Two B.C. cops charged over Taser jolt on 73-year-old

October 25, 2010
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

A member of the RCMP and a member of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service have been charged with assault in the tasering of a 73-year-old man while in hospital.

The charges relate to an incident on April 22, 2010 in which RCMP, responding to a report of a man with a knife causing a disturbance, took the 73-year-old Surrey resident to hospital for treatment and assessment after apprehending him under the Mental Health Act

Statements released Monday by the RCMP and transit police say the man, while in hospital, was subjected to a single application of force from a Taser wielded by the RCMP officer in the push-stun mode.

The transit officer, who happened to be at the hospital at the time, became involved in the situation, say the statements.

The 73-year-old man suffered a facial laceration requiring sutures.

Following an investigation, Constable Mitchell Spears, a member of the RCMP with two years experience, has been charged with one count of assault and one count of assault with a weapon.

Constable Ken Jensen of the transit police has been charged with one count of assault.

Both officers have been suspended with pay.

“Allegations of this nature are troubling for all of us who are entrusted with the public’s confidence. We must now rely on the full process as set out in law to deal with these allegations,” George Beattie, acting chief for the transit police, said in a statement.

Are Electric Stun Guns Always 'Non-Lethal' Weapons?

Amelia Templeton September 9, 2010 Portland, OR
OPB News

Electric stun guns are used by law enforcement agencies across the country. People generally call the guns by their most common brand name, Taser.

Most research suggests that the 5-second pulse of electric shock the guns deliver doesn’t cause any long-term harm to a healthy person. But the company acknowledges that Tasers haven’t been scientifically tested on elderly or sick people.

Reporter Amelia Templeton takes a closer look at the recent death of Phyllis Owens, from Sandy.

Sergeant Adam Phillips runs the Taser training program for the Clackamas County Sheriffs. Phillips says that one of the main benefits of the Taser is that’s its safer than other weapons.

Phillips has voluntarily allowed himself to be shocked with a Taser three times. He says is painful. Then it’s over.

Adam Phillips: “I wouldn’t let myself get tasered if I was concerned.”

But two recent incidents in Oregon raise questions about whether the Taser could be linked to more serious health risks.

Steven Avila, a 16-year-old from Salem, was shocked with a Taser by state police in June. He spent several days in the hospital in critical condition.

Little information is available about the incident because Avila is a minor.

In July, a Clackamas County deputy fired a Taser at an 87-year-old woman, Phyllis Owens. She collapsed immediately and died in a hospital about an hour later.

Larry Lewman: “The critical thing is really the timing. And she went down, boom. And that’s how you relate this.”

That’s deputy state medical examiner Dr. Larry Lewman. He performed an autopsy on Owens. He says she relied completely on a pacemaker to tell her heart when to beat, and how fast.

Lewman says the Taser wouldn’t have killed a healthy person. So he listed heart disease as the cause of Owens’s death.

Larry Lewman: “I think it happened at this time and at this place because of the application of the stun gun, which probably interfered with the electrical device.”

Clackamas County Sheriffs classify the Taser as a non-lethal weapon. A spokesman for the sheriffs’ office says the deputy’s use of force was justified. That’s because he believed Ms. Owens was reaching for a pistol. The weapon was actually a pellet gun.

Dr. Eric Putz is the cardiologist who gave Ms. Owens her pacemaker. He has two theories about how the Taser could have interacted with her pacemaker.

Putz says a pacemaker has a wire that acts like an antenna. The sensitive antenna monitors the electrical signal from the heart to make sure it’s beating. Outside electrical signals can trick the pacemaker’s antenna.

Eric Putz: “If it picks up the electrical signal, it believes that that electrical signal is a heartbeat and it will not pace. When you suddenly and abruptly go without a heart beat, you can have life threatening arrhythmias related to that.”

Putz has a second idea about what could have happened in Owens’ case. The stun gun dart hit Owens in the shoulder, not far from where her pacemaker was implanted. Putz says its possible the wires allowed the electricity to travel to her heart, and cause it to beat erratically.

Eric Putz: “That electrical energy, or that, that pathway so to speak, could include that wire that goes from the chest wall down into the heart and lead to a rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.”

Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy says he doesn’t think either of those scenarios is very likely. In a recent study partially funded by the Taser company, Lakkireddy implanted pacemakers in about a dozen pigs with healthy hearts. Then he shocked the pigs with Tasers. He says the pacemakers in the study did sometimes pick up the current as interference and stop pacing briefly.

The Taser company did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

(REALLY?? Read how "the Taser company" responded to a National Post reporter in May 2008 - Jonathan Kay on the best corporate media department in the world - where they refer to Dr. Lakkireddy's research but omit to mention that the study was partially funded by they themselves.)

On its website, the company cites Dr. Lakkireddy’s study, and says that Tasers are safe even for people with pacemakers.

But the company also warns law enforcement officers that Tasers have not been scientifically tested for use on pregnant, infirm, elderly people, or children. And it says that use of the stun gun on those people could increase the risk of death.

Adam Phillips: “None of them are precluded at any time from our policy or in the training that Taser provides. That’s Sergeant Phillips, with the Clackamas County Sheriffs.

Adam Phillips: “Elderly and young are included in that. They never say you cannot use it against this group under these circumstances.”

Sergeant Phillips says Owens’s death hasn’t led to any policy changes. He says any police use of force can be problematic for people with underlying health issues. But sometimes use of force is unavoidable.

Adam Phillips: “ I don’t know that there is an answer, with any of our tools, with people who have underlying health issues. Neither you or I could tell. A doctor can’t tell. So how would we expect a police officer to?”

The Clackamas County major crimes unit has been investigating Owens’ death. The district attorneys office says the investigation should conclude this week.

Police stun gun, heart disease both contributed to death of woman, 87

September 2, 2010
Rick Bella, The Oregonian

Cause of death for an 87-year-old Boring woman who collapsed after being hit by a police stun gun is officially listed as chronic heart disease, the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office said Thursday.

However, Dr. Larry Lewman, deputy state medical examiner, said the manner of death for Phyllis A. Owens, who had a pacemaker since 2007, was receiving a 50,000-volt jolt from a Taser fired by a Clackamas County sheriff's deputy.

"The cause of her death is hypertensive cardio-vascular disease," Lewman said. "But it occurred because of the electric stun gun, which probably intercepted a pacemaker wire."

Lewman said this was the first such case he has investigated in 39 years of practicing forensic medicine. He said he polled medical examiners nationwide but got no response.

"This is rare," Lewman said. "Other medical examiners may have seen this before. But if so, they never said."

Meanwhile, the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the actions of Deputies Steve Shelly and Alan Alderman, who were placed on administrative leave after the July 8 incident.

Owens was shot with a Taser after about 15 minutes of tense negotiations, during which Owens appeared to be brandishing a semiautomatic handgun. Deputies were called after Owens threatened a manager at her mobile home park.

However, a subsequent report from the sheriff's office indicated Owens actually was waving a pellet gun replica of a firearm.

At one point, deputies convinced Owens to put down the pellet gun, which she laid on her porch railing. But when one deputy advanced toward her, she reached for the pellet gun again.

The other deputy, believing Owens was reaching for a handgun, shot her with a Taser.

Deputies gone wild?

