EDITORIAL: Limit taser use to most-dangerous situations

November 8, 2008
Doug Millroy, Sault Star

I have held off commenting on the controversy that for some time has been swirling around the use of Taser stun guns by police and RCMP because I wasn't totally sure of where I stood on the issue.

On one hand, I see the police and RCMP as the people we count on to keep us safe, even to the point where it means laying down their lives for us. So surely it is incumbent on us to provide and allow them the use of the best equipment available.

However, on the other hand, even while seeing the merits of the Taser as a police tool, I find myself unable to fully escape the nagging thought that something has been going wrong, very wrong.

While there have been many occasions were police officers did lay down their lives for us, seemingly some members of the public, too many, in fact, are now dying at their hands either through their use of the Taser or something caused by the use of the Taser.

Alberta Solicitor General Fred Lindsay, obviously attempting to downplay the role a Taser played in the death of an Edmonton man in late October, was quoted in a Canadian Press story as saying there's no proof Tasers have caused any deaths.

He said there is plenty of evidence, however, to suggest that they have prevented people from being killed.

"What I will say is the Taser is an effective tool and it's an alternate tool to lethal force," said Lindsay. "In over 2,000 cases where it's been used in this country, it's actually saved people's lives."

That may indeed be the case, but it would have been nice if he had trotted out a few examples so we would be able to compare the number of lives saved with the number that have been lost among those who have been hit with a Taser.

More than 20 people have died in Canada after being shot with Tasers.

In the United States, when CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews first started looking into police use of the Taser stun gun a year ago, the weapon had been connected to more than 40 deaths.

Recently CBS News updated that count, now saying 70 people have died after being zapped by a Taser, including 10 in August alone.

Of course, Taser International, the U. S. company that makes the stun gun, insists that none of the deaths was the Taser's fault, that the weapon simply lacks the power to kill or injure. It maintains tests on dogs and pigs proved the latter.

The use of a Taser on the individuals who died may not have directly caused their deaths but if it didn't, then it obviously triggered something that did. That in itself is worrisome.

But beyond that, although it is certainly possible that some of the "victims" may have died without the Taser, we are left with the preposterous thought, if we extrapolate the company line, that within a very short time all these people would have dropped dead on their own.

The Taser gun shoots two barbed hooks into the body, bringing 50 thousand volts. The idea behind this is that the suspect will go down, most of the time, at least, and therefore police won't have to use their lethal revolvers.

"You can use it before you would have to use the revolver," Rick Smith, CEO of Taser International, told CBS news. "If you have someone who has a knife, who is threatening other people but isn't quite at the level where you'd use lethal force, you'd pre-empt with the Taser, get them safely under control before it escalates."

Andrews said that technically the company may be right when it says the Taser has never caused a death. However, he said, he also discovered that since 2000, five different medical examiners in the U. S. have listed the stun gun or the Taser specifically as a factor in someone's death.

Dr. Roland Kohr, Indiana regional medical examiner, called a death in his state "the straw that broke the camel's back."

Speaking to the death of James Borden who, while high on drugs was stunned six times by an officer and died on an Indiana jailhouse floor, Kohr said Taser is overlooking the stress that multiple shots from the weapon can cause, especially to someone high on drugs.

"The application of the Taser was the trigger factor or the stressful event that caused the elevation of blood pressure, the elevation of heart rate, which stressed an already damaged heart to the point that it went into cardiac arrest," Kohr said, ruling the a Taser was a factor in Borden's death.

This could fall in line with what Lindsay was saying about the death of the man in Edmonton.

The Alberta solicitor general, referring to the case of Trevor Grimolson who died after being zapped by a Taser by police as he ran amok in an Edmonton pawn shop, said a condition known as excited delirium may be responsible for the deaths rather than the Taser itself.

I find that a stretch, but if it is indeed the case, one has to ask, would it have occurred without the Taser?

Premier Ed Stelmach noted that Lindsay himself was jolted with a Taser during a demonstration earlier this year.

"The minister is standing. He got zapped by a Taser and he's alive," he said.

That, of course, is an idiotic statement. A lot of people who have been zapped by a Taser are alive. The problem is, if he would look at the situation seriously, is that "some" people seem to be dying directly as the result of Taser zapping or an offshoot of it.

One of the most famous cases in Canada was the a Taser by RCMP of Robert Dziekanski, who died after being zapped by a Taser in Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.

The a Taser of Dziekanski, which some claim was not warranted because he seemed more distraught and disoriented than violent, has been likened in some quarters to the violent clubbing of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

Police across the country continue to use the Taser but Michael Tochor, chairman of the Saskatchewan Police Commission, said there hasn't been a national policy set out that will allow the appropriate use of Tasers, yet prevent abuses of Tasers.

"When do you use a Taser? Do you use it because a 16-year-old girl in Manitoba isn't doing what the police are telling her to do?" he asked in reference to the girl who said she was zapped by a stun gun three times while in an RCMP holding cell in Selkirk, Man. "Or do you use it when someone is swinging a sword at you?"

The answer is probably somewhere in between but I think Saskatchewan already has the answer. It allows only police tactical teams to employ the use of Tasers.

As these are the people employed in the most dangerous situations, I believe this is the way to go. Because as it stands in the rest of the country, too many deaths are occurring.

Man dies in California

Marlon Oliver Acevedo, 35, Riverside, California died on October 31, 2008

Tased and Confused

November 5, 2008
Written by Laurel Chesky, Good Times

A Watsonville family says a stun gun stopped Steve Butler’s heart, resulting in brain damage. Now they’re suing the manufacturer in what could be the first case of cardiac arrest caused directly by shocks from a Taser gun.

When Steve Butler stumbled onto the bus, the driver was less than thrilled. He didn’t want to deal with a drunk on the bus disturbing his driving, harassing or falling on passengers, perhaps barfing all over the seats and floor. So he called the police and sat tight. Within minutes, a Watsonville Police Department patrol car arrived. According to police reports, at 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2006, two officers stepped into the bus and found Butler slumped on the back seat.

“Hey, how you doing?” one of the officers asked Butler.

With slurred speech, Butler replied, “Are you here to ride the bus?”

“No,” the officer said.

“Sit down or get the fuck out!” Butler responded. “Sientes aqui!”

Butler jumped up and assumed a fighting stance. His fists were clenched and raised to shoulder level. He planted his leg apart, knees bent, and snarled at the officers. He took two steps toward them. One of the officers withdrew his Taser X26 stun gun from its holster. He told Butler to relax and ordered him to turn around and put his hands on his head.

“If you touch me,” Butler threatened, “I’ll fucking deck you!”

The second officer reached for Butler in an attempt to handcuff him. A scuffle ensued and the first officer shouted, “Taser, Taser, Taser!” and then pulled the trigger. Two probes charged with 50,000 volts of electricity pierced Butler’s chest. The struggle continued and the officers, unsure whether Butler was packing a weapon or not, took no chances. The officer with the Taser gun shocked Butler again and then a third time before he dropped to the bus floor.

When Butler didn’t make it home that night, his mother was frantic. (At 48, Butler lived with his parents.) Very early the next morning, she received a call from Watsonville Community Hospital saying that her son was there and in intensive care. She called David, one of her three sons, who headed straight to the hospital, where he found his brother comatose. Butler’s sister, Laura Plumlee, also went to the hospital.

Family members were not allowed to see him at first. “A nurse came out and said, ‘I can’t tell you anything. All I can tell you is that the police got him off the bus and he collapsed,’” Plumlee says. “I went to pieces, but my brothers were there for me.”

Soon the family was permitted to see him, two at a time. David and Plumlee went in together. They pulled back the bed sheet and looked over Butler’s body. They found two, pea-sized red burns on his chest, directly over his heart. David took pictures of the marks with his cell phone.

“David asked the nurse, ‘Did they tase him?’” Plumlee says. “She said, ‘I can’t lie to you. Yes, they did.’”

After the third Taser shock, Butler’s heart stopped. Police officers on the scene immediately carried him off the bus and called the paramedics. When the EMTs arrived, they used a defibrillator machine to jump-start Butler’s heart. After five attempts, his heart began beating on its own again.

It’s unclear how long Butler’s heart lay still. But one thing is certain: It was long enough to starve his head of oxygen and cause permanent brain damage. According to a Jan. 26, 2007 assessment conducted by a neurologist at Santa Cruz Medical Foundation, Butler suffers from “severe anoxic encephalopathy [brain degeneration due to lack of oxygen] status post cardiac arrest induced by a Taser gun.”

Butler had his share of problems before the Taser incident. He suffers from bipolar disorder, borderline paranoid schizophrenia and alcoholism. Before the brain damage, and when he took his medication, he worked as gardener. Sometimes he worked with the elderly at his mother’s church. When he refused to take his meds, as he occasionally did, he drank excessively and acted erratically.

His police record includes arrests for DUI, resisting arrest and battery to a peace officer. His most serious offense was armed robbery in Tulare, for which he spent six years in prison. (Butler claimed innocence and his brother, David, believes the court convicted the wrong man.) He had been in Tulare to take care of his grandmother after she suffered a stroke.

About a year and a half ago, Butler’s sister Laura Plumlee says, he was off his meds and stole a truck. “He was manic and psychotic, and he saw a truck with a Raiders stickers on it that had the keys in it,” Plumlee says. “He thought the truck was there for him, so took off in it.” Eventually he was caught and arrested, but the charges were dropped on the condition that he get back on his meds and observe a curfew at his parents’ home in Watsonville, Plumlee says.

