Scrutiny mounting on Taser use

Expert says stun gun can kill hours later; firm calls claim 'ludicrous'

Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 5, 2005 12:00 AM

A growing number of deaths involving Tasers is fueling a debate among law enforcement officers, legislators, and state and federal regulators, who are asking if the electric stun gun is as safe as they were led to believe.

Now, a forensic engineer who has written safety standards for the most respected electrical laboratories and commissions in the world is warning police departments that shocks from Tasers could cause a delayed cardiac arrest and that injuries to officers and suspects who are zapped could be going undetected.

"Police should be informed that the Taser can kill," James Ruggieri told the American Academy of Forensic Examiners last week at its annual meeting. "The Taser can serve a useful role in law enforcement. However, it should not be touted as a harmless device."

Taser officials call Ruggieri's warning "ludicrous" and say their safety record is bolstered by the number of departments, including every major police agency in the Valley, that still use the stun gun.

Law enforcement agencies in California, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Florida and North Carolina have backed off Taser deployments, citing safety concerns. Agencies also have expressed concern about officers shocking children as young as 6 and senior citizens as old as 82 over incidents such as refusing to pay for a salad at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.

"Those administrations who have transitioned to Tasers feel more caught in the middle," said Fort Wayne, Ind., Police Chief Rusty York, who vetoed the planned purchase of 83 stun guns last month.

"I am a little skeptical about the assertion that no one has been killed or injured by Tasers," he said. "But (other) police departments were taking the advice from Taser and running with it. I agree that the stun gun is a useful tool, but until we can have more objective information about Tasers . . . I'm not going (forward)."

Conflicting studies

Ruggieri, who has served as a forensic investigator for the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia and has consulted with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board on electrical accidents, said his research cuts to the heart of Taser's safety claims and represents one of the first scientific and medical reviews that is critical of the stun gun.

His recommendation: Police should stop shocking officers during training exercises and use the stun gun on suspects only when no other non-lethal option is available.

Rick Smith, chief executive officer of Scottsdale-based Taser International, maintains that Tasers have never caused a death or serious injury, and he cites more than 90 studies by universities, the military and police departments that support Taser's safety claim. He challenged Ruggieri's presentation to the forensic academy and questioned his ability to cite medical findings because Ruggieri is not a doctor.

"His misapplication of the safety standards, coupled with the misstatement of Taser incidents . . . make us question his motivation," Smith said. "He has never touched a Taser, never seen a Taser, never used a Taser. . . . How can he make scientific judgments on the technology?"

Ruggieri said that his findings come from research of medical data and that he has never claimed to be a doctor. He said he has extensive knowledge of stun guns and has handled dozens of them, including Taser's signature weapon, the M26. He owns two stun guns, made by different manufacturers.

A Taser looks and operates like a plastic gun. It fires two steel barbs up to 21 feet and delivers a 50,000-volt burst of electricity that causes involuntary muscle contractions. It works by momentarily incapacitating suspects, who usually recover once the power is cut. Taser officials say the gun cannot cause heart attacks.

More than 7,000 of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies have armed officers with Tasers. Police credit Tasers with reducing injuries to officers and suspects, lowering the number of police shootings and shrinking the number of liability claims. They say the stun gun is an invaluable tool.

Taser stock prices dropped this year after revelations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Arizona attorney general had launched inquiries into the company's claims of safety and into an end-of-year sale that helped the company meet annual projections.

An ongoing investigation by The Arizona Republic has found that 101 people have died in the United States and Canada following police Taser strikes since 1999. Medical examiners have cited the Taser in 12 of those deaths, calling it a cause of death in three cases and a contributing factor in six others. In three other cases, examiners said they were unable to rule it out as a cause of death.

Deaths and safety concerns have prompted the International Association of Chiefs of Police to call for every police department to conduct a review of its Taser policies. And a California legislator last week introduced a bill that would require every department in the state to track each time an officer drew a Taser, so the data could be analyzed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wisconsin's attorney general said concerns about the way police use stun guns led her to call for a statewide standard. However, the Madison Police Department has praised the stun gun.

"The Taser is extraordinarily effective in controlling resistive subjects, while also being extraordinarily safe," the department reported last month. "There is no question that both the number and severity of injuries (to both officers and suspects) would have been far higher but for the Taser."

Other law enforcement agencies aren't so sure.

"The policy right now is that Tasers are not to be used in this building," said Rick Keller, administrator of the Lucas County Corrections Center in Toledo, Ohio, where an inmate died Jan. 31, moments after being shocked multiple times by deputies.

Not only have Tasers been suspended inside the jail, but any suspect who has been shocked by police before being booked will now be taken directly to the hospital for a medical examination.

"I don't think there is a good answer," Keller said. "If you have someone die, and it comes back that Tasers contributed to (the death), that is not good. But you have to do something to restrain him."

Keller said officers are concerned about the stun gun being taken away. But he said the Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, wants to determine if Tasers are safe before allowing them back into circulation.

Taser expansion was halted in Chicago after police, in two separate incidents last month, shocked a 54-year-old man who later died and a 14-year-old boy who went into cardiac arrest.

"We have taken a very deliberate approach to these weapons," said Dave Bayless, a Chicago police spokesman. "We have had one death, and that has prompted us to slow down deployment."

Although the department did not recall existing Tasers, Bayless said, officials want to study the safety of the stun gun before deploying it in multiple police districts. Chicago police acknowledge concerns about the stun gun, but officials also say there are plenty of success stories.

"It is a good debate to have," Bayless said. "It holds police accountable. It also gives us an opportunity to explain to the public the very real dangers that police face every day."

David Murphy, criminal-justice assistant professor at Weber State University in Utah, has been contacted by several agencies about conducting a safety study of the weapon.

Some Utah police agencies have bought Tasers but not put them on the street for fear that the stun guns might not be as safe as the manufacturer claims.

Looking for a trend

The foundation of Taser safety is based on the assertion that shocks from Tasers cannot induce heart attacks. Taser officials insist that if Tasers were able to cause a heart attack, it would occur immediately upon being shocked.

Ruggieri said evidence shows that heart damage and fatal heart rhythms can develop hours after electrical shock occurs. He said suspects and police officers, who are routinely subjected to Taser shocks during training, "may have unknowingly incurred permanent heart damage."

Smith said that if Ruggieri was right, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of cases in which Tasers would have caused either heart attacks or injured internal organs.

"Out of 200,000 (people) who have been shocked, we would have seen credible evidence of that," he said.

For years, Taser has encouraged officers to experience shocks during training. The company claims that more than 100,000 officers have been shocked during training without incident.

Last year, however, The Republic found that several officers have suffered career-ending injuries that they attribute to Taser shocks, including cardiac problems.

In one case, a doctor hired by Taser concluded that a one-second burst from a Taser was responsible for fracturing the back of a former Maricopa County sheriff's deputy. The deputy, Sam Powers, has filed the first private liability lawsuit against Taser. His case is expected to go to court in June.

Taser has blamed Powers' injuries on pre-existing conditions, including osteoporosis.

Phoenix lawyer John Dillingham, who represents Powers, said Ruggieri's presentation should be an alarm bell for police.

"We totally agree that law enforcement should never willingly be subjected to a shock," he said.

Medical examiners, who are at the forefront of the Taser debate and make rulings in cases of deaths following Taser strikes, said Ruggieri's presentation will induce further debate and more research.

"There hasn't been any real medical evidence on either side," said Lake County, Ind., Forensic Pathologist John Cavanough, who added that Ruggieri raised relevant issues, particularly in regards to the delayed cardiac arrest.

"It is a real phenomenon," Cavanough said. "As a matter of fact, that (the warning about delayed cardiac arrest) was his strongest point."

Ruggieri, whose presentation will go through a peer-review process before being published in the Journal of Forensic Science, said his findings could lead medical examiners to re-examine past cases of death following a Taser shock.

Thomas Parsons, a medical examiner from Daytona Beach, Fla., said that he believes Tasers are an important tool for police and that many deaths were likely not the fault of Taser.

"Tasers are an excellent less-than-lethal option for police who are properly trained to use them," he said, adding that many of the deaths following Taser shocks would have occurred with or without the stun gun.

"(Ruggieri's) research ideas were controversial, but his recommendations were reasonable," Parsons added.

Taser officials say they remain steadfast behind Taser technology. Smith said Tasers have strong support from law enforcement and the public.

"We have been taking a beating in the press," he said. "But at its core, our product is as safe as ever."

Electrical standards

March 4, 2005
Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic

The issue: Electrical standards

RUGGIERI: Electrical standards and codes misapplied

Ruggieri says Taser has misapplied electrical codes and standards to suggest the Taser is safer than it really is. He says Taser uses a graphic chart to suggest that Underwriters Laboratories, a non-profit agency that certifies products for electrical safety, has certified Taser. Taser claims the graph shows the stun gun is far below the threshold of ventricular fibrillation.

He points out that a Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1976 studied a much weaker version of the stun gun than police use today and found that the threshold of ventricular fibrillation lowers with repeating pulses of electricity used by the stun gun.

Ruggieri says he was unable to replicate Taser's findings using any of the standards that Taser cites. Ruggieri says that rather than rely on the wrong standards, he has relied on scientific and medical research.

TASER'S POSITION: Expert's findings are "ludicrous"

Taser says Ruggieri's findings are "ludicrous," maintaining that there would be thousands of cases of ventricular fibrillation if his findings were accurate. Officials accuse Ruggieri of misapplying the electrical standards.

Taser points to the graph, saying the Taser pulse is 10 times below the threshold for ventricular fibrillation set by UL and by the Electro-technical Commission standards. The graph was developed by a private research firm and has been touted in Taser marketing material.