September 1, 2010
Bill King, Lovely County Citizen

CARROLL COUNTY --Deputies and jailers of the Carroll County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) are using pepper spray and Taser stun-guns to subdue non-compliant detainees, but how often these non-lethal-force weapons are being used by county law enforcement is unknown. According to Sheriff Bob Grudek, county law enforcement officers are not required to submit use-of-force reports to document use of the weapons, and no statistical data on their use is kept.

The Citizen has learned of two recent incidents where pepper spray was used: In one case, an 81-year-old man was sprayed in the face by a deputy who alleges he was threatened by a pair of scissors the man was holding; in another an intoxicated man who was already handcuffed and seatbelted into a police cruiser was sprayed.

And, according to a Berryville police officer, a diabetic man known by jailers to be in insulin shock was Tasered at least twice by a jailer.

A Taser is a weapon that delivers 50,000 volts of electrical current to temporarily incapacitate a subject. Tasers were designed as non-lethal alternatives to using deadly force, however they are frequently used by law enforcement to subdue non-compliant subjects. They have been documented to cause heart failure and death and are particularly dangerous to those under the influence of drugs. Taser use is opposed by Amnesty International and other human rights advocates.

Pepper spray is an inflammatory that causes temporary blindness, difficulty breathing, runny nose, and coughing. It can cause death in asthma sufferers or those taking drugs.

Stunning

At 4:43 p.m. on Aug. 11, CCSO deputy Justin Wagner was dispatched to a one-car accident on Hwy. 21 south where an SUV had driven off the road and into a ditch. Berryville police officer Kevin Disheroon was called to assist. According to Disheroon's report, Wagner told him he believed the driver, later identified as Keith Neal, 25, was extremely intoxicated and non-compliant. Wagner was unable to get any response but a groan from Neal, who was covered in sweat.

The two officers asked Neal to step out of the car, but he did not comply and when Disheroon tried to pull on his arm, Neal pulled it back. They eventually pulled the struggling Neal out, got him on the ground and handcuffed, patted down and into Disheroon's patrol car and off to the jail.

Disheroon told the Citizen that Neal appeared "out of it" and didn't even seem to know the officers were there or where he was.

While driving Neal to the jail, Disheroon received a call from Wagner telling him he'd found insulin and a needle in Neal's car and that Neal might be having a diabetic reaction. Emergency Medical Services were notified to meet them at the jail and Disheroon told the jail staff on arrival that Neal could be suffering from a diabetic reaction. The jail staff removed Neal's handcuffs and he started to struggle.

"During the struggle, one of the jailers used approximately two contact stuns with a Taser to try to get him to comply, but he continued to struggle," Disheroon's narrative states. Disheroon advised handcuffing Neal again for his own safety until EMS arrived. Neal's blood sugar registered an extremely low 14.

The EMS crew brought Neal's blood sugar level back up, and he was sitting calmly talking with Wagner when Disheroon left the jail. Neal was picked up by his parents.

While the Berryville report was quite detailed, there was virtually no record of the incident at the sheriff's office or jail when the Citizen requested it Friday. The only documentation produced was the dispatch report noting the accident, that Wagner responded, that a tow truck was called and that "the young man was not drunk, he was having a diabetic attack. His parents would be coming to get him from the jail."

Neal told the Citizen he has no memory of the incident and only knows what he was told afterward. He was told he was Tasered "approximately three times.

"I felt like hammered dogsh*t afterward, scratched up and bruised," he said. He was also ticketed for reckless driving and no seatbelt. He said he had just gotten off work when the incident occurred and had not been drinking.

The Police Executive Research Forum's guidelines recommend that every time a Taser is used, officers document the incident in use-of-force reports, noting accidents if and when they occur. Police departments should keep track of these reports and do random audits, regularly analyzing data.

Ragin' Cajun?

Edward Chevallier, an 81-year-old Cajun known locally as Blue John, had been having trouble with a tenant of the trailer park he owns just west of the King's River.

On July 10, CCSO Cpl. Joel Hand and deputy Chris Jones responded to a complaint from the tenant, Dan Rice, that Blue John had threatened him. The officers ordered Blue John to have no contact with his tenant. According to Hand's incident report narrative, Blue John agreed to comply.

Rice complained again on Aug.1 that Blue John was riding his 4-wheeler around his house being "a constant annoyance." Blue John was not present when a deputy arrived.

On Aug. 16, CCSO was called again and Hand and deputy Billy Floyd responded. Rice told the officers Blue John had come to his residence and was yelling at him, using profanity and trying to start a fight.

Blue John told the Citizen his problem with Rice was that he wouldn't mow his grass or clean his yard, and "wouldn't do nothin'." He admitted using profanity but said he was on his road and not on the property he rented to Rice.

When the officers found Blue John he was sitting in his garden, using scissors to cut string to stake tomatoes. From that point, CCSO's narrative and Blue John's story diverge.

Hand's side

According to Hand's report, when asked if he had been at Rice's house, Blue John responded, "It doesn't matter if I was." When Hand advised Blue John that he had been ordered to stay away from Rice, Blue John replied that he had not been served with court papers prohibiting contact. Hand replied that a court order was not necessary.

"Edward [Blue John] got agitated and raised his right arm holding the scissors and acted like he was going to throw the scissors. Edward stated, 'well I guess you better take me to jail.'"

Here's pepper in your eye

Hand told Blue John to put the scissors down and that he was under arrest for harassment and disorderly conduct. He said he told an agitated Blue John twice more to put the scissors down before pulling out his pepper spray and warning he would be sprayed if he didn't comply.

"Even after he was sprayed in the face, Blue John still had his arm raised, scissors in hand. He then threw the scissors into the ground so hard they sank to the handle, but refused to get up [from his chair]. The officers escorted Edward to the ground and placed him in custody," Hand wrote.

Blue John's version

"That's bowlsh*t," said the Cajun of Hand's account. Blue John insists the scissors were on the ground long before the pepper spray appeared. "You don't do nothing after they spray you."

Blue John said he was willing to go with the officers but said he needed to put his dog in its pen first. The officers did not allow him to. He claims he was thrown to the ground and one of the officers held his head down with his foot while he was handcuffed. He has a scraped nose and bruises on his body to back up his claim.

Blue John was charged with harassment, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and refusal to submit to arrest. He was released on his own recognizance when his good friend, former sheriff Chuck Medford, interceded.

Blue John has now made it his mission to work to defeat Grudek in the upcoming election. He has printed and is distributing 1,000 flyers with his mug shots and the caption "This is what they did to Blue John. Please vote for John Bailey."

Questions exist regarding the legality of Blue John's arrest under the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, which state that non-felony warrantless arrests require "the officer has reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed any violation of law in the officer's presence." No officer was present at the time of Blue John's alleged harassment, trespass and disorderly conduct.

Blue John has retained attorney W.H. Taylor who told the Citizen it sounds like it was an illegal arrest and added, "I understand they Maced an old guy; sounds like kind of a chickensh*t deal to me. You can put that in the paper."

Rice has moved from the trailer park and the Citizen was unable to locate him.

More pepper?

CCSO deputy Chris Jones was on the scene assisting Green Forest Police officer Allen Phillips in the arrest of Francis J. Doyle on July 8. Doyle, well known to local law enforcement based on a long list of arrests, was found asleep in his vehicle after apparently driving off the road. He was found to be intoxicated and Phillips took him into custody, according to Phillips' report.