But for all his drinking and bizarre antics, Butler’s brother, David, and sister say they never saw him act violently, even when he’d been drinking. “I’ve never, ever seen him violent,” Plumlee says. “Once he got upset with one of our brothers and he hit the fence. That’s the only time. He wouldn’t hurt a flea.”

According to police reports about the bus incident, Butler did not brandish a weapon, strike an officer or wage any serious threat to the officers’ safety. His family has a difficult time believing that two police officers couldn’t gain control of an extremely drunk, possibly stoned, 132-pound man without the use of electrical shock.

“They could have subdued him with pepper spray, they could have manhandled him,” says David, who is now Butler’s full-time caregiver and legal conservator. “At first I was blaming the police, but now I blame Taser because they arm these cops with these Taser guns and say they’re safe to use, that they won’t harm anybody. The police are not properly informed about the Tasers, I believe.”

Holding Taser Accountable

Shortly after the third shock with the Taser gun, Butler’s heart went into ventricular fibrillation (VF), a condition in which the heart beats out of sync and is unable to pump blood. Cardiac arrest followed, leading to the brain damage. The Butler family believes that the repeated shocks to the chest from the Taser gun interfered with the electrical signals within the heart that prompt it to beat at a regular rhythm, causing the VF. While the cause may seem obvious, the stun gun’s manufacturer, Taser International, Inc., maintains that its products do not cause VF or cardiac arrest.

Just shy of two years after the bus incident, Butler’s family filed a lawsuit against Taser International. David Butler filed a product liability suit against Taser in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Sept. 17. David chose not to sue the Watsonville Police Department. He believes that police officers were acting under false information– that the Taser is safe.

The lawsuit contends that Taser falsely claimed that its product is not capable of causing cardiac arrest when, in fact, according to the lawsuit, it can and did. The suit charges that Taser failed to warn police of that danger.

“Taser International put this product on the market without it being tested,” says Dana Scruggs, one of the Butlers’ two attorneys. “They say that it’s non-lethal and safe, and they didn’t know whether that’s true or not.”

Because officers believe the Taser gun is harmless, Scruggs says, they tend to use it cavalierly. Taser, he says, should warn police that the device can cause heart failure.

Taser International is no stranger to lawsuits. Amnesty International reports more than 300 people have died at the hand of a Taser gun since 2001. The company has been sued more than 100 times over deaths and injuries. Armed with well-paid experts and company-sponsored research studies that confirm its products safety, Taser has been extremely successful at deflecting liability. About 70 of those lawsuits Taser has either won or settled out of court. More than 30 cases are still pending.

The company had never lost a case—until June, when a federal jury in San Jose awarded Betty Lou Heston of Salinas a $6.2 million judgment. Heston’s son, Robert Heston, died after Salinas police officers shocked him 25 times with Taser guns. At the time, he was, like many Taser victims, high on methamphetamine. The jury found Taser 15 percent responsible for Heston’s death. Heston himself, they concluded, was 85 percent responsible for his own demise. The Salinas Police Department was also named in the suit but the jury found it not liable.

The case is significant not only because it marks Taser’s first loss in civil court, but because the jury awarded Heston punitive damages—$5.2 million of the settlement—based on the manufacturer’s failure to warn police agencies that repeated Taser shocks can cause cardiac arrest. However, last month a federal judge dismissed the punitive damages.

In cases of in-custody deaths involving Taser guns, the company argues that their product is an innocent bystander in an inevitable outcome. A controversial diagnosis of “excited delirium,” Taser argues, caused the deaths. Excited delirium is a muddled concept used to explain why some people—who are often high on drugs or alcohol—die suddenly while in police custody. Symptoms are said to include extreme agitation, aggression, raised body temperature, violent behavior and incoherence. The suspect’s state may be exacerbated by the use of force, including a Taser gun, pepper spray and physical restraint, or a combination of those tactics, but the excited delirium is the cause of death, Taser argues. The American Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association rejecs the excited delirium diagnosis, although some medical examiners have, in the past few years, begun using it as an official cause of death.

(Taser sometimes sues medical examiners who disagree. In May, a judge in Ohio ordered the removal of Taser’s name from three autopsy reports.)

Other cases involve victims who died from a Taser-induced fall, like the incident in Brooklyn in September where a New York Police Department officer tased a suicidal man standing on a third floor fire escape. The man fell to his death. Days later, the officer who ordered the tasing killed himself.

The Butler case, say the family’s attorneys, is the first case brought to civil court in which a victim suffered cardiac arrest as a direct result of being shocked with a Taser. Butler was very drunk at the time of the incident. His blood alcohol level was 3.5 (.08 is legally drunk in California). He had THC in his bloodstream, but no stimulants that would have caused his heart to race were found in his system. Although thin—at 5’11, he weighed just 132 pounds at the time—he was healthy and had no history of heart disease. In fact David says he was an avid cyclist and often rode his bike from Watsonville to Santa Cruz and back.

“Most of the previous cases against Taser have been multi-factorial,” says John Burton, the Butlers’ other attorney, who also represented the plaintiff in the Heston case. “Butler’s cardiac arrest was directly caused by Taser current. There is no question, based on the medical history in this case, that the Taser stopped his heart. … There’s no other reason that he would go into cardiac arrest.”

Taser International, however, contends that its products cannot directly cause cardiac arrest and that they have the science to back it up. “We do not discuss ongoing litigation or lawsuits,” Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser, wrote in an email to GT, “but we have a record of 74 cases, that we have either won or have been dismissed and/or given summary judgment in our favor concerning wrongful death and product liability cases and have had one loss to date.

“We know that our Taser technology protects lives throughout the world and that medical experts studying Taser devices have concluded that they are among the safer alternatives to subdue violent individuals who could harm law enforcement officers, innocent citizens or themselves compared to traditional use-of-force tools,” Tuttle continues. “We stand firm behind the safety of Taser technology and will rigorously and aggressively defend any lawsuit filed against or by the company vigorously.”

A Safer Alternative?

Taser International sprang to life in 1993 in Scottsdale, Ariz. at the hands of company founders and brothers Rick and Tom Smith, who vied to develop a non-lethal alternative to the handgun. They began marketing the Taser gun first to private citizens as a personal protection device and later to police departments, private security companies, prisons and the military. Taser touts that its products save the lives of police officers and suspects every day by giving officers a safe and effective alternative to guns. Since 1998, more than 359,000 Taser devices have been sold to law enforcement agencies. Taser is by far the leading manufacturer of electronic control devices, or stuns guns, in the U.S. and the world.

Taser guns are designed to allow police officers to incapacitate an unruly individual from 15 to 35 feet away. The gun shoots two small probes into the person’s muscle tissue at a speed of 160 feet per second. The probes are connected to the gun by two thin wires. An electrical signal travels through the wires and into the muscle, pulsing 20 times a second into the muscle for a recommended interval of five seconds (although officers can keep the current going much longer). The electric shock temporarily overrides the nervous system, causing immediate loss of muscular control. The person becomes rigid and immobile, giving police officers time to move in and handcuff the subject. If it doesn’t work the first time, the officer can repeat the electric shock multiple times.

Sergeant Michael Ridgway of the Watsonville Police Department (WPD) attests to the Taser gun’s safety. Ridgway has been trained and certified as a master Taser instructor by the company. He is the primary instructor for electronic controls devices at the WPD and has been tased several times himself in demonstrations. All Taser device training originates with the company.

Taser schooled Ridgway well on safety issues, he says. For example, he was taught to avoid tasing the very young or very old, pregnant women, people in water, or people standing on the edge of a building. (Taser’s warnings do not include “avoid tasing in the chest.” In fact, the legs and torso are preferred targets, according to Taser literature.)

“Outside of getting total compliance from a subject, there is no better tool than the Taser,” Ridgway says. “It minimizes the possibility of injury for everybody.”

He denies vehemently that a Taser shock can cause heart failure. “The Taser is powered by a three-volt lithium battery,” he says. “It’s not capable of generating enough power to affect the heart.”

However, Ridgway concedes, “I’m not a doctor. All I can do it regurgitate the statistics that are given to me by Taser. But to discredit information provided by Taser is to discredit the people that are most knowledgeable about Taser.”

What does Taser know about Taser? In press materials, Taser reports that the amount of electrical current delivered to the body by the Taser X26, the device used on Butler, equals .0021 amps, a tiny fraction of the power emitted by an average Christmas Tree light bulb (one amp) or a standard 110-volt wall socket (16 amps). The X26 runs on two lithium digital camera batteries.

The heart muscle thumps to the rhythm of electrical pulses generated by the heart’s sinoatrial node. Yet Taser insists that its products do not interfere with the heart’s electrical system. Numerous scientific studies back up that claim—200 of them are listed on Taser’s website.

Taser highlights most prominently a 2005 study published in Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiological acclaiming Taser’s cardiac harmlessness. The study stunned pigs of comparable human weight and tried to stop their hearts, concluding that it takes 28 times the power packed by a Taser gun to induce cardiac arrest in the pigs. (A 2006 pig study had opposite results. A team at a Chicago hospital stunned 11 pigs for 40 seconds, twice. Every one of them developed arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, a precursor to cardiac arrest.)

A study released this year by the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society concluded that chance of VF caused by a Taser gun is one in 1.27 million. Another study, published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2007, briefly shocked 105 volunteers with a Taser and monitored their hearts. While all of the volunteers experienced significant increases in heart rate immediately after the shock, it did not interfere with the rhythm of the heartbeat, indicating that the Taser does not cause VF.

“The worst that can happen is you put out an eye,” Ridgway says.

