Manufacturer study: Taser worked fine

December 2, 2011
Pat Bywater, Mead Tribune

MEADVILLE — The Taser a Meadville police officer was using when it struck a resident in the eye does not appear to have been malfunctioning, but investigators may never be able to independently determine where the officer had aimed the Taser.

Those details are the highlights of a report completed by the device’s manufacturer at the request of the City of Meadville. The report was released to The Meadville Tribune as part of a request made by the newspaper under the state’s Open Records Law.

The forensic report from Taser International Inc. dated Nov. 1 is the latest significant development in a case that has had several odd turns.

It all started at 6:15 p.m. Aug. 23 in a church parking lot at 1080 Market St. when Meadville police responded to a call indicating that Market Street resident Michael Mondo was creating a disturbance. The Tribune’s investigation revealed that during the days before the incident the police had been warned by local mental health authorities that Mondo was struggling with paranoid schizophrenia. The officers who responded to the call were aware of this and the Crawford County Mental Health Crisis Team was summoned to the scene by police when the call came in.

Before the crisis team arrived, however, one of the two officers at the scene, Sgt. Glen Peterson, a 32-year veteran of the force, elected to deploy his Taser to subdue Mondo. Meadville Police Chief David Stefanucci recently revealed to the Tribune that Peterson claims Mondo was told to stop moving at least twice but did not comply and kept moving. At that point, according to Stefanucci, Peterson said he aimed the Taser at Mondo’s “low center mass,” not his head.

The Taser shoots out barbs that hook on to a person’s skin or clothes. They are attached to the Taser with wires that carry an electric discharge that disables the person temporarily.

In the Aug. 23 incident, one of the Taser’s barbs impaled Mondo’s right eye, which he later lost after unsuccessful surgeries. Mondo, who disputes the claim that he was suffering from mental health issues the day of the incident, says he has suffered some memory loss after the incident and that his recollection of that day is sketchy. He said he recalls the officers appearing and one of them asking him if he had been drinking. His next memory is of after the Tasering.

The public would not learn of the incident for some time.

It appears that the report of the incident may have been excluded from the police paperwork typically made available to the media. A tipster contacted the Tribune and The Associated Press with information about the incident the week of Sept. 12 and Mondo was not charged with any wrongdoing in the incident until Sept. 14.

In the first media reports about the incident, which were published Sept. 17, The Associated Press indicated Meadville Police Chief David Stefanucci said he had no reports about the Tasering. However, when a subsequent Meadville Tribune open records request revealed evidence that as many as five reports had been filed within a week of the incident, Stefanucci told the Tribune in a story published Nov. 4 that he had been misquoted by The Associated Press, although he said he does not remember exactly what he said. Stefanucci said that he never sought a correction of the story because he did not want to try a potential court case in the media or make any comments that might influence such a case.

The Associated Press is declining comment until an investigation into the claim is complete.

Meanwhile, the city launched an effort to learn more about how the Taser ended up hitting Mondo in the eye. Police policy calls on officers to avoid aiming at the head, and in statements after the incident, Peterson claimed he did not aim at Mondo’s head. As a result, city officials wanted to determine if the Taser perhaps malfunctioned. Stefanucci revealed in a recent interview that he arranged to have the Taser tested by its Scottsdale, Ariz.-based maker.

Under an open records request, the Tribune obtained the Nov. 1 report of the tests, which were conducted Sept. 9. The testers concluded that the Taser appears to be working properly and that “there is no reason not to return the Taser ... to service.” In a subsequent interview with the Tribune, Stefanucci confirmed that the Taser is currently being used by Meadville police.

The Taser testers also reviewed the video automatically taken by the Taser whenever the weapon’s safety is put in the off position. From that video the testers could not determine where the weapon’s laser sight was aimed when it was deployed, or even if the laser was turned on. However, the testers suggested that they might not have been able to detect the laser point due to sunlight at the time of the incident and the quality of the Taser’s video camera.

In part, the report reads: “because the laser aiming device is a low power eye safe red laser, it may not have been visible during the incident. Inside a building or at night it appears bright, however, because it is a low power eye safe laser, it is difficult for the human eye to see the laser, even at very close distances, in sunlight. The ability of the Taser cam to pick up visible details of the laser is less than the human eye.”

In a subsequent interview, Stefanucci said all Meadville police Tasers are configured so that the laser pointer is engaged automatically whenever the device’s safety goes into the off position. He also pointed out that all Tasers are equipped with fixed aiming sights so that officers can aim correctly even when they cannot see the laser point.

