, so he wants them to have the information to help them make good decisions.

Dr. Hunter Blair, whose wife Joanna Blair is Mr. Hyde’s sister, thinks a dispatcher won’t always be able to get enough information from an excited caller to know whether to send an ambulance to a scene involving a person with mental illness.

The main issue, he said, is how to handle that person once you get there, and the review doesn’t seem to contain much new information.

"They’ve produced what you would have expected them to produce, given the current state of knowledge or non-knowledge," he said from his Shelburne home Friday.

He is happy with the recommended plan to track all calls to study the outcomes of various restraint methods and treatments.

"That’s a good move," he said. "They started doing this in Ontario some time ago."

Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said officials in her department will consult with district health authorities and Emergency Medical Care Inc., which provides ambulance services, about the report.

Report on tasering of diabetic suggests police consult paramedics

August 13, 2009
The Canadian Press

An internal police review of how Nova Scotia police officers used a stun gun to control a struggling diabetic says paramedics should be consulted if "the situation permits."

The medical director of Emergency Health Services said last year that paramedics were discussing a glucose injection to calm the man in the Sept. 14, 2008, incident when police from Amherst caught them off guard by jolting the patient.

The review released yesterday by Amherst Police Chief Charles Rushton says the use of the taser in the incident was "consistent with national and international standards."

But he says that as a result of his review, Amherst police will change their policy on stun gun use to ensure improved communication between officers and paramedics in similar situations.

The chief says the decision on whether to use the stun gun "must always remain with the police officer who holds the responsibility to deploy the device."

Still, the new policy will state, "where the police are called upon to assist the EHS, and the situation permits, the officer shall consult with the paramedics to ensure the Taser is the most viable alternative in controlling an aggressive patient."

The report says paramedics called officers to the home in Amherst when they were unable to keep the patient's arm and body still as he went through diabetic shock.

"At some point during this process one of the paramedics indicated that he was aware that they would have to try something different," the report says.

"When questioned on whether he [the paramedic] relayed this information to the other people present he indicated he verbally told them.

"When asked, 'Who did you tell to stop controlling the patient?' the paramedic responded, 'It was just general - OK, guys let him be, we will try something different.' When asked what was the officers' response, the paramedic responded, 'Nothing.' "

Chief Rushton writes that officers think they "heard a voice say, 'No,' or something to that effect," as they applied the device.

An officer is quoted as saying this occurred "at the exact same time I applied the touch stun and I didn't know at the time to whom the voice was speaking."

Moments after being stunned, the man rolled on his side, and the medics were able to inject the required glucose in his left arm.

Dr. Andrew Travers, the medical director of EHS, has said the paramedics would have advised against using a stun gun on the man if local police had asked.

Details of the incident emerged last fall after the man's wife said she became concerned for her husband when she couldn't wake him up, so she checked his blood sugar and found it was low.

She called 911 when the 34-year-old man started coughing and was having difficulty breathing. As he awoke, he wouldn't let the paramedics administer an intravenous, so they asked police officers who had been sent to the home to assist them.

The woman, whose name was withheld, left the room but said she ran back into it when she heard officers warning they were about to use the taser. She said she asked the officers not to use the device.
After the taser was applied, the medication was administered, the man's blood sugars rose and he calmed down, the report says.

The report's recommendations state that the paramedics, "should receive a debriefing by the Amherst Police, outlining police use of force options including the use of the Taser."

And it concludes with a recommendation that "communication should be improved between police and Emergency Health Services personnel. Paramedics and police must know each others' expectations and requirements in given situations."

Bobby Brown, director of field operations for EHS, said he'll take some time to review the findings. However, he agreed with the main recommendation that paramedics should be asked for their medical knowledge in similar situations.

Tasered teen gets acquittal restored

August 8, 2009
Chronicle Herald

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has restored the acquittal of a teenaged girl charged with assaulting two police officers and resisting arrest.

The 17-year-old was acquitted in Nova Scotia youth court in Feb. 2008, but that was overturned and a conviction entered by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in January of this year. The girl’s lawyer appealed that decision in June and the Appeal Court handed down its decision last month.