Growing Scrutiny of Stun Guns

The problem is, Taser International has never had to conclusively prove to the public that its product is safe and non-lethal. Electronic control devices are practically unregulated in the U.S. In 1994, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms declared that the Taser gun in not a firearm and therefore not subject to federal regulations on firearms. Since the Taser is not a medical device, it’s not subject to the Federal Food and Drug Administration’s labyrinthine testing process.

But in light of growing concern over Taser-related deaths—and pressure from watchdog groups and anti-Taser activists—governments are starting to take a look at the Taser.

The death last year of a Polish immigrant after being tased by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Vancouver airport prompted the British Columbia provincial government to open an inquiry into the death. The inquiry, headed by Judge Thomas Braidwood, began in February and is scheduled to continue into 2009. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is also currently investigating Taser-related deaths. In its interim report, released in June, the DOJ offered a cautious exoneration. A final report is due next year.

“While exposure to conducted energy devices (CEDs) is not risk free, there is no conclusive medical evidence that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death from the direct effects of CEDs,” the DOJ report states. “The purported safety margins of CED deployment on normal healthy adults may not be applicable in small children, those with diseased hearts, the elderly, those who are pregnant and other at-risk individuals.”

And therein lies the rub, Taser critics charge. Little or no testing has been conducted on populations most likely to cross the path of a Taser–drug addicts and the mentally ill. Nor have researchers taken trigger-happy cops into account.

“These products are being sold by Taser to be used on people who are vulnerable to ventricular fibrillation,” says attorney Dana Scruggs. “They are used on people who are high on drugs and are being unreasonable and won’t obey commands. They’re not going to use a Taser on a guy with a gun or with someone who is being rational. So it’s not only possible but foreseeable that the Taser would be used on people high on drugs or alcohol or mentally ill. That’s the suspect they are marketing this to police for.”

Amnesty International (AI) contends that Tasers were widely deployed in the U.S. before the results of rigorous, independent and comprehensive testing of potential health risks. “While existing research has found the risk of adverse effects from Tasers in healthy adults generally low, studies have also pointed to the need for more understanding of the effects of such devices on those compromised by poor health, substance abuse or other factors,” the agency stated in a 2007 press release. The release went on to summarize a review of 290 suspects tasered by police. AI found that 92 of them were shocked between three and 21 times. One suspect was shocked continuously for 57 seconds. That sort of prolonged exposure, AI argues, has not been well studied.

Dr. Zian Tseng, a cardiologist at UCSF Medical Center, has been warning of the dangers of Taser guns for years. “There are vulnerable periods in the cardiac cycle when shock can cause dangerous arrhythmias,” Tseng says in a Jan. 5, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle article. “If you are shocking someone repeatedly, it becomes like Russian roulette. At some point you may hit a vulnerable period.” He went on to suggest that officers carrying Taser guns should also carry defibrillators in their cars.

In May of this year, Tseng told the Braidwood Commission that the research touted by Taser doesn’t take “real world” circumstances into consideration. “What’s not allowed in these theoretical calculations are worst-case scenarios,” he said. “Tolerability in healthy volunteers under optimal conditions does not mean safety.”

Tseng also told the commission that, following his comments to the press in 2005, Taser contacted him and asked him to reconsider his comments and offered him a research grant. He declined.

Lives Changed Forever

When Butler finally woke up after three days in a coma, his sister was by his bedside. Butler didn’t recognize her. He swore over and over again that she was not his sister. He didn’t remember that he had been married. He thought he was a firefighter (he’s not) and insisted that he be released from the hospital so he could get back to work. He couldn’t walk or feed himself, and he had developed incontinence, which to this day requires him to wear adult diapers to bed.

After a few days in Watsonville Community Hospital, he was transferred to Dominican Hospital’s rehabilitation center in Santa Cruz, where he learned to walk and feed himself again. He now lives with his parents, who are in their seventies and “devastated” by Butler’s condition, his brother, David, says. Butler’s long-term memory remains mostly in intact, but his short-term memory is shot. He can’t remember from one minute to the next. Despite treatment at the Cabrillo College Stroke and Acquired Disability Center five days a week, his prognosis is bleak. His doctors say he will unlikely regain any more memory.

David now serves as his caregiver seven days a week. As a full-time family caregiver, he draws a small stipend from the state. The brain damage affected Butler’s coordination, so he needs help getting in and out of bed and the shower. Plus, he has to be under constant supervision due to his lack of short-term memory. If he walked off down the street alone, he wouldn’t remember where he was a moment later.

“I’ve been with him every day since Oct. 7, 2006,” David says. “I care for him from the time he gets up to till the time he goes to bed.”

David takes Butler to his doctor’s appointments and to the stroke center, and he rations his brother’s cigarettes. Otherwise Butler would chain smoke because he can’t recall the last time he had one. Sometimes they go on outings, to the beach or a park. Once, David took his brother to Raging Waters. “We had fun, but as soon as we left the park, he forgot all about it,” David says.

And that’s what hurts the most—that the Butler family can’t share their day-to-day experiences with Steve because he can’t remember them. He’s had to relive the death of his grandparents again and again, each time he asks how they are. He can’t remember mundane facts—whether or not David is married or when the bamboo was planted in his parents’ front yard. He’ll often ask family members the same question over and over and over again.

“A couple of months ago he kept saying, ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger is our governor, huh?’ And I’d say yes,” Plumlee says. “‘But he’s not American,’ he’d say. ‘Well I guess that’s OK.’ Exactly 30 seconds later he would say the exact same thing, 20 or 30 times.”

His personality has changed, too. He’s somber and listless. He keeps his arms down and close to his body. “He’s like a zombie,” David says. “He has almost no emotions now, either. I never hear him laugh, except when we went on the water slide at Raging Waters.”

“I lost my brother,” Plumlee says. “I would have preferred they had hit him in the leg with a billy club. I would have even preferred that they had shot him in the foot. To me, the Taser is torture. It’s ruined his life, ruined his family’s life. He’ll never be the same.

“I hope out of the lawsuit they at least put a black-box warning on Tasers saying that they can kill you.” Plumlee says. “They say they’re safe and they’re not. We did fine without them before, and now too many people have died.”

The plot thickens

ONE HAS TO WONDER WHAT (OR MORE LIKELY "WHO") COMPELLED THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TO RUN THESE PARTICULAR "RETRACTIONS":

Correction: Taser Death story
Associated Press - November 5, 2008 4:55 PM ET
Corrected Version
MEXIA, Texas (AP) - In the headline for a Nov. 3 story about the death of Adren Maurice Turner, 44, of Teague, Texas, The Associated Press erroneously reported he died from a Taser after a traffic stop. As explained in the story, police used a Taser to stun Turner when he struggled with them. He was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead. The cause of death has not been determined and an autopsy is pending.


Clarification: Taser story
Associated Press - October 21, 2008
CHICAGO (AP) - In the headline of an Oct. 19 story about a fatality during an arrest, The Associated Press referred to a Chicago police review board investigation into a "taser death." As noted in the story, an initial autopsy did not find a cause of death of a man who died after being stunned with a Taser.

- 30 -

INTERESTINGLY, THE OCTOBER 19th REPORT REFERRED TO ABOVE SHOWS UP IN A GOOGLE SEARCH AS FOLLOWS:

Police Review investigates taser death
Munster Times, IN - Oct 19, 2008
CHICAGO - Officials say a man who died after being stunned with a Taser gun by Chicago police had been released from prison days earlier. ...

CLICKING ON THE HEADLINE, AS YOU MAY HAVE DISCOVERED, TAKES US HERE:
Oops! We couldn't find this page for you.

OOPS - WHY NOT?!?!

Taser International says taser reaction in Canada 'near insanity'

November 5, 2008
By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
The Calgary Sun

Knee-jerk reactions to a recent Calgary police call involving a Taser, and ultimately a man's death, are another example of baseless fearmongering about the device rampant in Canada, says a company official.

Although Steve Tuttle, Taser International communications vice-president, couldn't comment on the case here last week -- where a man died shortly after being arrested by cops who used a Taser in a bid to subdue him -- he said it appears to be another example where "hard science and fact is overlooked" in favour of conjecture and controversy.

And, he said, it is ultimately to the detriment of taxpayers who rely on police who have the tool as one way to protect the public.

"The absolute hysteria that has grabbed Canada ... borders on near insanity," Tuttle said yesterday from Scottsdale, Ariz.

"Not one coroner in Canada has ruled any death as caused by a Taser device or even contributory to date."

His comments come days after Gordon Bowe died shortly after being arrested by Calgary police during a Saturday night southeast break-in.

Police said the 30-year-old B.C. man was acting irrationally in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., before he jumped through a window into a basement of a vacant duplex and a Taser was used to try and subdue him.

A police union official said Bowe, who appeared be under the influence of drugs, was hit by a Taser but only one probe struck him.

And such a scenario would render a Taser entirely ineffective, said Tuttle, explaining both a positive and negative probe on the device must make contact with an individual for it to work.

"It's an all-or-nothing scenario," he said. "Either you get a circuit or you don't ... the bottom line is, you need two probes for a five-second application."

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the case to determine if police actions were lawful and see if the Taser strike was successful or not.

ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis said findings could take months with investigators now waiting on a medical examiner's report to determine cause of death.

And Tuttle said -- in any case where the facts are still unfolding -- it's premature and irresponsible for speculation on the Taser's role, if any, in a death.

"Of course, whenever you have a tragic death, emotions will run high, but you have to wait for the facts to come out," he said. "All that fearmongering and hysteria is jeopardizing citizens in terms of safety."