Taser says Ruggieri erred in considering the power of the stun gun, making it seem more powerful than it actually is.

Taser officials also say Ruggieri intentionally applied the wrong IEC standard to increase the negative findings against Taser.

INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS: Lab: Taser used wrong study

Underwriters Laboratories, which has certified billions of consumer goods for electrical safety, says the graph that Taser is using does not reflect any study of the stun gun's safety.

UL spokesman Paul Baker says the graph is supposed to apply to an electric fence. "We take issue with that data in relation to Taser," he said. "Underwriters Lab does not agree with Taser."

The graph is based on a decades-old study that measured how much current passing through an electric fence it would take to induce ventricular fibrillation.

Baker said he is surprised that Taser is still using the graph since the lab publicly stated last month that it has no bearing on the stun gun.

As for the IEC standards, Ruggieri sits on the committee charged with developing and maintaining those standards. He has also helped write standards for Underwriters Laboratories. He said the standards Taser cites do not address repeating pulses used by the stun gun.

Human Effectiveness and Risk Characterization of the Electromuscular Incapacitation Device - A Limited Analysis of the Taser

March 1, 2005

AKA the famous HECOE Report, which came to the conclusion that experimental data were too limited to evaluate probabilities for susceptible populations or for alternative patterns of exposure. Several data gaps were identified in the data evaluation. Limitations in the exposure and incidents data for some infrequent events and the need to rely on a database of case reports compiled by Taser International generate uncertainty in the results. Overall the results support the conclusion that Tasers are generally effective for their intended use. However, they may cause several unintended effects, albeit with estimated low probabilities of occurrence.

Not a fun read for anyone who thinks that pigs have feelings too.

Taser Ruled Partial Cause of Ohio Man's Death

February 23, 2005
AP News

The medical examiner in Akron has ruled that the police use of a Taser electronic restraint contributed to the death of a drug-using man who struggled with officers in a home invasion. The ruling came yesterday in the January 5th death of 30-year-old Dennis Hyde of Hartville.

In a separate ruling, the prosecutor said the use of the Taser against Hyde was justified.

The medical examiner says other factors in the man's death include his use of methamphetamine and the loss of blood from a cut suffered from a home break-in. When police arrived, Hyde said he was the devil and threatened to kill the officers and the homeowner.

Tasers fire metal barbs attached by a wire that deliver 50,000 volts of electrical charge for five seconds. The idea is to temporarily immobilize suspects so that officers can gain control.

Tasers have also been in the news in Lucas County. Sheriff James Telb suspended his department's use of Tasers, just weeks after a man was shocked nine times by authorities and died within minutes of the final jolt. Jeffrey Turner, 41, of Toledo, died Jan. 31 after he was shocked five times by Toledo police and four times a few hours later by sheriff's correction officers at the jail.

Lucas County Sheriff James Telb said that he also wants a policy requiring any suspect shocked by a Taser to pass a medical examination at a hospital before being booked into the county jail.

"Many times we do that now," said Richard Keller of the Lucas County Sheriff's Department. "If an inmate is injured when they come in here prior to booking we have our nurses look at them and if it's a medical decision, we still have the arresting officer take that person to a medical facility. But I think that's the direction, way we're gonna go."

Telb said the device will not be used until he receives more results from safety studies. He said his officers have used Tasers about a dozen times since they went into service last year.

Telb said no policy violations were committed in Turner's death and no administrative or criminal charges would be filed by his office. The Lucas County coroner's office said the cause of death remains inconclusive pending the results of toxicology tests and further investigation.

The family of Jeffery Turner reacted strongly about the new procedures in Lucas County concerning Tasers. Turner's brother Shawn Turner said the new policy is a step in the right direction but it's two weeks too late and more can be done. "I think [Sheriff Telb] should have pulled those Tasers immediately instead of waiting two more weeks," said Shawn.

Shawn told News 11 he's done research on Taser-related deaths around the country and in the world. He says he's done some math about his brother being hit nine times at 50,000 volts a pop. "When I see that, that's over the limit, that's extreme. That's excessive, that's ridiculous," he told us.

Shawn likens the sheriff's new policy on Tasers to recalls on bad cars. "Now it's a problem, so they bring it to the public and recall the car. Just like these people, these people are dying, too many people dying in a short amount of time. I think we have a problem now we should look into it," he said.

Meanwhile, the Toledo Police Department will continue using Tasers at least for the time being. Police Chief Mike Navarre tells us he has sent two letters out, one to the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the other to the attorney general. Both letters ask for an independent study into the safety of Tasers. The department has used Tasers at least 225 times to subdue suspects in Toledo.

Amnesty International said in a report last November that at least 74 people have died in the United States and Canada in the past four years after being shocked with Tasers. The manufacturer, Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser International Inc., has said the device is among the safest ways to subdue a violent person.

Taser International, Inc. has said all along it has done extensive research, its products are safe and have never been the sole reason someone has died.

Stun-gun maker hires police to tout weapon

February 21, 2005
Alan Gathright, San Francisco Chronicle

The maker of a police stun gun associated with the deaths of 93 people, including several in Northern California, has hired hundreds of officers to peddle the electroshock device to law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area and across the nation.

Critics question whether Taser International's 263 police consultants, dubbed "master instructors,'' are making it clear to law enforcement agencies that they are working for the stun-gun maker or giving the impression that they represent their departments. Two months ago, a Minnesota officer quit after superiors found he had been moonlighting for Taser without their approval.

"When a police department contacts one of these master instructors for information or a demonstration, do they identify themselves as someone who's been paid by Taser International?" asked John Crew, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. "The potential conflict of interest is huge.''

The Arizona-based stun-gun maker has been promoting Taser as a lifesaving device despite a growing concern among law enforcement officials and calls from human rights groups for a stun-gun moratorium. The International Association of Chiefs of Police plans to call for a review of Taser-related deaths and to advise its members to examine how stun guns are used. Tasers fire metal barbs that emit a five-second, 50,000-volt charge into the suspect.

Taser acknowledges using active-duty officers to promote its stun guns, a practice it says has helped drive sales.

The company noted in its latest annual report that the master instructors' "training sessions have led directly to the sale of Tasers to a number of police departments.''

Taser also has signed up about 1,000 police officers to provide a one- hour in-home training course to people who purchase a civilian stun-gun model, which the firm began marketing last fall.

Since it began marketing the police stun gun in 1999, Taser has sold the devices to more than 6,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, including about 80 percent of California's 636 agencies.

More than a dozen Bay Area law enforcement agencies use Tasers, including those in San Jose, Fremont and Vallejo, and others are weighing purchases.

The San Francisco, Newark and Palo Alto agencies are holding off on their use until independent research resolves safety concerns.

Since August, six people have died in Northern California after being jolted by police stun guns. The victims include an emotionally disturbed Pacifica man whose family said he was shocked repeatedly and an unarmed Vallejo car-theft suspect zapped as he climbed a fence.

Taser and law enforcement officials say businesses often hire officers with special training skills to give demonstrations for everything from pepper spray to riot shields. But most police departments require officers to gain approval for outside jobs and consult on their own time, out of uniform, and without claiming that their agency endorses a product.

Controversy erupted in late December when the Minneapolis Police Department's top Taser trainer quit while being investigated for his work for Taser without the required departmental approval.

Sgt. Ron Bellendier, who had touted Taser's safety while demonstrating the weapon on national television a month earlier, quickly had a new job: Midwest regional manager for Taser International, which called the ex-officer a man of high integrity and "a real straight shooter,'' according to Minneapolis TV station WCCO.

In the Bay Area, Sacramento police SWAT team member Sgt. Rick Guilbault began moonlighting for Taser in 2002 after developing his department's stun- gun training program. Guilbault said he did off-duty training for the San Francisco Sheriff's Department and Rohnert Park Police Department, among others, and taught regional seminars to training officers from Bay Area departments.

Guilbault, who said his department approved of his work for Taser, also served on Taser's police training board for a year before leaving the Sacramento agency last April to become the firm's full-time director of training.

The training board drew headlines last month when Taser President Tom Smith disclosed that four active-duty police officers on the panel received lucrative stock options.

Taser refuses to identify paid police consultants or the agencies where they work, citing their privacy rights.

"We do require that our consultant instructors notify their respective agencies and ensure that they comply with any department policies regarding off-duty work,'' said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser.

Guilbault declined to say if he obtained Taser stock options.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, recently sent a letter to Taser Chief Executive Officer Rick Smith demanding that the firm identify police consultants and disclose whether they are working for California law enforcement agencies or marketing stun guns to departments here.

"I believe that any and all potential conflicts of interest that might impact consideration of Taser International's weapons in California should be fully and immediately disclosed, not withheld,'' wrote Leno, chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Taser officials maintain that their stun gun lives up to the company motto -- "Saving Lives Every Day" -- by preventing attacks on police officers and incapacitating dangerous suspects without the need to use deadly force.

Although Amnesty International and other groups point to at least a dozen deaths in which coroners cited the Taser as a contributing cause, the company maintains that drug intoxication, heart disease or psychosis often kills suspects involved in altercations with police.

Many police officers and chiefs across the country credit the Taser with quickly subduing violent individuals while reducing injuries to officers, suspects and bystanders.

"I get a lot of calls from cops every day saying how this thing saved them or saved someone else from being hurt on the street," said Guilbault, now Taser's training chief.

Guilbault said he always disclosed to other police agencies that he was working for the company and wore a shirt emblazoned with Taser International, "because I'm there as a representative of Taser International, not my department.''

Robert Castelli, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said moonlighting police consultants have benefits and drawbacks.

"There is an upside to having an active police trainer doing this, because you want the best people to train other police officers to do what they have to do to save their lives,'' said Castelli, a former New York State Police training supervisor who now teaches police use of force. "Where I kind of cringe is the idea that the officers are operating on a contract basis for a private company.''