Handcuffed in Phillips' cruiser, Doyle became aggressive, banging his head on the cruiser's window and attempting to get out when the door was opened. Phillips went around the car to restrain Doyle from the other side, to prevent him from hurting himself. When he opened the door, Phillips was met with the residue of pepper spray; Jones had sprayed Doyle to subdue him.

Abuse or politics?

Was pepper-spraying a man already handcuffed and in custody warranted?

Phillips and his boss, Green Forest Police Chief John Bailey, say no. Bailey said his force is well-acquainted with Doyle and that he was just "mouthing off" in his usual manner.

Phillips, who suffered a minor reaction from the pepper spray, confirmed that he did not believe pepper spray was needed to subdue Doyle.

Sheriff Grudek, in one of two interviews with the Citizen, said the pepper spray was warranted and that Phillips had said he would have used it also. He believes Bailey's statements are politically motivated as Bailey is challenging Grudek in the upcoming sheriff election. He recommended interviewing Phillips rather than Bailey, which the Citizen did.

Bailey said he was not involved in any way in making any of these cases public.

Kill the messenger

When the Citizen called Grudek to ask about the three incidents, he mostly wanted to talk about how upset he was with Citizen editor Mary Pat Boian's "Boys and their Toys" editorial in the Aug. 26 Citizen, which was critical of law enforcement's recent marijuana raids.

On the Blue John incident, Grudek said he was sick of talking about it and referred this reporter to a press release his office had issued.

When the Citizen requested the incident report on the Blue John case, two weeks after the incident, the sheriff's office said it could not be released because the sergeant had not signed off on it. The Citizen obtained an unsigned copy from Blue John.

When the Citizen requested copies of the standard operating procedures for use of Tasers and pepper spray, which a day earlier the sheriff had said existed, this reporter was told to fill out a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request.

When that was submitted, the response was that it needed to be on an official FOIA form, which is non-existent.

Next, the Citizen was told the sheriff had 10 days to fulfill the request, which is in violation of the FOIA law. The sheriff told the Citizen his office would release no further information to the paper without formal FOIA requests.

Retaliation?

Shortly after the second interview with the sheriff on Tuesday, in which Grudek repeatedly expressed how disappointed he was with the reporting and the direction he thought this story was going, this reporter received a callback from the sheriff informing him a warrant has been issued for his arrest on an alleged marijuana manufacturing charge stemming from the recent eradication raids.

In earlier conversations on the matter, Grudek had said that small amounts of the herb found were not a big deal.

Better late than never

Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff called back and said he would release incident reports on the three incidents if an FOIA request was filed, which was done.

Incident Reports

* The report on Neal, which sheriff office staff could not locate Friday after several search attempts, follows closely the Berryville PD account, but contains statements from Neal, his parents and his girlfriend documenting that Neal becomes combative and violent when his blood sugar is that low, and expressing their relief that no one was hurt by Neal's actions.

The deputy also wrote that he "smelled the sweet smell of intoxicants" in Neal's car.

* The Blue John narrative was identical to the one supplied by Blue John, although printed in a different font. The sheriff said the report was not released to Blue John and Blue John declined to tell where he got it.

* In the Doyle report, Jones wrote he had warned Doyle he would be sprayed before he did so, that he reported the spraying to his supervisor and to dispatch, and that Doyle's breathing was monitored after the spraying.

There was no indication on the reports as to when they were written, and the request for the standard operating procedures for Tasers and pepper spray remained unfilled.

American police accused of using a Taser on an 86-year-old, bed-ridden grandmother

June 27, 2010
By Mail Foreign Service

American police have been accused of tasering an 86-year-old bed-ridden grandmother.
Lonnie Tinsley called the emergency services to his home in El Reno, Oklahoma, when he became concerned that his grandma Lona Vernon had failed to take her medication.
But instead of a medical technician, he claims at least a dozen armed police officers answered his call.

Police in El Reno, Oklahoma, have been accused of tasering an 86-year-old grandmother
When Mrs Vernon ordered the police from her house, officer Thomas Duran allegedly decided she was being 'aggressive' and gave the order: 'Taser her.'

Her alarmed garndson, is then said to have replied: 'Don't taze my granny!'

According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Tinsley’s 'obstructive' behaviour prompted the police to threaten him with their tasers.

He was then was assaulted, removed from the room, thrown to the floor, handcuffed, and detained in a police car.

At this point, the heroes in blue turned their attention to Lona.

According to officer Duran’s official report, Mrs Vernon had taken an 'aggressive posture' in her hospital bed.

In order to ensure 'officer safety', one of his men 'stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation'.

Another of the officers then shot her with a taser, but the connection wasn’t solid.
A second fired his taser, 'striking her to the left of the midline of her upper chest, and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain', and unconsciousness.

Lona was then handcuffed with sufficient ruthlessness to tear the soft flesh of her forearms, causing her to bleed.

After her wounds were treated at a local hospital, Lona was confined for six days in the psychiatric ward at the insistence of the El Reno Police Department.

Georgia: State doesn’t fund law for taser training

June 27, 2009
By Jeremy Redmon, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia’s Legislature never funded a law it passed in 2006 that requires the state to train police on how and when to use stun guns, weapons families have blamed in the deaths of two Gwinnett County jail inmates.

For training, the state is instead referring local police departments to stun gun manufacturer Taser International.

The head of Georgia’s police training center says the state training would last at least eight hours longer and cover more than Taser’s lessons, including if and when officers should use stun guns on certain people such as pregnant women. Taser officials say they train police to use the weapons safely but leave it up to them to write policies on when and on whom they should be used.

At the same time, an increasing number of Atlanta area law enforcement agencies are equipping their officers with Tasers and adopting widely differing policies on when to use them. Some policies are stringent while others are less so.

“It would be best to have our own state training on that and to develop some sort of standardized policy with a recommendation of when to use a Taser and when not to,” said Frank Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

Police promote stun guns as lifesavers that can help reduce injuries to officers and suspects. Critics, however, say the weapons are potentially lethal and can be easily abused since they sometimes leave no marks on suspects.

Police departments in Gwinnett and Fulton counties and in Alpharetta, Atlanta, Marietta and Sandy Springs use stun guns. Cobb County’s police department and sheriff’s office are planning to start using them this year. And DeKalb County’s police department is preparing to arm its officers with them this year after suspending their use in 2005, following the deaths of the two Gwinnett inmates.

When fired, some of the 50,000-volt stun guns have a range of up to 35 feet. They shoot barbed probes attached to wires that can shock a suspect for up to five seconds. The guns can also be pressed against suspects for a “drive stun.” The shock temporarily incapacitates suspects. Police officers who have voluntarily been stunned with the weapon say the pain is excruciating.

Burke Day, chairman of Georgia’s House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said he sponsored the legislation in 2006 to show Georgia would not tolerate police misusing the weapons following the deaths of the Gwinnett inmates. The Legislature passed Day’s law with a provision that says the state would not be required to offer the training until it is funded. The Republican lawmaker said he doesn’t see a need for the state training now but is considering calling for a legislative study committee to review how police are using stun guns.

“If there were a red hot problem — because the state probably couldn’t afford to pay right now for the training — I would suggest a temporary moratorium on using” stun guns, said Day, Tybee Island’s former police commissioner.

A review of last year’s use-of-force reports from several Atlanta-area police departments shows that officers used stun guns successfully without seriously injuring or killing suspects.

