Jurors deliberate on Beamsville Taser death

July 14, 2009
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine's Standard

Jurors at an inquest into the death of a Beamsville man high on cocaine who was Tasered several times are being asked to recommend that police be trained to identify excited delirium.

The lawyer for James Foldi’s family told jurors Tuesday it was clear the 39- year-old man was suffering extreme distress before he was tackled, Tasered and subsequently stopped breathing in a laneway July 1, 2005.

“It’s a shame that nobody tried to calm Mr. Foldi,” Ian Brisbin said in closing submissions to the jury in St. Catharines. “There is no evidence police officers took any steps whatsoever to calm him down.”

But the lawyer representing the Niagara Regional Police Service said officers are trained to detect excited delirium and there was no evidence they require more training.

Sara Premi asked jurors to consider what was happening the night Foldi was arrested: It was dark and he was unresponsive to police commands, was covered in blood and had been involved in a home invasion.

She said it was the job of police to get Foldi under control for the safety of neighbourhood residents.

“You would expect nothing less for your safety and your family’s safety.”

Lawyers finished their arguments Tuesday. Jurors will continue to deliberate on a cause of death and potential recommendations today.

Jurors have heard police were called to the Beamsville neighbourhood of Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue around 2:30 a.m. after reports of a man breaking into homes and calling for help.

One officer who came face-to-face with Foldi said he was covered in blood and his eyes were wide, like “something out of a horror movie.”

Police caught up with Foldi after he ran into the bungalow of strangers and began yelling in a bedroom. One officer testified he told Foldi, “We’re trying to help you. Get down on the ground” but Foldi jumped out a open window.

Police then confronted Foldi in a garage where he was pounding on a car with his fists. Again Foldi ran and jumped out a window, this time through a pane of glass.

Police tried to Taser him twice with the gun in the probe mode and used pepper spray, but said Foldi kept running.

A violent struggle between officers and Foldi ensued next to the garage, where Foldi was taken to the ground and Tasered in the stun mode as he continued to struggle. Police said soon after he was handcuffed, he stopped breathing.

A pathologist found the cause of death was excited delirium from acute cocaine poisoning.

But Brisbin asked jurors to find that the cause of death was sudden cardiac death from ventricular fibrillation.

He also asked jurors to recommend that police not allow individuals to remain in the prone position longer than necessary and that police carry defibrillators in their vehicles.

Foldi, who was a large man, was Tasered several times and was lying handcuffed, face down with an officer’s foot between his shoulder blades, Brisbin said. He said that asking jurors to accept Foldi’s breathing wasn’t compromised would be asking them to ignore common sense.

But Premi said there was no evidence that positional asphyxia played a role in Foldi’s death. There was also no evidence that defibrillators were needed in cruisers, she said, adding police are not paramedics.

Lawyer David Pickering, representing the Niagara Region Police Association, said Foldi’s use of cocaine was the driving force that night.

“Don’t criticize police for responding, when you’ve caused the need for response,” he said.

Pickering said the abuse of cocaine affected Foldi’s mental state.

“It was his abuse of cocaine that caused the struggle,” he said. “You think officers wanted to struggle?”

Four other suggested recommendations were made to jurors jointly by all the lawyers.

They included that the NRP and Emergency Medical Services continue working together to get prompt ambulance service, that the NRP quickly notify members of product warnings, such as those from Taser International, and that police review a general order dealing with use of force. They also recommended that the Ministry of Health have more public education about cocaine use.

Officer mistaken about taser warning, inquiry hears

July 14, 2009
OLIVER MOORE, Globe and Mail

The police officer who arrested Howard Hyde testified Tuesday at a fatality inquiry that he had been mistaken when he said the mentally ill man was warned before being tasered.

Halifax Regional Police Constable Jonathan Edwards gave a statement to the RCMP on 25-November, 2007, three days after Mr. Hyde died in custody in a Dartmouth jail.

Inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde

In that statement, he described the booking room fracas that involved Mr. Hyde being tasered repeatedly by another officer and ended with the 45-year-old stopping breathing and having to be revived in a hallway.

Prompted by Kevin MacDonald, the lawyer for Mr. Hyde's sister and her husband, Constable Edwards acknowledged the warning mentioned in his statement was not reflected in surveillance video from the scene.

“I watched the video just before giving the statement. I don't know why I would have said that,” the officer said.

Mr. MacDonald suggested that Constable Edwards had been trying to establish a justification for the tasering, prompting an objection from a lawyer for the local police.

“The proposition is scandalous,” said Sandra MacPherson-Duncan. “There's no suggestion that this interview [with the RCMP] was probing justification for use of force.”

Provincial Court Judge Anne Derrick, who is presiding over the inquiry, allowed the line of questions to continue.

Asked again, Constable Edwards noted that the officers didn't have to give a warning and that he didn't have to justify his actions to the RCMP.

Police officer says mentally ill man was given a Taser warning during struggle

July 14, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — An inquiry into the death of a mentally ill man heard today that Halifax police warned him he was going to be shot with a Taser.

Reading from a statement he gave to the RCMP after Howard Hyde was Tasered on Nov. 21, 2007, Const. Jonathan Edwards says he remembers the booking officer telling Hyde he was going to use the stun gun if he didn't co-operate.

Edwards says there was no time to take the cartridge out of the weapon and fire an electrical arc to warn Hyde because he was acting violently as he was being booked at police headquarters in Halifax.

Hyde, a 45-year-old schizophrenic, died 30 hours after he was shocked with the stun gun.

Edwards has testified that the short, heavy-set man was enough of a threat to at least three officers at the police station that they had to use the Taser.

The fatality inquiry is examining the events surrounding Hyde's death.

Police were called to his apartment in Dartmouth after his common-law spouse alleged he had assaulted her.

He died at a correctional facility after struggling with guards.

Officer denies he doctored his report in tasering death

July 14, 2009
Oliver Moore, Globe and Mail

A police officer involved in the tasering of paranoid schizophrenic Howard Hyde could not explain why so much of his report was essentially identical to one written earlier by a colleague, but denied the suggestion he had "doctored" it.

The inquiry into the jailhouse death of Mr. Hyde also heard yesterday an allegation the unco-operative prisoner was sworn at during a rapidly escalating situation at police headquarters and told he would be "doing the ... dance next."

An altercation broke out immediately after and Mr. Hyde, who had been off his medication and acting erratically before his arrest, was tasered repeatedly. He died 30 hours later in a Dartmouth jail.

The inquiry into the November, 2007, death began hearing witnesses last week. Halifax Regional Police Constable Jonathan Edwards, the arresting officer, was on the stand all day yesterday.

Constable Edwards was one of many officers involved in the struggle that broke out during the booking. The fracas ended with the 45-year-old prisoner not breathing and having to be revived in a hallway. After he had accompanied Mr. Hyde to hospital, Constable Edwards returned to the police station to write up the incident.

A lawyer for Mr. Hyde's sister and her husband questioned the officer again and again yesterday about numerous similarities between his account and one drafted an hour earlier by Special Constable Gregory McCormick, the man who actually used the taser on Mr. Hyde.

"I am going to suggest today that you went in and used and doctored Special Constable McCormick's statement to create your own," Kevin MacDonald said. "These are identical words, they're his words ... you used his words."

Constable Edwards repeatedly denied having cribbed his colleague's report.

The inquiry also walked through the lead-up to the tasering, with Constable Edwards offering new details on the alleged risk posed by Mr. Hyde.

He testified that the booking room struggle brought the prisoner within reach of a drawer full of knives and other weapons. The drawer was unlocked and the one immediately above it was missing, he said, allowing a clear view of these weapons.

The prisoner received his first tasering seconds later.

Constable Edwards acknowledged that his notes or other paperwork do not include mention of concern over Mr. Hyde arming himself during the struggle. The officer explained the late revelation by saying he had a lot on his mind in the aftermath of the incident.

It was not clear why weapons were stored in an accessible drawer, though Constable Edwards said that is no longer the practice.

Also heard for the first time was his allegation that Mr. Hyde had earlier tried to reach for a cutting tool held by another officer, who intended to sever the drawstring of the prisoner's shorts.

That was not recorded by surveillance cameras, but some audio around the alleged incident was captured. It was then, during the rapidly building tension, Mr. MacDonald suggested, that one of the officers told Mr. Hyde he would be made to "dance."

Police quickly turned to Taser, inquiry hears

July 13, 2009
By JEFFREY SIMPSON, Chronicle Herald

Halifax Regional Police threatened a mentally ill man, then almost immediately Tasered him during an altercation and later doctored a report about the scuffle, a lawyer alleged Monday at an inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde.

Enhanced audio from a surveillance camera in the booking room of police headquarters on Gottingen Street was played Monday for the first time at the inquiry in Halifax.

The altered recording — in which background music playing in the booking room at the time was removed so dialogue could be heard better — captures what sounds like a police officer’s menacing comment to Mr. Hyde, possibly about using a Taser on him, just before the men come crashing into the camera’s field of vision.

“What I hear is someone saying, ‘You’re going to be doing the effing dance next, Howard,’” Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer representing Mr. Hyde’s sister and her husband, repeated after the sound clip, using a benign substitute for the actual expletive.

Mr. MacDonald suggested the voice belonged to Special Const. Greg McCormick, who Tasered Mr. Hyde in the scuffle that followed.

Mr. Hyde died 30 hours later while still in custody after struggling with correctional officers at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

The 45-year-old musician had been arrested early in the morning of Nov. 21, 2007, while wearing only his boxer shorts. His common-law wife had reported that he had hit her at their Dartmouth apartment.

Mr. Hyde, who had schizophrenia and hadn’t been taking his medication for weeks, was initially calm and co-operative after the arresting officer, Const. Jonathan Edwards, now 23, took him to police headquarters.