Newark Police Chief Ray Samuels said he didn't care that a Portland police training officer was working for Taser when he gave a stun-gun demonstration to the Newark agency in September. "I presumed that there was a financial relationship" between the officer and Taser, Samuels said.

"I appreciated that he was a working police officer who could answer questions, not as a salesman but as someone who has practical experience in the deployment of the device,'' Samuels said.

Yet Samuels said he decided not to buy Tasers, because there is not enough independent research to ease his concerns about whether stun guns can accidentally kill.

"I'm not willing to run the risk of an unintended death under any circumstances," he said.

"At this point, I don't feel we have enough impartial and scientific information.''


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SHOCKING FORCE
Taser International Inc. has sold its Taser stun guns to more than 6,000 police agencies amid growing concern about the safety of the weapon and whether it is proper for the company to hire officers to promote the device to other law enforcement agencies..

A Taser’s electrical current overrides the target’s central nervous system for five seconds, temporarily paralyzing him

- Probes hook wires to target’s skin or clothing

- Dataport stores date and time of Taser firing

- ID tags ejected like confetti when fired; printed with the serial number

- Insulated wires transmit 50,000 volts of electricity through up to two inches of clothing

- Disposable cartridge uses compressed nitrogen to launch probes up to 21 feet.

- Batteries – older models use eight AA batteries, newer models are rechargeable Sources: Amnesty International; Taser International Associated Press

Amnesty International USA Welcomes IACP and DOJ Investigation as First Step in Evaluating Risks and Potential Merits of TASERs

February 16, 2005
Amnesty International

Suspect dies after being hit by taser 9 times

February 2, 2005
Christina Hall, Toledo Blade (Ohio)

Taser shares rise on news of safety study

January 14, 2005
LOUIS UCHITELLE, The New York Times

The news release issued by Taser quoted directly from the study but did not list the four authors, two of whom are Taser executives ... While the company's news release made no mention of the study's four authors, Taser posted the full four-page study on its Web site. The study noted that two of the four authors were Robert A. Stratbucker and Max Nerheim, who were identified as Taser employees. Mr. Stratbucker is the medical director and Mr. Nerheim is the vice president for engineering, the company said.

Asked whether the company had played any role in the conduct of the study, a Taser spokesman, Steve Tuttle, replied in an e-mail message: "Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology (PACE) is the foremost peer-reviewed journal in the field of pacing and implantable cardioversion defibrillation. The published results of the cardiac safety study of Taser technology speaks for itself."

The release also said that the study was published in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology. But the study is scheduled to appear instead in a supplement to the journal, not the journal itself.

Autopsy Links Taser To Death In Mesa

January 14, 2005
Arizona Republic

Tasers pose potentially lethal danger to heart, doctor warns

January 10, 2005

Dr. Zian Tseng, a cardiologist at the University of California, believes Tasers are potentially dangerous because a jolt of electricity, at just the right moment in the heartbeat cycle, can trigger ventricular fibrillation.

SEC begins 'informal' investigation of Taser

January 7, 2005
The Business Journal of Phoenix

"The company said it is now putting information together for federal regulators regarding company statements about the safety of its products, and a $1.5 million order received from Davidson's Inc., a Prescott firearms dealer, to determine if it was made in late 2004 in order to meet fourth quarter revenue guidance. Taser says it is cooperating fully with the SEC and is confident the issue will end up in their favor. "We are confident our statements are supported by the safety studies of our products," said Rick Smith, Taser's chief executive.

Heart expert warns about using tasers

January 5, 2005
Sabin Russell, San Francisco Chronicle

UCSF doctor says jolt can interrupt pumping of blood

When 50,000 volts of electricity from a Taser surge across the body, it can instantly incapacitate a person -- more safely than a blow from a police baton or a blast of pepper spray, its manufacturer contends.

But cardiologists are concerned that, in certain cases, the device might also interrupt the rhythm of the human heart, throwing it into a potentially fatal chaotic state known as ventricular fibrillation.

Rather than pump blood in sequence through its four chambers, a heart in ventricular fibrillation writhes uncontrollably, wiggling like a bag of worms. It is a common cause of sudden death.

Dr. Zian Tseng, a cardiologist at UCSF, believes Tasers are potentially dangerous because a jolt of electricity, at just the right moment in the heartbeat cycle, can trigger ventricular fibrillation.

He ought to know. He uses a precisely timed jolt to throw the hearts of his patients into ventricular fibrillation on a regular basis.

Tseng installs implantable electric defibrillators into the chests of heart patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. The devices are miniature versions of the electric paddles used to jolt a stalled heart back into its proper rhythm. Vice President Dick Cheney is the most prominent American with such a device implanted in his chest.

Before Tseng can wheel a patient out of the operating room, he must test the new defibrillator by stopping the heart, and watching to see if the life- saving implant does its job.

"There are vulnerable periods in the cardiac cycle, when shocks can cause dangerous arrhythmias,'' Tseng said.

Known as a T-wave on the heart monitor, the brief pause in pumping takes up about 3 percent of a heartbeat's cycle. Tseng times his jolt of electricity for that moment, to stop a heart, so the defibrillator can automatically start it again.

People using Tasers, he said, risk jolting a person at precisely the wrong instant. "I think they are dangerous,'' he said. "If you are shocking someone repeatedly, it becomes a bit like Russian roulette. At some point, you may hit that vulnerable period."

Cardiologists also know that the window in which a jolt of electricity can halt a heart expands significantly when a patient is treated with certain drugs, or when the body is flooded with the fear hormone, adrenaline. Patients with underlying heart problems are also more vulnerable to the condition.

Executives at Taser International are aware of the heart's vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation, but they insist their device is safe. The electrical current used in an operating room to stop a heart is 30 times higher than that produced by a Taser, said Mark Kroll, an electrical engineer and board member of the Scottsdale, Ariz., firm. Medically induced fibrillation involves applying a current directly to the inside of the heart, he added, while a Taser's current is applied to the clothing and skin.

"The current delivered by a Taser is too weak to induce ventricular fibrillation,'' he said.

Kroll acknowledged that adrenaline does increase vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation, and that many subjects facing police arrest are pumped up with the hormone. But he said there is no evidence it lowers the threshold to a point that would make Tasers dangerous.

"If anything, a Taser is reducing deaths," Kroll said. "Many subjects are in a terminal stage of a drug overdose. The quicker police can get them under control, the quicker they can get medical help."

UCSF cardiologist Tseng said that, as a precaution, police should carry automatic electronic defibrillators in their cars, so they might revive someone whose heart has been stopped.

And while Kroll said Tasers are not responsible for stopping hearts, he agreed with Tseng on that point: "I think cops should carry defibrillators anyway.''

Cardiologists Warn Of Stun Gun Dangers

January 5, 2005
www.foxreno.com

Some cardiologists worry that Taser stun guns, which police use to subdue suspects with a jolt of electricity, can interrupt the heart's rhythm and can possibly cause death.

Taser International, the device's manufacturer, says stun guns, which typically emit 50,000 volts of electricity, can instantly incapacitate a person more safely than police batons or pepper spray.

But cardiologists are concerned that, at just the right moment in the heartbeat cycle, Tasers can trigger a potentially deadly state known as ventricular fibrillation during which the heart writhes uncontrollably.

"I think they are dangerous," said Dr. Zian Tseng, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. "If you are shocking someone repeatedly, it becomes a bit like Russian roulette. At some point, you may hit that vulnerable period."

Cardiologists say people who have underlying heart problems, or who are using certain drugs, are more vulnerable to the condition.

Executives at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International say they're aware of the heart's vulnerability to ventricular fibrillation, but insist their devices are safe.

"The current delivered by a Taser is too weak to induce ventricular fibrillation," said Mark Kroll, a Taser board member.

On Sunday, Gregory Saulsbury, 30, of Pacifica suffered a heart attack and died after police shocked him with a Taser while trying to subdue him at his family's home. His family has retained Oakland civil rights attorney, John Burris, to represent them.

Pacifica police have released little information about events leading up to Saulsbury's death. The police department and San Mateo County District Attorney's office are conducting a joint investigation into the incident.

Electro-muscular disruption technology - a nine-step strategy for effective deployment

2005?

Tasers Will Save Lives, Deputy Coroner Says

December 17, 2004
By Jeff Gray, The Globe And Mail

Ontario''s deputy chief coroner, James Cairns, urged the Toronto Police Services Board to expand the use of tasers yesterday, saying they had not caused a single death but instead had saved countless lives in police standoffs.

"I am absolutely convinced tasers will save lives instead of taking lives. And I hope some day, if I am in the position, please taser me before you shoot me," Dr. Cairns told the board at its meeting yesterday.

Dr. Cairns, who has closely studied data on at least 50 deaths that have occurred after a taser was used by various police forces, also slammed the board''s recent decision to get the city''s medical officer of health, who specializes in communicable diseases, to rule on the safety of the controversial stun guns.

"If I had SARS, I''d certainly want to see the medical officer of health. I consider this a matter of forensic medicine...We''re the ones that investigate these deaths, " Dr. Cairns said.

Dr. Cairns''s surprise appearance at the board, at the invitation of Police Chief Julian Fantino, who has been pushing or the purchase of more tasers, appeared to catch board chairwoman Pam McConnell off guard.

"I am raising this issue again because I do not want to have the unnecessary death of a mentally ill or emotionally disturbed person on my conscience," Chief Fantino told the board yesterday. "Nor do I want one of our police officers to have to live with the knowledge that he or she had killed someone whose life could have been saved."

Dr. Cairns said his office had amassed mountains of independent data on tasers in the course of investigating three cases in Ontario this year in which people died after being stunned by the devices.