Tasered man's death 'avoidable,' Quebec coroner's report finds

November 5, 2008
INGRID PERITZ, Globe and Mail

MONTREAL — An Italian-born MBA student who died under murky circumstances while in custody in Quebec City last year failed to get prompt and potentially life-saving medical attention despite his obvious distress, according to a Quebec coroner's report.

The report said that Claudio Castagnetta, whose controversial death gained attention in Italy, didn't die as a result of the taser that was used by Quebec City police five times during his arrest. But coroner Jean Brochu questioned why police needed to use a stun gun on Mr. Castagnetta, who had been acting erratically but was otherwise not a threat.

"He was not aggressive, he was not a danger, he was not a criminal," Dr. Brochu said in an interview yesterday after tabling his report. "Maybe all he needed was a psychological evaluation."

His death prompted calls for a public inquiry, but Quebec's chief coroner yesterday nixed the idea.

A Canadian citizen active in the Italian Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Castagnetta was arrested after refusing to leave a store where he had walked in barefoot at night, appearing disoriented and confused. He resisted arrest.

Dr. Brochu said that after Mr. Castagnetta was taken into custody, police and provincial correctional officials missed a series of cues that should have tipped them that the detainee needed medical help.

His behaviour in custody included licking cell walls, vomiting, splashing his face with toilet water and banging his head so hard while in a prisoner transport van that the vehicle shook.

Yet those responsible didn't get him medical help.

"It's as if they were each watching part of a film and no one saw the entire film, which was a horror movie," Dr. Brochu said.

Mr. Castagnetta, 32, died of a massive cerebral edema - swelling of the brain - caused by a series of convulsions. The coroner said he was agitated and confused before and after his arrest due to the consumption of amphetamines.

"Several people involved in the arrest, imprisonment, oversight and transport of Claudio Castagnetta should have seen that his state required care or at least an evaluation of his mental state, rather than imprisonment," the coroner wrote.

Reached yesterday in the family's hometown of Palermo, Sicily, Mr. Castagnetta's father said he was upset by the timing of the coroner's report.

"I'm troubled that it was released ... when all the world's attention is focused on the U.S. presidential election," Mr. Castagnetta said. "I'm afraid this young man's fate will go unnoticed. It should have been released last week."

He insisted that his son failed to get proper attention.

"He should have had medical assistance from the time of his arrest because he was demonstrating signs of mental distress," his father said. "He was in the hands of the police.

"I mean, here, if a Mafioso is under arrest and falls ill, they take him to the hospital, they don't just let him die."

Mr. Castagnetta's death had sparked a minor diplomatic row between Italy and Canada. In an unusual move, the Italians summoned Canada's ambassador in Rome to demand an explanation, after complaining about the lack of adequate information surrounding the death.

Yesterday, Italy's ambassador to Canada, Gabriele Sardo, criticized the delay of 13 months between Mr. Castagnetta's death and the release of yesterday's report.

"This is something that should leave anyone flabbergasted," he said from Ottawa. The coroner concluded that Mr. Castagnetta's was an accidental, "avoidable death."

Among his recommendations, he called on Quebec City police to review procedures so that people who are tasered are evaluated in hospital, and imprisoned only if medical staff judges the person is out of danger.

Mr. Castagnetta received five electric discharges in less than one minute, the longest lasting 21 seconds. The coroner said that Mr. Castagnetta's reaction should have signalled to officers that he might have been under the influence of drugs that altered his response to pain.

With a report from Massimo Commanducci in Toronto

'How do I tell my kids they have no dad?'

November 5, 2008
Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald

Gordon Walker Bowe had packed his bags, called his loved ones and was supposed to be leaving Calgary on a bus Saturday night bound for his home in Castelgar, B.C.

It was the last time they would ever hear his voice.

Today, Bowe's family is in Calgary trying to figure out what happened in the hours between that phone call and his unexplained death after he was arrested by police, who used a Taser.

They want to know what role the officers played in his death, regardless of whether the stun gun was to blame.

"It doesn't make any sense," said Zoya Chernenkoff, 23, who lived with Bowe for three years, raising two children together. "How do I tell my kids they have no dad?"

On Saturday, police were called to investigate a break and enter in southeast Calgary. They found a suspect, later identified as Bowe, in an unoccupied basement on 42nd Street S.E.

A Taser was deployed once, though it is not clear if it delivered a charge.

Bowe was arrested after a struggle with officers. When police noticed he was in medical distress, he was rushed to hospital. He died Sunday afternoon.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the incident.

Although the case has garnered attention because of the controversy over Tasers, Chernenkoff and her father, John Chernenkoff, don't think that is what lead to his demise.

From what they've heard from doctors and the serious incident investigators, what they know of Bowe and what they've seen in hospital, they believe an inappropriate use of force by police is to blame.

The Chernenkoffs noticed significant bruising on Bowe's face, neck, legs, feet and inside his hands.

"Investigators said when police got on scene, Gordon was co-operative and submissive," said John.

He alleges the police did something to change that.

"Gordon has no defensive wounds, no bruising on his hands. If he was in a scuffle with police, there would have been some bruising," he claimed.

The Chernenkoffs allege it was police action that caused his death.

Bowe had no medical conditions that may have played a role, Zoya said.

Doctors told them there was no sign of contact with a Taser, she noted. They were also told there were trace amounts of marijuana and another, unspecified drug in his system.

The Calgary Police Service said it is unable to comment on these allegations because the matter is under investigation by an independent organization.

Calgary Police Association president John Dooks said the officers issued verbal warnings to the man, tried and failed with the Taser and then had to confront him in the vacant basement.

"There is no question, the police were forced to engage in a violent, physical struggle with this individual who, as I as a lay person describe, (was) in a state of delirium," said Dooks.

"It's unfortunate there was a struggle (but) there was an attempt for a lesser use of force was used. However, that failed and officers did have to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a person who was actively, forcefully resisting," he said.

Dooks said there would be injuries and bruising and he was told by the officers involved that Bowe was actively resisting arrest. Police said it seemed he was trying to escape, he said.

Clifton Purvis, director of the Serious Incident Response Team, said the autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday. The results, including toxicology tests, will take weeks, he added.

"It would be inappropriate to comment on the actions of police officers at this time," said Purvis. "That's what our goal is, to examine the actions of the police officers and determine what their conduct was, whether it was appropriate or inappropriate."

He said the team is made up of civilian investigators and seconded police officers who report to him, not their police chiefs.

"I can tell you it will be independent because I'm heading the investigation, reviewing the investigation, and I'm the one deciding whether charges should be laid against police officers or not," said Purvis. "I'm not a police officer. I'm a lawyer with the prosecution service and I'm not beholden to anybody," he said.

Zoya and her father say Bowe may have occasionally used drugs and had trouble with the law in the past.

Zoya did not want to elaborate on the legal troubles, but John said investigators told him about Bowe's behaviour during past arrests.

"Investigators said they looked at his previous records and this is not common for him. Whenever he was confronted before, he was always co-operative and it wasn't a problem," he said.

The pair hope for an unbiased investigation and that charges will be laid if appropriate. They are looking for a lawyer for possible legal action.

Law prof calls for moratorium on stun gun use

November 5, 2008
By RICHARD LIEBRECHT, SUN MEDIA

A city law professor is calling for a moratorium on stun-gun use following a series of deadly incidents. That's despite assurances from doctors at a mental health conference that there is no certain link.

"It is no longer enough to say, 'Oh, we're not sure (stun guns) are safe, but we'll still use them," said Sanjeev Anand of the University of Alberta.

A conference of mental-health professionals held earlier this week in Edmonton probed the danger for mentally-ill suspects subject to being zapped. Dr. Dorothy Cotton said: "... It'd be safe to say in situations involving Tasers and excited delirium, it's just not known. We're just not there yet."

Excited delirium, wherein brain mechanisms cause the heart to race and then eventually stop, has been picked as a possible alternative explanation for Taser-related deaths. "What the public hears about are the bad news stories," she added. "I don't want to play down the level of tragedy here ... (but) police are well-trained."

Anand said he recognized that police are well trained, and left with few other non-lethal tools to handle violent suspects. However, he said the answer is to increase the number of police officers so there is always backup available.

He called for a moratorium until more independent studies disprove a link between the Taser and deaths of vulnerable victims.

Last summer, the RCMP's complaints commissioner said Mounties should automatically call for medical assistance after using a stun gun. An Edmonton police spokesman said local police already do that after every use.

Trevor Grimolfson, the 38-year-old owner of Big Daddy's tattoo shop, died last Wednesday after police jolted him in an attempt to end a violent rampage near 153 Street and Stony Plain Road.

Deaths may have been 'delirium,' not taser

It was only a matter of time, dear readers - I've been wondering when the good Dr. Dowling, proponent of "excited delirium", would weigh in. Keep in mind that "excited delirium" is recognized by NEITHER the Canadian Medical Association NOR the American Medical Association.

The manufacturer of the taser, TASER INTERNATIONAL, favours Dr. Dowling's opinions SO MUCH they even quote him on their website: Medical Examiner Says TASER Devices Not a Death Sentence

November 4, 2008
Ryan Cormier, The Edmonton Journal

The death of a patient in a bizarre rage, possibly a victim of what experts call "excited delirium," has nothing to do with police restraint or Tasers, said Alberta's Chief Medical Examiner.

Dr. Graeme Dowling told the Canadian National Committee for Police that patients in such frenzies could die without being touched or even when alone in an apartment.

"To the best of our knowledge right now, it has nothing to do with the method of restraint. They may die in spite of what we do," he said.