But a scuffle broke out between Mr. Hyde and three officers — Const. Edwards, Special Const. McCormick and Const. Ben Mitchell — while he was being booked, and he was jolted with the stun gun seconds later.

Mr. MacDonald questioned why the three officers, each of whom is over six feet and 200 pounds, would grapple with the smaller Mr. Hyde for only two seconds before resorting to the Taser.

The lawyer said Special Const. McCormick did little to help regain control of Mr. Hyde, who was on the floor apologizing, before reaching for the Taser as soon as Const. Edwards suggested it.

“We can see that he did nothing — he didn’t lay a hand on him,” Mr. MacDonald said.

“He goes right for the Taser.”

Mr. Hyde somehow got away from the officers after being Tasered, jumped a desk and darted into a hallway that led to an exit. The camera monitoring the booking room picked up some audio from the adjacent area as the officers caught up to Mr. Hyde.

“Did you hear someone say to Mr. Hyde, ‘Shut your effing mouth’ when he’s in that hallway?” Mr. MacDonald asked Const. Edwards, again substituting for the swear word.

But the inquiry was unable to listen to any further audio from that part of the scuffle because the rest of the audio recording from the booking room video is missing.

Also unaccounted for are about 30 minutes of surveillance footage of Mr. Hyde in a holding cell before the fracas.

There is grainy video of what happened in the hallway as officers struggled to put handcuffs on Mr. Hyde and so-called zap straps on his legs.

Mr. Hyde’s heart stopped beating at some point during that part of the scuffle. He lost consciousness and police revived him using CPR before paramedics arrived and took him to hospital.

Mr. MacDonald suggested that if the three police officers had tried working together to regain control of Mr. Hyde without resorting to the Taser, they might have been successful. Mr. Hyde had his hands up at one point and apologized throughout the melee, the lawyer said.

Mr. MacDonald pointed to several passages in Const. Edwards’s report on the altercation that were identical to those in the report filed by Special Const. McCormick, who wrote his an hour earlier.

“I’m going to suggest today that you went in and used and doctored McCormick’s statement,” Mr. MacDonald said to Const. Edwards.

“These are identical words — they’re his words.”

Mr. MacDonald told reporters outside the courtroom that at least half of Const. Edwards’s report matched that of his colleague.

“I don’t know why they would do that,” he said.

“It’s a significant issue and they have to be able to justify what they’ve done.”

Const. Edwards said he didn’t recall looking at his colleague’s report before writing his own, and he asserted that his written account matches his recollection of events.

Mr. Hyde apparently started to resist the officers when they produced a utility tool with a serrated blade to cut the drawstring of his shorts, in keeping with rules for the lockup.

Const. Edwards told the inquiry for the first time on Monday that Mr. Hyde had reached for the tool, contradicting another report that Mr. Hyde had pulled away.

“I’m very skeptical to see that come out at this late stage,” Mr. MacDonald said of the new information.

Just before the scuffle, Const. Edwards can be heard on the surveillance recording telling Mr. Hyde to “take a seat there, Bud.”

“You seem to have frustration in your voice,” Mr. MacDonald said while questioning the officer.

Const. Edwards said he wasn’t frustrated and defended how quickly he and his fellow officers resorted to using the Taser. He said Mr. Hyde was overpowering them and was next to an unlocked drawer containing knives, scissors, screwdrivers and a sledgehammer.

“He was beyond control,” Const. Edwards said.

“He may be saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ but his legs and body are saying, ‘I’m getting up.’”

Const. Edwards said he couldn’t tell who was swearing in the surveillance video but was certain it wasn’t himself.

“I don’t believe swearing at prisoners is appropriate,” he said.

“Sometimes it does happen.”

The inquiry is examining how police and correctional officers handle mentally ill people and is trying to determine what happened to Mr. Hyde.

Taser inquest resumes in Beamsville death

July 13, 2009
Posted By KARENA WALTER, Sun Media

Ontario is looking into a new training model for police officers to keep them at arm’s length from Taser International, a coroner’s inquest heard Monday.

The province’s officers use training techniques from the manufacturer of the stun gun, but that could change, said Chris Lawrence, an expert from the Canadian Police Research Centre on use of force and excited delirium.

“Smith and Wesson don’t provide training on firearms. General Motors doesn’t show officers how to drive,” he told the jury in the case of James Foldi, who was Tasered during a 2005 struggle with police.

Lawrence said the training group, put together by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and of which he is a part, met a couple of times last week and will gather again in August to design scenarios used in training.

They want to instruct Ontario officers how the Taser should be used, as opposed to it coming from instructions from the United States, he said.

Lawrence said there has been some criticism about relying on the manufacturer on how to use the Taser appropriately.

“Just to let the public know, we’re not just taking what the manufacturer said and not thinking for ourselves.”

Lawrence, a former police officer and use-of-force trainer, was the last person to testify in the Foldi case, which wrapped up evidence Monday after a six-week scheduling delay.

Foldi, 39, died July 1, 2005, after a bizarre night of breaking into houses in Beamsville, calling for help and at one point jumping through a glass window.

A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine posioning.

The coroner’s jury has heard from the officer who deployed the Taser that it was used twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running. It was applied another five times on stun mode to Foldi’s calves and thighs while he was struggling with officers on the ground.

Another four discharges of the Taser, recorded by the device, are unaccounted for.

Coroner’s inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.

Lawrence, who wrote a report about the Foldi matter, testified he concluded the officers’ actions were consistent with prudent police practice.

He told Sara Premi, the lawyer representing the NRP, that police need to gain control of a person in an excited delirium state so the person can get medical treatment.

He said there are cases where people still die in that state without being Tasered.

{THAT LINE OF THINKING HAS BEEN SHREDDED TO PIECES MANY TIMES OVER AT WWW.EXCITED-DELIRIUM.COM}

The jurors will hear closing submissions from lawyers today and will decide whether or not to make recommendations in the case.

Lawrence said the training group has done a lot of groundwork over the last year and started an instruction manual.

When asked if the Foldi case would be used as a training scenario, Lawrence said it’s consistent with other events, but any examples will be generic.

Tony Brown, a spokesman for the ministry reached later by phone in Toronto, said the ministry is conducting a study with policing partners on the Taser. Operational and policy considerations in relation to training are being discussed, he said.

Brown said the study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Teen who says she was injured by Mountie stun gun sues RCMP in Manitoba

July 13, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG — A Selkirk, Man., woman who says RCMP repeatedly zapped her with a Taser is suing the Mounties.

The woman, who was 16-years-old at the time, says she and her friends were pulled over by police looking for a stolen car in 2007 and brought to the Selkirk detachment.

In her statement of claim, the woman says she was put in a cell and repeatedly Tasered by male police officers who taunted her.

The woman is seeking unspecified damages, alleging that the police action was unjustified and has left her with permanent scars on her legs and an inability to go to work or school.

The statement of claim contains allegations that have not been proven in court.

The RCMP has not yet filed a statement of defence.

Officer testifies that Hyde reached for weapon as he struggled with police

July 13, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — A Halifax police officer testifying today at a fatality inquiry says a man who died 30 hours after being Tasered reached for a cutting tool as they were booking him.

Const. Jonathan Edwards says Howard Hyde became agitated in the early hours of Nov. 21, 2007, at police headquarters as they were trying to remove a string from his shorts with the device.

Edwards says a four-inch serrated blade on the tool was not drawn, a fact disputed by a lawyer for Hyde's family who says the 45-year-old schizophrenic became agitated and struggled with officers when he saw the device.

The inquiry is examining the events surrounding Hyde's death and saw a video last week showing police Tasering him multiple times as he called out that he did nothing wrong and was sorry.

Edwards also says there was an unlocked drawer full of knives and other weapons in the area where officers wrestled with Hyde.

But the officer failed to mention either fact in his police notes or reports, and also claimed that he didn't hear colleagues say over the radio just before he arrested Hyde that he was "very mentally unstable."

Officer recalls new details at inquiry

July 13, 2009
Halifax — Globe and Mail Update

The officer who arrested Howard Hyde told a fatality inquiry into the paranoid schizophrenic's death that he now remembers new details concerning the threat posed by his prisoner shortly before he was tasered.

The mentally ill man had been off his medication for weeks and he was acting increasingly erratic. Arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife, the 45-year-old was tasered more than once during a fracas in the booking room of police headquarters.

He died 30 hours later in a Dartmouth jail after a fight with guards.

Halifax Regional Police Constable Jonathan Edwards told an inquiry into the death that the booking room struggle with Mr. Hyde brought the prisoner inches away from a drawer full of knives and other weapons. The drawer was unlocked and the one immediately above it was missing, he testified, giving Mr. Hyde a clear view of these weapons.

He received his first tasering seconds later.

Click here to view proceedings and archives

Constable Edwards acknowledged that concern over Mr. Hyde arming himself during the struggle had not been mentioned in his notes or in subsequent statements he'd made. It emerged for the first time today, during his second day of testimony.

The officer explained the revelation by saying he had a lot on his mind during and after the incident and he might simply have forgotten.

Also emerging was Constable Edwards' recollection that Mr. Hyde had tried to reach for a tool that officers intended to use to cut the drawstring of his shorts. This part of the incident was not captured on surveillance cameras. The altercation at police headquarters broke out immediately after.

Constable Edwards testified that Mr. Hyde was too strong to be restrained by three officers. After being tasered, the prisoner leapt over a waist-high counter and ran into a nearby hallway that led out into the parking lot. He was stopped there within reach of the door, Constable Edwards said.

The taser was used in the hallway as well. Mr. Hyde stopped breathing there and had to be revived with chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. He was checked into hospital and lodged in a local jail. He died there the next day, following a struggle with guards.