Stefanucci said he and Meadville City Manager Joe Chriest discussed sending the Taser to be checked by a company other than its manufacturer, but neither of them were familiar with companies that do that kind of work. “We are looking into it,” said Chriest. “We will have to look at their reputations,” he said.

Mondo’s attorney, Terry Toomey of Meadville, did not criticize the city’s effort to have the Taser tested. “It would seem to me to be reasonable and appropriate to send the Taser to see that it was operational and working as appropriate,” Toomey said. As for sending it to be tested by a company other than Taser, “I’m not sure where else they would take it,” he responded.

Charlotte police find serious problem with new Tasers

December 2, 2011
WBTV

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Charlotte police are trying to solve an issue with the department's new tasers.

Officials say the main trigger works fine, but they're concerned about something called the "arc switch," and officers use it to test tasers and to threaten suspects before actually firing.

CMPD bought new tasers after a man died after being tased this past summer.

The new tasers were chosen for the specific reason that they are considered safer -- they stop shocking someone after five seconds.

But CMPD learned the arc switch didn't stop after five seconds, which would completely defeat a key feature of the new tasers.

So they say company Taser International is upgrading software to fix the issue.

Taser maintenance issue raised in Palo Alto independent police auditor's report

March 19, 2011
Jesse Dungan, San Jose Mercury

Palo Alto's independent police auditor is keeping an eye on Taser maintenance following an incident in which one of the devices malfunctioned when it was used on a combative suspect, according to a report released this week.

"It hasn't risen to the level where we think things have really gotten haywire and no one's taking care of their Tasers, but if we do see a pattern, we may recommend more needs to be done," said Michael Gennaco, one of the report's authors.

The auditor's report details complaints against the police department, changes in policies and Taser use by officers, but it does not provide times or locations of incidents.

The incident that caught the auditor's attention involved a nearly hour-long search for a burglar, which ended with officers and a police dog trying to nab the suspect. He resisted arrest when confronted in a fenced-in area, didn't show any pain when bitten and may have been under the influence of a controlled substance, according to the report.

During the seven-minute scuffle, two officers used their Tasers, including a sergeant whose device didn't produce an electric shock when he fired it at the suspect's back. The other officer fired her Taser at the man's chest and cycled it for 10 seconds, but it had little effect. She then pressed the Taser against the man's back as he continued to struggle.

The officers were justified in their use of Tasers and the police department did a good job of documenting the incident, according to the auditor's report. Another officer used the camera on his Taser to record part of the incident.

But the report noted, "One of the two Tasers deployed did not seem to work at all. After the incident, there were problems downloading the data and getting an accurate time stamp on it. The department has acknowledged these issues from previous Taser uses and we will continue to monitor its efforts to perfect maintenance and infrastructure for this weapon."

Palo Alto police Lt. Sandra Brown said Friday the incident examined by the auditor was an anomaly. The sergeant's Taser experienced some sort of software malfunction, which may have been a manufacturer problem, and the device later had to be rebooted. There is no widespread mechanical problem with the Tasers used by members of the Palo Alto Police Department, she said.

However, the department has taken steps to improve maintenance since Tasers were introduced four years ago, Brown said. For example, officers on Thursday were trained how to take apart and clean their stun guns, she said.

Previously, officers turned their Tasers in to be cleaned periodically, but that practice resulted in less frequent maintenance.

Brown said officers also "spark test" the devices before their shifts to make certain they're in working condition.

According to the auditor's report, no officers have fired a Taser since the police department revised its policy to reflect recent court opinions about stun gun use.

"It would be entirely speculative to conclude whether this is the result of fear of criticism by officers, a misunderstanding of the policy, or simply the absence of appropriate circumstances in the field necessitating the use of a Taser," the report states.

"The Taser's not the be all and end all'

March 10, 2011
Evan Schwarten, Sydney Morning Herald

A Queensland police officer has admitted tasering a man eight times shortly before he died in custody, but has questioned the effectiveness of the device.

Senior Constable Craig Myles told the inquest into the 2009 death of Antonio Galeano he recalled activating the device eight times as he struggled to subdue the 39-year-old.

Told that data recorded by the device indicated it had been activated 28 times, Sen Const Myles said it was possible he'd used it against Mr Galeano that many times but doubted it.

"It's possible but I don't believe it, I did it eight times," he told the inquest.

However, following Mr Galeano's death, a short time after the last activation of the Taser, Sen Const Myles told other officers the device wasn't as effective as he'd been led to believe.

"I said `the Taser's not the be all and end all'," he told the court.