But human rights activists continue to link the weapons to injuries and deaths across the country. Amnesty International USA, for example, claims it has identified 357 people who have died after being stunned with the weapons. Among them was Elier Carlos Rodriguez Escamilla, 27, who died in 2007 after scuffling with Gwinnett sheriff deputies. During the struggle, the Norcross man was shocked with a Taser at least once. Gwinnett’s medical examiner ruled his death was accidental and caused by a syndrome called “excited delirium.” A combination of cocaine, alcohol and physical exertion brought on during the scuffle were too much for his heart, Dr. Carol Terry said.

Taser spokeswoman Hilary Gibeaut said the number of deaths Amnesty International has linked to stun guns is inaccurate. She asserted officials have listed the weapons as a contributing factor in less than 50 deaths and as the cause in only two disputed cases.

“Taser International believes in good policies, training, guidelines, and accountability, which are paramount to have a successful Taser electronic control devices program to protect lives and avoid unwarranted injuries,” Gibeaut said in a statement. “Most would agree that Taser devices and other electronic control devices are safer than punches, kicks, swarms, baton strikes, canine bites, impact weapons or even rubber bullets.”

Several Atlanta area police officers interviewed for this article said the training they got from Taser was thorough. Officers pay the company $295 to attend a course that teaches them how to become Taser instructors who can return to their departments and train their colleagues.

To become instructors, the officers must complete an eight-hour online course and then spend an additional eight hours training with a Taser master instructor. The courses are offered in Georgia and at the company’s training academy in Arizona. At least one part of the training is optional: getting stunned with a Taser.

That would be mandatory in Georgia, however, if the state decides to fund its own training program, which could cost $1 million, said Dale Mann, director of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. “You need to know what you are giving somebody else,” he said. He wants each officer to get at least 24 hours of training, compared to Taser’s 16-hour requirement.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley approved a law similar to Georgia’s last month; state officials are creating a training program there. Florida is now requiring officers to attend stun gun training based on state standards.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which marched to the Gwinnett courthouse in 2005 after the deaths of inmates Frederick Williams and Ray Charles Austin, called the lack of state training in Georgia “outrageous.” The SCLC said Georgia should suspend the use of Taser stun guns until the state training is in place.

Meanwhile, some Atlanta area law enforcement agencies have adopted policies for using the weapons that do not mirror national standards. The Police Executive Research Forum, a national research organization created by police, for example, has issued guidelines for stun guns that say they should generally not be used on pregnant women, the elderly and young children unless there are urgent circumstances. Taser says in its product warnings that pregnant women and the elderly are “especially at risk.”

The research forum — which developed its guidelines with the help of more than 50 law enforcement agencies that use stun guns, as well as doctors, researchers and others — also says the weapons should not be used on handcuffed people, unless they are “actively resisting” or showing “active aggression.”

The Alpharetta Police Department’s policy is silent on whether to use stun guns on handcuffed suspects, pregnant women, children and the elderly. The Atlanta Police Department, which has assigned only seven Tasers to its SWAT team, has a policy that does not address using them on handcuffed or elderly people. The Gwinnett police and sheriff’s departments and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office’s policies do not specifically address stunning handcuffed suspects, children or the elderly. Officials from these agencies, however, say they require their officers to document each time the weapons are fired so they can be monitored.

“As policy developers, we do not want to restrict the deputies from utilizing their discretion in determining the appropriate use of force needed based on their training,” the Fulton Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Taser International says more than 14,200 law enforcement and military agencies use its products in more than 45 countries. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, however, has decided not to be among those agencies because of the lack of state training in Georgia.

“We train our people for everything else based on state requirements, so why not this?” said Forsyth Chief Deputy Robbie Hamrick. “We just want to make sure we are getting the best information and best training from someone other than the manufacturer.”

Hamrick added rhetorically: “Why don’t we let nobody but Smith & Wesson train you on how to shoot a gun?”


——————————————


How we got the story

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution started reporting on this article after Cobb County commissioners voted in April to authorize its Police Department to use confiscated crime money to buy Tasers for its officers. For this article, the AJC reviewed state laws and Atlanta-area police department policies and use-of-force reports and interviewed local police, state officials, human rights activists and representatives from Taser International Inc.

Tasering Grandma

See tasering 72-year old grannies in an expert manner (www.excited-delirium.com) and Tasing Grandma (www.nateo.blogspot.com)

Tasering of elderly man 'reasonable and justified': Report

April 2, 2009
By Staff Reporter, The Province

RCMP Tasering of an elderly knife-wielding man was "reasonable and justified" according to a report from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Frank Lasser, 82, was a patient at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops on May 3, 2008, when early that morning he brandished a knife at a nurse.

Hospital staff believed, according to the report, that Lasser planned to use the knife against them.

Police and hospital security tried to disarm Lasser, but an officer fearing for the safety of a fellow officer fired his Taser to make Lasser drop the knife. He was then subdued by police.

"Throughout this incident, Mr. Lasser's behaviour could reasonably be described as posing a threat of grievous bodily harm or death," said Paul Kennedy, chair of the commission. " It was only after repeated failed attempt to control Mr. Lasser through other means that RCMP members elevated their use of force to deploying the CEW. Accordingly, I find that the use of the weapon was reasonable and justified under the circumstances."

In the minutes following the incident, Lasser was described as much calmer and co-operative.

Kennedy initiated the complaint on May 9, 2008 to investigate the appropriateness of the incident, as well as specific concerns raised with respect to RCMP policy, procedures and guidelines on the use of the conducted-energey weapon.

A second aspect of the complaint investigation was to assess the adequacy of the existing RCMP Taser policies, procedures and guidelines.

Reported RCMP CEW use declined 30 per cent in 2008, compared to 2007. When unholstered, the weapon was used 72 per cent of the time in 2007 — compared to 51 per cent in 2008.

"Overall, I am encouraged by the decrease of CEW usage and increased restraint show by RCMP members in the field," said Kennedy.

The full report and further background information regarding RCMP Taser use can be found at http://www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca.

RCMP Tasering Justified: Watchdog

April 2, 2009
Josh Pringle, 580 CFRA News

The RCMP watchdog says the RCMP was justified in using a Taser on an elderly British Columbia patient. Chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP Paul Kennedy says the Taser was a reasonable response to the threat the man posed to hospital staff and officers. In a report, Kennedy says the behaviour of Frank Lasser posed a threat to cause grievous harm or death.

The RCMP said staff at the Royal Inland Hospital called the RCMP in May 2008 after it was discovered the man had a knife and also made several troubling comments. Officers said Lasser refused several times to surrender his pocket knife, and a decision was made to Taser the man.

Truth not tasers weighs in on RCMP admission that tasers cause death

On February 12, 2009, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced new rules of engagement for the use of tasers in Canada, in response to a demand by the Canadian House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee that they reign in their use of these weapons. These new rules of engagement marked the first time that a Canadian police force has publicly acknowledged that tasers may pose a fatal risk.

We here at Truth not Tasers have been publicly acknowledging that tasers have the potential to be lethal for years. So, I was blown away when the police themselves finally admitted they agree. Even though RCMP Commissioner William Elliott didn't exactly come right out and say that tasers kill people, he did concede that "shortly after a Taser was deployed, individuals died." I'd say that comes pretty close.

Strangely enough, these new and improved rules of engagement are simply those under which tasers were supposed to have been initially approved for use in this country. However, as time passed, and while no one was really looking (save for a very few people like us), “usage creep” entered stage left and things went sideways in a major way. If the RCMP and police across the country have not been operating under these rules – and Canadians are slowly coming to realize that in fact they haven’t been – how the hell have we allowed them to get away with it for so long?? And what justice exists for those families who have lost a loved one who would likely still be alive had it not been deemed “necessary" to taser them?