The girl’s mother called Halifax Regional Police to their downtown Dartmouth home on Feb. 12, 2007, because the 17-year-old was angry her sister had taken her purse and was threatening to damage the house, the original trial heard.

She was quietly looking out of her bedroom window when officers arrived, but became rude and aggressive when police told her that her mom asked them to remove her from the home.

Officers had resorted to using a Taser on the girl when she would not leave her bedroom and fought police when they tried to arrest her.

The youth court judge ruled the girl was justified in resisting arrest because officers had overstepped their authority, but the Supreme Court judge ruled the girl’s conduct escalated and became a breach of the peace once the officers began to arrest the teen. That meant that when she resisted, police had grounds to charge her with assaulting police and resisting arrest.

The Court of Appeal said the Supreme Court judge altered the trial judge’s finding to create the anticipated breach of the peace and doing so was an error in law.

EDITORIAL: Taser guidelines: Adopt B.C. blueprint

July 26, 2009
The Chronicle Herald

IT ISN’T the first report on Taser use and abuse, and it won’t be the last. But retired B.C. judge Thomas Braidwood’s 546-page tome on the sub­ject deserves to be adopted as the gold standard for law enforcement and policy makers nationwide.

Mr. Braidwood has become a fixture in the na­tional news firmament as he presides over the in­quiry into Canada’s most infamous Tasering fiasco — the videotaped confrontation that led to the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport in 2007. Part 1 of his analysis, Restoring Public Confidence: Restricting the Use of Conducted Energy Weapons, was released last week. The second phase of the inquiry, focusing on the circumstances of Mr. Dziekanski’s demise, has been adjourned until late September.

In his report, Mr. Braidwood finds no shortage of actors to upbraid. In a stinging rebuke to Taser International Inc., he asserts that Tasers can in­deed kill — a reasonable conclusion, given the stun gun’s track record, that is still firmly rejected by the weapon’s manufacturer.

Mr. Braidwood also finds fault with the B.C. gov­ernment for adopting Tasers without independ­ently testing them first and for the lack of uniform standards governing their use. But, significantly, he does not advocate shelving them. We agree with this view: Overall, Tasers can do more good than harm if they are deployed with restraint.

On that score, Mr. Braidwood sets an eminently sensible threshold that the stun gun use should be confined to violations of criminal law, not provin­cial or municipal statutes. Furthermore, offering “active resistance" to a police officer — running away or mouthing off — should not be considered a Taserable offence. But if a subject is inflicting or threatening bodily harm, then Tasering is justified. Uniform standards and clear rules of engagement should help eliminate the use of the Taser as an easy compliance tool and prevent outrageous acts such as the Amherst police subduing an obstrep­erous diabetic last year over the objections of para­medics who had called for assistance.

Also of particular relevance to Nova Scotians following the inquiry into the death of schizophren­ic Howard Hyde in Halifax police custody, was the warning that Tasering “an emotionally disturbed person is, in most cases, the worst possible re­sponse."

For police officers who have been issued a Taser, it does makes sense to have a defibrillator handy too, although this could be an expensive proposi­tion. In all, there are 19 recommendations in the report, which B.C. has pledged to immediately adopt. The findings should also be embraced by every other jurisdiction and the RCMP, which, in fairness has tightened its Taser-use protocols.

Certainly, Nova Scotia need look no further than the Braidwood report for inspiration to establish its own provincewide guidelines.

Restraint, Taser use under scrutiny as Hyde inquiry resumes

July 6, 2009
CBC News

An inquiry has resumed into the 2007 death of Howard Hyde, a Nova Scotia man who died 30 hours after he was jolted with a Taser.

Hyde, 45, was arrested Nov. 21, 2007, and taken to police headquarters in Halifax, where officers used a stun gun on him. He died in a Dartmouth jail after a struggle with guards.

Lawyers gathered in a Halifax courtroom Monday morning to discuss whether video surveillance tapes from the police station and the jail should be available online.

