Nova Scotia police say taser increase reflects rise in violent incidents

March 5, 2008
Charles Mandel, Canwest News Service

HALIFAX - Police in Nova Scotia are quicker than ever to use Tasers, says a new report released by the provincial Justice Department on Wednesday. But the RCMP says the frequency of use is directly related to an increase in the number of violent incidents that police are responding to, and that the weapon is being used appropriately.

The report found Taser use in Nova Scotia has increased substantially, but standards around the weapon's use and training with it vary widely across provincial police forces.

The application of the weapon rose over the past three years, to 182 times in 2007 from 101 times in 2005, an 80 per cent increase. The hike could be attributed to an overall increase in the number of conducted energy weapons currently in use, the report said.

Although the 42-page report endorsed Tasers as a "promising 'less-lethal' weapon" that allows police to subdue violent attackers, it said several aspects of the weapon need further review. The report noted that the Taser's advantages include its rapid impact, use from a distance, potential for reducing injuries to officers, subjects and bystanders and "its reportedly short duration of physiological impact."

The reported also noted: "But these are the very characteristics that may render the CED (Conducted Energy Device) open to misuse or even abuse, particularly over-reliance on the weapon to subdue subjects when less intrusive means could be effective."

Among the report's recommendations are that the adequacy of current training programs be examined; whether operational procedures clearly outlining Taser use should exist and to what extent the government should be involved in establishing such procedures; and whether current accountability measures are adequate.

Police officials defended the use of the conducted energy weapon. "We feel it's being used when it should be used and at the appropriate time," said Halifax RCMP spokesman Sgt. Mark Gallagher. Gallagher said an increase in the number of violent incidents explains the rise in Taser use by the RCMP provincially - of 55 incidents in 2007, 25 involved armed individuals. Twenty-two of the Taser applications "defused" the situation, Gallagher said. "That could have gone another way had we not had the Taser, so there's certainly a place and a time for it."

Halifax police Chief Frank Beazley said the report's findings that Halifax Regional Police receive less training than provincial RCMP on the use of the device is a misunderstanding. He said his officers receive eight hours of training, while the RCMP's 16 hours of training include other aspects such as the use of pepper spray and first aid. "They do not train for two days just on the Taser."

In Nova Scotia, two people have died after being hit with Taser fire. In 2005, Paul Saulnier died shortly after being stunned, clubbed and pepper-sprayed by police. But it was the death of the second man, 45-year-old Howard Hyde, that prompted Nova Scotia to launch the review into Taser use. Hyde died in a Dartmouth prison last November more than a day after he was shocked with a Taser.

Both men suffered from schizophrenia, and Stephen Ayer of the Nova Scotia Schizophrenia Society criticized the Taser report as ignoring mental health issues.

The Nova Scotia Taser review is one of at least seven probes in Canada over the use of the weapon. Several of the probes are into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after RCMP officers first applied a Taser and then subdued him in December at Vancouver International Airport.

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said in the vast majority of cases the use of the Taser has been "a very good thing," with some "unfortunate" exceptions. But Liberal justice critic Michel Samson said the report shows "unacceptable" inconsistencies in the training police receive in Taser use.

Widow of Paul Saulnier files suit against RCMP

November 30, 2007
The Canadian Press

DIGBY, N.S. — A widow who is suing the RCMP for negligence says an officer shot her husband in the back with a Taser before he died during an altercation in 2005.
Helen Saulnier alleges in her civil suit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that her late husband, Paul Saulnier, was Tasered outside the Digby RCMP detachment while he was arguing with another officer. She is suing the RCMP and three specific officers.

Saulnier, 42, of Waldeck, N.S., died July 15, 2005. He had been taken to the police station for questioning and was told he would be fingerprinted, the statement of claim alleges. It does not say he was ever under arrest. Some information in the statement of claim came from the provincial medical examiner’s report, said Saulnier’s lawyer, Jamie MacGillivray. ‘‘It was based on the RCMP’s own version of what happened,’’ he said.

When an agitated Saulnier decided to leave the police station through a back door, two Mounties followed him outside and ordered him back inside, the statement of claim alleges. One officer went back inside to grab a Taser, then returned and fired the darts into Saulnier’s back. An RCMP spokesman said shortly after Saulnier’s death that they had been planning to charge him with criminal harassment. The spokesman admitted that officers used pepper spray, batons, and a Taser to subdue him.

Saulnier fell to the ground and both officers jumped on him, the statement of claim says. A third officer came outside to help. Nova Scotia’s chief medical examiner found that Saulnier died of cardiac arrest due to excited delirium caused by paranoid schizophrenia, MacGillivray said. On Thursday, the RCMP said they would not comment on the lawsuit. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Widow of Paul Saulnier to sue RCMP

October 20, 2007
BRIAN MEDEL, The Chronicle Herald

DIGBY— The wife of a man who died outside the Digby RCMP detachment in 2005 after he was Tasered has hired a lawyer to sue the RCMP. Paul Sheldon Saulnier, 42, of Waldec died July 15, 2005. Officers had used pepper spray and their batons as well as a Taser to keep Mr. Saulnier from leaving the police station. He had apparently dropped in to talk, but it’s not clear why.