Hyde: 'What are you doing?'

July 11, 2009
By JEFFREY SIMPSON, Chronicle Herald

Howard Hyde was being booked at Halifax Regional Police headquarters for hitting his common-law wife when he broke free of three officers, vaulted a desk and ran for an exit, a surveillance video shows.

"I didn’t do nothing," Mr. Hyde shouted as he wrestled with the officers.

The recording from November 2007 (the Tasering occurs at about the 43-minute mark) was played in a Halifax courtroom Friday, as Mr. Hyde’s sister watched, during a fatality inquiry. Mr. Hyde died in police custody 30 hours after the video was shot.

The 45-year-old musician was so strong that police felt they had little choice but to Taser him without warning as they fought to regain control of the situation, one of the officers told the hearing.

"There was no time," Const. Jonathan Edwards said, explaining that the confined area didn’t allow officers to use other measures such as batons or pepper spray.

As a sombre country song, Three Wooden Crosses, droned in the background, the black and white footage showed the booking desk at the police station as Mr. Hyde, just off-screen, apparently started to resist officers.

Const. Edwards said police were about to use a tool resembling a jackknife to cut the drawstring to his boxer shorts — the only clothing Mr. Hyde was wearing when he was arrested early in the morning of Nov. 21, 2007 — in keeping with rules that forbid prisoners from having belts, shoelaces and other such items while locked up.

"He looked a little jumpy," Const. Edwards said before the recording was played. "It didn’t seem like he wanted that to happen."

The only officer initially in the camera frame during that segment leaped off-screen for an instant before crashing back into view with two other officers as they grappled with Mr. Hyde, who throughout the fracas shouted apologies and denied wrongdoing.

One of the officers got a stun gun from a drawer and there was a low staccato crackling sound as he fired it more than once at Mr. Hyde, who shrieked.

"Ow!" Mr. Hyde yelled at one point. "What are you doing?"

Then Mr. Hyde somehow slipped away, jumped over the desk and ran through a door into a hallway leading to a rear exit of the police station. The three officers chased him.

Another camera without audio captured the scene in the hall as the officers wrestled for several more minutes with Mr. Hyde, who was on the floor.

The video shows more police arriving and at some point Mr. Hyde’s heart stopped and he lost consciousness. CPR was used to revive him and then paramedics took him to the hospital.

Const. Edwards rode in the back of the ambulance that day and told the courtroom Friday that Mr. Hyde was flailing his arms around in such an agitated state that the driver stopped to make sure everyone was OK.

The officer said not all the blasts from the Taser worked to their full extent on Mr. Hyde.

"You cannot speak if you’ve been properly Tasered," he said.

Mr. Hyde had been Tasered before but Const. Edwards said he didn’t know that at the time. Still, he said, that knowledge wouldn’t have made him do anything differently.

"I reacted to his behaviour," Const. Edwards said.

"I would have done the same thing in that situation again."

Const. Edwards told the inquiry he doesn’t believe the mentally ill should be added to a list of people who can’t legally be Tasered, a list that includes the elderly and people with disabilities.

Const. Edwards had arrested Mr. Hyde at his Dartmouth apartment that morning after Mr. Hyde’s common-law wife, Karen Ellet, reported that he’d hit her and was schizophrenic. Mr. Hyde had been arrested several times in the past, with many of those incidents related to his mental health.

The fatality inquiry is examining how police and correctional officers handle mentally ill people and is trying to determine what happened to Mr. Hyde.

Before the struggle at the booking desk, Mr. Hyde was captured on video talking amicably with police.

"I know you guys are good cops," he said, although he alludes to having problems with some "bad apples."

The recording also shows Mr. Hyde pacing in a holding cell for well over 10 minutes.

"Audio and visually, it’s very disturbing," Mr. Hyde’s sister, Joanna Blair, said after watching the surveillance video in the courtroom.

Dan MacRury, the inquiry counsel, told reporters the video speaks for itself.

"It gives a clear picture of how the police acted on that occasion," he said.

"We’re trying to bring all the evidence forward at this inquiry to give a complete picture of what happened to Howard Hyde."

Mr. MacRury said the inquiry is intended to determine if further policies are needed, not to place blame. But it’s too early to tell if any changes are required, he said.

Mr. Hyde, after being cleared to leave the hospital, was taken to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, where he spent the night. He lost consciousness the next morning while struggling with correctional officers again and was declared dead in hospital at 8:42 a.m.

Hyde’s mental health had cop radios buzzing

July 10, 2009
By JEFFREY SIMPSON, Chronicle Herald
Halifax police officers were told before arresting a man who died 30 hours after being Tasered that he was mentally unstable and acting aggressively.

On Thursday, an inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde heard 12 minutes of radio communications between dispatchers and officers responding to a domestic dispute call from the man’s common-law wife on Nov. 21, 2007.

The recording indicates that Karen Ellet told Const. Brad Jardine at her apartment that Hyde was schizophrenic and had hit her before fleeing from the fourth-floor balcony.

"He’s arrestable for assaulting his wife and he’s very mentally unstable, so heads up," the Halifax Regional Police officer said on his police radio after another officer spotted Mr. Hyde outside a few minutes later wearing only boxer shorts.

The dispatcher also told police that the call for help had come from the mobile crisis unit, which Ms. Ellet had contacted initially that night to get mental health help for Mr. Hyde.

"There’s a male in the background being very aggressive with her," the dispatcher told the officers.

The fatality inquiry is examining how police and corrections officers handle mentally ill people and trying to determine what happened to Mr. Hyde.

Ms. Ellet explained to Const. Jardine after Mr. Hyde was arrested that her common-law husband hadn’t been taking his medication regularly and that he was afraid of being Tasered again by police. But Const. Jardine didn’t pass that information along to the officer taking the 45-year-old musician to the police station for booking.

Const. Jardine said after police arrested Mr. Hyde, his demeanour had calmed significantly from when they heard him yelling inside the apartment before he fled, so he didn’t believe the man was having a mental health episode.

"There was no speaking in tongues or any irrational thought process," Const. Jardine said, adding later in the day that, "I expected a much different person downstairs."

So police decided to take Mr. Hyde to the station for booking instead of the hospital for a doctor’s assessment.

Mr. Hyde tried to escape at the station after officers approached him with a knife-like instrument to cut the drawstring from his shorts and he was Tasered twice.

The jolts stopped his heart and he was revived by CPR before being taken to the hospital. The inquiry, which is being webcast on the Internet, is expected to be able to view as early as today the scuffle recorded by surveillance cameras at the station.

After being called to the hospital, Const. Jardine noticed that Mr. Hyde’s heart rate at one point spiked to 200 — way above normal — as he rested in bed, but a nurse assured him things were fine. Mr. Hyde was chatting coherently with the officer before going to sleep.

But Const. Jardine said he was surprised to learn Mr. Hyde was later cleared to leave the hospital, despite his heart issues.

"He was where he was supposed to be, in my mind," he said.

Mr. Hyde was taken to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, where he spent the night. He lost consciousness the next morning while struggling with correctional officers and was declared dead in hospital at 8:42 a.m.

"I was really upset," Const. Jardine said. "I told him everything would be OK when I left the hospital."

Const. Jardine couldn’t recall any mental health training he received while attending police academy or a four-week orientation course he took after being hired, but he said he has had a lot of experience dealing with people with such issues.

Still, police are overworked due to a lack of resources, he said. "We have to do the best with what we have."

Const. Jardine’s partner, Const. Gyles Gillis, said he didn’t recall hearing the "significant information" about Mr. Hyde’s mental state on the police radio at the apartment building.

"It wouldn’t have changed the way we handled the call," Const. Gillis said.

Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer representing Mr. Hyde’s sister and her husband at the inquiry, said any officer who had contact with Mr. Hyde had the option of taking him for a psychological assessment by a doctor who could have hospitalized the man.

"He should have received treatment and that’s one of the questions we want addressed," Mr. MacDonald said outside the courtroom where the hearing is being held.

"A mistake was made."

Hyde showed ‘tremendous strength' in struggle: officer

July 10, 2009
Halifax — The Globe and Mail

The police officer who arrested Howard Hyde told a inquiry into the paranoid schizophrenic's jail-house death that the man was showing “tremendous strength” in a struggle with several officers, forcing them to taser him.

Halifax Regional Police Constable Jonathan Edwards, who said that Mr. Hyde had been calm and collected before an altercation erupted in the booking room, testified that he had no idea his prisoner was mentally ill and off his medication. He had confirmed receiving that information over the radio, he acknowledged Friday, but said he hadn't heard the whole message.

The officer said that his 45-year-old prisoner became “antsy” as they moved to cut the drawstring of his shorts. A violent fracas ensued that quickly drew in other officers. Constable Edwards testified that he ran through various options as they grappled on the floor, rejecting chemical spray and his baton as unsuitable. Fearing they were losing the battle, officers moved to a taser.

Mr. Hyde was zapped several times – the exact number remains unclear. After he had been manhandled into a “restraint chair” officers noticed that he had stopped breathing. He was revived and checked in hospital before being lodged in a Dartmouth jail.

He died in the jail, approximately 30 hours after being tasered, during a struggle with guards. It is unclear if they knew his mental condition.

The flow of information has already emerged as a key issue at the Hyde inquiry, which began hearing witnesses this week.

Computer records showing Mr. Hyde's troubled history were not accessed by the officers rushing to respond to a domestic abuse call by his wife. He fled when they arrived and she told them about his mental illness, and that he was erratic and not taking his medications. One of the responding officers did not think to pass on the information. The other did, but Constable Edwards apparently did not hear it.