In all of those cases, and in another six across the country, tasers were cleared of causing the deaths, he said. The people who end up on the wrong end of these stun guns, which shoot a barb at the suspect and deliver an electrical jolt through a wire, are often in a state of "excited delirium," Dr. Cairn said.

In this state, caused by psychiatric illness, overdoses of cocaine or other drugs, or alcohol withdrawal, people are "impervious to pain" and immune to other police restraint methods such as pepper spray, he said. They have "unbelievable physical strength" and tend to be paranoid and violent.

If people in this state do not receive immediate medical treatment, they will likely die of a heart attack on their own, Dr. Cairns said. And if the person is armed or is considered a threat, police officers often have little choice but to use bullets. If a taser is on hand, they can be subdued and taken to hospital, he said.

Dr. Cairns dismissed concern expressed in articles in The New York Times and in a report from the human-rights group Amnesty International on tasers, saying the overwhelming evidence, from independent studies in British Columbia, Australia and Britain, is that the risk of death from a taser was extremely low.

Currently, only members of Toronto''s tactical squad are equipped with tasers. Chief Fantino has asked that frontline sergeants be equipped with them, something that is allowed under provincial rules. But the board deferred the decision until April at its last meeting. Dr. Cairns said yesterday that all officers should eventually be given tasers.

After hearing from the deputy chief coroner yesterday, the police board agreed to try to deal with the taser issue next month if possible.

Chief Fantino also presented the board yesterday with a report on a pilot project conducted by his force on a new model of taser, the X-26, which is more effective but uses a lower dose of electricity than the M-26, currently approved for use. The newer stun gun also keeps track each time it is fired, to guard against possible police abuse.

Yesterday, the board unanimously passed a policy forbidding leaders of the police union to endorse political candidates in election campaigns, threatening them with police discipline charges if they do.

Toronto Police Association President Dave Wilson repeated a vow to defy the ban, saying it was meant to "muzzle" his union. "You can charge me when the time comes, and I will fight this policy in the courts," he told the board.

Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says

December 17, 2004
Jeff Gray, Globe and Mail

Toronto police board urged to buy more stun guns, told medical safety review not needed

After you read the headline story above (Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says), consider this: Deputy Coroner Dr. Cairns admitted to me in a March 2005 telephone conversation that he had NOT seen autopsy or pathology results on my brother, nor had he seen autopsy or pathology results on any of the other people who had died outside of Ontario, before publicly concluding that tasers had been cleared of causing the deaths. I had heard him say that on CBC's Ontario Today, as Toronto police considered adding more tasers to their arsenal. This was before the cause of death had even been released in many cases. On the telephone, Dr. Cairns said to me: “it is my personal opinion that, unless a person dies immediately after being shot with a Taser – not 5 minutes later, not 30 minutes later, but immediately – then the Taser did not kill them.” I asked Dr. Cairns, on behalf of my family, to please refrain from including my brother’s death in his statistics, until such time as the official cause of death had been released. He did not respect my request. He went on to publicly declare on radio and television and in newspaper reports that:

None of the Taser-related deaths in Canada can be attributed to the Taser stun gun being used;

All of the deaths in Canada were determined to have been caused by cocaine-induced excited delirium;

All of the deaths in Canada were caused by cocaine overdoses;

Tasers have been cleared of causing any of the deaths in Canada; and

All nine (at that time) people would have died anyway.

To date, none of the deaths in Canada for which final results are available has been attributed to the taser (several have in the US). Nor, in the final analysis, was my brother's death. However, I know that Dr. Cairns has been consulted for his opinion on deaths which have occurred in RCMP custody over the last couple of years, including two that I'm aware of: Paul Saulnier in Digby, Nova Scotia and Kevin Geldart in Moncton, New Brunswick. Neither was attributed to the taser. Dr. Cairns has seemingly become Canada's "expert", the "go-to-it-guy" on tasers and their non-relation to the deaths of people. He also makes himself available for speaking engagements at Taser International and excited delirium-related conferences. You can bet that he's received one of the hundreds of pamphlets the weapon's manufacturer mails out to coroners each year to help them identify excited delirium.

See also: Coroner finds man didn't die from taser, where Dr. Cairns said that had Peter Lamonday died in the parking lot where he absorbed the shots, the powerful stun gun could be considered responsible.
See also: How can you justify using a taser 12 times - "After this huge fight that often goes on, they suddenly go quiet and tranquil. It seems as though they're getting a second wind. In fact, they're not. They're dying at that point," says Cairns.
See also: Drugs, not taser, caused Kingston man's death - A mere two days after Samuel Truscott's death, Dr. Cairns was able to "state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death."
See also: Fantino gets Taser issue revived

Fantino gets taser issue revived

December 17, 2004
Catherine Porter, The Toronto Star

The Toronto Police Services Board will reconsider arming more officers with stun guns after a top forensics expert insisted Tasers can save lives.

Ontario's Deputy Chief Coroner James Cairns told board members that Tasers are typically used to subdue delirious people who could die if not taken to hospital and treated.

Without access to Tasers, police are forced to use guns, as people in such a state are almost superhuman and impervious to pepper spray and clubbing with batons, Cairns said.

"There is evidence that the Taser has definitely saved lives," Cairns told the board, which only last month voted against equipping about 500 more officers with stun guns until further medical research is done.

Board member Alok Mukherjee said he had been "almost convinced" to change his vote on the stun guns, and the board unanimously decideed to readdress the issue again next month, rather than in the spring.

"We all want to save lives," Mukherjee said.

Three months before he's being forced to leave his command, Fantino said he was so shocked by the board's decision on Tasers last month that he was raising the issue again and had asked Cairns to address the board.

"I do not want to have the unnecessary death of a mentally ill or emotionally disturbed person on my conscience," Fantino said. "Nor do I want one of our police officers to have to live with the knowledge that he or she had to kill someone whose life could have been saved."

The Toronto Police Service currently has 24 Tasers, limited to the tactical and emergency-response units. Fantino has requested the board buy 539 more for his front-line supervisors, at a $1.1 million price tag.

The guns are used by police forces across North America to disable aggressive people by shocking them with a current of up to 50,000 volts.

Cairns dismissed Amnesty International Canada's contention that the stun guns have precipitated the deaths of nine Canadians over the past year and a half.

Going one by one through each fatal case, Cairns said they all had been caused by cocaine overdoses. Although the subjects had been shocked with a Taser, the weapon didn't cause the deaths, he said. All nine would have died anyway, he maintained, and in two cases they were almost saved by Tasers, as police could quickly get them to hospital.

"Tasers give a person an electrical shock. People who die from an electrical shock do so immediately," he said, adding that in all cases the victims died hours after being hit with a Taser.
Cairns' report will go to the city's medical officer of health, who has been asked to report back to the board in January. If approved then, Fantino said he was sure he could find $1.1 million in next year's already tight police budget proposal.

Security nominee got rich on tasers - Kerik's relationship with stun-gun firm earned him millions

December 10, 2004
Eric Lipton, New York Times

Washington -- Just five years ago, Bernard Kerik was facing lawsuits from a condominium association and bank over delinquent payments owed on a modest New Jersey condo he then owned. Today, he is a multimillionaire, the result of a lucrative partnership with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and an even more profitable relationship with a stun-gun manufacturer.

If he is confirmed to the post of homeland security secretary for which he was nominated by President Bush last week, he will oversee an enormous department that does business with some of the companies that helped make him wealthy.

The list of income sources that transformed the former New York City police commissioner into a wealthy man is a diverse one, including a best- selling autobiography, speeches around the United States and service on corporate boards. Kerik even sold the rights to make a feature film about his rags-to-riches life to Miramax.

But it is the relationship Kerik has had since the spring of 2002 with Taser International, a Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of stun guns, that has by far been the biggest source of his newfound wealth, earning him more than $6.2 million in pre-tax profits through stock options he was granted and then sold, mostly in the last month.

Kerik benefited largely because the company has enjoyed an extraordinary surge in its stock. Stock options that were worth very little at the time became extremely valuable, in part because of the sales pitch that Kerik made on the company's behalf to other police departments.

The sales driving Taser's growing profits come mostly from local and state governments. But while Kerik has served on the company's board, it has made an aggressive push to enter markets either regulated or controlled by the federal government, most notably the Department of Homeland Security. A White House spokesman said Kerik would resign from the board and sell his remaining stock if confirmed.

At one point, Kerik referred Taser executives, seeking more federal business, to a Customs and Border Protection official of the Homeland Security Department, according to the company president.

"Anyone in a federal law enforcement position is a potential customer," said Thomas Smith, president and co-founder of Taser International, who said he had hired Kerik because of his prominence as New York's police commissioner. "And we are going to continue to go after that business."

Kerik declined, through a spokeswoman, to discuss his work for Taser. Although he is required for at least one year to recuse himself from decisions involving his former clients or partners, that will not prohibit the Homeland Security Department from doing business with those companies. A White House spokesman said Kerik would adhere to "the highest ethical standards" and ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

In 2002, Taser International sought to significantly expand its sales to law enforcement agencies, and it needed a high-profile former public official who could serve as a spokesman for its product, said Smith. Kerik, he added, was the perfect candidate, having served as both corrections and police commissioner. Kerik's role working alongside Giuliani on Sept. 11, 2001, had also earned him a national reputation, particularly in the law enforcement world.

From the moment he joined Taser's board in May 2002, Kerik became one of Taser's chief spokesmen before police officials.

Kerik also defended the guns against criticism that their use had contributed to the deaths of suspects who have been fired upon by police.

Amnesty International said there had been 74 Taser-related deaths in North America since 2001 and called for a suspension on the use of the device until its safety was further investigated. An Air Force laboratory that conducted research on the guns said last month that it could not determine whether they were safe, in contrast to statements from Taser that the laboratory had found its weapons generally safe and effective.