"It didn't seem to be as good as they say it does in the training."

The inquest heard Sen Const Myles and his partner Constable Marina Cross were called to Mr Galeano's girlfriend's home at Brandon, south of Townsville, after she reported he was "off his head" and destroying the property.

Sen Const Myles said they arrived to find Mr Galeano in the bathroom covered with blood and chanting phrases similar to "one, two, three, you're dead" out the window at the officers who were standing in the backyard.

He said he tasered Mr Galeano through the window, causing him to fall to the floor, and then asked Const Cross to go inside and handcuff him.

However, he said Mr Galeano continued to struggle so he activated the device twice inside, before going inside where he would ultimately activate it another five times.

He said some of the activations appeared to have little or no effect on Mr Galeano who resisted attempts to put him in handcuffs until after the eighth activation.

Mr Galeano, he said, was able to get up off the ground after the first few activations and was threatening to kill the officers throughout the ordeal.

However, his evidence contradicted the testimony of Const Cross who earlier this week told the inquest she saw the device activated only five times.

The officer's accounts also differ on claims Mr Galeano was armed - Const Cross said he was armed with a metal rod while inside the bathroom, and Sen Const Myles gave evidence he was armed with the cord from a hair dryer.

The inquest continues.

NYPD probes possible stun gun malfunction

October 4, 2010
WCAX.com

NEW YORK (AP) - New York City police are looking into why a stun gun apparently failed before a knife-wielding man was shot to death by officers.

The NYPD says Emmanuel Paulino was shot several times after he refused to drop a 6-inch knife and lunged at officers.

A police sergeant had first fired a Taser stun gun. Police say the suspect pulled 1 of the prongs out of his body.

Paulino was hit several times. Police say officers fired a total of 9 shots after the suspect backed them into a parked car.

Last year, the department's Medal of Honor winner, Sgt. Timothy Smith, was stabbed in the eye by a suspect who was unaffected by a stun gun.

Officer Suspended After Shocking Handcuffed Man, Taser Malfunction

Thursday, April 8, 2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus Division of Police officer was in trouble on Thursday, accused of shocking a handcuffed man with a Taser.

An investigation revealed that the Taser malfunctioned and the shock lasted about four times longer than it should have, 10TV's Maureen Kocot reported.

In May of 2008, police officers responded to a call from witnesses complaining about an intoxicated man who was yelling and threatening to kill himself with a knife.

Police handcuffed the man and put him in the back of a cruiser, but surveillance video from inside the cruiser shows he continued to be uncooperative and belligerent, Kocot reported.

Officers repeatedly ordered the man to stop banging his head on the window and kicking the door.

The officer warned the prisoner if he continued, he will be shocked with a Taser, but the man continued to kick the door and yell, demanding to talk to the officer's captain.

The man was shocked with a Taser, but the blast lasted 22 seconds. It was supposed to last about five seconds, Kocot reported.

The officer told investigators the Taser was flashing random numbers, an indication the weapon was rebooting.

Experts said if a Taser is deployed when it starts to reboot, it keeps sparking or shocking, Kocot reported.

"We have not had any repeat type of incident out of it since," said Columbus Police Sgt. Brian Bruce. "It's just a one time thing."

Investigators discovered a faulty gasket caused the Taser to reboot. Since the incident, police replaced the gaskets in 315 Tasers, and said the malfunction remains an isolated incident, Kocot reported.

The division has trained officers on how to recognize if a Taser malfunctions and what to do if it happens again.

The officer involved in the incident received a 30-day suspension for Tasing a handcuffed prisoner, but he is appealing that decision.

Landmark Documents Just Filed in A Florida Case: BOLANDER v TASER

I can't figure out how to link to these items individually but look for them (including links) at Charly D. Miller's site:

Kirkham Identifies Two Additional MODES OF USE (Applications)That TASER INC and Its “Experts” Have Knowingly Failed to Identify Within Official Documents, Studies, and Sworn Statements

©2007 Taser Slides, With Instructor Notes, Demonstrating Taser’s Knowledge Of MORE Than Just “Two Modes” of Taser Use.

Dr. Waxman Corrects His Previous Testimony After Learning of TASER’s Misinformation

Worker affidavits allege Taser problems

December 9, 2008
CTV - ctvbc.ca

CTV News has obtained court documents that suggest thousands of Tasers may be defective. The documents are the words of insiders -- factory workers at the Arizona plant which makes the controversial devices.

The workers expressed concern about the stun-guns firing excessive electrical charges in affidavits signed for a 2005 lawsuit.