The inquiry is being webcast — the first time a fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia is visible to people outside the hearing room.

Judge Anne Derrick is expected to hear opening statements from lawyers later Monday, but no testimony.

Kevin MacDonald, the lawyer representing Hyde's family, said his clients are looking for more detail about what happened when Hyde was arrested.

"They're not sure what role the Taser played," MacDonald told reporters. "There are other aspects of this that are just as concerning to them, such as the way Mr. Hyde was restrained."

Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner ruled last fall that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia, and declared his death accidental.

The inquiry, ordered by former justice minister Cecil Clarke, is expected to focus on the circumstances surrounding Hyde's death, including the transfer process from police headquarters to the jail.

Derrick can make recommendations relating to any matter that arises during the hearing.

Halifax inquiry examines man's jail death after Tasering by police

July 6, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — Proceedings are expected to resume today at the inquiry into the death of a Nova Scotia man about 30 hours after he was Tasered by police.

Howard Hyde, a 45-year-old musician, was arrested in November 2007 and taken into custody at Halifax police headquarters. Hyde, a schizophrenic whose long history of mental illness was known to police, reportedly struggled with officers as he tried to escape.

Police Tasered him twice and then sent him to hospital for treatment. He died approximately 30 hours later at a correctional facility.

Judge Anne Derrick, who is presiding over the inquiry, has given standing to a number of groups including doctors, police and corrections officials.

Fatality Inquiry into the Death of Howard Hyde

Fatality Inquiry Into The Death Of Howard Hyde

Pursuant to the Fatality Investigations Act, S.N.S. 2001 C. 31

Presiding: The Honourable Judge Anne Derrick of the Nova Scotia Provincial Court

Inquiry Counsel: Dan MacRury Q.C., Chief Crown Attorney for the Cape Breton Region

Schedule: July 6-10, 13-17, 20-24, August 4-7 and 10-14, 2009

Location: The Law Courts, 1815 Upper Water St. Halifax - Courtroom #304

Video and audio of the Inquiry will be streamed live at www.hydeinquiry.ca on the scheduled hearing dates (above).

To view proceedings live, click here: LIVE WEB-CAST OF HYDE INQUIRY

To view archived recordings of completed proceedings, click here: HYDE INQUIRY ARCHIVE

Probe to address whether footage of N.S. man who died in custody can be streamed

June 12, 2009
By Alison Auld, THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — A Nova Scotia judge will decide whether video footage of a man who died in a correctional facility after being Tasered will be downloaded onto the Internet in a case that's raising fresh questions about how much access the public should have to sensitive material.

Justice Anne Derrick is presiding over an inquiry looking into the 2007 death of Howard Hyde, a schizophrenic who died roughly 30 hours after he was Tasered repeatedly by police in Halifax.

Surveillance video from the facility apparently captured Hyde pacing in his cell, and the moments before his death after he struggled with guards and then collapsed, the inquiry heard Friday.

Dan MacRury, the inquiry's lead counsel, argued the video should be downloaded onto the Internet to allow greater public access in a hearing aimed at finding out what happened to the 45-year-old musician.

"It should be played on the web because it enhances the openness of the proceeding," MacRury said outside the courtroom.

"It is in the public interest to see what happened to Mr. Hyde."

But a lawyer for the guards who work at the facility in nearby Dartmouth argued that downloading the video onto the web violates the privacy rights of workers and prisoners who may have been inadvertently included in the footage.

David Roberts, who filed a motion opposing the downloading on behalf of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said the danger in streaming raw surveillance footage is that people can distort it on social sites like YouTube.

He argued that "dumping" it onto the Internet also cedes control of key evidence to the public.

"It's subject to distortion and it's an invasion of their privacy rights," he said outside court of the 16 hours of DVD evidence.

"It can be copied, it can file-shared and we think we can have an open inquiry if it simply goes out as part of the hearing itself."

Roberts proposed that the footage be shown on the Internet as it's being viewed in the courtroom, but not allow the raw footage to go directly onto the web.