The Taser publicity campaign has been an enormous success. More than 6, 000 police departments and prisons today use Tasers, compared with only a handful five years ago, and Taser International's sales have climbed from $6.9 million in 2001 to about $68 million this year.

Kerik will have to be approved by the Senate before he takes control of the Homeland Security Department. Several members of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, which must approve his nomination, declined to comment when asked about Kerik's private sector work.

Is 'non-lethal' taser deadly?

December 1, 2004
By PHUONG CAT LE AND HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

Willie Smith was high on cocaine the night he pinned his wife down and told her he wanted to get the devil out of her. She broke free, crawled out of their bedroom window and called for help. Auburn police say that when they came and tried to arrest Smith, he resisted. So officers used a Taser, subduing him with 50,000 volts of electricity. When Smith finally emerged from the apartment, he was rolled out on a gurney -- hogtied, face down with his hands and ankles cuffed behind him, his wife said. She could hear him whimpering. The 48-year-old man had a heart attack in the ambulance. He died in the hospital two days later.

Willie Smith was the third person in Washington state to die after being shocked with a Taser. Smith was the third person in Washington to die after being shocked with a Taser; others died in Silverdale and Olympia. Nationwide, there have been 69 such deaths since 2000, raising concerns about a new breed of electric shock devices in widespread use by law enforcement.

In dozens of cases nationwide, autopsies showed the victims died of a heart attack, cocaine intoxication or underlying causes such as heart disease. But autopsies in at least five cases found Tasers were a contributing factor in the deaths.

The company that manufactures Tasers insists they are safe and non-lethal, and some medical professionals think some of the deaths may be the result of a combination of physical restraint and drug-induced agitation. But Amnesty International and other groups say such deaths are troubling and shouldn't be overlooked as more law enforcement officers use Tasers in a wide variety of situations.

In a report issued yesterday, Amnesty International said Tasers couldn't be ruled out as a factor in seven of 74 deaths in the United States and Canada it asked a forensic pathologist to review. That underscores the need to ban such non-lethal weapons until it is known whether they're responsible for the deaths, it said.

Across the country, 6,000 law enforcement agencies have equipped some or all of their officers with the tools. According to the manufacturer, Taser International, Houston police last month placed a $4.7 million order to buy Tasers for all 3,700 of its officers.

Company says they're safe

Taser International, a publicly traded company with nearly $50 million in sales this year, says the devices have never directly caused a death. The company points out that many of the people died hours, even days, after they were shocked, and of other reasons, such as cocaine overdose or heart disease.

Steve Tuttle, a company spokesman, said a study showing Tasers did not cause ventricular fibrillation in 10 pigs has been accepted for publication in Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, a peer-reviewed journal. The study will be published in January. Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's electrical activity becomes disordered, which could lead to cardiac arrest in minutes.

He said the company has offered to provide funding for more medical studies using standards agreed upon with Amnesty International, but that the group has not responded. "We're not saying Tasers kill people," said Mike Murphy, coroner of Clark County, Nev., where two men have died after being shocked by Las Vegas police officers. "We appear to be seeing some issues that need to be addressed."

The Taser was one of several methods used to restrain William Lomax, a 26-year-old who was under the influence of PCP when he fought with security guards and a Las Vegas police officer earlier this year. He died after being handcuffed, shocked several times and held down, Murphy said. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy said the Taser played a role in Lomax's death, but couldn't say how big a role.

The Taser, powered by batteries, fires two darts that hook into a person's skin, then deliver an electrical charge that temporary subdues them. It can also be pressed against a person's body in a stun mode.

Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said an in-custody death isn't unusual, so "it's a huge leap to say the Taser caused the death. It's natural to expect, whether it's a huge ingestion of drugs or alcohol or from some other type of injuries, that there are going to be some deaths that are also associated with Taser use," he said.

Chief Sue Rahr, who has been named to replace King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, said she believes the tools are safe and give officers better options than wrestling or fighting someone with a baton or nightstick. She said she wants every deputy to have one. About 250 of 700 deputies now carry them.

"If there were a case where the Taser was shown as the direct cause of death, absolutely we would reconsider," she said. "But I haven't seen any information that directly correlates the Taser with the death."

But while law enforcement officers have accepted the devices as safe, relatives of those who have died aren't convinced.

"A Taser gun did the same harm that a regular gun would have done," said Tammie Smith, who believes the tool helped bring about her husband's heart attack in July. "I don't understand why he had to be Tasered."

The King County Medical Examiner Office last week ruled the 48-year-old machine operator died of "a combination of acute cocaine intoxication and physical restraint," but declined to offer more details. An inquest into Smith's death is pending.

The Auburn Police Department completed its investigation this week and forwarded the case to the King County Prosecutor's Office, which is standard procedure. Cheryl Price, department spokeswoman, said the investigation was focused on Smith's "felony assault," not any issue with the officers' involvement in his death. "He was resistant to arrest and we utilized different levels of force to subdue him, and he happened to have a cardiac episode," she said. She said she couldn't say why the department was still investigating Smith after his death.

Coroners in the two other Washington fatalities ruled that the Taser did not contribute to the deaths of:

Stephen L. Edwards, 59, of Shelton, who fought with a security guard outside a grocery store before an Olympia police officer arrived and shocked him four times in less than a minute and a half;

Curt Lee Rosentangle, 44, a Silverdale business owner, who was high on cocaine and reportedly pounding on doors at an apartment complex when a Kitsap County sheriff's deputy shocked him at least twice.

Some see deadly combination

Some say that for those already agitated, high on cocaine or other drugs or have existing heart problems, the Taser can inhibit breathing and become lethal. Dr. William Anderson, a private forensic pathologist in Florida, believes those people may be particularly vulnerable. Although the Taser is generally safe for most people, he said, the company hasn't done the scientific study to conclude it's safe for everyone. "If you're in that particular situation at the time you get Tasered, it may be the straw that breaks the camel's back," said Anderson, who added that it can be a good tool.

As deputy medical examiner in Orlando two years ago, he ruled that the Taser contributed to the death of Gordon Jones, who was cocaine-intoxicated when he was Tased multiple times. Another pathologist contradicted Anderson's ruling.

Amnesty International's report raised similar questions about whether the devices could exacerbate breathing difficulties caused by violent exertion, drug overdose or other restraint devices, triggering heart attacks.

A British government report warned "excited, intoxicated individuals or those with pre-existing heart disease could be more prone to adverse effects from the M26 Taser, compared to unimpaired individuals." But it also concluded that the risk of serious injuries was "very low" and it wasn't medically necessary to hold off using them until more was known.

"Testing that we've done hasn't identified any groups of people at risk," said Taser's Tuttle, who added that the company supports continued research on the device. "There's no use of force that's risk-free. But studies continue to show that this is one of the safest uses of force that's out there on the street."

The company has cited both the British report and a report sponsored by the Department of Defense to bolster its claims. In September, the DoD released an abstract of the report concluding that the device "does not appear to pose significant risk" and wasn't the primary cause of reported deaths. It recommended more research into how such tools affect "sensitive populations."

But the Air Force Research Laboratory, which conducted the DoD study, released a statement last week saying the devices could be dangerous in certain circumstances and that there wasn't enough data to evaluate it. The need to rely on case reports from the manufacturer and the lack of laboratory data "generate uncertainty in the results," the report said. "There's a huge gap in the scientific data that has been performed," said Larry Farlow, a spokesman with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio.

'Very little controlled research'

Kenneth Foster, who was on the independent panel that reviewed the U.S. report, said there is no indication the Taser is unsafe, though there has been "very little controlled research." "If a medical device company wanted to put a device on the market, they have to prove the safety and effectiveness using rigorous tests and to get federal approval," said Foster, a bioengineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "The Taser doesn't have that requirement, so there's been rather little systematic study as far as I can tell."

Yet, he and others say any significant hazard would have been obvious by now, given the thousands of times they've been used.

Although some Taser supporters feel more research is needed, they say Tasers shouldn't be pulled from the streets. Doing so would remove a valuable less-lethal option, they say. "I can't overemphasize (that) the value of the Taser is it allows us to gain control of somebody without injuring them. That's huge," said Rahr, of the Sheriff's Office. "What better way to protect the public than to not have to wrestle with them or hit them with a nightstick or shoot them?"

The company cites animal studies it funded, as well as tests on older versions of electric shock devices, as evidence of the product's safety. In a study in 1996, Dr. Robert Stratbucker shocked an anaesthetized pig 48 times with an older lower-powered Taser and found that it didn't affect the pig's heart.

In a later study at the University of Missouri, he and another researcher, Wayne McDaniel, shocked five dogs 236 times in the chest area with no episodes of ventricular fibrillation. McDaniel later repeated the study on 10 anesthetized pigs, and determined the device could be used safely even at 15 times its standard power.

Kerlikowske said police agencies are left to their own devices when determining the safety of new policing tools, but his agency didn't buy Tasers as a knee-jerk reaction. A citizens group researched the options and compared notes with other police agencies. "There are some departments that have a controversial shooting and, within a month, they buy 500 Tasers and issue it to every officer," he said.
"We went into this as methodically and thoroughly as any agency as I've ever seen."

Taser says the device operates at a fraction of the electricity used to resuscitate heart attack victims -- 1.6 joules. A joule is a unit of energy. "That amount of energy applied to the chest, probably only a fraction ends up going to the heart," said Dr. Peter Kudenchuk, professor of medicine at the University of Washington. "Simply the pain created by a shock of 1.6 joules might make the heart rate faster, but I'd be surprised if much of the energy reaches the heart itself," he said. "In terms of causing a cardiac arrest, the risk is probably low."

