Teen hit by Taser died of cardiac arrest - Doctor finds no pre-existing heart problems in youth who was shocked by police officer at grocery store

HERE COMES THE JUDGE:
TASER INTERNATIONAL VS. DR. THOMAS OWENS, Medical Examiner
Don't believe the taser manufacturer would target a medical examiner? See "Judge rules for taser in cause-of-death decisions"

July 4, 2008
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Franco Ordoñez
The Charlotte Observer

A 17-year-old shocked with a Taser by police after an altercation at a northern Charlotte grocery store died from cardiac arrest, according to an autopsy released Friday.

Darryl Wayne Turner's heart was pumping so fast and chaotically from the Taser shot and stress of the confrontation that it stopped pumping blood properly. He died of acute ventricular dysrhythmia and ventricular fibrillation, according to the Mecklenburg medical examiner's office.

Turner was the first Taser-related fatality in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's history and the youngest in the Carolinas this decade.

Police confronted an “agitated” Turner on March 20 during an argument with his manager of a Prosperity Church Road grocery store. Police said Turner threw something at a manager, ignored commands and advanced toward Officer Jerry Dawson Jr., who deployed a Taser. The energy weapon struck Turner in the chest, and he fell to the carpeted floor.

“This lethal disturbance in the heart rhythm was precipitated by the agitated state and associated stress as well as the use of the conducted energy weapon (Taser) designed for incapacitation through electro-muscular disruption,” Dr. Thomas Owens wrote in the autopsy.

Owens found no pre-existing heart problems.

Turner worked at the Food Lion store, where he was a cashier and bagged groceries. Documents state he was asked by a manager to leave the store but refused. Police said Officer Jerry Dawson Jr., a 15-year veteran, fired his Taser to get Turner under control after the teen advanced toward him. An attorney representing the family says he talked to a witness who refutes the account.

An April study by the Taser Safety Project found that the improper use of Tasers has contributed to the deaths of at least 11 people in North Carolina over the past four years. The autopsy cites a National Institute of Justice study that concludes that while Tasers devices are not risk-free, there is “no conclusive medical evidence” indicating a high risk of serious injury.

As Taser use rises, so do questions about risks of fatalities

September 4, 2011
James Halpin, FayObserver

The prongs from the Taser latched onto Martin Mitchell Sr.'s side, feeling like a knife had stabbed into his torso. Mitchell says he instantly went limp and started convulsing, nearly swallowing his tongue.

"My whole left side went numb," said Mitchell, 45, who was zapped Tuesday by a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy after allegedly assaulting his 16-year-old son outside Westover Middle School. "I couldn't even remember too much that happened, you understand. That's how bad that thing messed me up. I kept blinking in and out."

Mitchell, who disputes deputies' account that he was punching his son and that he ran at one of the intervening deputies, says he believes officers are increasingly likely to use Tasers because they are less lethal than firearms.

Industry watchdogs say Mitchell is not too far off the mark.

Katy Parker, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, said the group has seen an increase in Taser use throughout the state and the country, partly because Tasers have become ubiquitous in law enforcement. As a result, Tasers are increasingly being used in situations where officers would not have pulled a firearm - situations that in some cases don't require much force at all, she said.

"Tasers are weapons that can be very effective if you have a suspect who is putting the officer in danger or someone else at risk of harm," Parker said. "But they're often used in situations where an officer issues an order and the suspect doesn't comply in some way. It's kind of used as pain compliance. ... That's very dangerous."

Fayetteville police have been using Tasers since 1996, and numbers released last week show that their use has been on the rise in recent years. Officers deployed Tasers 20 times in 2007 and only 16 times in 2008. But they stunned suspects 31 times in 2009 and 60 times last year, according to police numbers. Police had used their Tasers 25 times so far through August of this year.

Fayetteville police spokesman Gavin MacRoberts said Taser usage has been on the rise for several reasons. There are more officers in the field than before because the department has been nearly fully staffed in recent years, and those officers are equipped with newer, smaller Tasers that they keep on their belts, rather than in their patrol cars, he said.

Police also have been encountering more incidents each year that meet the department's requirements for using Tasers, MacRoberts said. That has to do in part with police encountering an increasing number of suspects under the influence of drugs or alcohol or with mental-health problems, he said.

Last week, the department pulled all of its Taser M26 units off the streets for testing following the death of 56-year-old Michael Wade Evans, a political activist who died after he was stunned by police on Aug. 24. Police say he was acting erratically and trying to jump on vehicles on Eastern Boulevard.