The provincial Department of Justice also opposed streaming the raw footage.

Hyde's relatives say the footage from the facility and police station where he was Tasered should be shown in full to provide a clear picture of the events prior to his death.

Daniel Walker, who's representing Hyde's sister and brother-in-law, challenged the motion and argued during the hearing that because the video could be central to explaining what happened to Hyde, it should be shown in an unadulterated way.

"The family's concerned that it come through to the observers outside the courtroom in its purest form," he said.

"They want this so members of the public can form their own opinions and make their own observations just as members of the public inside the courtroom will be able to do."

The legal arguments come weeks after lawyers agreed to set up cameras in the courtroom and webcast the inquiry, making it one of the first fatality probes in the country to be streamed on the Internet.

Hyde's family said the decision would allow his father in the United States and other relatives to watch the proceedings as they look for answers about the actions of the police, paramedics, corrections officers and hospital staff who came in contact with Hyde the night he was arrested.

Derrick said she would give her decision when the hearing resumes on July 6.

The hearing, expected to run until August at least, will examine what happened to Hyde after police arrested him at his home as they responded to a report of domestic abuse.

Hyde, whose long history of mental illness was known to police, was taken into custody at police headquarters in Halifax. The man, who was said to be deeply afraid of police following an earlier run-in, reportedly struggled with officers as he tried to escape.

The provincial medical examiner concluded that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.

***

excited-delirium sent a comment today that bears repeating here because it makes perfect sense:

"...cede control of the evidence to Internet users."

Stupidest statement of the month. Does he understand that it's a COPY, not a MOVE. The evidence is and shall remain the master copy. That original is the one-and-only true evidence, and should be protected.

But this basic requirement has NOTHING to do with allowing a copy to be published on the Internet or anywhere else.

And one never knows, perhaps some dedicated amateur sleuth will notice something important.

By the way - feel free to pixelate the guard(s) faces.

This leaves ZERO reason not to publish.

Nova Scotia RCMP pulls older Tasers out for testing

June 2, 2009
CBC News

The RCMP in Nova Scotia is taking 66 of its stun guns out of service as part of a nation-wide effort to test older models.

The decision to test older M-26 Tasers was made after the B.C. government announced Monday that such weapons don't meet the manufacturer's specifications.

"They'll be sent out for routine testing to ensure that they're meeting the manufacturer's standards," Cpl. M.J. Deluco, an RCMP spokesperson in Nova Scotia, said Tuesday.

Deluco said 31 newer stun guns will remain in service in the province.

MPB Technologies Electronic Centre, an independent laboratory in Ontario, examined 128 older-model M-26 Tasers used by the B.C. municipal police, sheriffs and corrections officers. Of those, 102 failed the test.

The lab concluded that 102 devices didn't meet the manufacturer's specifications, while 101 had output below those specifications. One unit failed due to a combination of factors.

The death of Howard Hyde

For some time now, I have been in contact here and there with the family of Howard Hyde, who died in Halifax, Nova Scotia on November 22, 2007 at the age of 45. Howard was tasered by Halifax Regional Police at least twice and he died 30 hours later. His death was ruled accidental. The official cause of death was 'excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.'

Howard's sister Joanna and her husband Hunter unexpectedly found themselves on the very difficult but well-travelled road they now share with all of the families who have lost a loved one so needlessly. At this time, Howard's family is entering into the fatality inquiry process, hoping to finally get closer to the truth about what happened to Howard. It was recently reported that at least part of the inquiry, to be held in Halifax, will be broadcast live via webcast this summer.

Recently, Hunter wrote a very eloquent message to me with his thoughts around Howard's death and tasers in general. With Hunter's permission, I post his thoughts here.

I will try to give you my feelings about the instrument of control (aka t.a.s.e.r.) used by police officers against the citizenry of our country.

Firstly I will give you some biographical background as I try to explain how my thinking has evolved over the last while. I have been a family physician for well over forty years and during the bulk of that time I have worked closely with police forces. I was a police surgeon for some three years in my native Scotland, dealing with everything from drunk drivers to rape and murder.