Some medical experts believe the common denominator in the publicized deaths is not the Taser, but how officers restrain out-of-control, agitated people. Some of those who died while in custody were hogtied, handcuffed or held down, which compressed their chests and restricted their ability to breathe. A person's delirious, excited state combined with the way he or she is restrained plays a more significant role in a fatal outcome, they say.

In a British Columbia report this fall, a group of medical professionals said the deaths of four people there may have been because the individuals were restrained while in an excited, delirious state and that the Tasers didn't cause their deaths.

Tasers cited in five deaths

But Tasers played a part in at least five deaths nationwide, according to medical authorities. A county coroner in Indiana ruled that electric shock contributed to the death of James Borden, who died in an Indiana jail after being shocked several times while handcuffed. The jail officer faces two counts of felony battery. "People who carry these should be warned," said David Brimm, an attorney representing the Borden family in a wrongful death suit against the county and Taser.

Pathologist Ronald Kohr ruled Borden died of cardiac dysrhythmia, or disorder of the heartbeat. He listed an enlarged heart, pharmacological drug intoxication and electric shock as contributing factors. But a pathologist working for the jail officer's defense, Dr. Cyril Wecht, wrote in a memo that there was no basis to conclude the Taser contributed to Borden's death.

Electric shock was also listed as one of four causes of death for Jacob Lair, a 29-year-old who died last June after a struggle with police officers in Sparks, Nev. The autopsy report said methamphetamines combined with delirium, the Taser and restraint combined to kill him. "There's not a single one of those that you can make the sole cause of death, and not one that you can ignore," Washoe County Coroner Vernon McCarty said of Lair's case.

A coroner in South Carolina also ruled the Taser contributed to the death of William Teasley, who died in August after he was shocked at the county jail. "The Taser gun was a last straw because he was Tased and he collapsed to the floor," said Charlie Boseman, a forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy. Teasley died of cardiac arrhythmia, with the Taser and health problems, including an enlarged heart and heart and liver diseases, contributing. Boseman said two Taser representatives called him and asked him "could we not use the Taser as part of the man's death." "I told them that we could not change the report and leave the Taser out, because the Taser was used to bring the man down to the floor," Boseman said.

Tuttle said the company has never pressured any medical professional to alter a report involving a death in which a Taser was involved. Rather, they called Boseman's office to offer technical information on Tasers that the pathologist requested, he said.

Smith, who has been waiting for her husband's death certificate, is convinced the shock played a role in her husband's death. She said she hoped police would "take responsibility for their part in it."

Canada - Excessive and lethal force?

November 30, 2004
Amnesty International

LA autopsy report 9th to cite taser use

November 30, 2004
Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic

The death of a California man two years ago is the ninth fatality to be linked to a Taser electric stun gun.

A Los Angeles County coroner said Taser could not be ruled out in the 2002 death of Johnny Lozoya, who was shocked by police when he fought with hospital staff attempting to help him following a seizure.

"One cannot exclude the Taser causing above damage to the tissues, specifically the heart," Deputy Medical Examiner Louis Pena wrote in an autopsy report. "Thus the manner of death could not be determined." advertisement

The autopsy of the 34-year-old Gardena man is the latest in a series of medical reports obtained by the Arizona Republic, which has identified 77 deaths following a police Taser strike since 1999.

The autopsy appears to contradict previous published reports by Taser International, the stun gun's Scottsdale manufacturer, which blamed Lozoya's death on a heart attack from cocaine intoxication.

"Taser not a cause," according to a company report touting the weapon's safety.

Taser says the stun gun, which has been sold to more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies as an alternative to deadly force, has never caused a death or serious injury.

Taser officials on Monday maintained that Taser played no part in Lozoya's death.

"After reviewing this case, it is similar to other in-custody deaths in which Taser technology was not deployed," Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said in an e-mail. "Taser International is always concerned when a death in custody tragically occurs."

Of the 77 cases, The Republic has so far examined 29 autopsy reports. Medical examiners have cited Taser as a cause or contributing factor in six cases and said the gun could not be ruled out in two other previous cases.

Lozoya died on July 20, 2002 after police found him lying on the ground having a seizure.

Gardena police reports show that the partially clad Lozoya was running on a convalescent home's roof. Shortly afterward, witnesses reported that he was running through traffic and that he jumped on a car.

Police found him on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Officers called paramedics, who took him to the hospital, where he became combative.

"Officers used a non-lethal weapon (Taser) to subdue the decedent," the autopsy report stated. "He went into full arrest shortly thereafter."

Although Lozoya was resuscitated, he later died.

The autopsy report shows that Lozoya died of hypoxic encephalopathy, a lack of oxygen to the brain, following cardiac arrest. The medical examiner noted on the report that Lozoya's injuries were caused by unknown factors, cocaine and Taser use.

Tuttle says Lozoya's death could not be related to the Taser because he died several minutes after being shocked.

"With the 11 minute or greater time elapse between the exposure of the Taser and Lozoya's collapse, there is no plausible cardiovascular link between the Taser use and this tragic event," Tuttle said.

For years, Taser officials claimed that no autopsy or medical examiner ever cited the stun gun as a factor in a death.

But The Republic found that Taser never had copies of autopsy reports and didn't start collecting them until April. The company also omitted cases linking the stun gun to deaths from reports to shareholders and the public.

Taser officials now acknowledge autopsy reports linking the stun gun to deaths but question their accuracy, saying coroners do not have the expertise to determine if Tasers have caused deaths.

They blame the deaths on other factors, including drug addictions and pre-existing health problems.

Taser on children OK, police say

November 27, 2004
Daytona Beach News Journal

Officials from a majority of law enforcement agencies in Volusia and Flagler counties say they would not hesitate to shoot a child with a Taser stun gun to keep the youngster from harming himself or someone else.

The Taser policies of law enforcement agencies in both counties require police to consider everything from a suspect's age to physical and mental condition, but no local agency specifically prohibits using the weapon on a child.

"There are those youths out there that are just as capable of hurting someone as any 18-year-old," said Sgt. Pete Moon of the DeLand Police Department. "Each scenario is different."

Debra Johnson, a spokeswoman with the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, agreed that age wasn't the only deciding factor. "There are some 12 year-olds out there that are bigger than some adults," she said.

The weapons are equipped with electric barbs that penetrate the skin and transmit an electric shock of up to 50,000 volts from the Taser. Tasers also may be used as a stun gun by pressing the weapon against the skin.

Law enforcement agencies in the area discussed their policies with The News-Journal after two separate incidents in Miami in which police were accused of using their Taser guns on children -- a 12-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy -- who officers claimed were endangering themselves.

The incidents prompted a review of the Miami-Dade Police Department's Taser policy, said Miami-Dade Detective Nelda Fonticella , because that policy does not specifically address the issue of Tasers and children.

Local police said officers are expected to use discretion and consider whether the suspect poses a threat to himself or another person.

Of the local police agencies surveyed, only the Daytona Beach police reported using a Taser on a child under 17.

Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Brandon Haught said Sheriff Ben Johnson is "fully against" using Tasers on children.

"He feels it should be used only as a last resort," Haught said.

Spokesman Gary Davidson described the department's Taser use as "very conservative." Deputies have deployed the weapons 175 times in the last three years.

Resource officers who patrol Volusia or Flagler schools do not carry Tasers, officials said, but do carry service weapons and can call on sheriff's deputies with Tasers for backup.

Daytona Beach Shores police -- who have deployed Tasers more often this year than any other law enforcement agency in the county, according to police reports -- declined comment on the issue.

Police agencies in Central Florida have had to decide whether to allow officers to use Tasers only in cases of active physical resistance, or in any case of resistance, including verbal refusals to cooperate.

In the Daytona Beach police incidents earlier this year where Tasers were deployed against two 16-year-old boys in two separate incidents, the suspects were running away from police, said Lt. Jesse Godfrey, a spokesman for the department.

An officer may fire his or her Taser at a running suspect if the officer believes the person has committed a crime, Godfrey said. The officer must shout verbal commands at the suspect and warn that the Taser will be used.

"In a foot pursuit, either the officer or the person can hurt their leg or ankle, they can get hit by a car or they can fall," Godfrey said. "By using the Taser, we reduce the danger to both."

Yvonne Herrera, R.N., an pediatric intensive care nurse in charge of Night Lite Pediatrics in Orlando, said little information is available about the medical effects of a Taser on a child and the pediatricians there had never heard of a Taser being used on a local child.

"I don't think that was the intended use," she said.

As an emergency room nurse, though, Herrera said she has seen adults brought in after being hit with Tasers. She said the Taser's current doesn't knock suspects from their feet, but causes their knees to buckle, so they crumple to the ground. Patients who have received a Taser blast usually have no serious injuries, she said, and are treated for pain and small lacerations at the site of the stun.

Many officers said that as much as they would dislike having to shoot a child with a Taser, they recognize the time might come when it would be necessary.

"The child would have to reach the same level (of behavior) as an adult," said Ormond Beach training division Officer Vince Champion.

Claims Over Tasers' Safety Are Challenged

November 26, 2004
Alex Berenson, The New York Times

Taser International, whose electrical guns are used by thousands of police departments nationwide, says that a federal study endorses the safety of its guns, but the laboratory that conducted the research disagrees.

Taser said last month that the government study, whose full results have not yet been released, found that its guns were safe. Since that statement, the company's stock has soared and its executives and directors have sold $68 million in shares, about 5 percent of Taser's stock and nearly half their holdings.

But the Air Force laboratory that conducted the study now says that it actually found that the guns could be dangerous and that more data was needed to evaluate their risks. The guns "may cause several unintended effects, albeit with low probabilities of occurrence," the laboratory said last week in a statement released after a symposium on Tasers, as the company's guns are known, and other weapons intended to incapacitate people without killing them.