Halifax police knew man they stunned was unstable, inquiry hears

July 9, 2009
CBC/The Canadian Press

An inquiry into the case of a man who died in police custody 30 hours after being hit with a Taser heard that Halifax police were told repeatedly that he was mentally unstable, behaving aggressively and had been zapped with a stun gun earlier.

The inquiry looking into the death of Howard Hyde heard 10 minutes of grainy radio communications between several officers who were responding to a domestic abuse call from his common law spouse on Nov. 21, 2007.

The recording indicated his widow told one officer that Hyde suffered from schizophrenia and was acting violently.

Const. Brad Jardine testified Thursday that Karen Ellet told him in a brief conversation at her Dartmouth apartment that Hyde was mentally ill, had hit her and had tried to flee the building before by jumping off the balcony.

Jardine then radioed his colleague, who was pursuing Hyde after he fled the building when he learned police were responding to a complaint he had assaulted Ellet.

"Yes, he's arrestable for assaulting his wife, and he's very mentally unstable, so heads up," Jardine said on the radio after his colleague spotted Hyde walking slowly outside in only his shorts on the cold November night.

The dispatcher's call to officers also indicated that the initial request for help came from a mental health agency that Ellet had called that night — another clue for police that they were dealing with a man who likely had some form of mental disorder.

Lawyers in the fatality inquiry are paying close attention to the flow of information about Hyde and whether officers should have sent the 45-year-old man to hospital for psychiatric treatment instead of to the police station after his arrest.

Testimony has shown that police learned from Ellet's statement that he was schizophrenic, had been off his medications for weeks and had been acting erratically.

But they didn't pass that information on to other officers who were booking Hyde at headquarters, where he struggled with police as they tried to remove his shorts with the help of a tool that had a serrated blade.

Police then Tasered him twice, briefly stopping his heart and rendering him unconscious.

Almost an hour passed between the time Ellet finished her statement and when Hyde was zapped with the stun gun.

When asked why he didn't tell colleagues Hyde was schizophrenic, Jardine said he didn't think he was having a mental health episode at the time because he was calm during the arrest.

He also said he didn't think it necessary to take him to the hospital immediately, though he admitted he had that option.

Const. Gyles Gillis, who was working with Jardine that night, testified he couldn't remember hearing his partner's radio communication referring to Hyde's mental stability as he raced out of the apartment building to apprehend Hyde.

"When you went down to that parking lot, you knew just one thing — that this fellow was mentally unstable. Do you agree?" Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer for Hyde's family, said in court.

"No, I do not," Gillis said.

Jardine also testified he was called to the hospital where Hyde was being treated following the initial Taser jolts.

He said Hyde seemed lucid as they chatted about music and sports but that his heart rate spiked to what he thought were unusual levels even as he slept.

Jardine said he was so concerned he asked medical staff, who assured him Hyde was alright. He later said he was surprised that Hyde had been medically cleared to leave hospital to face charges related to the scuffle at police headquarters.

Jardine said he was upset when he learned Hyde had died, explaining he had told the musician before leaving at the end of his shift that "everything would be OK."

The inquiry has also focused on the amount of training police receive on dealing with people with mental health issues.

Treatment of mentally ill also part of Hyde story

July 8, 2009
By MARILLA STEPHENSON, Chronicle Herald

THE TRAGIC death of Howard Hyde is one more event that has brought public attention to police officers’ use of stun guns, but the death of the mentally ill Dartmouth man while in custody in 2007 is about much more than that.

A public inquiry into Hyde’s death began this week in Halifax and is expected to hear from as many as 100 witnesses. It was preceded by debate over whether to allow security camera footage of Hyde, while in the custody of Halifax Regional Police and in a confrontation with guards at the provincial jail in Dartmouth, to be posted on the Internet.

Inquiry chairwoman Judge Anne Derrick has ruled that the video footage, which reportedly shows police Tasering Hyde and his subsequent death the next day, will not be made available for Internet posting, but the footage will be shown as part of evidence being submitted at the inquiry, which is available by live and archived webcast.

Earlier this year, the RCMP announced new restrictions on the use of Tasers, primarily in response to the high-profile death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport in October 2007. The Polish man, who did not speak English and had spent hours alone wandering the arrivals terminal, died at the airport after he became disruptive and the RCMP shocked him multiple times with a Taser.

Hyde’s death occurred the next month. Thirty hours after regional police Tasered him, Hyde died during a struggle with guards at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. The medical examiner later ruled that his death was caused by excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia, from which he had suffered for some time.

A subsequent review said correctional officers had followed proper procedures, but a public outcry over Hyde’s treatment in custody led to the public inquiry — as it well should have.

While the use of the stun gun to subdue Hyde is part of this story, the justice system’s treatment of people with mental illnesses is just as significant an issue.

Hyde’s widow, during a long day of testimony on Tuesday, told the inquiry that she had told police that Hyde suffered from schizophrenia and needed mental health treatment.

After he was taken into custody following Karen Ellet’s 911 call from their Dartmouth apartment, she said she contacted the correctional centre to indicate he needed medical help but was told staff could not help because of confidentiality rules.

Much of Ellet’s testimony on Tuesday dealt with Hyde’s condition on the night of Nov. 21, 2007, her own interactions with police and other agencies leading up to and including that evening, and some discussion about his mental illness. He had stopped taking his medication in the weeks before that fateful evening.

But in perhaps the most touching testimony she gave, Ellet also talked about Hyde when he was well, during their good times together. She spoke of a happy, lively man with whom she shared a peaceful, simple life.

Asked if he had discussed his mental illness in detail with her, Ellet responded, "No, he didn’t. I didn’t really ask because I knew him when he was well, initially. I didn’t see the schizophrenic side of him until he was off his medications."

She said he loved sports, music and nature. They enjoyed walks on the beach and along country roads, she said, adding that Hyde much preferred the country to the city.

"He was a joy to be around," she said. "He was a very likable man."

There will be much important testimony in the weeks ahead and it will surely help Derrick to chart a path toward recommendations that will lead to better treatment for the mentally ill when they are taken into custody.

But Tuesday’s testimony was among the most important because it served as a reminder that Hyde — when well — was a happy, contented and peaceful man. In a province where the story of mental health patients being woefully underserved is growing frustratingly repetitive, Hyde’s story will hopefully bring better results for those who follow him.

At this point, that’s as much as we can offer the late Howard Hyde.

N.S. police officer didn't tell others that Tasered man was mentally ill, off meds

July 7, 2009
By Alison Auld, The Canadian Press

HALIFAX, N.S. — A Halifax police officer didn't tell colleagues that a man who had just been arrested was schizophrenic, had been off his medications for weeks and had been acting violently, a fatality inquiry heard Tuesday.

Const. Giles Gillis, who was responding to a domestic assault call, testified at the hearing into the death of Howard Hyde that the man's common-law spouse told him he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had assaulted her.

He was also informed that Hyde, a 45-year-old musician with a 20-year history of mental illness, had stopped taking three types of anti-anxiety and psychosis medications and was delusional.

Still, Gillis admitted not conveying the critical information to other police officers who took Hyde to a lockup in Halifax on Nov. 21, 2007, where he was repeatedly Tasered after struggling in the cells.

When asked by lead counsel Dan MacRury why he didn't tell the officers about Hyde's condition, Gillis replied: "I don't know."

"Why didn't you radio the police station after getting the statement?" MacRury asked at another point in the testimony.

"Were you not bothered by the fact that you knew he was schizophrenic and off his medications and he had been Tasered?"

Gillis said he believed he was following proper procedure and that Hyde was in the most appropriate place since a judge would decide later in the day if he should undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The probe is trying to determine what happened to Hyde after he was arrested and then died in a correctional facility 30 hours after being Tasered. It will determine whether Hyde received adequate care from police, correctional officers and health officials.

Karen Ellet, Hyde's spouse and the hearing's first witness, testified that she told officers her violent, incoherent husband was mentally ill and needed medical help the night he hit her with a telephone.

But the Nova Scotia woman said he did not get the help he so badly needed.

The soft-spoken woman said she called a help line for those facing mental health emergencies when Hyde became very aggressive, at one point holding her wrists and striking her on the side of her face with a telephone.

"I realized he needed some medical help," she told the inquiry in a quiet but steady voice. "He was pacing back and forth and hollering. He was incoherent. ... I couldn't make out what he was saying."

The court heard a recording of the 911 call Ellet made later that night, during which she told the operator in a hushed tone that Hyde was "going to become violent."

When police arrived at the couple's home in Dartmouth, Hyde had fled their apartment by climbing over the balcony and down the side of the four-storey building. It was a cold night and he was dressed only in a pair of shorts and had no shoes.

Ellet told the officers that Hyde was terrified of being Tasered because he had been hit with an electric jolt from a stun gun during an earlier confrontation with police.

She said she later learned that Hyde had been arrested, but when she called the correctional centre to let them know he was ill, she was told staff couldn't help because of concerns over confidentiality.

"I really wanted him to be in the hospital and get the proper medical treatment that he needed for his psychosis."

Gillis also said he did a background check on Hyde when he returned to his office, but could find nothing on the man despite a lengthy history that included 11 criminal charges and several involving mental health issues.

Gillis, who claimed to have trouble recalling several details from the incident, also said he couldn't remember whether Hyde was warned before he was struck with the powerful stun gun.

MacRury questioned why Gillis didn't have him sent to a hospital for an immediate psychiatric evaluation rather than into police custody.

Gillis said he didn't think Hyde was exhibiting signs of mental illness, even though he was babbling incoherently when he was apprehended.

After being Tasered twice and rendered unconscious, Hyde was revived by CPR and taken to hospital. Later that morning, he was taken to the Dartmouth jail, where he spent the night.