In 1968 I emigrated to Southern Ontario and was a coroner for ten years. Because the town I lived in (Tilbury) was bisected by the county line, I did both counties and consequently I was very busy and closely involved with the Ontario Provincial Police. I then moved to my present job in Nova Scotia where I was a Medical Examiner for about twenty years and thus closely involved with the RCMP.

This background did give me a great deal of understanding of the difficulties of policing. Fortunately I never professionally encountered taser use as the police I knew did not have it and most certainly did not need it.

To my discredit, I paid little attention to the use of the taser in the subduing of rowdy and difficult "criminals," even when it was occurring in my own Province. This was due to a decision made a few years ago to eschew reading newspapers and listening to broadcast news, my reasoning being that if I did not know what our political class was up to my blood pressure would remain in the normal range and I would live longer and happier.

The case of Mr Dziekanski did manage to penetrate my bubble in October of 2007. Just over one month later it all became personal with the death of my brother-in-law, Howard Hyde, some thirty hours after being tasered. Our source of information in this death was for a very long time the news media.

I, of course, started to research the subject of "death proximal to restraint" because of a faint memory I had of such deaths in mental hospitals. Google took me to the Centre for Canadian Police Research, and conveniently gave me Sergeant Darren Laur's paper on the taser, restraint and sudden death. It also gave me the briefest of email exchange with Dr. Christine Hall. I bought their story being, of course, unaware of their connection with Taser International. I dutifully regurgitated the facts in this document to the Media and anyone else who asked me about tasers and death.

Time went by and my wife and I realized that the Province of Nova Scotia was not about to give us any information about Howard's death any time soon. Neither, apparently, was the RCMP who investigated his death for the Medical Examiner's office. They were also to investigate the conduct of their brother organization, the Halifax Regional Police. The RCMP did a masterly job of telling us nothing at all. We obtained Howard's medical records, the record of his very brief court appearance -- probably lasting only about one or two minutes --- and gave a few interviews and thus hopefully helped the Province to reach the decision that it was in its best interest to hold a Public Inquiry.

During this time my thinking about tasers and the concept of "excited delirium" continued to evolve. Watching the horror that took place in Vancouver Airport shook my long held belief that policemen were mostly honourable and could be trusted. By now I was paying attention to the news and I realized that there seemed to be an epidemic of incidents in Canada requiring the "deployment" of a taser. There also was an obvious death rate proximal to taser use. That such a death rate exists has now been reluctantly admitted by the RCMP, although not by the manufacturer of this weapon. It occurs to me that if the taser were a medical device for which alternatives existed, and such a death rate were noted, it would be abandoned.

That something very sinister happens to the metabolism of people who die soon after being tasered and restrained is, of course, obvious. By giving this metabolic calamity a name, "excited delirium", those parties involved in these deaths shift the blame onto the deceased. The main symptom which seems to be mandatory in making this diagnostic call is death. There are others of course, such as agitation, erratic behaviour and most of all, failure to obey a police officer. Now psychotic and drug produced delirium has been around for a very long time and it does have a death rate. The death is almost exclusively due to accident and misadventure while in this toxic state and does not usually take place if the individual is treated properly. Coursing 50,000 volts through that person's body does not constitute proper treatment.

Now Taser International and police associations will protest that there is no evidence that being exposed to that kind of current kills, and that if the person dies he/she must have had "excited delirium". The convenience of this diagnosis is obvious. There is also no convincing evidence that tasering, particularly when multiple, does not cause death. Taser International et al will say that many of their employees, workers, etc. have been exposed to a taser jolt and have nicely survived. To convince me that this type of electrical injury is completely safe would require an unethical and very risky experiment. Let us take a few dozen or so taser enthusiasts and keep them awake for 4 or 5 nights while being exercised to the point of exhaustion and then treat them appropriately. I would expect a death rate of zero. Now repeat the experiment but this time expose them to a few jolts of a taser weapon. If the death rate is still zero I may now concede that the weapon is possibly safe. I doubt however that the rate would be zero. Obviously such an experiment would never pass an ethics committee and there would perhaps be a shortage of volunteers.