Although not an official diagnosis, excited delirium has been studied by experts. It is characterized by blind rages, paranoia, profuse sweating, disrobing and greatly increased strength.

"They also have a real propensity to break glass," Dowling said. "They don't like mirrors. I don't know if it's that they don't like to see themselves in a paranoid state."

Dowling said it wouldn't be uncommon to need six to eight police officers to restrain someone in that state.

Excited delirium is usually induced by stimulants such as cocaine or methamphetamine. In fatal cases, the patient died within seconds or minutes of being restrained.

That could be because extreme levels of adrenaline and potassium in the body drop at different levels, stop counteracting each other and cause death.

With excited delirium, little has been proven because of the danger of testing a subject in the midst of the state.

The condition is often discussed parallel to police use-of-force because officers are often the first to deal with such aggressive people. However, there is no proof that anything an officer does causes such deaths, Dowling said.

"These cases were first documented in 1849. There weren't Tasers in 1849. There was no pepper-spray in 1849. Yet, these patients died."

There are fewer than 20 cases each year in Canada that can be connected to the condition, Dowling said.

Last week, witnesses reported that Trevor Grimolfson, 38, was combative, violent and couldn't be reasoned with as he broke windows in two stores and began assaulting people on Stony Plain Road. Police deployed a Taser, subdued Grimolfson and cuffed him. He then lost consciousness and was declared dead in hospital.

On Saturday night, Calgary officers encountered Gordon Walker Bowe in the basement of a vacant home while investigating a break and enter. Bowe, 30, reportedly struggled with officers before he was subdued. He was struck by a Taser, but investigators don't yet know if the electrical shock was actually delivered.

Bowe quickly went into "medical distress" after he was subdued. He reached hospital in critical condition and died a day later.

Bowe reportedly shattered a basement window to gain access to the empty home.

Autopsy results for Grimolfson have not been released. Bowe's autopsy is scheduled for today.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which is independent of any police force, is investigating both deaths.

On Dec. 24, 2005, Alessandro Fiacco attracted police while thrashing and screaming on a McKernan neighbourhood street, saying bugs were crawling on his skin. Fiacco was struck three times with a Taser and died on the way to hospital. A fatality inquiry listed Fiacco's cause of death as "acute cocaine toxicity," and said there was "a complete lack of evidence" the Taser contributed to his death.

Edmonton police Const. Ray Wood, of the Police and Crisis Team, said people who may be in excited delirium should be approached with care. "Their strength is just unbelievable," he said. "The power is tremendous, almost animal-like."

Shawn Miller, a registered psychiatric nurse who works with police, said a patient in delirium is almost never able to communicate properly. "Unfortunately, it's going to come down to restraint or use of force," he said. "Diagnosing is not going to be done by two officers on a street corner being yelled at by a guy with a piece of glass."

Taser played no role in man's death: Quebec coroner

Claudio Castagnetta will remain on my list - this changes nothing.

See also Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions, which says: "Taser officials have repeatedly said that MEDICAL EXAMINERS WHO RULE AGAINST THE STUN GUN ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE WHETHER A TASER WAS A FACTOR IN SOMEONE'S DEATH (emphasis mine). In court disputes, it often presents opposing testimony from company representatives, doctors and medical examiners paid by the firm. "The qualifications of a medical examiner depend on their professional and educational background as well as their level of understanding of Taser technology and the underlying effects of electricity upon the human body," [Steve] Tuttle said.

Which leads me to ask: What boundless credentials, then, does Coroner Jean Brochu possess that QUALIFY HIM to judge that the Taser was NOT a factor in Mr. Castagnetta's death?

November 4, 2008
Canwest News Service

QUEBEC - A Quebec coroner released his report Tuesday into the death of an Italian immigrant who was in police custody after he was shocked with a Taser in 2007. Coroner Jean Brochu said in his report that the use of the Taser did not cause Castagnetta's death. Brochu said the cause of death was an accidental severe cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain.

Claudio Castagnetta, 32, died Sept. 20, 2007, while in custody of Quebec City police. He was shocked four times with a police Taser and jailed without receiving medical care.

In August, a Quebec Crown prosecutor ruled no criminal charges would be laid in the case.

Friends and relatives of Castagnetta have called for a public inquiry into his sudden death and Italian authorities have criticized the Quebec government for failing to provide an explanations about the circumstances of his death.

The coroner is the last to look into the death and the province's coroner in chief has the power to call for a public inquiry.

The report comes days after separate incidents in which two men died after having being shocked with a Taser gun by Canadian police. A British Columbia man, Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, died Sunday afternoon in a Calgary hospital, less than a day after a confrontation with police. And last Wednesday, Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died in Edmonton after he was stunned twice with a Taser following a disturbance at a pawn shop.

Braidwood inquiry into Taser death will go ahead whether RCMP ready or not

November 4, 2008
David Hogben, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - The retired judge investigating the use of Tasers in B.C. said Tuesday he will brook no further delays and is preparing to subpoena RCMP officers to force them to testify.

The second part of Thomas Braidwood's inquiry - into the events surrounding the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport - has twice been delayed because RCMP officers won't testify before they know whether they face any charges in the incident.

A Crown decision on charges has not been made because the RCMP has not provided information requested by prosecutors.

Braidwood said he won't wait any longer.

"Although we are still hoping that the Crown's decision will be made soon, the commission's lawyers are in the process of preparing subpoenas for the officers involved and for other potential witnesses linked to the RCMP's investigation of Mr. Dziekanski's death," Braidwood said in a statement.

The inquiry is scheduled to resume Jan. 19.

Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer representing Dziekanski's family, said he was pleased by Braidwood's announcement but expected more attempts to delay the inquiry. "It would not surprise me that there would be some challenges to the subpoenas," Kosteckyj said in an interview.

Braidwood's statement said: "The commission's mandate is to provide Mr. Dziekanski's family and the public with a complete record of the circumstances of his death. We need to get on with that task." He said the inquiry has also been delayed because of "the reluctance or inability of some law enforcement agencies to provide the commission's researchers with the required materials or data in a timely manner."

Kosteckyj said the public's perceptions of the RCMP and the justice system have suffered because of the delays. "The fact that it has gotten to this is certainly not positive for the way people perceive the justice system," he said.

Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said he respects the position of the RCMP's lawyers, but that it is important the commission moves forward. "It's certainly necessary when it comes to the airport, the RCMP and Tasers: people are concerned. I really believe people are very concerned," Vertlieb said.

Crown prosecutors said last week they were still waiting for the RCMP to forward material before they can decide whether criminal charges should be laid against any or all of the RCMP officers present when Dziekanski was Tasered. He died shortly after.

The RCMP did not respond to requests for an interview Tuesday.

In another Taser-related death, the family of a man who died after Calgary police used a Taser on him last weekend say police shouldn't be using the controversial weapon. Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, of Castlegar, was the second person to die after being Tasered by police in Alberta in less than a week.

Death stirs debate on taser's pros and cons - Ontario mom up in arms against use of stun gun

November 4, 2008
Valerie Fortney, Calgary Herald

Four years ago, Patti Gillman didn't even know what a Taser was. But all that changed when her only sibling, Robert Bagnell, died after being Tasered twice by Vancouver police on June 23, 2004.

"He was 136 pounds, and 13 police officers apparently couldn't restrain him," says Bagnell of her brother, who police initially told her had died of acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis. A neighbour in Bagnell's apartment called 911 for an ambulance after he collapsed in a communal bathroom.

"We didn't even find out police had used a Taser on him until we saw Vancouver police announce it on the TV news a month later."

That tragedy has transformed the Ontario mother of two into a civilian crusader against the pistol-like device capable of discharging 50,000 volts of electricity.

In the wake of a 2007 inquiry that made no recommendations after hearing 10 days of testimony about her brother's death, Gillman started up her website, truthnottasers.blogspot.com, which lists the names of the 20 Canadians and more than 200 Americans who have died after being Tasered; it also includes news articles on Tasers from across North America and advocates for the likes of the mother of Robert Dziekanski, whose death after being Tasered at Vancouver International Airport by RCMP officers was videotaped by a bystander and broadcast around the world.

"Zofia just found out it will be delayed again," says Gillman of the inquest into Dziekanski's death. "It is just devastating for her, to have to wait so long."

This past April, Gillman appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security to give her views on the device described by Alberta Solicitor General Fred Lindsay as "an alternate tool to lethal force."

So it's no surprise Gillman was well acquainted early Monday with the case of 30-year-old Gordon Bowe, who died after being Tasered on the weekend by Calgary Police. At press time, the investigation into the incident had yet to confirm if the Taser made contact with Bowe.

"I've been worrying all weekend he might not make it," says Gillman. "I can't believe you have two dead Albertans in less than one week."

Gillman, who has also been in touch with the family of Edmontonian Trevor Grimolfson, who died Oct. 29 after being Tasered, confesses to being a first-time agitator.

"I've never done anything like this before," she says of her new role as an outspoken opponent of Taser use by police.

"But when Bob died, I knew I had to do something about it."

While the battle rages on over the use of Tasers, Gillman says a big part of her mission is to remind people of the very human stories behind the headlines.

"We're not talking about hardened criminals in most of these cases," she says, not mincing words when it comes to her view of the end result for some. "But they're being summarily executed, without benefit of judge or jury."

Her own brother, she admits, had his problems, including some minor brushes with the law.

"But he was a nice guy, artistic, funny and wouldn't hurt a fly," she says. "Every time police use Tasers, it's Russian Roulette. It's sad for the victims and it's sad for the police, too."