Evans was pronounced dead at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. His cause of death remains under investigation.

Cumberland deaths

Evans is the third person to die in Cumberland County after being hit with a stun gun.

In 2005, a Cumberland County deputy hit 52-year-old Richard McKinnon with a Taser. McKinnon, who had crashed his van after trying to elude deputies, was soaked in gasoline and burst into flames.

Otis C. Anderson, 36, died after Fayetteville police used a Taser to subdue him in January 2008. An autopsy found he had a lethal amount of cocaine in his system.

Earlier this year, Brandon Jolvon "Red" Bethea, a 24-year-old schizophrenic inmate at the Harnett County Jail, died after being shocked with a stun gun multiple times, according to an autopsy report. Deputies left the Fayetteville man lying unchecked on the floor for about 20 minutes before discovering that he was unconscious.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner concluded following the autopsy that his death was caused by "complications of conducted energy device application."

Eddie Caldwell Jr., executive vice president and general counsel of the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association, noted that many deaths associated with Tasers are not caused by the shock but rather by other causes, such as drug overdoses. He said his understanding is that Tasers are safe when used on healthy people and that many law enforcement agencies require officers who carry them to be shocked as part of the certification process so they understand the consequences.

Tasers can help reduce the likelihood of a struggle - and the risk of injury to officers and suspects - during an arrest of an aggressive person, he said.

"If you've got a suspect with a butcher knife coming at you, as an officer, you have the legal right to kill him. But if you've got a Taser, you can tase him and that's more humane and a much better outcome for the suspect," Caldwell said. "The Taser is a device that, as much as anything, helps the citizen who is at that point belligerent and uncooperative."

Taser International says it has sold more than a 500,000 stun guns to more than 16,000 law enforcement and military agencies around the world. The company maintains that its weapons protect life.

Tasers reduce excessive use-of-force complaints and save lives while reducing the risk of injuries to suspects and police, Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said.

"Although no use-of-force device is risk free - including Taser technology - when used properly, medical and law enforcement experts have concluded that Taser technology is among the most effective response to resistance tools available," Tuttle said. "We continue to stand by the independent peer-reviewed medical studies that have shown that the Taser electronic-control devices are generally safe and effective."

Study

In May, the National Institute of Justice published a study of nearly 300 people who died after being shot with stun guns. In the vast majority of those cases, the devices "played no role in the death," according to the study, which reviewed 22 cases in which a stun gun was listed as a cause of death.

The study found that the risk of death when police deploy stun guns is less than 0.25 percent and says that "there is no conclusive medical evidence" that short-term electric shocks cause a high risk of serious injury or death in healthy, non-stressed and non-intoxicated people.

"However, there are groups who may be at risk for sudden death and those who are more vulnerable to physical insult," the report says. "These disparate but occasionally overlapping groups include small children, those with diseased hearts, the elderly and pregnant women."

It advised officers to avoid continuously shocking suspects for longer than 15 seconds but concluded that law enforcement officers do not need to refrain from using the devices to arrest uncooperative or combative subjects so long as the devices are used properly.

Amnesty International, which counts more than 460 deaths following Taser use since June 2001, responded by saying that the report underscores the need for strict limits on the use of shock weapons.

The group expressed concern that many of the study's nearly 300 people who died after being stunned did not appear to present a serious threat at the time they were shocked.

"Amnesty International believes that, apart from safety concerns, electro-shock weapons are particularly open to abuse as they are easy to use and they can inflict severe pain at the push of a button without leaving substantial marks," the group said in a statement.

Lawsuit

The ACLU's Parker pointed to the death of 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner - a teen who suffered a fatal arrhythmia in Charlotte in 2008 after being shocked for 37 seconds by a Taser X26 - as an example of how Tasers can be dangerous when police hold the trigger down.

Dr. Douglas Zipes, an electrophysiologist and former director of the Division of Cardiology at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology, filed an expert report in a civil lawsuit against Taser by Turner's family. In the report, Zipes cites studies on animals conducted before Turner's death that showed Tasers have the potential to produce heart arrhythmias and ventricular fibrillation in the hearts of pigs.

"The medical hazard of ECD shocks resulting in cardiac arrest was foreseeable prior to March 2008 and appropriate testing should have been done to investigate this possibility before placing these products on the market," Zipes wrote.

In September 2009, Taser issued new warnings indicating that the risk of ventricular fibrillation following shocks is 1 in 100,000, he wrote. A federal jury in July awarded Turner's family a $10 million judgment against Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser because of his death.