The next morning, he fell unconscious again after struggling with correctional officers trying to restrain him in a holding cell. He was declared dead in hospital at 8:42 a.m.

During her testimony, Ellet also confirmed that Hyde had hit her on the head with closed fists only two weeks earlier when he became irate in a nearby parking lot about her refusal to get a ride home by hitchhiking. She said she did tell police about the incident.

As well, Ellet said she had earlier approached Hyde's doctor about his worsening condition, but could only talk to the physician's secretary. Nothing came of that meeting, she said.

When Hyde was taking his medication, he was a warm man with a passion for music and sports, Ellet said.

"He was a very fantastic person," she said. "He was very caring of people. ... He was just an incredible man."

The provincial medical examiner concluded Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.

Police Chief tasers teen in the head!!!

UPDATE: July 7, 2009
Jennifer Smith, KFDA

According to a press release from the City of Tucumcari, City Manager Bobbye Rose has placed Police Chief Roger Hatcher on administrative leave pending an investigation regarding a recent tasing incident. The city has contracted with an independent firm to conduct the investigation.

July 4, 2009

A Tucumcari [New Mexico] girl is recovering in an Albuquerque this evening after being shot in the head with a taser by the police chief.

Stacy Akin says she and her 14-year-old daughter were arguing so she drove to the police department for help.

Police Chief Roger Hatcher says the girl ran off, but he then found her in a park.

When he got out of his car to call her, he says she ran in front of it across a street without looking.

He says he had no choice but to fire his taser to stop her.

The girl remains in pediatric intensive care after surgery.

Mentally ill N.S. man needed help, wife tells public inquiry into his death

July 7, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — Karen Ellet says she told two police officers her violent, incoherent common-law husband was mentally ill and needed medical help the night he hit her with a telephone.

But the Nova Scotia woman told a public inquiry Tuesday into Howard Hyde's death that the 45-year-old musician, who died a day after he was Tasered while in police custody, did not get the help he so badly needed.

Ellet was the first witness to testify at the inquiry, which will determine whether Hyde received adequate care from police, correctional officers and health officials.

The soft-spoken woman said she called a help line for those facing mental health emergencies on the night of Nov. 21, 2007, when Hyde became very aggressive, at one point holding her wrists and striking her on the side of her face with a telephone.

"I realized he needed some medical help," she told the inquiry in a quiet but steady voice. "He was pacing back and forth and hollering. He was incoherent ... I couldn't make out what he was saying."

The court heard a recording of the 911 call Ellet made later that night, during which she told the operator in a hushed tone that Hyde was "going to become violent."

Dan MacRury, lead counsel for the inquiry, asked Ellet why she was speaking in such a low voice to the operator.

"I didn't want Howard to hear me on the phone because he would get more aggressive," she told the inquiry, led by provincial court Judge Anne Derrick.

When police arrived at the couple's home in Dartmouth, Hyde had fled their apartment by climbing over the balcony and down the side of the four-storey building on a cold night, dressed only in a pair of shorts and no shoes.

Ellet said she told the two officers that Hyde had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had not taken his medication for weeks and needed medical help.

As well, she told them that Hyde was terrified of being Tasered because he had been hit with an electric jolt from a stun gun during an earlier confrontation with police.

She said she later learned that Hyde had been arrested, but when she called the correctional centre to let them know he was ill, she was told staff couldn't help because of concerns over confidentiality.

"I really wanted him to be in the hospital and get the proper medical treatment that he needed for his psychosis."

Hyde, whose long history of mental illness was known to police, was Tasered twice when he made two attempts to escape from the police station that night.

Rendered unconscious, he was revived by CPR and taken to hospital. Later that morning, he was taken to the Dartmouth jail, where he spent the night.

The next morning, 30 hours after he was Tasered, he fell unconscious again after struggling with correctional officers trying to restrain him in a holding cell. He was declared dead in hospital at 8:42 a.m.

During her testimony, Ellet also confirmed that Hyde had hit her on the head with closed fists only two weeks earlier when he became irate in a nearby parking lot about her refusal to get a ride home by hitchhiking. She said she did tell police about the incident.

As well, Ellet said she had earlier approached Hyde's doctor about his worsening condition, but could only talk to the physician's secretary. Nothing came of that meeting, she said.

At the time, Hyde was taking two medications to treat his schizophrenia and high anxiety. Ellet said he was sometimes delusional, believing he was related to royalty.

"He was very psychotic," she said.

When Hyde was taking his medication, he was a warm man with a passion for music and sports, Ellet said.

"He was a very fantastic person," she said. "He was very caring of people. ... He was just and incredible man."

At the conclusion of her testimony, MacRury asked Ellet is she though Hyde received the "professional help" he needed.

Ellet said she believes Hyde should have been stabilized and transferred to a psychiatric hospital that night. Instead, he was sent to the Halifax police station and to the jail in Dartmouth.

"He needed psychiatric treatment," she said.

The provincial medical examiner concluded Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.

Judge will not allow taser footage online

Oliver Moore

Halifax — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Monday, Jul. 06, 2009 08:55PM EDT

Surveillance videos of a mentally ill man being tasered by police and dying 30 hours later in a struggle with jail guards, images described as “disturbing” by a lawyer for his relatives, need to be understood in context and can't be posted online, a judge ruled yesterday.

The videos, which are central to an inquiry into Howard Hyde’s death in a Dartmouth jail late in 2007, can be screened in court. And they will be shown fleetingly to the public as proceedings are streamed on-line at www.hydeinquiry.ca, with the tasering expected to be seen Tuesday. But they can’t otherwise be displayed, provincial court judge Anne Derrick decided.

The ruling was a blow to family members of the 45-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who had wanted to be able to disseminate the video images.

But whether the decision will be enough to squelch the spread of this material remains to be seen.

“It’s difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube,” said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-commerce law.

“Once it’s streamed, it’s relatively trivial for someone to capture that stream and go ahead and post it.”

Prof. Geist also noted, though, that courts can issue specific rulings against using material streamed on-line, which would be enough to prevent its appearance in law-abiding venues.

The power of images to sway public opinion was highlighted after the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who was tasered five times by Mounties at the Vancouver airport only weeks before the Hyde incident.

Police initially confiscated amateur video of Mr. Dziekanski's death. Paul Pritchard went to court to get his property back and then sold it to the media. His video undermined police descriptions of the incident and caused an uproar that reverberated beyond Canada's shores.

At the time, an RCMP spokesman said that the video did not tell the whole story.

Judge Derrick made a similar point while reading her nearly hour-long decision on Monday.

“Filming of the inquiry proceedings will capture the witnesses' testimony about the video surveillance and any submissions that will be made on what inferences should be drawn from it,” she said.

“[Posting] of the images will not. Directly [posting] the video surveillance will send images to the internet without any context. Context is crucial.”

The decision pleased Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, who worries people won't understand the footage unless it is explained to them.

“They're left to assume what it means, rather than knowing and hearing the evidence from the people that were involved,” she said. “And they will be the correctional officers that will be called on to testify. It's better to be seen in the right context than to assume what it means.”

But a lawyer for Mr. Hyde's sister and brother-in-law said the decision mean members of the public could miss key nuances in the videos.

“In essence, they'll be taking a picture of a picture, so there'll be some viewing of it ... but the quality will not be as sharp,” said Kevin MacDonald. “It's difficult, you know, to view the subtleties. There are some subtleties on this video that you really have to focus on to catch. I think that will be lost.”

Mr. Hyde, a musician whose history of mental illness was known to the authorities, had been involved in earlier encounters with the police and reportedly was afraid of them. He was arrested after allegations of a domestic assault and taken to police headquarters. A fracas broke out there and police tasered him twice.

Mr. Hyde was taken to hospital and then to a Dartmouth correctional facility. He died 30 hours after his arrest.

His death was ruled accidental last year by Nova Scotia's chief medical officer, who blamed excited delirium due to his paranoid schizophrenia. Judge Derrick's inquiry, aimed at delving more deeply into the situation, began in February. It will not make findings of guilt.

Restraint, Taser use under scrutiny as Hyde inquiry resumes

July 6, 2009
CBC News

An inquiry has resumed into the 2007 death of Howard Hyde, a Nova Scotia man who died 30 hours after he was jolted with a Taser.

Hyde, 45, was arrested Nov. 21, 2007, and taken to police headquarters in Halifax, where officers used a stun gun on him. He died in a Dartmouth jail after a struggle with guards.

Lawyers gathered in a Halifax courtroom Monday morning to discuss whether video surveillance tapes from the police station and the jail should be available online.

The inquiry is being webcast — the first time a fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia is visible to people outside the hearing room.

Judge Anne Derrick is expected to hear opening statements from lawyers later Monday, but no testimony.

Kevin MacDonald, the lawyer representing Hyde's family, said his clients are looking for more detail about what happened when Hyde was arrested.

"They're not sure what role the Taser played," MacDonald told reporters. "There are other aspects of this that are just as concerning to them, such as the way Mr. Hyde was restrained."

Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner ruled last fall that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia, and declared his death accidental.

The inquiry, ordered by former justice minister Cecil Clarke, is expected to focus on the circumstances surrounding Hyde's death, including the transfer process from police headquarters to the jail.

Derrick can make recommendations relating to any matter that arises during the hearing.

Halifax inquiry examines man's jail death after Tasering by police

July 6, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX, N.S. — Proceedings are expected to resume today at the inquiry into the death of a Nova Scotia man about 30 hours after he was Tasered by police.

Howard Hyde, a 45-year-old musician, was arrested in November 2007 and taken into custody at Halifax police headquarters. Hyde, a schizophrenic whose long history of mental illness was known to police, reportedly struggled with officers as he tried to escape.