For example, I am confident that had police been operating under these rules the night my brother Robert Bagnell died in June 2004, they would have had no reason to taser him and he would likely be alive today. His was a classic case of non-combative resistance. He was on his back, on a washroom floor – all 136 pounds of him – and posed no credible threat of death or grievous bodily harm to the 13 Vancouver Police officers in attendance. There were no members of the public present. The police would never have considered shooting Bob with a gun that night, but it was easy and convenient to pull out their trusty “non-lethal” (yes, police and the manufacturer were still calling them non-lethal back then) tasers.

And, in fact, I believe that the majority of Canadian men who have died would in all likelihood still be alive today had they not been tasered. So few of them posed a true, credible threat to anyone, save perhaps to themselves. Which is something that disturbs me about the new “rules”: what will constitute “enough” threat to a person’s own self?

From where I sit, these rules still rely far too much on officer discretion and do not come nearly close enough to making the taser the last resort before lethal force. And all the training in the world isn’t going to address that, one officer’s perception and experience being another officer’s reality. Editorial after editorial – even RCMP Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy – has cautioned that the rules are still too broad and vague. I agree wholeheartedly.

In the days since the announcement, police agencies across the country, including the RCMP’s own Sgt. Scott Warren, chairman of the officer safety committee, have come out madly swinging in defence against making any (gasp!) changes to their taser policies. See "What's wrong with this picture? And who's keeping track?" If anyone is awake enough to enforce it, police forces (and transit cops, etc.) across the country, will have no choice but to follow suit.

Otherwise, now that our federal police force has publicly acknowledged that the taser is potentially lethal, if it is used “inappropriately” and where bullets would never be an option and a person dies, what will that be called and how will it be handled?
RCMP Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy has undertaken to review the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 10 men who were tasered by the RCMP and subsequently died. No one has yet identified who, if anyone, will be responsible to do the same for those 17 Canadians whose deaths did not involve the RCMP. Namely, Ronald Perry, Roman Andreichikov, Peter Lamonday, Robert Bagnell, Jerry Knight, Samuel Truscott, James Foldi, Alesandro Fiacco, James Barber, Claudio Castagnetta, Quilem Registre, Howard Hyde, Jeffrey Marreel, Michael Langan, Sean Reilly, Trevor Grimolfson and Gordon Walker Bowe.

Another important next step will be to unravel the incestuous relationship that exists between Canadian law enforcement (and its research arms) and the very rich and powerful - and endlessly litigious - Taser International. This enormously inappropriate alliance reeks of conflict of interest and it has been allowed to fester and flourish for many years beyond its best-by date. The necessity of Taser International’s attendance, in person or representatively, around and at Canadian inquests and inquiries into taser-related deaths must also be microscopically examined.

I hope that the RCMP’s policy changes will give medical examiners everywhere something new to work with. Medical examiners and coroners have been under tremendous pressure from police, “excited delirium” proponents and the weapon's manufacturer, Taser International, to “reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone's death.” The President of the National Association of Medical Examiners in the United States has said in more ways than one that “it is dangerously close to intimidation.”

Something also needs to be done about police using tasers on youth and senior citizens. C’mon – get REAL!

I have never been here for credit or accolades. But I do like to think that I and others, including the Canadian media, have played a critical role in getting us to where we are today. There is no doubt in my mind that we have collectively added to the pressure for needed change. I am grateful for my fellow travellers (most notably fellow blogger Excited-Delirium), who have joined me on this journey.

What a long, strange trip it's been. Unfortunately, it’s a trip that isn't over yet. I, for one, won't be riding off into the sunset until I and my family are satisfied that all we could do we have done.

"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us." (Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead)

Truth not tasers weighs in on the RCMP announcement

On February 12, 2009, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced new rules of engagement for the use of tasers in Canada, in response to a demand by the Canadian House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee that they reign in their use of these weapons. These new rules of engagement marked the first time that a Canadian police force has publicly acknowledged that tasers may pose a fatal risk.

We here at Truth not Tasers have been publicly acknowledging that tasers have the potential to be lethal for years. So, I was blown away when the police themselves finally admitted they agree. Even though RCMP Commissioner William Elliott didn't exactly come right out and say that tasers kill people, he did concede that "shortly after a Taser was deployed, individuals died." I'd say that comes pretty close.

Strangely enough, these new and improved rules of engagement are simply those under which tasers were supposed to have been initially approved for use in this country. However, as time passed, and while no one was really looking (save for a very few people like us), “usage creep” entered stage left and things went sideways in a major way. If the RCMP and police across the country have not been operating under these rules – and Canadians are slowly coming to realize that in fact they haven’t been – how the hell have we allowed them to get away with it for so long?? And what justice exists for those families who have lost a loved one who would likely still be alive had it not been deemed “necessary" to taser them?

For example, I am confident that had police been operating under these rules the night my brother Robert Bagnell died in June 2004, they would have had no reason to taser him and he would likely be alive today. His was a classic case of non-combative resistance. He was on his back, on a washroom floor – all 136 pounds of him – and posed no credible threat of death or grievous bodily harm to the 13 Vancouver Police officers in attendance. There were no members of the public present. The police would never have considered shooting Bob with a gun that night, but it was easy and convenient to pull out their trusty “non-lethal” (yes, police and the manufacturer were still calling them non-lethal back then) tasers.

And, in fact, I believe that the majority of Canadian men who have died would in all likelihood still be alive today had they not been tasered. So few of them posed a true, credible threat to anyone, save perhaps to themselves. Which is something that disturbs me about the new “rules”: what will constitute “enough” threat to a person’s own self?

From where I sit, these rules still rely far too much on officer discretion and do not come nearly close enough to making the taser the last resort before lethal force. And all the training in the world isn’t going to address that, one officer’s perception and experience being another officer’s reality. Editorial after editorial – even RCMP Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy – has cautioned that the rules are still too broad and vague. I agree wholeheartedly.

In the days since the announcement, police agencies across the country, including the RCMP’s own Sgt. Scott Warren, chairman of the officer safety committee, have come out madly swinging in defence against making any (gasp!) changes to their taser policies. See "What's wrong with this picture? And who's keeping track?" If anyone is awake enough to enforce it, police forces (and transit cops, etc.) across the country, will have no choice but to follow suit.

Otherwise, now that our federal police force has publicly acknowledged that the taser is potentially lethal, if it is used “inappropriately” and where bullets would never be an option and a person dies, what will that be called and how will it be handled?

RCMP Complaints Commissioner Paul Kennedy has undertaken to review the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 10 men who were tasered by the RCMP and subsequently died. No one has yet identified who, if anyone, will be responsible to do the same for those 17 Canadians whose deaths did not involve the RCMP. Namely, Ronald Perry, Roman Andreichikov, Peter Lamonday, Robert Bagnell, Jerry Knight, Samuel Truscott, James Foldi, Alesandro Fiacco, James Barber, Claudio Castagnetta, Quilem Registre, Howard Hyde, Jeffrey Marreel, Michael Langan, Sean Reilly, Trevor Grimolfson and Gordon Walker Bowe.