The day after that award, a 21-year-old man died after a Taser was used on him, prompting the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to pull its Tasers from use pending a review.

Guidelines

Pat Norris, president of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, said the association recommends that departments have policies in place regarding Taser use, but does not itself issue guidelines.

Law enforcement in Cumberland County do have such policies. The Fayetteville Police Department's policy addresses when it is appropriate for officers to use their stun guns. Those situations include:

When officers need to control violent subjects when deadly force does not appear to be necessary.

When conventional tactics including verbal commands and firm grip control are ineffective.

When officers cannot safely get close to a subject.

To keep a person from committing suicide or hurting himself.

After Evans' death, however, the department said it plans to review its Taser policies and procedures, in addition to inspecting the weapons. Police say they have no reason to believe the Taser that was used in Evans' arrest malfunctioned, but they were pulling the devices for inspection as a precaution.

"In light of recent incidents in not only here, but in other jurisdictions as well, it was decided that it was the prudent and responsible action to ensure all Tasers are in proper working condition," said MacRoberts, the Fayetteville police spokesman.

The weapons are being sent to the manufacturer to be tested to ensure the Tasers are operating within factory specifications for output and also to verify that their data recording systems are properly functioning, he said.

It was not known how long it would take Taser to complete the inspections, MacRoberts said.

Numbers for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office use of Tasers were not available as of Friday.

Debbie Tanna, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said deputies have no plans to change their policy on using Tasers.

Deputies are sometimes confronted with aggressive people while alone, and Tasers offer them a way to subdue the suspects without bloodshed or causing permanent injury, she said.

Deputies carry batons, pepper spray and Tasers, but not all deputies carry all of those tools, Tanna said. When confronted with a threatening situation, the deputies must make a split-second decision on how best to negate the threat, she said.

"Our deputies don't have the luxury, in most cases, of making a decision by sitting around and mulling about it," Tanna said. "We feel that (Tasers) are safe. We like the fact that it is an option for us when trying to subdue a violent suspect or in a situation that is out of control."

In 2008, the ACLU helped start the N.C. Taser Safety Project, which sought to have law enforcement agencies develop policies to ensure people are safely subdued when Tasers must be used. Parker said that because of a number of recent high-profile cases involving Tasers, the ACLU is planning to send out a new records request to all 100 sheriff's offices in the state and 25 police departments seeking an update on their policies on using Tasers. Law enforcement agencies should have policies limiting Taser use on the old, young and sick, Parker said.

They also should prohibit officers from holding the trigger down or repeatedly pressing the trigger when unnecessary, she said.

"It can be an effective weapon, but there ought to be reasonable limitations and restrictions put on those weapons to keep people safe," Parker said. "I think most of the time law enforcement is trying to do the best job that they can. But Tasers are still relatively new, and I think a lot of times people aren't aware of the risks."

Police and tasers: hooked on shock

February 11, 2008
by Naomi Klein

The past couple of weeks have been rocky on the stock market, but one company that hasn't been suffering too much is Taser International. At the end of January, its stock jumped by an impressive 8 per cent, and it's even higher today.

Matthew McKay, a stock analyst at Jeffries & Co. in San Francisco, cites a simple cause: news that the Toronto Police Services Board plans to buy 3,000 new Taser electroshock weapons, at a cost of $8.6 million for gear and training. If the deal goes ahead, tasers would become standard issue weaponry for all of Toronto's frontline officers, right next to their handcuffs and batons.

On Wednesday night, I participated in a public forum about the prospect of a fully taser-armed police force, organized by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition. One speaker, who had a history of psychiatric illness, told the room: "We're worried because we're the people who are going to get shocked."

It's a concern grounded in experience. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair's own analysis, in 2006, city cops deployed the devices in 156 incidents. In all but nine, the subject appeared "to have a mental disorder" or was in some sort of "crisis."

Several speakers at the forum pointed out that $8.6 million would be better spent keeping people out of crisis — by opening more beds and providing better mental health and addiction services. Instead, four homeless shelters were closed last year, at a loss of 258 beds.

But the most troubling remark of the evening was this: "Why is this happening now?" The timing is indeed baffling. It was only three months ago that video of the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport caused an international furor. The tragedy exposed the most prevalent misconception about tasers: that they are used primarily as an alternative to guns. As former Toronto mayor John Sewell told me, "the taser is not the thing that replaces the gun, it's what replaces all the other things that police might do other than use a gun, like talk to you."