Police Tasered him twice and then sent him to hospital for treatment. He died approximately 30 hours later at a correctional facility.

Judge Anne Derrick, who is presiding over the inquiry, has given standing to a number of groups including doctors, police and corrections officials.

Fatality Inquiry into the Death of Howard Hyde

Fatality Inquiry Into The Death Of Howard Hyde

Pursuant to the Fatality Investigations Act, S.N.S. 2001 C. 31

Presiding: The Honourable Judge Anne Derrick of the Nova Scotia Provincial Court

Inquiry Counsel: Dan MacRury Q.C., Chief Crown Attorney for the Cape Breton Region

Schedule: July 6-10, 13-17, 20-24, August 4-7 and 10-14, 2009

Location: The Law Courts, 1815 Upper Water St. Halifax - Courtroom #304

Video and audio of the Inquiry will be streamed live at www.hydeinquiry.ca on the scheduled hearing dates (above).

To view proceedings live, click here: LIVE WEB-CAST OF HYDE INQUIRY

To view archived recordings of completed proceedings, click here: HYDE INQUIRY ARCHIVE

Niagara Regional Police says five officers in Taser incident will be retrained

July 3, 2009
Posted By KARENA WALTER, SUN MEDIA

The Niagara Regional Police Service says it will likely provide remedial training to officers slammed in a civil court decision for illegally arresting and Tasering a St. Catharines man.

But the five officers taken to task by a Superior Court judge won't be disciplined by the police service because too much time has passed since the Dec. 18, 2003 incident.

The NRP issued a statement Thursday, reacting to the $50,000 civil decision won by 30-year-old Michael Parsons against the service.

The service said it had the opportunity to review the decision and accepts the findings of the court.

"This civil proceeding served to provide the community with a public airing of evidence that concluded in a judgement against the officers involved," Chief Wendy Southall said in the media release.

"We respect the findings of the court and plan a comprehensive internal response."

Parsons sued the police service and five officers -- Michael Woodfine, Dino Cirillo, Todd Priddle, James Tallevi and Darren Forbes -- for negligence, false arrest, assault, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He was the passenger in a Jeep pulled over on the outskirts of Niagara Falls and testified he was dragged out of the vehicle by police and assaulted.

During the incident, Parsons said he was choked, pulled into a ditch and Tasered 10 to 15 times, including in his genitals and while handcuffed.

The officers claimed Parsons resisted arrest and was not cooperative.

After a civil trial in Welland in March, Justice Raymond Harris released his decision this week strongly condemning the officers involved.

"The events that unfolded at the side of the road that December evening strike me as epitomizing arbitrary and capricious conduct deserving of strong condemnation from this court," he wrote.

The judge said he believed the police engaged in an act of reprisal against Parsons for yelling, "Hey baby," out of the Jeep window at one of the offi-cers.

"This was not a situation where the officers were confronted by an aggressive and assaultive man requiring them to defend themselves," Harris wrote. "The circumstances suggest that the opposite was true."

He called the officers actions "troubling" and "offensive" and didn't find their testimony credible.

"Each of these officers abused their position of authority in a manner which cannot be condoned."

The police service said in its statement yesterday that a public complaint about the officers was not made at the time of the incident.

As a result, an investigation into potential misconduct of the officers was not conducted at the time.

Disciplinary charges against the officers involved would be problematic now, the NRP said, because of time limitations in the Police Services Act as well as "notions of fairness and natural justice."

The statement was released just after 5 p. m. and media relations officer Const. Ken Bettes said no one in the executive office was available to comment further.

Bettes did explain that a disciplinary charge must be laid within six months from the time of an infraction under the police services act.

The NRP said it will use other measures to address issues raised by the decision. It said that is expected to include remedial training for the offi-cers focusing on powers of arrest, use of force and note taking.

In his decision, Harris said that although officers justified pulling over the Jeep because Parsons was hanging out the window, none of them wrote that observation in their notes.

The NRP's policy on Tasers has changed since the time of the incident. Prior to July 2008, a Taser could be used on a suspect "actively resisting" an offi-cer.

Since that time, a suspect must be exhibiting "assaultive behaviour."

Tasered Metro Vancouver teen may face charges

METRO VANCOUVER — A teenager who was sent to hospital after being Tasered by Surrey RCMP Thursday may face criminal charges.

RCMP said they arrived at a park in the Vancouver suburb around 9 p.m. to find the boy “highly intoxicated” and brandishing a six-inch knife.

A police officer Tasered the teenager in lieu of lethal force, according to an RCMP news release Friday.

Once officers used the Taser, they escorted him to a police vehicle.

After vomiting in the rear of the vehicle, the suspect was taken to a nearby firehall where he was given oxygen, the news release said.

He was taken to hospital for further examination.

The teenager is currently at a holding cell at the Surrey RCMP detachment.

The RCMP said it is considering charges for uttering threats or grievous bodily harm, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon.

Taser use by RCMP in B.C. has been in the spotlight recently, specifically in the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered and restrained by RCMP at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, 2007.

The inquiry into the death of 40-year-old Dziekanski has been put on hold until Sept 22, after an explosive e-mail from a senior commanding RCMP officer surfaced which said the four Mounties had discussed using a Taser against Dziekanski before arriving at the airport.

California man dies after stun gun used in arrest

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A man died Thursday morning after being arrested by Kern County Sheriff's deputies.

Latoya McKenzie, 20, said she flagged down patrol deputies just after midnight claiming her husband had assaulted her. She said her husband, 25-year-old Rory McKenzie, had broken out a car window with a baseball bat while she was sitting in the car.

Deputies went to an apartment on the 900 block of Feliz Drive in east Bakersfield and used a Taser and sheriff's dog when Rory McKenzie resisted arrest, according to a sheriff's office news release. Deputies noticed he had stopped breathing and took him to Kern Medical Center, where he died.

Latoya McKenzie said she wasn't home when her husband was arrested, but she said her three children were there. She criticized deputies for their handling of the situation.

"There's about six, seven police officers and just him," Latoya McKenzie said, "and a canine dog, but they felt so threatened that they had to Taser him with two rows, or whatever."

The incident is under investigation, but Sr. Deputy Michael Whorf said deputies are allowed to use one higher level of force that a suspect is using in order to subdue to suspect.

'Taser creep' key risk over time

OK - that's it - we need an Australian taser-usage-creep site!! No ifs, ands or buts about it. As much as I'd like to, I can't carry the world here.

July 3, 2009 - 8:44AM
Marissa Calligeros
Queensland Police say a new stringent Taser monitoring body will minimise the risk of officers becoming trigger-happy.

While a report into Queensland Police's 12-month trial of Tasers - made public yesterday - found the stun guns had been an "effective use-of-force option", it identified "Taser creep" and over-reliance as key risks associated with the controversial weapons.

The report, which concluded Tasers were "safe and effective", came three weeks after a statewide roll-out of the controversial weapons was halted following the death of a man in north Queensland.

Taser creep, as defined in the report, is the risk that, over time, the devices "begin to be used in situations beyond their intended use".

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said he was concerned about officers' tendency to rely on the Taser as a "weapon of choice" rather than properly considering the alternatives.

"Rather than use verbal communication skills or handcuffs or some minor physical engagement they might use a Taser so police come to rely on it more than they need too, over time," Mr Atkinson said.

A Significant Event Review Panel, to be overviewed by the Ethical Standards Command, will soon be established in each region to monitor the use of Tasers as a result of the concerns raised in the report.

"I can assure you that we want to get the balance right," Mr Atkinson said.

However, Ryan and Bosscher criminal defence lawyer Jim Coburn said increased monitoring of Tasers would do little to reduce their misuse.

Mr Coburn initially raised concerns officers would become "Taser happy" at the outset of the stun gun trial in July 2007. The trial was effectively cut to six months by former Police Minister Judy Spence when she announced in January last year the rollout would go ahead.

"This is simply a smoke and mirrors situation," Mr Coburn said.

"Senior officers (in the Significant Event Review Panel) will do their job as they're supposed to be doing right now."

Mr Coburn said he was now awaiting the outcome of the official review of the devices, currently underway.

"But as usual, no word has been given whether the safety risks of the Taser are being investigated, which has been our big concern all along," he said.

"Without this police will become ignorant to the fact Tasers can if not maim people, fatally injure them.

"They going to be using Tasers far more frequently and with far less consideration of the ramifications associated with that."

The report revealed that on 12 occasions, police fired the electric shock weapons multiple times on one person.

All but one of the incidents involved the Taser being used in stun drive mode - where the Taser is pressed directly on to the skin or clothing to deliver acute pain via an electric shock.

On one occasion the offender was Tasered up to 10 times in stun mode; on eight occasions the Taser was deployed three times; and on two occasions one person was stunned five times.

"In many cases sadly those people were suicidal or engaging in self harm such as stabbing themselves with knives or broken glass or had ingested methamphetamines," Mr Atkinson said.

The majority of people shot with a Taser, during the trial, had pre-existing mental health conditions, while three-quarters of offenders were unarmed at the time.

Frontline officers have had access to Tasers since December, and in that time, 12 complaints have been referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) for investigation.

Since the statewide roll-out began in January the Taser has been used 291 times, although the devices have been deployed in stun mode on only nine occasions.

"Increased use of tactical communication skills has also had a significant effect as presentation of the Taser alone to control a situation has risen from 41 per cent to 75 per cent since the start of the general roll-out," Mr Atkinson said.

Under the recommendations made in the report, the Taser's inbuilt memory chip will be audited and Tasers will be included in Ethical Standards Command audits and inspections of stations.

Taser Cams - video cameras attached to the stun guns - will be considered in the review undertaken after the death of Brandon man Antonio Galeano on June 10.