Her mom, Riki, talks about the son she remembers as a good-humoured wanderer who was "living his dream" in Vancouver.

"These are not bad people, these are people in crisis," she says. "And the end result is horrifying."

Every time there is news about someone dying after being Tasered, says Gillman, there is a family left broken hearted and wondering why.

Every time they hear about another incident, Gillman says she and her family relive their own nightmare.

"I couldn't even watch the video of Robert Dziekanski, it was like witnessing my brother's death."

Still, there are many who disagree with Gillman, from government officials to judges to police associations, most of whom argue that not only has it not been proven Tasers cause death, but they protect police in volatile situations. Taser International, the U.S. company that makes the device, says they have never been directly blamed for a death.

Such opposition and expert opinion, though, is unlikely to deter people like Gillman, who see themselves as voices for those who have been silenced forever.

"I was living a very normal life before all this happened," she says at the end of our conversation. "Then the Taser entered it -- and nothing will ever be the same."

EDITORIAL: Time to stun taser use

November 4, 2008
Calgary Herald

An immediate moratorium on the use of Taser stun guns would be an appropriate response to the latest death -- this time in Calgary. The incident also highlights the need for national standards to be developed, based on independent research -- not that funded by Taser International, the company that makes the weapons.

Calgary police used a Taser on an agitated man during his arrest in an apparent break and enter on the weekend. He died Monday in hospital.

Many questions remain, including whether or not the Taser deployed even worked. Still, in the face of increasing fatalities, any insistence from police and authorities that no evidence exists proving the weapons are a danger, loses credibility.

People are dead who might otherwise be alive had their condition been recognized as one requiring medical attention, not an electric shock. The condition is commonly referred to by police and other experts as "excited delirium." There's no consensus among experts on what effect a jolt of up to 50,000 volts has on suspects in this agitated state.

Tasers may not be directly linked to deaths, but they are certainly indirectly associated with at least 22 fatalities in Canada, alone. In North America, that number jumps to 300.

The most controversial death was caught on video last year, when 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski died at the Vancouver International Airport after being Tasered twice by RCMP.

The latest two fatalities occurred within a week of each other, both in Alberta. Last week, Edmonton police used a stun gun to subdue a man on a rampage in a pawn shop. He died a day later.

The use of Tasers by North American police forces is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that still has many unknowns in practice, if not in theory. Victoria was the first Canadian jurisdiction to adopt the weapons in 1999, but their use has exploded in the past four years, with some 2,000 to 3,000 weapons now available to officers in Canada.

Tasers are supposed to be an effective, last-resort alternative to lethal force. They are supposed to save lives, not end them. Yet, a media review of 563 Taser incidents reported by the RCMP between 2002 and 2005 revealed a disturbing pattern of use by the Mounties. The high-powered weapons were used as a quick means to subdue low-risk suspects or prisoners.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal believes more independent study of potential health risks is needed. A recent editorial noted most of the research is funded by the weapon's maker, Taser International.

Tasers may well be a better alternative to firearms, but they are only as good as the training and protocols governing how police officers use them.

The answer lies in part with the politicians, who should be pushing for a coherent national policy, instead of blindly defending their use until evidence proves otherwise.

An unbiased, national review of police-confrontation deaths before and after Tasers were introduced needs to be conducted. And until it's proven beyond doubt that Tasers had nothing to do with the 22 deaths, the use of such force should be suspended.

Letter to the Editor: Trial and error

November 4, 2008
Calgary Herald

Could someone direct me to a scientifically controlled article that establishes the safety of Tasers? Frankly I would like some scientific evidence based on a controlled study. It simply is not good enough to Taser a number of slightly nervous volunteers and say "see, no one died." I would suggest Tasering 1,000 or more people who are out of their minds on crack cocaine, speed or ecstasy, or are in a blinding rage, and see how that group does. What? You say that has been done over the past few years, and more than 20 people have died in Canada? Whoops!

Al Wilke, MD
Okotoks

No need to revisit stun-gun protocol: province

November 4, 2008
Renata D'Aliesio, Calgary Herald; with files from Canwest News Service

Alberta's top police officer says he is confident the province has some of the strictest guidelines in Canada guarding how and when Tasers are used on the public.

Solicitor General Fred Lindsay said Monday he doesn't see any need to revisit provincial Taser guidelines, introduced last December, unless independent investigations into two deaths in less than a week determine otherwise.

On Sunday, 30-year-old Gordon Walker Bowe died in a hospital after an altercation with Calgary police the day before. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating, and it is still unclear whether the police stun gun actually struck Bowe.

His death comes four days after a man died in Edmonton after being stunned by police in that city. An investigation is underway to determine whether the Taser contributed to Trevor Grimolfson's death.

Lindsay called the two deaths "disturbing." "It's unfortunate that two people have died when they were being apprehended by police," he said at the legislature Monday. "We'll see what evidence comes forward in the investigation and go forward from there."

However, Liberal justice critic Kent Hehr is urging the province to act now instead of waiting. He thinks the Alberta government should undertake a comprehensive Taser review in light of these deaths. Hehr contends guidelines adopted by municipal police forces in Alberta aren't as stringent as those recommended in a report from the RCMP's watchdog.

In June, RCMP public complaints commission chairman Paul Kennedy said Mounties should limit their use of Tasers to "combative" suspects and take the weapons out of the hands of inexperienced officers.

"This is becoming a public safety concern," said Hehr, a Calgary MLA. "I realize they're an effective way for police to do policing, but we have to make sure the public is safe. I'd like to see us do our due diligence on this and it doesn't appear that we have so far."

In question period, Hehr pressed Lindsay to commit to holding a public inquiry on police Taser use, but the solicitor general didn't specifically answer the plea.

Lindsay noted a fatality inquiry will likely follow the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team investigations.

"I'm comfortable with the guidelines we have and very comfortable that the policemen we have on our street, day in and day out, do a great job and use it appropriately," Lindsay told reporters.

Meanwhile, Alberta's chief medical examiner said Monday the death of a patient in a bizarre rage, possibly a victim of what experts call "excited delirium," has nothing to do with police restraint or Tasers. Dr. Graeme Dowling told the Canadian National Committee for Police that patients in such frenzies could die without being touched or even when alone in an apartment. "To the best of our knowledge right now, it has nothing to do with the method of restraint.

Castlegar family lashes out at police after taser death

November 4, 2008
Stephane Massinon, Canwest News Service

CALGARY - The family of a man who died after Calgary police used a Taser on him over the weekend say police shouldn't be using the controversial weapon. Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, of Castlegar, was the second person to die after being Tasered by police in Alberta in less than a week.

Despite that, the province's top police officer said he's confident Alberta has some of the strictest guidelines in Canada guarding how and when electric stun guns are used on the public.

Bowe died Sunday in hospital, less than a day after a confrontation with police.

Don Miscavitch, who identified himself as Bowe's stepfather, said the number of people who have died after being stunned with a Taser should be enough to end their use by police; however, the police union said the death was unrelated to the device.

"With their records on Tasers, cops would be better off using a 9-mm. At least if they're bad shots, they wound the person, not kill them," said Miscavitch from his home in Castlegar.

Bowe died after an incident Saturday night when police were called to investigate a suspicious person and a break-in. When police arrived, they found a man in an unoccupied basement and tried to arrest him. A struggle ensued and the Taser was deployed once, said Clifton Purvis, director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team. After the arrest, police said he was in medical distress and was taken to hospital, where he died Sunday. An investigation into the incident is underway.

The Calgary death comes four days after Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died in Edmonton after police twice used a Taser to try to subdue him after a fight near a city pawnshop. That death is also being investigated.

Miscavitch said he didn't expect much from the investigation into Bowe's death, saying previous police investigations have not curbed the use of the high-voltage device.

Bowe, who leaves behind common-law wife Zoya Chernenkoff, young son Dawson Bowe and a stepdaughter, had come to Calgary for work as a roofer, said Miscavitch.

John Dooks, president of the Calgary Police Association, said he has spoken with the officers involved and was told the death was unrelated to the Taser. The device never jolted the man because only one prong made contact, he said. "It's the offender's actions, and his own choice of substance abuse or criminal activity, that resulted in what happened here," said Dooks.

He said an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

Alberta Solicitor General Fred Lindsay said Monday he doesn't see any need to revisit provincial Taser guidelines, introduced last December, unless independent investigations into the two recent deaths determine otherwise.

Lindsay called the two deaths "disturbing." "It's unfortunate that two people have died when they were being apprehended by police," he said Monday. "We'll see what evidence comes forward in the investigation and go forward from there."

However, Liberal justice critic Kent Hehr said the Alberta government should undertake a comprehensive Taser review. Hehr contends guidelines adopted by municipal police forces in Alberta aren't as stringent as those recommended in a report from the RCMP's watchdog.

In June, RCMP public complaints commission chairman Paul Kennedy said Mounties should limit their use of Tasers to "combative" suspects and take the weapons out of the hands of inexperienced officers.

"This is becoming a public safety concern," said Hehr, a Calgary MLA. "I realize they're an effective way for police to do policing, but we have to make sure the public is safe. I'd like to see us do our due diligence on this and it doesn't appear that we have so far."

To the director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team

Director Purvis, I suggest that, given the fact of TWO taser-related deaths over the past few days in the province of Alberta, you owe it to the victims and their families, and Canadians everywhere, to IMMEDIATELY engage public overseers from the community to ensure independence in the investigative process. Section 46.1 of the Alberta Police Act states that you may "APPOINT ONE OR MORE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AS OVERSEERS TO OBSERVE, MONITOR OR REVIEW AN INVESTIGATION TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROCESS OF THE INVESTIGATION."