I have seen the video of Howard's tasering many times now. It still has the capacity to fill me with abhorrence that we are prepared to countenance such a barbaric tool. I now understand his fear and his confusion that fellow humans would behave in such a manner and that it would be legal. Joanna heard the soundtrack this morning for the first time and I am sure that it will haunt her.

The inquiry will be a very difficult time, but it must be borne if it will contribute to a total ban on taser use in Canada. Of course it should not take this inquiry nor another single death for this ban to occur. I fear that more families will undergo the pain of such deaths before the obvious solution happens. It is just as much a tragedy when a police officer is killed, but I have yet to see it convincingly shown that a taser would have prevented such an event. If it had I am sure that we would have heard about it in no uncertain fashion.

I have some difficulty in organizing my thoughts on this subject without a kind of rage taking over me.

Hyde inquiry online - Lawyers support precedent-setting webcast into jail death

April 23, 2009
By JEFFREY SIMPSON, Halifax Chronicle Herald

The public inquiry into the case of a mentally ill man who died after collapsing in a Dartmouth jail in 2007 will be broadcast live on the Internet this summer.

Judge Anne Derrick agreed with lawyers Wednesday to a webcast of upcoming sessions of the hearing as it investigates the circumstances surrounding Howard Hyde’s death 30 hours after police shocked him with a Taser.

"It’s an important precedent," Dan Mac-Rury, the inquiry’s counsel, told reporters.

"I believe this is the first fatality inquiry that is going to be broadcasting and I think it’s a positive step forward in the administration of justice."

Mr. Hyde, 45, who suffered from schizophrenia, had been arrested and charged with assault stemming from a domestic dispute in November 2007. His girlfriend, Karen Ellet, said at the time he had stopped taking his medication.

The inquiry will look at whether Mr. Hyde should have been in a hospital psychiatric ward instead of being taken to the police station and then jail.

Kevin MacDonald, the lawyer who represents Mr. Hyde’s sister, said that she supports the decision.

"The public are interested," Mr. MacDonald said.

"The inquiry is going to be held in Halifax. And but for the webcast, it really would be closed off to many members of the public."

The webcast would also benefit Mr. Hyde’s father, who lives in the United States, Mr. MacDonald said.

"He could choose to remain home and watch all of the proceedings," Mr. MacDonald said.

Mr. Hyde’s sister, Joanna Blair, and her husband, Hunter Blair, hope the inquiry will shed some light on what happened to the man.

"They were really strongly in favour of this inquiry at the outset, so they welcome it and they’re hoping the inquiry process will answer some of the questions they have," Mr. MacDonald said.

"There were a number of people who had control of Mr. Hyde and the family wants to know what those people did and why."

Mr. MacDonald wouldn’t comment on the possibility of further legal action, but he’s confident the use of the Taser several times on Mr. Hyde was integral to his death.

"It definitely played a part. What part it played in his ultimate death, I think it’s too early to say. But it was a factor in the chain of events."

After being Tasered, Mr. Hyde was rushed to hospital where he was medically cleared and released back into police custody. He went to court later that day before being jailed for the night.

The province’s chief medical examiner ruled Mr. Hyde’s death was accidental and not from the Taser shock.

Blair Mitchell, a lawyer for the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, which is also participating in the inquiry, said the circumstances surrounding Mr. Hyde’s death raise serious questions about how people with mental illnesses are treated when authorities intervene.

"There are a series of reforms or changes that need to be made. And we trust that those recommendations will result from this process."

The inquiry will meet again in June to discuss more procedural issues before further sessions in July, when witnesses will appear.

'Get rid of the Taser' - Halifax man calls for ban at inquiry into friend's death

Good for you, Mr. McLean!

I am very surprised to see that Taser International's lawyers are not (yet) on the list of parties who have been granted standing at this fatality inquiry. However, I expect they *will* be added in due course. I think it's fairly safe to say that a large table front and centre with at least two chairs will be needed for Taser International lawyer (and former RCMP officer) David T. Neave (of the Vancouver lawfirm "Blakes") and at least one of his legal beagles. Been there, done that.