Another important next step will be to unravel the incestuous relationship that exists between Canadian law enforcement (and its research arms) and the very rich and powerful - and endlessly litigious - Taser International. This enormously inappropriate alliance reeks of conflict of interest and it has been allowed to fester and flourish for many years beyond its best-by date. The necessity of Taser International’s attendance, in person or representatively, around and at Canadian inquests and inquiries into taser-related deaths must also be microscopically examined.

I hope that the RCMP’s policy changes will give medical examiners everywhere something new to work with. Medical examiners and coroners have been under tremendous pressure from police, “excited delirium” proponents and the weapon's manufacturer, Taser International, to “reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone's death.” The President of the National Association of Medical Examiners in the United States has said in more ways than one that “it is dangerously close to intimidation.”

Something also needs to be done about police using tasers on youth and senior citizens. C’mon – let's get REAL!

I have never been here for credit or accolades. But I do like to think that I and others, including the Canadian media, have played a critical role in getting us to where we are today. There is no doubt in my mind that we have collectively added to the pressure for needed change. I am grateful for my fellow travellers (most notably fellow blogger Excited-Delirium), who have joined me on this journey.

What a long, strange trip it's been. Unfortunately, it’s a trip that isn't over yet. I, for one, won't be riding off into the sunset until I and my family are satisfied that all we could do we have done.

"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us." (Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead)

National Post editorial board: RCMP holsters its zappers

February 13, 2009
National Post
Editorial

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott revealed yesterday — and not a moment too soon — that the force has adopted new regulations on the use of Tasers. It is a welcome, if unnecessarily tardy, development that should reduce the abuse of the practical but overused police weapon.

Appearing before the Commons committee on public safety, Mr. Elliott said officers are now being told Tasers can cause death when used on “acutely agitated” suspects, should not be used repeatedly or on “continuous cycling” and should not be used on “resistant” individuals except in extreme circumstances.

Officers must immediately report each time the Taser is drawn, even if it is not used; every case must be reviewed by superiors in Ottawa, and each instance must be sent to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to produce quarterly and annual reports.

“We’ve now made it very clear that the only time the use of a Taser can be justified is where there is a threat, either to our officers or to members of the public,” he said.

That’s nice to hear, but it has to be asked why it took the force so long to come around to the obvious conclusion. Tasers can fire an electric jolt of up to 50,000 volts. Although the company insists they are not lethal, at least 20 Canadians have died after being zapped, and their use has grown alarmingly among police. Documents obtained by Canwest News Service found RCMP use grew to 1,414 incidents in 2007, up from 1,119 in 2006 and just 597 in 2005.

It may be a coincidence that Mr. Elliott unveiled the changes in RCMP policy as an inquiry continues to reveal disturbing details about the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport.

The inquiry, under commissioner Thomas Braidwood, has uncovered one miscue after another. Mr. Dziekanski spent 10 hours in the airport after a 24-hour journey from Poland, growing increasingly agitated as he sought to meet up with his mother, until a final confrontation with four RCMP officers in which he was Tasered five times.

Witnesses have testified of numerous opportunities to avert the tragedy, each of which was rejected in turn. An airport employee who spoke Polish and offered to translate was ignored. An emergency response team was just a few metres away, but wasn’t called, and supervisors won’t say why. An airline employee testified that she finally called 911 because Mr. Dziekanski was getting increasingly upset and “no one was coming to help.”

All this goes beyond the use of Tasers, but typifies a situation in which their use was becoming a convenient fallback for police seeking a quick end to unpleasant situations.

Tasers have been deployed against an 82-year-old heart patient lying in his hospital bed, a mentally ill teenager in a northern Ontario jail and a 68-year-old Kelowna man following an argument over a parking ticket.

Mr. Elliott said the RCMP now stresses the weapon should be used only in “reasonable” circumstances, in which the danger is great enough that the only alternative would be the use of a firearm. Police forces across Canada, which have been similarly slow to acknowledge their danger, should take their cue from the Mounties and make the use of Tasers once again a rarity.

Too much taser use, too little humanity

January 27, 2009
By PAUL SCHNEIDEREIT, The Chronicle Herald

DEPLOYMENT of the Taser has saved thousands of lives in Canada since the stun gun’s introduction in 1999, according to police spokesmen.

There are any number of pungent words for this claim, but let’s employ a polite one. Poppycock.

Have the number of fatal police shootings of criminal suspects fallen by thousands? No, and the totals were never that high to begin with. Have the number of suicides dropped by that magnitude? No. Again, the totals were never, ever in that range. What about the number of police officers killed? That tragic number was also, thankfully, much, much smaller.

So where did police officials come up with the "4,000 lives saved in Canada since 1999" figure? Beats me. But I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that Taser International officials have used the same phraseology – 4,000 lives saved by Tasers since 1999 – in the past, while referring to the U.S. experience. (That number has since been adjusted upwards by the Taser’s makers, to at least 9,000). Even in that context, I don’t believe anyone’s conclusively shown that thousands of people who would have been shot dead were instead Tasered – and so remain alive.

That’s not to say that Tasers couldn’t indeed save lives in certain circumstances. In fact, I have no doubt they have done so. But thousands? In Canada, since 1999? Not a chance.

Defenders of the Taser, I’ve noticed, employ the "thousands of lives saved" argument less and less. Good thing, too.

For instance, the public was not going to swallow that police would have had to use their firearms when, called to assist in a medical emergency, they instead Tasered a diabetic man in Amherst last year. (Police still defend that bit of public service, by the way.)

Or that bullets would have flown in a Dartmouth home last February when a mother called the cops on her unco-operative 17-year-old daughter. (Another justice gem. The Nova Scotia Supreme Court just overturned the girl’s acquittal on charges of assaulting the police officers who Tasered the teen while removing her from her own room.)

Or that gunfire would have been the result when an 80-something-year-old man in B.C. was Tasered in a hospital bed – I kid you not – after he had resisted treatment efforts.

I could go on, but you get the picture.

Still, let’s go to one more example, that of poor Robert Dziekanski, the disoriented and despondent Polish immigrant who was repeatedly Tasered by four strapping Mounties at the Vancouver International Airport in 2007 and subsequently died. If the RCMP officers had not had Tasers, would they have pulled their guns and shot the man, who apparently alarmed the law enforcement constables by picking up a stapler? Clearly, the answer is no.

So how did we get to the point that four policemen would walk into an airport, be told of an agitated man who didn’t speak English and, less than a minute after arriving at his location, shock him with Tasers FIVE times – after he didn’t respond to their commands in English – and pin him to the ground with a knee on his neck until he had stopped breathing?

The police conduct in that incident was appalling. Their excuses and justifications since then have been nauseating.

He was sweating profusely. So he needed to be Tasered? He was suffering from alcohol withdrawal. The autopsy found no traces of drugs or alcohol, and since when have police been trained to Taser first and ask questions later? He didn’t respond to commands. The police were TOLD he didn’t speak English, for God’s sake.

What happened to Robert Dziekanski isn’t only a disgrace to the RCMP’s image, however. Testimony at a current public inquiry in B.C. has revealed that the airport official who processed Dziekanski first had noticed, more than eight hours later as she was ending her shift, that the Polish immigrant was still wandering the arrivals area. She went home without taking any further action. An airport official who dealt with Dziekanski’s mother and a family friend waiting to meet him told them to go home after a brief check of surveillance cameras showed no one of his description. She didn’t even bother to pick up a phone and ask anyone in that area if they had seen Dziekanski.