The lawsuit was brought against Taser International by its own shareholders, who were concerned the company had not disclosed safety deficiencies.

Some former Taser workers at the Scottsdale factory believed some of the weapons should not have been shipped out from the factory, and alleged that there was a serious lack of quality control in the factory.

One employee expressed concern in a signed statement about how the Tasers were firing inconsistently, stating "sometimes it [a Taser unit] would go really, really fast and sometimes real slow, sometimes it wouldn't do it at all and sometimes it wouldn't quit."

Another employee claimed defective units were shipped, but did not know how many because "Taser failed to closely weed out bad product."

According to the court documents, as many as 6,000 weapons were returned in one month alone because of alleged defects.

The former employees also claimed defective Tasers that had been returned were sawn open, the high voltage circuit boards were removed and "simply put in new casings with new serial numbers and sent out again without the flaws actually being rectified."

Taser settled the lawsuit for $20 million.

In Canada, Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh expressed his opinion that the employee allegations are alarming

"If they weren't true, they wouldn't be settling for $20 million dollars with the claimants, with their own shareholders," said Dosanjh.

"If these allegations are correct, the manufacturer has been selling retreaded weapons in a sense, as original and brand new."

This comes as B.C.'s Solicitor General announced that B.C. municipal police forces will pull the plug on all Tasers acquired before 2006 over concerns they may generate shocks higher than the manufacturer specifies.

John van Dongen said Tuesday that municipal chiefs of police unanimously agreed to the remove the older shock weapons from service after testing showed the voltage sometimes exceeded the weapon specs.

B.C. Corrections, the provincial sheriff's service and transit police will also stop using the pre-2006 Tasers and van Dongen said RCMP, too, have called older Tasers in for immediate testing.

Earlier, concerns had led the RCMP to order testing for 24 older Tasers.

Quebec's justice minister ordered certain models of the Taser off that province's streets.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger

One in 20 tasers fails, CEO acknowledges

December 4, 2008
CAROLINE ALPHONSO AND IAN BAILEY, Globe and Mail

TORONTO and VANCOUVER — One in 20 stun guns breaks and is returned to the manufacturer, the head of Taser International said yesterday.

Rick Smith, chief executive officer of the controversial weapons company, said that although Taser employees fire the devices more than 100 times before the gadgets leave the factory, their electronic components can wear out from regular use.

"Taser devices, like any other electronic device, you're going to have a certain number of failures where the devices break, especially in the law-enforcement realm," Mr. Smith told a meeting of The Globe and Mail's editorial board yesterday.

Mr. Smith was responding to questions about a lawsuit by shareholders that was settled out of court, in which former employees alleged that the weapons had design flaws and other assembly defects. He said the allegations in the lawsuit, dating back to a period between 2003 and 2005, were "extremely inflammatory" and "so far from the truth."

Stun guns in Canada do periodically break, but officials at Taser International said that isn't because of manufacturing defects, but rather general usage where the weapons are dropped or the electrodes break off.

The use of the stun gun has come under scrutiny since Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, 40, was seen in October of 2007 on amateur video screaming and writhing on the floor at Vancouver International Airport after he was tasered by Mounties. His death and the public outrage that followed prompted a national debate on the use of stun guns and sparked several probes.

Mr. Smith defended the use of tasers yesterday, saying they have helped police officers de-escalate potentially violent situations. The company has sold about 500,000 of them to law-enforcement agencies and private citizens in the United States and Canada.

In the case of Mr. Dziekanski, Mr. Smith said, he wondered why the autopsy results have not yet been released. He said the use of the taser was not an unreasonable choice for police officers involved if other tactics, including talking to the suspect, did not yield results.

Terry Foster, spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Coroner in British Columbia, said the autopsy results on Mr. Dziekanski have not been released because the case concerning his death has gone to an inquest.

"That is where the facts and circumstances will be put forward," Ms. Foster said yesterday.

Meanwhile, B.C. Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said there has been no final decision on charges in the case. But he said all the relevant information is on the desk of the assistant deputy attorney-general, who oversees the operation and administration of the prosecution service in the province.

Robert W.G. Gillen will make the final call on the issue, after reviews by two regional Crown officials, Mr. Lowe said.

The investigation is focused on the conduct of four Mounties, who were involved in the final confrontation with Mr. Dziekanski. Members of the regional Integrated Homicide Investigation Team conducted a wide-ranging investigation, and forwarded the results to the Crown for review.

The Crown also sought information from outside experts.

"We're working hard on it," Mr. Lowe said of efforts to decide whether charges are warranted.

With a report from CTV News