February 18, 2009
Chronicle Herald

Philip McLean, a friend of the late Howard Hyde, came to the first day of an inquiry with one thing on his mind — a call for a complete ban on the use of Taser stun guns.

“I knew Howard and to me he wasn’t a violent person and I feel like the use of the Taser is the wrong thing for anyone in general, really I’m against it,” Mr. McLean told reporters at Halifax provincial court, where the inquiry into Mr. Hyde’s November 2007 death opened Wednesday morning.

Mr. McLean knew Mr. Hyde for two years. The two had met at a social club they both frequented.

“It’s too late to bring Howard and other people back alive, but I just hope that the Justice (Department) will get rid of the Taser.”

Mr. McLean, of Halifax, remembers his friend as a friendly and intelligent gentleman and “an all-around nice guy.”

“Unfortunately I think it can and will happen again unless the law is changed."

Mr. Hyde, 45, died on Nov. 22, 2007, some 30 hours after he was shocked with a stun gun at Halifax Regional Police headquarters.

Mr. Hyde, who had schizophrenia, died shortly after collapsing at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. He died about 30 hours after Halifax Regional Police used a stun gun on him during a disturbance at the booking desk at police headquarters.

Mr. Hyde had been arrested and charged with assault stemming from a domestic dispute. His girlfriend, Karen Ellet, said at the time that he had stopped taking his medication.

The fatality inquiry will look at several things, including whether Mr. Hyde should have been in a hospital’s psychiatric ward as opposed to a police station and then a jail. Judge Anne Derrick, who is conducting the inquiry, will make findings and recommendations about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Hyde’s death, cause and manner of death and on anything else that may arise out of the hearings.

“I do not know the facts of this case, I will be listening to the evidence with an open mind,” Judge Derrick said. “At this point, I want to pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that we are all here this morning because of a tragic event. Howard Hyde’s death on Nov. 22, 2007 is the reason for this inquiry.

“Whatever the facts may be with respect to Mr. Hyde’s death and the events leading to it and whatever recommendations may emerge on the evidence presented here, it can be safely assumed that Mr. Hyde’s death has been a tragedy for his family and his friends, the people in his life who loved him immensely.”

The probe cannot make any findings of civil or criminal liability.

The inquiry resumes April 22. The bulk of the evidence will be heard in July and August. The inquiry was ordered in September by Justice Minister Cecil Clarke.

Cape Breton chief Crown attorney Dan MacRury has been appointed counsel for the inquiry. He has not yet determined how many witnesses he will call.

Several parties have been granted standing to participate in the inquiry. They include: Mr. Hyde’s sister and brother-in-law, Joanna Blair and her husband, Dr. Hunter Blair; the Nova Scotia General and Government Employees Union, which represents employees at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth and within the Capital district health authority; the Capital district health authority; the Canadian Mental Health Association; the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia; Attorney General of Nova Scotia; Dr. Janet MacIntyre, an emergency room physician at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre; Dr. Stephen Curry, one of the doctors who treated Mr. Hyde; and Halifax Regional Police.

Stephen Ayer, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia said because Mr. Hyde lived with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia there are many unanswered questions concerning the circumstances of his death.


“One question is why after he was taken to the emergency department and then to the court and then with instructions from the emergency department to return him if he wasn’t taken to a psychiatric facility ..., why wasn’t that done?,” Mr. Ayer said outside of court. “I have information from Ms. Ellet, his common law wife, that while he was at the correctional facility, he was examined by a psychiatric nurse why was he not examined by a psychiatrist at that particular point? So there’s some really hard questions that I would like to see answered.”

Mr. Ayer’s biggest concern is what method of restraint was used on Mr. Hyde, when and why was he restrained and was that method of restraint a factor in his death.

The province’s chief medical examiner has said being shocked with the device didn’t kill Mr. Hyde. His death was ruled accidental.