JUSTICE MUST BE SEEN TO BE DONE, TO BE DONE.

From the website of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT):

The department created the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (“ASIRT”) to ensure excellence and independence in the investigation of matters referred by the Director of Law Enforcement.

ASIRT has jurisdiction over all sworn police officers in the Province of Alberta. Their mandate is to investigate incidents or complaints involving serious injury or death of any person, and matters of a serious or sensitive nature, that may have resulted from the actions of a police officer. They are governed by Section 46.1 of the Police Act, and currently have two offices located in Edmonton and Calgary.

ASIRT is lead [sic] by a civilian director, Clifton G Purvis, who is a lawyer and Crown Prosecutor. Reporting to him are:

A civilian assistant director
Two civilian criminal analysts
Four civilian investigators
Ten sworn police officers (from the Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, and the RCMP)

The director may also engage public overseers from the community to ensure independence in the investigative process.

Once an investigation has been completed, the ASIRT director reviews the results of investigations to ensure completeness and fairness. A report is than forwarded to the office of the Crown Prosecutor requesting an opinion on charges. After the director receives the opinion, he will decide what charges if any will result from the investigation.

Toronto police taser reporting

November 3, 2008
Toronto Police Accountability Coalition
Bulletin No. 43

In September the Toronto Police Services Board rethought how it might ensure it got full information on the use of tasers by Toronto police. TPAC threw in its ideas based on the fact that almost all those on the receiving end of the taser in Toronto are those in mental or emotional crisis. TPAC asked that police report on whether the person showed signs of distress, and whether and when the mobile crisis intervention unit was called. (TPAC believes the intervention of the MCIU is much preferable to taser use.)The Board was inconclusive about what changes would be made - everything seemed to be referred back to the chief for further comment.

But what is clear is that no report reporting form will capture the full range of how the taser is used. One case that happened two years ago recently came to light in the courts, when a judge dismissed charges of cocaine trafficking because the suspect was tasered while lying naked on the floor, his hands handcuffed behind him. Another case came to light when a civil action was started - police had tasered an autistic man lying in bed who was not obeying police orders to get up and put his hands in the air. Neither of the details of these incidents was included in previous reports. Perhaps we need to include in the standard reporting format some pretty simple questions, such as: was the person clothed or naked? In handcuffs? In bed?

The state of taser use in Canada remains shamefully muddled. It is more than a year since the death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver airport after being tasered, but the public inquiry is still to begin. Meanwhile, the RCMP has released a report on taser use, basically asking that RCMP officers be more careful. That depressing report can be found at http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps/cew/kiedrowski_report_e.htm

Man involved in Calgary Taser incident dies

November 3, 2008
Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald

The man who was involved in a weekend Taser incident has died, the Calgary Herald has learned. He is being identified as Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, of Castlegar, British Columbia.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team will conduct the investigation and is now awaiting results of an autopsy.

Director Clifton Purvis said the investigation to date has still not determined if the Taser made contact with the man.

On Nov. 1, Police were called to a suspicious person complaint in the 500-block of 42 St. S.E., Purvis said, which changed to a break-and-enter in progress.

One man was found in a vacant basement. "During the attempted arrest, police deployed a conducted-energy device, or Taser, on one occasion. That deployment, it's not known at this time if it was successful or not," he said Monday morning.

"The police ultimately engaged the individual in the basement of the vacant residence and, after a struggle, arrested the person. The individual, after being handcuffed, was observed to be in medical distress (and) he was transported by Emergency Medical Services personnel to an area hospital."

7th Annual "Psychiatrists in Blue" Conference

November 3, 2008
By ALYSSA NOEL, SUN MEDIA

To zap or not to zap?

It's one of the questions being posed as police and mental health experts from across the country meet over the next two days at a mental-health conference in Edmonton.

The issue of when to use stun guns resurfaced following the recent death of a 38-year-old city man who was zapped twice by police.

While an independent body is still investigating that case, in other similar circumstances a rare physical and mental state called excited delirium, which causes the sufferer to be agitated and possess super human strength, has been to blame for deaths.

'BAD NEWS'

"What the public hears about are the bad news stories," said Dr. Dorothy Cotton, an Ontario psychologist and one of the organizers of the conference.

"I don't want to play down the level of tragedy here ... (but) police are very well trained ... I think it'd be safe to say in situations involving Tasers and excited delirium, it's just not known. We're just not there yet."

Trevor Grimolfson, the 38-year-old owner of Big Daddy's tattoo shop, died last Wednesday after police jolted him in an attempt to end a violent rampage near 153 Street and Stony Plain Road.

Meanwhile, Cotton said police are well-trained and well-informed when it comes to dealing with those who have mental-health issues. Judging by statistics, officers have gained a lot of experience over the years, she said.

Cotton says around 6% to 10% of the calls police receive involve people with mental-health problems.

"Probably the most important thing is for a police officer to recognize a person may be mentally ill and therefore may not be able to respond the way they would expect someone to. Normally, if you don't do something a police officer asks, they don't look on that favourably," she said.

TRAINED TO RECOGNIZE

But for the past decade, police have been trained on how to recognize and deal with such issues, she said.

The annual conference, held in different cities each year, is a way to gather and forward that effort, she added.

"The most exciting thing about this is it's one of the good news stories about policing," she said.

The conference runs through tomorrow at the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel.

This conference is hosted by the Canadian National Committee for Police/Mental Health Liaison, a subcommittee of The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (whose annual conference is sponsored BIG-TIME by Taser International). On the CACP website, the conference is referred to as the "7th Annual Conference on Police/Mental Health Systems Liaison." The conference Agenda refers to the conference as the "7th Annual Psychiatrists in Blue Conference."

Dr. Graeme Dowling from the medical examiner's office in Edmonton, who has argued there's "no definitive case where Tasers have actually killed anybody," will facilitate the session on "Excited Delirium."

Texas man dies after bout with taser

November 3, 2008
KXXV-TV

MEXIA - A traffic stop turned deadly in Mexia Monday morning after a suspect was shot with an officer's Taser. Mexia officers pulled over 44-year-old Adren Maurice Turner after receiving several calls about a suspicious man in the area of a business on Milam Street. As officers attempted to take Turner into custody, a scuffle ensued that resulted in one of the officers's deploying his Taser. Mexia EMS responded to the scene and transported Turner to Parkview Regional Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Limestone County Justice of the Peace Ray Jones ordered an autopsy to be preformed and the suspect's body will be taken to Dallas County Medical Examiners Office. There were no injuries to the three Mexia Police Department Officers, who were involved in this incident. At the time this story was posted, all three officers were still on active duty.

There were no signs of resistance by this suspect when stopped earlier in the evening by a Mexia Police officer. This case is currently under investigation by the Limestone County Sheriff's Office, Limestone County District Attorney's Office, as well as Company F Texas Rangers out of Waco, Texas.

Letter to the Editor: Chief has taser bias

November 3, 2008
Owen Sound Sun Times

Editor:

I read the letter by our police chief, T. J. Kaye, who is also vice-president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) with interest and alarm. I have the greatest respect for Chief Kaye and the CACP, but blatant errors such as his cannot be left hanging in the public sphere.

Firstly, having an organization such as the CACP review research on the use of Conducted Energy Devices (CED), commonly known as Tasers, is akin to having Big Oil review research about the harmful effects of the Alberta Tar sands on the local environment, or Big Tobacco review research on the medical consequences of smoking.

Any such review must be conducted by scientists who have no preconceived opinion about the subject matter at hand.

This "review" cannot help but be biased by the fervently held beliefs of those conducting the review. I don't know if this is "fact" or not, but independent review is a cornerstone of sound scientific research.

Secondly, it is hypothesized that CEDs kill by inducing fatal disturbances in heart rhythm, so called fatal arrhythmias.

This could be a primary effect on the electrical conduction system of the heart, and could be exacerbated by chemical disturbances caused by impaired ventilation (breathing) in subjects who are repeatedly exposed to CED.

Death by fatal arrhythmia leaves no tell-tale signature that allows a pathologist to determine that death was caused by an arrhythmia.

Therefore, while it may not be possible to determine that death was caused by a CED exposure, it is also impossible to determine that it was not caused by CED exposure.

Therefore, "the results of the 10 of the 25 ongoing inquests into fatalities where a CED was deployed have all shown that the cause of death was not the result of the use of the CED" is incorrect, since that conclusion is impossible to reach.

Therefore, the "facts" as Chief Kaye presents them are in fact, not "facts", but simply the inevitable bias placed on the research by a reviewer who is far from impartial.

Colin McIver
Owen Sound (Ontario)

Taser report in Amherst police chief’s hands

November 3, 2008
DARRELL COLE, Amherst Daily News

AMHERST – A review of police activities during the Tasering of an Amherst man in diabetic shock, is in the hands of Amherst’s police chief. "The investigation is complete and I received the report on Monday. I’ve read through it once briefly, but I'd really like to study it to ensure that any of the comments and recommendations contained in it are valid,” chief Charles Rushton said Friday.

Rushton said it will likely be several weeks before he’s in a position to comment on its findings and recommendations, adding that one of the things he wants to do is compare the review’s findings with that of other incidents involving energy weapons. "It’s probably going to take another two to three weeks,” he said.

The chief has the option of sending the report back to the investigators for further information if there’s anything he’s not clear on. It’s also likely he will discuss the report with the town’s board of police.

The chief would not comment on the findings, but said he’d be willing to discuss it once he has completed a thorough review of the report and its recommendations.