His wife, Helen, has retained lawyer Jamie MacGillivray. "We intend to claim against the RCMP for negligence in the use of the Taser," Mr. MacGillivray said. The lawsuit is still being prepared, he said Friday. He said the suit will not allege the police used excessive force. "But we are saying they didn’t use the Taser appropriately," Mr. MacGillivray said. "With the use of a powerful weapon like the Taser comes responsibility," he said.

The lawyer said two settings, or modes, are available for use on a Taser. One mode fires probes at a target to immobilize the person. The Digby RCMP officers used their Taser in what’s known as the drive stun mode, said Mr. MacGillivray. He said the medical examiner’s report said officers kept the Taser in drive stun mode.

Nova Scotia’s chief medical examiner found that Mr. Saulnier died of cardiac arrest due to excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia. The term excited delirium is controversial, Mr. MacGillivray said. "We intend to claim . . . negligence . . . using drive stun mode, where the Taser is applied directly to the skin," said Mr. MacGillivray. A Taser used in this fashion inflicts pain but does not immobilize, he said. And people in a state of excited delirium cannot be immobilized by pain, he said. "They repeatedly used the Taser in drive stun mode and attempted to use a hog-tie restraint," Mr. MacGillivray said of the three Digby RCMP officers involved in the incident.

Mr. MacGillivray also filed suit recently on behalf of Ms. Saulnier against the Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. The insurance company has denied a claim for payment of life insurance on the grounds that Mr. Saulnier died not from accident but from illness: paranoid schizophrenia, said Mr. MacGillivray. He said the claim was also denied because the insurance company said Mr. Saulnier was committing a criminal offence at the time of his death.

An RCMP spokesman said shortly after Mr. Saulnier’s death that police had been planning to charge the man with criminal harassment but charges had not yet been finalized. The insurance company’s position has only a thin veneer of legitimacy, argues Mr. MacGillivray. He said Mr. Saulnier was not committing a crime and was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of his acts. "We are very confident the courts will find Mrs. Saulnier is entitled to this benefit," said Mr. MacGillivray.

CANADA - Inappropriate and Excessive Use of Tasers

May 23, 2007
Amnesty International

Psychiatric condition, not Taser, led to death of N.S. man in custody: report

September 22, 2006
Canadian Press

Tasered man died of heart attack: RCMP

September 21, 2006
CBC News

The RCMP say a Taser is not to blame for the death of a man who struggled with three officers in Digby last year.

Paul Saulnier, 42, died outside the RCMP detachment in Digby on July 15, 2005, after officers used a stun gun to immobilize him.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner said Saulnier died of a heart attack brought on by excited delirium, linked to his paranoid schizophrenia.

"It's a disease that's characterized by sudden onset of very violent and aggressive behaviour, confused thinking, superhuman strength," Dr. Matthew Bowes told CBC News.

Bowes said excited delirium usually affects two groups: chronic cocaine addicts and people with pre-existing disorders.

RCMP Sgt. Frank Skidmore said the deputy chief medical examiner for Ontario reviewed the case and concluded that the Taser played no role in Saulnier's death.

Wife filed complaint

Saulnier ended up in police custody after his wife filed a harassment complaint.

Helen Saulnier said she did so in an attempt to get him psychiatric treatment.

Saulnier walked into the RCMP detachment. When officers told him he was being arrested and charged, he fled the building.

Three officers tried to bring him down in the parking lot by using pepper spray and a baton. When that didn't work, they used a Taser, which delivers a jolt of electricity.

A few minutes later, Saulnier stopped moving. Paramedics arrived, but Saulnier died at the scene.

An investigation headed by Halifax Regional Police found the three officers were justified in using force, Skidmore said.

He said Saulnier's family has met with Bowes to discuss the report.

Wife turned to police to help husband

July 20, 2005
CBC News

A Digby woman whose husband died in police custody says she had asked the RCMP to arrest him so he could get treatment for his mental disorder.

Helen Saulnier says her husband Paul was in Yarmouth Regional Hospital twice in the last two years for psychiatric evaluations, but his condition got worse each time he left the hospital.

After the second time, she filed a harassment complaint against him with the police.

"I did speak to the police [Friday] and it was something I did not really want to talk to them about. But I felt that it is something that, in order to get him into the hospital, that this is something that had to be done," Saulnier said.

While Paul Saulnier was being arrested at the RCMP detachment in Digby, he tried to escape. He died after officers subdued him with pepper spray, a baton and a Taser gun.

Carol Tooton, with the Canadian Mental Health Association, said she doesn't know much about this incident, but trying to force people to stay on their medication often causes problems.

"As much as we'd like to say, 'Yes, stay on your medication and everything will be all right,' often times that's never going to be the reality. And I think we're going to have to be prepared to accept the choices that some people make," Tooton said.

Better community programs to support people with mental illness are needed, she said.