They didn’t care. Neither did the Mounties. As a result, an innocent man died and his mother’s life’s been shattered.

$2,000 compensation for taser incident an insult: Kelowna senior

January 16, 2009
CBC News

A Kelowna, B.C., man who was stunned with a Taser by an RCMP officer over a parking violation says an offer of $2,000 compensation is insulting.

The RCMP has already admitted they made a mistake when the officer punched and jolted John Peters, 68, twice with a stun gun in November 2007.

Peters was delivering papers at the time and initially drove off when the officer tried to write him a traffic ticket for double parking.

He then stopped a block down the road. That's when the officer came up and punched Peters on the side of the head and jolted him twice with a stun gun as he sat in his truck, he told CBC News previously.

His lawyer, Colby Johnson, said a recent offer from the Attorney General's office of $2,000 as a goodwill gesture is not good enough.

"An appropriate measure would be a public apology by the superintendent and the two intervening officers that day. As well as criminal charges: assault causing bodily harm," Johnson said.

A fairer financial compensation would be in the range of $20,000, the lawyer said.

"Just because these people enforce the law doesn't mean they are above the law," he said.

The officer has been suspended from using a Taser, RCMP said.

Sadly, taser means no muss, no fuss, no hassle

May 21, 2008
Bernie O'Neill, Yorkregion.com

The Yale Book of Quotations came out with its most memorable quote of 2007 that, interestingly, is about an object of controversy in Canada.

The expression is ‘Don’t tase me, bro’, as uttered by a 21-year-old undergrad at a presidential hopeful’s address in Florida. At the end of the question and answer period, university police decided they didn’t like his questions (they weren’t really questions — more like accusations) and moved in.

You can sense both the indignation and the fear in the young man’s voice, if you’ve ever seen the clip. On the one hand, he is thinking, this — allegedly — is a free country and I have every right to make statements at a political event without being muzzled by force.

And, secondly, please don’t send thousands of volts of electricity through my body.

Ever put your tongue on both prongs of a 9-volt battery? I did when I was about 12 and just the memory of it gives me shivers.

If I was in student Andrew Meyer’s position, I would be saying the same thing. Please, please, please, do not tase me. (I might have left out the bro.)

You can actually buy a T-shirt bearing the words, ‘Don’t tase me, bro’ on a very cool website, bustedtees.com, that has a lot of other funny and politically relevant stuff on there, too — although mostly American. And you can see the clip on youtube.

What’s interesting is that, if you type in the word taser (that’s an electric stun gun, in case you haven’t gathered that at this point) in the youtube search, all kinds of crazy and questionable uses of the increasingly popular people zappers (just call it “shock and awe”).

You start to wonder if this whole taser thing has gone too far.

It certainly seems to have in Canada. Last year, a Polish man who had become agitated and disoriented at the Vancouver airport was zapped with a taser by RCMP officers and died. He was tasered within minutes of them coming upon the scene.

More recently, a senior citizen in B.C. who had become confused and was holding a pocket knife was tasered by police. The man is 82. He was zapped three times with a stun gun while lying in his hospital bed, according to reports.

I mention his age because, before the advent of the taser, it would seem police had fewer options to subdue people. If the person represented an imminent threat to his life or someone else’s, they could shoot him, whack him with a billy club, wrestle him to the ground, maybe pepper spray him.

I would imagine before the advent of the taser, most 82-year-olds were simply talked to.

When I first heard left-leaning members of Toronto’s police services board waxing rhapsodically about tasers a few years back and how it would be so nice if police officers would just mildly electrocute people when trying to make an arrest or keep order instead of shooting them, I was skeptical.

Not because I suspected tasers would be used casually to zap any trouble maker. But because I never thought a police officer who felt his life or someone else’s was at risk was going to waste much time or take the chance of getting killed just to be a nice guy.

No, I suspect he would use the gun he was trained to use and had every right to use under the circumstances to save his own life or someone else’s. The taser? I thought it would end up left in the holster.

In fact, it seems to be the opposite. Use of the taser is not replacing use of the gun. It is replacing having to risk injury by tackling someone and wrestling them to the ground or calling for backup so a group of officers by sheer number could overpower someone.

It is being used to save time, as the comments would suggest from one officer in the zapping of the 82-year-old, a former heart bypass patient who needed oxygen to breathe. “We’ve got more important work to do,” he said. And that was that. Three zaps to the abdomen.

If you were tending to your lawn, it would be like someone inventing a weed whacker. There’s no more bending, tugging, sore backs or pulled muscles. It’s all done with this nifty electric gadget and it saves you a lot of time for other things.

It is one more weapon in the arsenal and, for now, they have the right to use it when they see fit.

Before we start equipping every police officer, security guard, bouncer and grade school hall monitor with tasers, perhaps we should be setting more clear guidelines about who can legally own them and how a taser can be legally fired.

If it was meant as a second-to-last resort, the final option before firing a gun at someone, it certainly is not being used that way. People’s lives, health and rights are being violated in the process.

EDITORIAL: Concerns rise on taser use

May 18, 2008
Chronicle Herald (Halifax)

THE grieving mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered by Mounties at Vancouver’s international airport last fall, last week told a B.C. public inquiry into Taser use that the incident has "shattered" her faith in the RCMP.

Police forces across Canada which use Tasers should be paying close attention to Zofia Cisowski’s words.

Despite a string of unexplained incidents – in Canada and elsewhere – in which people have died after being Tasered, police spokesmen have continued, for the most part, to defend Tasers as safe, useful tools for law enforcement. Tasers are proven to have saved thousands of lives, they say, echoing claims – and sometimes the precise numbers used – by the device’s manufacturer, Taser International. Tasers are a superior alternative, backers claim, when otherwise deadly force might need to be used.

The trouble is, the real life evidence backing these claims is sometimes sparse.

If thousands of lives have been saved because of Taser use, surely police forces can produce hundreds of examples showing where that was the case. As for the claim of Tasers being a better option than firearms, surely police are not saying they would otherwise have had to use their guns in incidents such as when an 82-year-old man was Tasered in his hospital bed in B.C. recently because he was brandishing a penknife, or when a Dartmouth teenager was Tasered in her own bedroom in February 2007, after being unco-operative with police called to the house by a parent.

The public’s faith in the judgment of law enforcement officials – including the transit police in Vancouver, who have been Tasering some people who have attempted to flee rather than pay their fares – has been continually eroded by reports of incidents in which police officers use Tasers both too quickly and against inappropriate targets. It’s as if police, rather than trying to talk down situations, reach for the "Easy" button and draw and fire their Tasers.

Even more disturbing is recent evidence that Tasers may, in certain circumstances, affect the heart’s internal rhythms. Dr. Zia Tseng, a San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist, earlier told the B.C. inquiry that Tasers pose potentially fatal health risks which are not taken into account by studies "proving" the devices’ safety. Taser research, he said, is done under optimal conditions, not the kind of operational realities police officers often face. Fatal arrhythmias induced by Tasers wouldn’t show up in autopsies, Dr. Tseng also testified.

Earlier in May, the Canadian Medical Association Journal released a new study showing Tasers could, depending on how close to the heart a shock was administered and whether the subject being Tasered had excess levels of adrenaline or other drugs in their system, adversely affect heart rhythms. In light of those findings, the Journal’s reporting that RCMP operating manuals actually suggest Tasers might be the "most effective" way to deal with agitated, delirious people surely indicates those manuals need revision.