Taser said Wednesday that it stood behind its October statement.

Other data presented at the symposium raised questions about one of Taser's key claims about the effectiveness of its newest and most expensive weapon.

Tasers are pistol-shaped weapons that fire electrified darts up to 21 feet, shocking suspects with a painful charge. More than 5,500 police departments and prisons now use Tasers, compared with only a handful five years ago.

Many police officers say that Tasers give them a way to restrain dangerous suspects without using firearms or fighting with them. But civil liberties groups say police often use Tasers on people who are merely unruly or disobedient, not dangerous. Recently, police officers in Miami shocked a 6-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl in separate incidents, prompting widespread criticism.

"The evidence suggests that far from being used to avoid lethal force, many police forces are using Tasers as a routine force option," said Curt Goering, senior deputy executive director of Amnesty International. "The way these weapons are being used in some circumstances could constitute torture or ill treatment."

Amnesty has called for police departments to stop using the guns pending an independent inquiry into their safety. The group will release a report next week documenting police abuse of Tasers, Mr. Goering said.

The growing use of Tasers is disconcerting because their risks have not been properly studied, biomedical engineers say. More than 70 people have died since 2001 after being shocked with Tasers, mainly from heart or respiratory failure.

Taser International says the deaths resulted from drug overdoses or other factors and would have occurred anyway. But coroners have linked several deaths to the weapons, and independent scientists who are authorities on electricity and the heart say that the company may be significantly underestimating the weapon's risks, especially in people who have used drugs or have heart disease.

Taser has performed only minimal research on the health effects of its weapons. Its primary safety studies on the M26, its most powerful gun, consist of tests on a single pig in 1996 and on five dogs in 1999. The company has resisted calls for more tests, saying that it is comfortable with the research it has conducted.

Tasers are largely unregulated and have never been studied for their safety or effectiveness by the Consumer Product Safety Commission or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But for two years the Defense Department has studied Tasers as part of military research into weapons designed to be effective without being deadly.

In a press release on Oct. 18, Taser said that the military study had found its guns "generally effective without significant risk of unintended consequences."

Rick Smith, the chief executive of Taser, called the study "the latest chapter in a series of comprehensive medical and scientific studies which conclude that Taser technology is safe and effective."

Taser's stock, which closed at $37.47 on Oct. 15, the last trading day before the study was released, rose 60 percent over the next month and peaked at $60.85 on Nov. 15. During the week ended Nov. 12, Taser executives and directors sold 1.28 million shares for $68 million. The company's stock closed Wednesday at $50.51, down 89 cents.

But neither Taser nor the military released the full study, only an excerpt. The full study remains confidential, military officials say. But last week, after the symposium on less-deadly weapons in Winston-Salem, N.C., the Air Force laboratory that conducted the study said that it had not found Tasers were safe.

The guns "may cause several unintended effects, albeit with estimated low probabilities of occurrence," the laboratory said. "Available laboratory data are too limited to adequately quantify possible risks of ventricular fibrillation or seizures, particularly in susceptible populations."

Ventricular fibrillation is a disturbance of the electrical circuitry of the heart that causes cardiac arrest in seconds and death in minutes. Taser says that its weapons do not produce enough current to cause ventricular fibrillation, but scientists who are authoritative on fibrillation say that the company has not done enough research to know whether that contention is accurate.

Taser said Wednesday that the military had reviewed and approved its October statement before the company released it.

An Air Force scientist presented data at the symposium last week showing that repeated Taser shocks caused pigs to become acidotic - a dangerous condition in which the pH of the blood drops. A 1999 study by the Justice Department suggested that "deaths following Tasers' use may be due to acidosis."

People who have been hit repeatedly by Tasers should receive medical monitoring, said Dr. James Jauchem, the Air Force scientist. A spokeswoman for the Air Force said Wednesday that Dr. Jauchem was on vacation for Thanksgiving and not available for additional comments.

Dr. Jauchem also presented data calling into question the company's assertion that the Taser X26, its newest gun, is especially effective even though it fires a smaller charge than the company's older weapon, the M26. Taser has said that the X26 fires a special kind of electric pulse that works better than traditional stun guns.

But Dr. Jauchem said the shape of the X26's electric pulse had only a minor effect on the amount of muscle contraction it produced.

Taser falls on New York Times report

November 26, 2004
By Jim Jelter, CBS MarketWatch.com

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Shares of stun-gun maker Taser International tumbled Friday, hit by a New York Times report that raised new safety concerns about the company's main product line. The article in the New York Times, citing unpublished results of Air Force Research Laboratory tests, adds to a growing body of complaints over the use and safety of Taser's stun guns. According to the paper, the Air Force said at a symposium last week that Taser stun guns may be dangerous and require further testing. The Air Force's comments fly in the face of a recent federal study that called Taser's products "generally safe and effective." Company executives could not be reached for comment. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser markets its guns as nonlethal self-protection devices, with law enforcement agencies and security companies making up its biggest customer base. According to the company, its products send a nonlethal jolt of electricity to subdue the target body. But there has been a rash of complaints in recent months blaming Taser stun guns for accidental injuries, raising the specter of debilitating lawsuits. Taser shares have shed about 13 percent of their value in just the past two weeks.

Expand Taser use, report urges

November 16, 2004
JEFF GRAY, Globe and Mail

But board chairwoman calls for study of long-term health effects of stun guns

A Toronto Police report says front-line sergeants should be given Taser stun guns to subdue suspects, but the chairwoman of the Police Services Board says more study is needed before the controversial weapons are rolled out.

The report, on the agenda for Thursday's Police Services Board meeting and signed by Chief Julian Fantino, dismisses safety concerns about the Taser, which uses an electrical charge to subdue suspects. Currently, only members of the force's emergency task force tactical squad are armed with the devices, usually used to deal with people the police refer to as "emotionally disturbed persons" -- often those who are drug-addled or mentally ill.

"Certainly, in my view, before we move too far down this road, we need to examine the long-term health effects of Taser use," said Councillor Pam McConnell, the police board chairwoman. She said she hopes to ask the city's medical officer of health for a report on the risks of Taser use.

The board is expected to receive the report, but not take any action on it.

The police report recommends buying more than 500 stun guns -- which deliver their electrical charge via a wire that hooks onto a suspect's clothes or skin -- at a cost of just over $1-million.

The report argues that front-line supervisors on patrol, not just the tactical squad, should have Tasers because by the time the ETF arrives -- sometimes 20 minutes or more after the call comes in -- it can be too late.

In one case, the report says, officers in 14 Division "were held at bay for over twenty-five minutes by an emotionally disturbed man brandishing a large knife" before the ETF arrived with Tasers at the ready. "At one point the man was literally chasing officers around a police vehicle in an attempt to force officers to shoot him," the report reads.

The report also suggests that the Toronto Police Service could be opening itself up to lawsuits if it fails to put Tasers in the hands of more officers, because the force could be held liable for deaths or injuries that would have been prevented had a Taser been handy.

Although used by thousands of police forces around the world and across Canada, including most in the GTA, the Taser remains controversial.

The RCMP, the Edmonton Police Service, the Calgary Police Service and the Vancouver Police Department allow front-line supervisors to use the weapons, and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety recently changed its rules to allow front-line supervisors in the province to use the devices.

A major front-page article in a July edition of The New York Times investigated the safety record of Tasers and said 50 people in the United States have died since 2001 after being stunned by the devices. But the company that makes the weapons countered that the causes of death were drug overdoses, restraint asphyxia or other factors -- not the Taser.

The Toronto police report says no deaths have been conclusively linked to the Taser, "despite initial sensational media reports."

In the GTA, the Taser was ruled out as a factor in the death of 29-year-old Jerry Knight, a drugged-up and out-of-control boxer, subdued by Peel Regional Police using the device in July.

Taser Stun Guns the Target Of Growing Canadian Concern As Use Spreads

October 15, 2004
SUE BAILEY and JIM BRONSKILL, Canadian Press

OTTAWA (CP) -- Canada's public safety minister has joined human-rights groups and some police officers urging a closer look at Taser stun guns. Abuse complaints about the way police use the weapons are mounting as the painful electric-shock devices become standard tools for law enforcement across Canada and the United States.

Many police hail the Taser for its potential to cut rates of injury and death during arrests. Critics say there's a dark side to this emerging alternative to deadly force.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan says more should be known about a weapon that's being snapped up by police and correctional services.

"Whenever the policing community is using a tool, one wants to make sure that that tool is safe, that the people who are using it are well-trained and know what they're doing, and that there's no unnecessary infliction of harm on anyone,'' she said in an interview.

Jim Cessford, chief of the Delta, B.C., police force, said recent incidents in which people who were high on drugs died after being hit with a Taser have raised some new questions. "I think it's time that we need to have another look and see what's changed,'' said Cessford, who is helping oversee a national study of Taser use.

Another Canadian review has already called for changes.

Dirk Ryneveld, British Columbia's police complaints commissioner, recommended standard, provincewide Taser training for B.C. in an interim report released in September.

The report was ordered after Robert Bagnell of Vancouver became the fifth of six Canadians to die following a jolt from a Taser.

Ryneveld also called for mandatory reports whenever the weapons, which resemble snub-nosed hand guns, are used.

There are several areas in which "the training certainly could be standardized'' across police forces, said RCMP Const. Gregg Gillis, who teaches Mounties to use Tasers.

McLellan indicated her department is prepared to step in to work with the provinces and police on national standards for Taser use if they are needed. "I think that there may be a role (for the federal government),'' she said.

Coroners' inquests to be held over the next year will probe what role, if any, stun guns played in four B.C. deaths and two in Ontario _ all of them drug-related. The first, which will examine the death of Clay Alvin Willey, begins Monday in Prince George, B.C.