Mr Galeano, 39, died after being shot with a Taser during a police stand off. An on-board computer later revealed the weapon had been fired up to 28 times.

The death prompted Mr Roberts to call a temporary stop to the roll-out of Tasers and review of training received by new officers.

However, those officers who have already been equipped with Tasers will continue to carry them while the Crime and Misconduct Commission and Queensland Police complete the four-week joint review.

Currently, about 1240 of a planned 2000 Tasers are in circulation across the force and 7000 officers have been trained in their use.

Go-ahead for Taser abuse

July 2, 2009
Westender

Queensland Government's Taser Trial Report gives a green light to further misuse, says critic Peter Pyke

“No Queenslander can take any comfort from the Taser Trial Report,” says former-MP and former-Queensland Police Service sergeant Peter Pyke.

Pyke says that the Report is flawed and one-sided, but - despite this - the evidence it presents is alarming.

Pyke said that a perusal of the report not only confirmed that Queensland Police had commonly misused Tasers, but also made the case that there is little being done to prevent such misuse.

“Seventy-five per cent of people Tasered in Queensland during the trial period were unarmed,” says Pyke.

“Three were only 16 years old.”

“Fair-minded Queenslanders should be questioning why nearly 15 per cent of Taser deployments occurred inside police stations or watch-houses,” says Pyke.

“In nearly 10 per cent of cases, the Taser was used a number of times, and on one occasion was used up to 10 times on an individual,” says Pyke.

“In 17 per cent of cases, people who were already restrained in handcuffs were Tasered,” says Pyke.

“While 16 per cent of people Tasered were later placed in psychiatric care, the greatest percentage – 62% - were charged only with minor public order charges,” says Pyke.

“Queenslanders were told our police officers needed Tasers for Life or Death situations,” says Pyke. “This Report makes a mockery of that.”

“The Report confirms that young people between 20 and 29 are the most at-risk age group for being Tasered by police, but it is indigenous Queenslanders who are at the highest risk,” says Pyke.

“Of all deployments recorded on the data downloads of the Taser, a whopping 20 per cent was unexplained, and it was noted in the Report that it was possible these usages represented possible unreported deployments against individuals,” says Pyke.

The report itself stated that the “full circumstances of an incident may not have been clearly documented”.

Where data about Taser data was unavailable, the Report could only find that this was due to ‘officer error’.

“Where complaints were received about inappropriate Taser use,” says Pyke, “one investigation was incomplete some 18 months after the complaint was made, and even though it related to a young man who was Tasered more than once inside a police watch-house, the Report sanctioned that highly inappropriate usage.”

“In another case, when a homeless man made a complaint, no records of the event could be located,” says Pyke.

Pyke says the Report is clearly flawed in its reliance only on subjective police sources, which includes hit-and-miss data collection by police themselves and on self-serving police reports which had been found to be untruthful in at least one instance where CCTV footage of the incident contradicted the required Significant Event Report furnished by the officer involved.

Where objective data such as CCTV footage and witnesses statements were available to reviewers, this data was ignored by reviewers.

“Despite this, the Report confirms my fears,” says Pyke.

“No where in the report does it state that Tasers can kill,” says Pyke, “and nowhere in the report does it state that Tasers are for Life or Death situations, only.”

“The Report makes no useful recommendations about capturing reliable data via an independent auditing method. It leaves it up to internal police processes to capture and record all data. The Report itself confirms that is unwise,” says Pyke.

Pyke says the Report would be a ‘green light’ to the cowboys and cowgirls in the Queensland Police Service who might judge that they may misuse Tasers with impunity.

“There is a place for the Taser on the weapons-belts of Queensland Police,” says Pyke, “but it is a potentially lethal weapon which should only be used in Life or Death situations.”

Pyke maintained his call to Police Minister Neil Roberts and Commissioner Bob Atkinson to meet with him and other interested parties to discuss Tasers.

“Queenslanders should also remember that since the trial concluded, there have been two Taser-related deaths in Queensland, and no clear findings about those deaths have yet been published,” says Pyke.

Pyke urged Queenslanders to read the Report itself, available at the Queensland Police Service website.

Police taser roll-out now a step closer

July 1, 2009
Radio New Zealand

The introduction of the taser for use by New Zealand police has moved a step closer with the completion of a national roadshow on the use of the weapon. Inspector Jason Ross says a focus of the briefings for police and the media was to dispel what he says are myths about the taser.

While people have died after being tased overseas, he says no-one has died as a direct result of the electric shock.**

The issue of 681 tasers will be rolled-out across New Zealand from about March next year.

- 30 -

**That is an outright lie. According to Amnesty International, the taser has been directly linked by coroners/medical examiners to at least 50 deaths. That number would be higher; however medical examiners and coroners are often not impartial but are instead biased in favour of the Crown or, as has been shown, they are under tremendous pressure from - among others - Taser International, to make a particular finding. See Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions.

Taser Int'l to unveil new Taser X3

July 1, 2009
by Andrew Johnson, The Arizona Republic

Taser International Inc.'s newest law-enforcement stun gun will be able to aim at and shoot multiple targets at once, but the company is staying tight-lipped about the technology until later this month.

Scottsdale-based Taser said Wednesday that it will unveil the Taser X3 at its annual tactical conference July 27 at the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort in Fountain Hills.

Taser is trying to build buzz around the product by revealing new details about the technology at its Web site daily and on Facebook and Twitter social-networking sites.

The X3's capabilities will be "quite a leap forward" from the Taser X26, the stun gun the company began selling to law enforcement in 2003, spokesman Steve Tuttle said.

The X26 device shoots two metal probes attached to conductive wires that can reach a target as far as 35 feet. They incapacitate a target by emitting up to 50,000 volts of electricity.

Tuttle would not say what the price for the X3 is but said it will be "cost competitive in terms of what it can do." The company currently sells the X26 for about $800 per unit.

The X3 is one of several new products Taser has ramped up research-and-development spending on during the last two years.

The company, which has been the subject of numerous product-liability and wrongful-death lawsuits over the use of its stun guns, has been trying to diversify its product line to battle lower sales.

Taser's shares closed up 2.2 percent at $4.66 on Wednesday.

Niagara Regional Police officers must pay for ‘act of reprisal'

July 1, 2009
Kirk Makin, Globe and Mail

An Ontario Superior Court judge has ordered five police officers to pay $50,000 to a Niagara Falls man for dragging him from his car, repeatedly beating and tasering him, and then wrongly imprisoning him for five days.

Mr. Justice C.R. Harris included a rare punitive damages award of $20,000, saying that each of the Niagara Regional Police officers “decided to flout the law for their own purposes. The actions of the officers in this case are very troubling an offence and, I suspect, would deeply sadden and shock the community in which they were perpetrated.”

Judge Harris said that concocted testimony from the officers carried an odour of conspiracy, and that their real motive in assaulting Michael Allan Parsons was “an act of reprisal” against a local rounder whom they disliked and believed had insulted them.

“I am persuaded that their testimony was at times self-serving, often equivocal and unclear, and in some instances, pure fiction,” Judge Harris said. “Their testimony also struck me as being too pure and sanitized.”

The attack took place around 10 p.m. December 18, 2003 on a rural road near Fort Erie, Ont. Judge Harris found that Mr. Parsons yelled, “Hey, baby,” at one of the officers as he and his fiancée, Terri Lynn Ryckman, drove by a group of police gathered by the road.

Judge Harris said that the officers, Michael Woodfine, Dino Cirillo, Todd Priddle, James Tallevi and Darren Forbes, lied in claiming that Mr. Parsons hurled profanity at them and hung halfway out the window of his jeep.

In testimony at his trial on charges of assault and resisting arrest, Mr. Parsons described being pulled from the jeep in a chokehold, and having his hands handcuffed behind his back while the officers administered 15 taser shocks to his legs, scrotum, throat, back and buttocks.

“It felt like fire,” he testified. “It felt like it made my whole body convulse and jump.… It just burned.… Your whole body just jumps when it hits you. It's excruciating.

“I was in terror,” Mr. Parsons said. “I feared for my life afterwards because of what they had done to me.… I feel that I could have died that day on the side of that road. I'm still scared to this day.”

The officers, for their part, described a wild melee that they claimed Mr. Parsons provoked by charging out of his jeep in a rage. They said that he repeatedly attacked them, wrestling them to the ground, and gave up only after receiving a few measured jolts with the taser.

Judge Harris rejected their story almost entirely. “The events that unfolded at the side of the road that December evening strike me as epitomizing arbitrary and capricious conduct deserving of strong condemnation from this court,” he said.

Judge Harris also noted that the Crown later dropped the charges against Mr. Parsons, who subsequently sued police over his treatment.

The award was assessed at $83,000, but only $50,000 could be awarded for technical legal reasons. It includes $30,000, against officers Tallevi, Woodfine and Cirillo for the assault and tasering; $19,000 against Officer Tallevi for false arrest and false imprisonment and malicious prosecution; and $10,000 for nervous shock and emotional distress.

Judge Harris awarded $20,000 to Ms. Ryckman.

Officers appeal misconduct decision in Taser inquiry

June 20, 2009
The Canadian Press/CTV

VANCOUVER -- The RCMP officers involved in Robert Dziekanski's death are appealing a court decision that allows a public inquiry to make findings of misconduct against them.

The four Mounties challenged Commissioner Thomas Braidwood's authority to allege misconduct against officers on the federal police force -- something the commissioner has warned he'll consider when he writes his final report.

But a B.C. Supreme Court judge dismissed their claims, and now the officers are taking the case to the B.C. Court of Appeal.

A lawyer for the officer who fired the Taser, Const. Kwesi Millington, has already filed his appeal and the others are expected to follow.