An unidentified Amherst woman complained last month after her 34-year-old husband was shocked by a police officer. Fearing for her husband’s safety after he went into diabetic shock, she called paramedics who in turn called police when the man became combative.

At the time of the incident, Naylor said, officers warned the man before he was touch-tased. Officers, he added, only used it as a last resort when the man kept breaking free. He said the officers were afraid he could become a danger to himself, the paramedics and the officers.

Team called in to probe Taser use

November 3, 2008
Gwendolyn Richards, Calgary Herald

A provincial team of investigators is now examining a city Taser incident that left a break-in suspect in critical condition, as the head of Alberta's civil liberties organization calls for police to stop using the weapons.

Members of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team were out Sunday morning at a duplex in the 500 block of 42nd Street S.E. as part of their investigation into the incident that unfolded Saturday night.

Around 8:15 that evening, a neighbour, who did not want her name published, said she noticed a stranger across the street. He ran toward the duplex, stopped and leaned on her husband's car to catch his breath.

He was incoherent when he tried to say something to her husband, who was outside their home, she said, adding she believed the stranger was high on drugs.

Her husband came inside, locked the door and called police, while the suspect went into the yard and tried to break into the family's shed.

"He was stuck in our backyard. He was trying to hide between our shed and fence," the woman said. "He wasn't interested in stealing, he was more interested in hiding away." As her husband was on the phone with police, she heard the sound of glass shattering. "He went busting through the basement window (of the other half of the duplex)," she said.

Officers found the man in the basement of the vacant home. He was reportedly agitated and not following commands, so a Taser was used. He was arrested, but then went into medical distress, said duty inspector Vic Trickett.

The man was last reported in critical condition after he was taken to hospital.

The witness said the suspect appeared to have been badly cut by the glass.

Neighbours said the family living there previously had sold the home and were preparing it for the new owners. No one was occupying the south half of the duplex at the time of the incident.

Robin Crane, who lives next door to the duplex, said she heard the sound of something dragging Saturday night, but didn't investigate.

She said the previous owners moved out at the end of August.

The Serious Incident Response Team is also investigating a Taser fatality in Edmonton last week. The team, which was launched by the province on Jan. 1, investigates incidents when the actions of officers may have seriously injured or killed a person.

On Wednesday, a 38-year-old Edmonton man died after police used a Taser on him to stop his rampage.

A Taser was fired twice, but Trevor Grimolfson continued to resist arrest before he was handcuffed and then lost consciousness, officials said. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

Calgary police officers have used Tasers since September 2005.

A report released this summer examining use-of-force showed batons cause the greatest injury, while Tasers "scored high" in safety for both officers and suspects.

The Canadian Police Research Centre report -- which examined 562 cases where Calgary police used pepper spray, batons, Tasers or other techniques against those resisting arrest -- found Tasers were used in nearly half of all resisting-arrest cases. However, only one per cent of suspects were hospitalized.

Some 87 per cent of suspects sustained minor injuries or were not injured at all.

Duty inspector Keith Cain said Taser usage is not unusual and there is a policy governing their use.

"If we have an assaultive person --they're either violent towards somebody or something, verbally indicate they're violent or do physically assault (someone) -- that's when this level of force is authorized."

The president of the Alberta Civil Liberties Association said officers should not be equipped with Tasers. "They're used as a shortcut," Stephen Jenuth said. "Too often, a Taser -- a weapon associated with serious injury or death -- is used in cases where someone is not obeying commands and co-operating."

Next month, a fatality inquiry will examine the events around the death of a Red Deer man who was shocked with a Taser in August 2006. Jason Doan, 28, died three weeks later of heart failure. The Doan family's lawyer will make submissions on how similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

Suspect hospitalized after taser hit

November 2, 2008
By DAVE DORMER, The Calgary Sun

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating after a break-in suspect was rushed to hospital in "very serious condition" after police jolted him with a Taser.

Insp. Vic Trickett said police were responding to a report of a break and enter in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E. about 8:15 p.m. yesterday when they found a man in the basement of a home.

"The officers investigating heard what appeared to be a window smashing in the adjoining half-duplex," he said. "They investigated further and located a suspect in the basement. The individual appeared very agitated and wasn't following commands, a Taser was deployed, but appeared to be unsuccessful."

Trickett said officers were then able to arrest the suspect -- believed to be in his 30s -- but he went into "medical distress" while being assessed by paramedics.

The incident comes days after a man died after being hit by a Taser by police in Edmonton. Trevor Grimolfson, 38, had reportedly attacked at least one person and smashed windows in a pawn-shop on Wednesday when police there were called. Police zapped Grimolfson twice with a Taser, but said it appeared to have no effect. He died later in hospital.

Members of the ASIRT are looking into that case as well.

EDITORIAL: Taser investigation: left in suspense

November 1, 2008

Justice delayed has a price. In British Columbia, a 21-year-old man, much-loved, is dead, and an RCMP officer is alleged to have killed him accidentally while driving drunk. The officer is one of four Mounties involved in the fatal tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski last October at the Vancouver International Airport. For a full year, the prospect of criminal charges has been dangling over the officers' heads like a sword of Damocles.

It is, of course, impossible to know whether there is a connection between the Dziekanski tasering, the possibility of charges and the car accident that took the life of motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson of Delta. But it is only natural to wonder whether the pressure of being subjected to such a protracted criminal investigation played any role.

When justice is delayed so long, the first thing to suffer is public confidence in the justice system. By law, the Mounties investigate their own officers in any suspicious death. Then the file passes to a Crown attorney, who makes the decision on charges. The B.C. Crown's office has had the file since mid-June, and says a crucial piece of information – a medical report from an outside expert – needs to be completed before a decision is made. This is the second high-profile B.C. case involving the RCMP in the past three years (the first was the in-custody shooting death of Ian Bush by a Mountie) with such a slow-paced investigation. The police and Crown made lots of excuses in the Bush case (no charges were laid, ultimately). It's hard to see why the Dziekanski probe has taken so long. A year's wait is not fair to anyone, including the officers.

The tasering and other physical force used on Mr. Dziekanski were horrible misuses of police power. But given that the officers appear to have been acting according to the misguided RCMP policy and training on tasers, charges seem unlikely. British Columbia needs to make a decision, soon.

Delays and drawn-out procedure turn justice system into a farce

November 1, 2008
GARY MASON, Globe and Mail

The inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski a year ago has been delayed again because the Crown has yet to decide whether criminal charges should be laid against the four RCMP officers involved in the taser incident.

Everyone is upset. B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal has called the length of the criminal investigation unacceptable. The Crown says it's at the mercy of the RCMP, which only recently handed over the last bits of evidence.

Here's what I think: Aspects of our criminal justice system are in danger of becoming a farce.

The length of time it takes to investigate and get cases to trial in Canada is ridiculous. And once a case does get before a judge, lawyers, good and bad, can drag trials out for years. Conrad Black would likely still be a free man if he had been tried in Canada - because the case would still be going on. Look at the trial stemming from the raid on the B.C. Legislature five years ago: it's still bogged down in the disclosure process and may - may - go to trial next year if it's not thrown out entirely because it's dragged on for so long.

Everyone is now focusing on the length of time it's taken for the RCMP to complete its investigation into the Dziekanski death. The underlying suspicion is that it's taking so long because the Mounties are trying to find a way to get their guys off. Polls have shown that Canadians don't completely trust the RCMP to undertake a neutral, unbiased investigation into its own people.

The way to get around this, of course, is not to allow the Mounties to investigate themselves.

Most Canadians would feel far more comfortable if a third-party investigative unit handled cases of in-custody deaths to extinguish any apprehensions of bias. In the case of the RCMP, only the federal government can make the necessary changes to allow that to happen. The Conservative government has no interest in doing this.

So there you go.

Before Mr. Dziekanski, there were other deaths in B.C. involving police officers, and they took about the same amount of time for the RCMP to investigate. The case of Ian Bush, the young Houston, B.C., mill worker shot in the back of the head by an RCMP officer in October of 2005 comes to mind. That took about a year before the Crown decided the officer did no wrong.

When asked why it takes so long for the RCMP to investigate these cases, force spokesman John Ward said at the time: "They take long because they take long."

The Mounties' investigation into Kevin St. Arnaud, the Vanderhoof man shot and killed while reportedly surrendering to an RCMP officer, took even longer. All sorts of people complained about the length of time it took for these cases to be investigated and the manner in which the investigations were carried out by the RCMP. And so what? What has changed? Nothing. Lawyers like Vancouver's Cameron Ward have been sounding the alarm about this for years but theirs have been voices in the wilderness.

That's exactly what will happen in the Dziekanski case. The great hue and cry about how long this investigation has taken will be forgotten in a year, if that. Will anyone take a close look at the RCMP's case file and say: "Hold on here, why did you need to send a team of investigators to Poland to look into Robert Dziekanski's physical and mental well-being when you're trying to determine whether your officers were in the right when they tasered this guy?"

That may have eaten up six weeks of the investigation alone.

I don't know. Maybe the trip was justified. Maybe every interview that the RCMP's team of investigators has done has been justified. Maybe the Attorney-General and all those who are screaming that it's taken far too long are out to lunch.

I don't know. None of us knows, because no one is auditing these investigations. There is no credible third party that can tell us that the Dziekanski investigation is no different from a million others.

Personally, I'm sick of hearing people complain about this stuff, because that's all we ever do in Canada, complain and bitch and whine, and when nothing happens, we shrug and look perplexed.

It's pathetic.