Tasers cause temporary loss of muscle control with a 50,000-volt zap that knocks most suspects off their feet. Often no lasting physical trace is left.

There is no national means of monitoring how and when the weapons are used.

At issue is the potential for police to abuse an otherwise valuable tool, wielding it against unarmed suspects who simply ignore commands or passively resist arrest.

There are also troubling questions about whether stun guns should be used against suspects whose hearts are overtaxed by drug use or a form of psychosis known as "excited delirium.''

Amnesty International says the contentious devices should be suspended pending more independent research.

As many as 60 people have died in the United States after being zapped, but Taser International stresses that not a single death has been directly or primarily blamed on its product.

"Our studies currently show the technology is safe,'' said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for the Arizona-based company. "It's a very humane system to stop somebody, without having to cause blunt trauma.''

The firm argues the device, which sells for $400 US and up depending on the model, has saved thousands of lives and has helped police forces reduce injuries to officers.

Even the most ardent critics say the Taser, introduced to Canadian policing by the Victoria force five years ago, has a role to play in life-threatening situations. (The name stands for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, after a storybook that inspired its inventor.)

"If you have a police officer being attacked by somebody with a knife, then the Tasers _ no matter what the risks are _ they're far less than shooting the guy,'' says Edmonton criminal defence lawyer Tom Engel. "But some officers are using them like they're toys. And some are even using them . . . there's no other way to describe it other than torture.''

A Taser fires for up to five seconds and can be shot repeatedly. Two barbs attached to copper wires can connect from up to six metres away and will shock even through thick layers of clothing. A "touch stun'' can be used at close range, which one police trainer likened to "leaning against a hot stove.''

Taser International says its goal is to provide "non-injurious solutions to violent confrontation by developing products that enable law enforcement officers to protect themselves without causing injury or death to another human being.''

Rahim Hadani says that's not what happened the night his buddy died.

Roman Andreichikov, a buff personal trainer coming off a crack cocaine binge, was calm when four city police officers arrived at his Vancouver apartment on May 1, Hadani says. "He was just sitting on the couch, rocking back and forth.''

Hadani had called for paramedics because Andreichikov, paranoid and mumbling to himself, had been acting suicidal. Police came first to secure the scene. They entered the apartment with a Taser stun gun already drawn and aimed, Hadani says.

Andreichikov wasn't hurting himself or anyone else, he said. "I wouldn't have been in there if it wasn't a safe place to be.''

Andreichikov, 25, followed orders when the officers told him to lay face-down on the floor, his friend recalled.

"They kept saying: `Shoot him! Shoot him!' ''

When he suddenly flipped over to see what was going on, police stunned Andreichikov with a close-range shot to his bare chest, Hadani said.

"He was screaming because it was hurting so much.''

As the officers pounced to handcuff him, Andreichikov turned his head toward Hadani and said: "I can't breathe.'' He never regained consciousness.

A coroner's inquest into the death is pending.

The Vancouver Police Department did not respond to interview requests. But Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham has previously called the Taser a valuable tool, saying he's satisfied it is safe.

Less than two months after the Andreichikov incident, Robert Bagnell died June 23 in a cheap rooming hotel down the street. He stopped breathing soon after being Tasered in the throes of what police said was cocaine-induced psychosis.

Vancouver police waited a month to publicly reveal that Bagnell, 44, had been hit with a stun gun. By that time, they had a toxicology report that said the longtime drug addict had potentially lethal amounts of cocaine in his system.

Three coroners told The Canadian Press that there is in fact no standard minimum level beyond which cocaine intoxication is lethal. Tolerance of the drug varies too much from person to person, said Terry Smith, B.C.'s chief coroner.

Almost two months after Bagnell's death, police issued another statement saying a fire in the building had forced them to act quickly when the deranged man refused to leave.

Bagnell's neighbour and friend, Jack Ivers, scoffed at the explanation.

"It was a minor fire'' that was quickly doused on the main floor with little damage, he said. Bagnell and the police were four floors up.

Ivers, 64, says his friend needed medical help _ not a 50,000-volt shock.

"What irritates me is it had just happened a couple months previous to that down the street,'' he said, referring to Andreichikov's death. "They (the police) know the effect.''

Some 2,400 Tasers are now in the hands of more than 50 police and correctional services across Canada. A small number will be introduced into two maximum-security prisons by the end of 2005, says the Correctional Service of Canada.

It's difficult to know how often the weapons are used across Canada. Only fragmentary statistics have been made public.

"Federally we don't have anything right now,'' said Steve Palmer, executive director of the Canadian Police Research Centre.

Internal RCMP statistics show Tasers have figured in about 400 incidents nationwide since they were first used in a field trial in Western Canada as part of an evaluation initiated in 2000, said Gillis.

Privacy laws have prevented the Mounties from widely circulating data about those incidents, he noted.

There is no consensus among police forces about when the Taser should be used.

"In different jurisdictions, people say Tasers are the last step prior to lethal force,'' says Palmer. "In others, they can be used with broader officer discretion.''

The research centre, a partnership of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the RCMP and the National Research Council, is leading a comprehensive review of Taser literature, field reports and other international data. The chiefs' association commissioned the study in August to probe continuing concerns. A final report is not expected for up to two years.

A clearer sense of how the Taser should best be used, as well as recommendations for standardized training, could emerge from the process, indicated the Delta police force's Cessford, who is also chairman of the police research centre's advisory board.

Training currently varies among police across Canada, says Gillis of the RCMP. Mounties spend from eight to 10 hours learning about how the device works - including three hours of hands-on use - as well as studying medical and tactical issues.

That's more than double the amount of time some departments allot for training, Gillis said.

He welcomed the interim recommendations from the B.C. complaints commissioner. The guidance will be valuable if it spurs forces to adopt higher, more consistent standards, he said.

"That's good . . . if it causes us all to take our various training packages out, place them on the table and open them up to being critiqued by everybody else, so that we can go back with a better product at the end of the day.''

The Taser is only meant for use against suspects who assault police or someone else, or who try to break away during an arrest, says Edmonton Police Const. Shawna Goodkey, a use-of-force specialist who trains officers to handle the stun guns.

"We don't use it on people that are co-operative, obviously,'' she said. "Or even people that just are sitting there and saying: `You know what? I'm not going to go with you.' ''

"We're looking at deploying it only on someone that is an active resister.''

Tasers have saved lives in Edmonton at least four times in the last four years but the force has not gathered related statistics, she said.

"It's definitely a worthwhile tool.''

New Democrat MP Libby Davies, whose East Vancouver riding includes the drug-plagued Downtown Eastside area where Andreichikov and Bagnell died, is not convinced.

She says it's time for the federal government to step in where police forces have failed to monitor Tasers.

"I think we need to have a national perspective on the use of these weapons,'' Davies said.

"Some of the situations that I've read about, I've found them really quite disturbing.''

McLellan says it's too soon to draw conclusions about what appears to be a valuable tool.

"I think while it is reasonable to have some concerns, and we need to learn more about whether those concerns are valid,'' she said, "I also think that one should not overreact and immediately suggest that somehow this is not a tool that the police should have available.''

McLellan expects the RCMP and other police forces to take the lead and determine whether current training practices are appropriate before politicians consider action.

As with many tools, knowledge comes from experience with them, she said.

"We learn both their strengths and their weaknesses and we try to deal with the weaknesses.''

Florida police review policy after children shocked

November 14, 2004
Associated Press

Police used Taser gun to subdue 6-year-old student wielding piece of glass

November 12, 2004
Miami Herald

Miami-Dade police tasered a 6-year-old boy who was wielding a piece of glass in a school office and threatening to hurt himself, officials confirmed Thursday.

Police say they followed their own guidelines and only tasered the child because they were afraid he would hurt himself. But the incident has raised calls for the department tighten its policies regarding the use of the stun guns, which shoot 50,000 volts of electric current through a subject.

The incident happened on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School. The principal, Maria Mason, called 911 after the child, who has not been identified, broke a picture frame in the assistant principal's office. Then the boy began waving the piece of glass around, holding a security guard at bay.

Two Miami-Dade police officers responded, followed by a school police officer. When they got there, the boy already had a cut under his right eye and another on his hand from the glass. The three officers talked to the boy, trying to get him to put down the glass, according to a police report.

One of the officers slid a trash can to him, hoping he would throw the glass away if he didn't want to give it to any of the five adults there.

Then the officer contacted a supervisor to see if there was a policy specifically prohibiting the use of a stun gun on a child. There isn't, and the officer was told to do what she felt was necessary.

The two officers continued to try to talk to the child, who didn't respond.

Then he cut his own leg and the officers acted. One officer shocked him with the Taser while the other grabbed him, preventing him from falling on the ground.

The boy was treated by Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue at the school and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation.

''By using the Taser, we were able to stop the situation, stop him from hurting himself,'' said police spokesman Juan DelCastillo. ``We inflicted no injuries on him. We were able to take him to the hospital and hopefully he's going to get the mental health attention he needs.

''Sure he could have been tackled and maybe injured, maybe his arm broken or maybe that glass could have cut him in a critical area,'' DelCastillo said.

Yet others in the community wondered why four adults -- the three officers and the security guard -- weren't able to control a 6-year-old without resorting to a stun gun.

Retired Broward County Juvenile Judge Frank Orlando, who now runs a law clinic on youth law at Nova Southeastern University, called the incident ``ridiculous.''

''It just sounds excessive to me to Taser gun a 6-year-old when everyone else around there were adults,'' he said. ``They couldn't subdue a 6-year-old? Must have been a pretty big kid.''

Police would not release any details on the size of the child. The department is reviewing the case.