David Butcher, who represents Const. Bill Bentley, says the case raises important constitutional questions about such a provincial inquiry's authority over federal police officers.

Prosecutors in B.C. decided last year not to charge the officers but Braidwood is considering a number of allegations made during the inquiry, including that they lied about what happened at the airport that day.

The inquiry is currently on hold until September as lawyers investigate an internal RCMP email that surfaced earlier this month that raised questions about the officers' testimony.

California man dies after being shot with taser

Shawn Iinuma, 37

June 30, 2009
Richard Brooks, The Press Enterprise

A 37-year-old Fontana [California] man died Monday morning after being Tasered when he became violent while being treated for an apparent methamphetamine overdose, Fontana police said.

Police and fire were summoned to the 7500 block of Cherimoya Avenue by Shawn Iinuma's family at 1:15 a.m. because he had been using meth and was acting strangely, investigators wrote in a statement.

A lengthy struggle ensued after he became violent and police Tasered him, the statement said. Iinuma stopped breathing after being restrained. He died at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center.

*******************************

A comment received here this morning says:

How many times does this sequence of events need to play out? When will good men recognize and stop this scenario? ~

Occam's Razor, the generally accepted principle of Logically Connected Progressions, or, to quote Sir Isaac Newton, proclaims: "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and **sufficient** to explain their appearances. Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, so far as possible, assign the same causes."

Shawn Iinuma, a human being, was intoxicated with drugs, involved in a "lengthy struggle", tasered and he died. He didn't die during the "lengthy struggle", but only after the pain/torture/control device was used, where what remaining ability to use his muscles, was mindlessly, rapidly depleted by a device which has no ability to know when the muscles, including the heart, have reached an inability to resume normal function.

The common intervening factor in these deaths is the introduction of a "control device, or a method of restraint", and the post-mortem search for other factors ignores Occam's Razor, which says all the factors you need to look at are the agitated state of the arrestee, his near state of exhaustion and the introduction of a dangerous electrical device which rapidly exercises muscles without any feedback mechanism to warn that the normal chemical factors which will stop a spiral to certain death, have been over-ridden by the stun device.

It is approaching insanity to look for other "causes" or explanations. Occam and Sir Isaac Newton would conclude "It was the taser/control/restraint which led to this death."

Tasers On Campus - REJECTED

June 29, 2009
By WKRG Staff

The Mobile County School Board voted down a proposal that would allow security officers to carry tasers on school campuses. The issue was on the agenda during Monday night's meeting.

Before the meeting, Superintendent Roy Nichols recommended that the school board should adopt a policy that strictly outlines when security officers can use a taser. He also recommended that security staff be trained and certified by Mobile Police.

The proposal was rejected by a vote of 3 - 2. Ken Megginson and Judy Stout voted in favor of the proposal.

RCMP Corruption

I was given permission to post this letter here. The "original" is posted on the Canadian Civil Rights Movement website.

June 25, 2009

Dear Mr. Riddle,

In my letter to Zofia Cisowski, I promised her that I would continue to shine a critical light on those that I believe are ultimately responsible for her son’s death. Moreover, I closed my letter by stating that I thought someone needed to stand up and assert that “the emperor wears no clothes”. It is in that spirit and in light of recent events that I pick up my pen once more.

As you are well aware on June 19, 2009, a federal lawyer (representing the RCMP) produced an e-mail that suggests the four RCMP members committed perjury while senior executives stood by and said nothing. This revelation has placed in the spotlight a group of RCMP executives (that reach across the country) who seem to believe that they can not only make the rules but break them. Tragically, Robert Dziekanski’s role in this national tragedy has been to expose the corruption that exists in the upper echelon of the RCMP.

There are very few corrupt police organizations, however most of them have members who commit corrupt acts from time to time. This may sound shocking to the average person who until recently likely never thought much about the internal workings of law enforcement agencies. The term “police corruption” has been used to describe many activities including: bribery; violence and brutality; racism, favouritism or nepotism; and the fabrication and destruction of evidence. Any definition of police corruption must address both “financial” and “process” corruption. When we hear of police corruption most of us think of a policeman perhaps receiving a “kickback” (for referral services) or being part of a “shakedown” (receiving a bribe for not following through on a criminal act). These are examples of financial corruption. We don’t often think of “the fix” (the undermining of a criminal investigation or some other proceeding) as being an example of police corruption; however, it is and RCMP executives appear to be guilty of it.

It is generally accepted that police corruption necessarily involves an abuse of position or authority. What is really corrupted then is the “special trust” that is invested in the occupation. Am I surprised that, it appears as if, the RCMP executive attempted to interfere with the outcome of a public process? No I am not, as they do it to their own on a frequent basis.

It is a fact that approximately half of the RCMP’s frontline employees do not trust their employer. They are afraid for their safety and well being. Where do you suppose this mistrust originates? The RCMP executive routinely breaks the “special trust” it should have with its’ own employees.

After more than 30 years working as a clinician for the RCMP I could relate dozens of horror stories illustrating management’s corrupt treatment of its’ own employees. I won’t though, as I must honour the confidentiality of my patients. However, you can get a taste of what I’m talking about by re-visiting the Gatehouse and Gillis article in the November 14, 2007 MacLeans magazine. In each of the cases cited, by the authors, there is either evidence of, or strong suggestion of, corrupt activity on the part of RCMP management including; racism; favouritism or nepotism; harassment; misuse of resources; unwarranted or frivolous investigations; interference; and, the fabrication or destruction of evidence. Am I surprised that four RCMP members may have perjured themselves with executive approval? Not at all.

How could this apparent descent into corruption possibly occur within such a once revered institution? One explanation is often termed “The Dirty Harry Problem” (or just cause corruption). At the heart of this problem is the question of whether “a morally good end” ever justifies the use of ethically, politically, or legally dangerous means to its’ achievement. Once inside the RCMP it doesn’t take long before one learns that in the culture of the RCMP nothing is more important than the image of the organization. Culpable (corrupt) behaviour actually becomes honourable when carried out under a moral justification to preserve the image of the Force.

The answer to the above posed “ends-means” question is that “dirty means” must always be regarded and punished as dirty – even though their use can be justified under the extreme circumstance of saving the reputation of a Canadian icon. We must always be cognizant of the “slippery slope”. This phenomenon has two facets: the logical and the psychological. The logical version suggests that although the gap between major and minor transgressions may be significant, there are many other transgressions in the gap which makes the setting of some logical boundary impossible. Have they gone as far as interfering in criminal investigations?

The psychological facet points to the process of self labeling that occurs as an individual (or organization) moves from minor to major forms of corruption. There is a continuum of steps, at each of which a moral decision is required. Each step involves a gradual redefining of self as someone who can execute ever more serious forms of corruption. The journey is long but the steps are small between minor and major transgressions – so small it becomes progressively easier to justify the next one based upon the acceptance of the last one. So what transgressions will we find along the RCMP’s apparent journey into corruption?

I am sending this letter to you for a couple of reasons. First, because someone needs to use the word….corruption. We seem to be hesitant to use it in relation to our once beloved national police service. In this regard, don’t forget there are very few entirely corrupt police organizations, but we should not be surprised that there may be corrupt elements with the RCMP.

Secondly, the surfacing of this e-mail should serve to both catalyze and galvanize the Canadian public. If what we now suspect is true, this will constitute an oppression of our civil liberty; it is the public’s right to know. We must get behind a complete re-invention of the RCMP or it will only get sicker and sicker. The causes of police corruption include: factors that are intrinsic to the job; the nature of police organizations; the nature of “police culture”; the opportunities that exist for corruption inherent in the “political” and “task” environments; and the nature and extent of the effort put into controlling corruption.

Some may be discouraged by the challenge and say “but we have no forum” for such a transformational change. I would say the people of Iran have no forum to address the corrupt activities of their government either – but look at them.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Webster
Police Psychologist

'Why shoot me?' asks Taser victim

June 29, 2009
BBC News

It was the first time the weapon was used in Northern Ireland

The first person to be shot with a Taser stun gun in Northern Ireland says he doesn't know why he was fired at.

On Friday, all charges against Declan Smith, 38, of Elaghmore Park, Londonderry, were dropped.

He was tasered by police last August after claims that he had locked himself inside a house with his two children.

District Judge Barney McElhom told him that he left the court with no stain on his character.

Mr Smith said he was woken in the middle of the night on 24 August last year, to find his house surrounded by armed police.

"They shouted for me to come out and I tried to get out through the front door, but it was locked.

"So I shouted: 'I'll go to the back.'

"I didn't know what was going on or why they were. When I went to the back door, I opened it and I was asked to step out. I stepped out and I was immediately tasered.

"I couldn't comprehend what was happening. It was very hard to take in. I kept asking why and I was getting no answers from the police. One comment that one of them said was: 'You're lucky you didn't get two live rounds in the chest.'"

In court in Derry on Friday, charges that Mr Smith had mad threats to kill, were dropped after a prosecution lawyer said the alleged injured party had withdrawn her statement.

Taser guns fire two wires which attach to the body and carry an electric shock.

The police were given permission to buy 12 Taser guns in 2008, despite opposition from human rights groups and some members of the policing board.

Happy Birthday, Bob

This week marked the five-year anniversary of my brother's death. My only brother. Bob was his name. Bob was the 58th person in North America to die after he was tasered. Bob was alone in the washroom in the building where he lived. He weighed 136 pounds. He was UNARMED and posed NO CREDIBLE THREAT to anyone, least of all to the THIRTEEN Vancouver police officers who were present. He was tasered at least twice, probably more. He died moments later.

Had Bob been treated with some modicum of compassion instead of multiple 50,000 volt taser jolts, he would have been celebrating his 50th birthday today.