With serious questions about safety, and inconsistencies in police training and policies, we urge the Taser be holstered.

See other recent editorials.

Old man deserved to be zapped

May 9, 2008

by Kelly McParland, National Post

RCMP says old man deserved to be zapped

Bunnies and small children are key targets of RCMP Taser squad

We noticed this item from from the RCMP about a rather odd case of Taser use by the RCMP in Kamloops, B.C. Officers used the stun gun three times on an 82-year-old who was carrying a knife. The man was recovering from bypass surgery and even carried a device that provides him with oxygen. We can't make this stuff up. The following satirical column is almost entirely made up.



"I didn't like the way he was looking at me," constable explains.

Kamloops -- The RCMP today defended their use of a stun gun to subdue an 82-year-old man with a heart problem who was Tasered in his hospital bed after undergoing bypass surgery.

Frank Lasser, 82, was Tasered three times after nurses complained that the frail old man had become delusional and pulled a knife from his pocket. Mr. Lasser said he couldn’t explain pulling out the knife or why he continued to hold onto it, which, since he was delusional, shouldn't come as a big surprise.

A spokesperson for Kamloops RCMP said the three officers who confronted Lasser were fully justified in using the high-intensity weapon repeatedly against an ailing octogenarian in a hospital bed.

“Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand,” Cpl. Furd Burfel explained. “Some of these old folks can be quite wily; first it’s a pen-knife, then next thing you know they’re flinging their Jell-O at you.”

British Columbia RCMP have established something of a track record in the use of Tasers, which administer an intense jolt of electricity through probes fired at a victim from up to 10 metres away. Previously they Tasered a Polish man who had spent 10 hours in Vancouver airport looking for his mother and was getting upset; and a man who made some noise in the street outside a building where Governor-General Michaelle Jean was appearing. Vancouver Transit police have Tasered riders who refused to pay their fare, or just ran away when asked.

“In my opinion that is a wholly justified use of the weapon,” Corp. Burfel commented. “I’ve been on the transit myself and some of these blokes can be 100, 120 pounds and more. And you never know what they’re carrying in those backpacks. Many carry lunchbags, and they can crumple those things up and hurl them quick as you can say “Ouchie!”

Vancouver police on Thursday told an inquiry into Taser usage that they would hesitate to use one on a pregnant woman, even though they can get pretty grouchy at times. Const. Philomena Ducktape told inquiry lawyer Patrick McGoohan the force feared a Tasered woman might stumble and fall over, skinning her knee. The potential health risks to the woman or unborn child hadn’t occurred to them.

“Gee, I guess you might have a point there,” Const Ducktape allowed. “Do you think 50,000 volts of electricity passing through a fetus might have a negative effect? You think we should be using Mace instead?”

Cpl. Burfel said Kamloops police have put similarly deep thought into limitations on the use of Tasers.

“Essentially we can Taser anyone we feel like, for any reason at all, as long as they’re smaller, older and frailer than us, and represent no physical threat whatsoever,” he said.

“Tasering is especially effective if administered in the company of several other officers, against a lone victim with no capability of defending themselves. The other fellas get a bit of a giggle, and the victims are usually too dazed to identify anyone.”

Cpl. Burfel said the Mounties have used Tasers against bunny rabbits, kittens and small children in wheelchairs, but draw the line at Tasering their own mothers.

“Now hold on there -- we’re not inhuman you know. There are limits. Pepper spray is usually quite enough to subdue an angry mother, especially if she’s handicapped. I would never use a Taser against my Mom. Unless of course she had a pocket knife, in which case I’d zap the hell out of the old bat.”

82 year old man says he was tasered in hospital bed by RCMP

May 9, 2008
The Province

As a Vancouver inquest discusses when it's appropriate for police to use Tasers, a new case has surfaced.

Frank Lasser, 82, told CBC News he was shot by officers using the stun gun while lying on a Kamloops hospital bed, recovering from pneumonia.

"It was just bang, bang, bang, and it sent me right back," said Lasser. "I was yelling, 'No more!'"

Lasser said he was delusional because of a lack of oxygen and refused to let go of his pocketknife.

Kamloops RCMP confirmed that an officer did use Tasers in that incident.

RCMP probe of taser incident a whitewash, victim says

December 18, 2007
CBC News

A Kelowna, B.C., man and his wife say an RCMP investigation into why he was shocked by a Taser stun gun over a parking violation amounts to a whitewash.

John Peters, 68, was jolted twice with a Taser fired by a Kelowna Mountie following an incident in which he drove off after the officer tried to give him a ticket for double parking. Peters stopped his car a short distance later, and was subsequently hit twice with the stun gun.

The RCMP report released Friday found the officer acted improperly by using the Taser on Peters while he was still in his car. But it also said the officer was generally justified in using the Taser a second time after Peters got out of his car, because Peters was combative and lashing out with his arms.

That version of events is false, according to Peters and his wife. "I was trying to avoid his vicious attack, because he'd already punched me," Peters told CBC News on Monday. "I didn't know what to expect. I didn't hit him though. I never hit him." Peters's wife Ann, who was in the car at the time, said her husband only put his hands over his face after the officer punched him in the mouth, and that the officer used the Taser twice on her husband while he was still in the car.
"John never hit the officer. He was never tased outside the car. He was tased both times inside the car."

The finding of the RCMP investigation that her husband was combative is simply not true, she said. "I was shocked, because there was very little truth to most of what was said. It was a complete whitewash."

B.C. Civil Liberties president Jason Gratl said the case shows why the police should not investigate themselves. "The investigation easily raises as many questions as it answers, and it doesn't do much to restore the reputation of the RCMP to the public," said Gratl, who is now calling for an independent inquiry. John Peters said he is considering legal action.

Last week the RCMP apologized to Peters, and said the officer would be disciplined for using his Taser on Peters while he was in the car, which is not correct procedure.

Kelowna RCMP apologize to man hit by Taser in car after parking violation

December 14, 2007
The Canadian Press

KELOWNA, B.C. - Kelowna RCMP have apologized to a 68-year-old man who was hit twice with a Taser as he sat in his car in downtown Kelowna last month. The officer who hit John Peters made a tactical error, RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said Friday after an administrative review of the incident. "We determined that the use of the conducted energy weapon or CEW while Mr. Peters remained seated in the driver's seat of his vehicle was in fact inappropriate," he told a news conference. "We in turn regret this particular action and have apologized to Mr. Peters for this tactical error in judgment."

The review found Peters was combative with the officer trying to arrest him. "I won't go into great detail other than to say that it was a heated moment between both the officer and Mr. Peters and he was combative in the actions in fighting off the arrest by the constable involved." McKinnon says a code of conduct investigation is underway and the officer, a four-year veteran, could face disciplinary action.

"Would the general public find the actions of this member to be disgraceful and that's why I've ordered the code of conduct because I believe that the general public would find the actions of this member to be disgraceful, causing embarrassment to our organization."

Peters filed a complaint after he was jolted twice by a stun gun during a verbal confrontation with a Mountie over a double parking violation. Peters, who suffers from a neurological disorder, admits he drove away as the officer was trying to ticket him, but pulled over a short distance later.

RCMP say they will restrict their use of Tasers to situations where something is being combative or actively resistant after a report criticized them for firing the stun guns too often. The review came after a Polish immigrant died at Vancouver International Airport after he was hit with a Taser fired by an RCMP officer.