That certainly appears to have been the case with Mr. Dziekanski. When the RCMP approached him, they made no attempt to calm the unarmed Polish man, or to discover the source of his extreme agitation. Within 25 seconds, he was getting zapped.

Mr. Dziekanski's death also put a spotlight on the other post-taser deaths, the ones not caught on film. According to Amnesty International, 310 people in North America have died after being shocked with a taser since 2001.

Were these deaths caused by the device or by something else? Taser's aggressive lawyers make it tough to know. The company has been hit with roughly a hundred wrongful death and injury lawsuits and claims it hasn't lost one yet. But in August, Bloomberg News reported on "several mysterious dismissals" — instances where the plaintiffs asked for the cases to be thrown out. Though Taser denies paying off all its accusers, it admits to paying in some, "where the settlement economics … were significantly less than the cost of litigation."

Taser has consistently claimed that something else is causing the deaths. The company points to a report saying that that death by electrocution happens within seconds. Yet in many cases, subjects have died minutes, even days, after being shocked.

A recent study may explain the discrepancy. Trauma researchers at Chicago's Cook County Hospital conducted an experiment on 11 pigs, zapping each for 40 seconds; then zapping them again 10 or 15 seconds later. (This mimics how tasers are actually used, since Amnesty reports that those who have died after being Tasered were frequently "subjected to multiple or prolonged shocks.") The study found that all the pigs exhibited heart problems after the shocks and two of them died of cardiac arrest, one three minutes later.

Taser CEO Rick Smith has brushed off the study, saying human research is more relevant. However, according to Bob Walker, one of the lead researchers, it shows "that the effect of the taser shot can last beyond the time when it's being delivered."

So back to that question: Why now? In addition to the troubling new scientific evidence and the disconcerting lawsuits, there are several public investigations in Canada that are still ongoing. In addition to those sparked by the Dziekanski death, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are all conducting taser reviews.

Surely it would be wise for Toronto's police chief to wait for those findings before ordering a seven-fold taser increase. But something more powerful than reason appears to be at play here, and I believe it has to do with the seductive promise of no-touch policing.

No other method of controlling unruly suspects offers police the same kind of all-encompassing, instant effect. Talking, calming, negotiating are all messier and take time. Other physical techniques put officers' own bodies at risk.

Then there is the taser. The company boasts that its technology, which allows electrified darts to be fired from more than 10 meters away, "temporarily overrides the command and control systems of the body." At the push of a button, even the strongest, angriest subject drops to the floor. In a way, firing a taser is the maximum power one person can exert over another. As an Ottawa Police officer reportedly said after tasering protesters at the ministry of immigration back in 2003: "Less mess, more fun."

Few would argue with an officer's right to use an electroshock weapon when lives are in danger and the only alternative is a gun. Many Toronto police officers, particularly those on the Emergency Task Force, clearly use them with restraint.

Yet there is also plenty of evidence that some officers get hooked on shock. In Edmonton, in 2001, reports of taserings averaged less than once a week. Three years later, they were coming in daily. In another part of the country, a mother in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia called police when she and her 17-year-old daughter were having an argument. Three officers showed up and tasered the teen in her own bed. In a recent court ruling, the judge called these actions "very disturbing and disconcerting."

It may well be possible to prevent shock-happy policing with tighter controls. Yet, despite repeated calls for stricter regulations for police, Taser International is racing to get its devices in the hands of civilians, marketing the product as not just safe but fun. In the United States the company has been aggressively pushing its line of C2 "personal protectors" — available in pink, leopard print, and in holsters with built-in MP3 players. (The weapon is nicknamed the "iTaser.") Tupperware-style taser parties are springing up in the suburbs of Arizona.

Taser International is a company whose executives present themselves as serious experts in public safety. Yet it has launched this foray into fashion at the very moment when the safety of its devices is being questioned on multiple fronts. Valentine's Day is coming and Taser's website is busily hawking the C2 in flaming red. "Love her? Protect her," goes the slogan.

This is what corporations do: whatever they can get away with to sell more product. From Taser International, we should expect nothing less. From our police we have a right to expect much more.

Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

Taser killed Canadian teen Michael Langan - family sues Taser International

March 27, 2010
By Gabrielle Giroday, Winnipeg Free Press

The family of a Winnipeg teen who died after police stunned him with a Taser in July 2008 plans to sue the weapon-maker after an autopsy linked his death to the weapon, the family's lawyer said.

Autopsy results obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press say Michael Brian Langan, 17, died after police shocked him twice with a Taser in a city back lane in July 2008.

Police and witnesses said officers chased Langan down the lane after he broke into a car, and then shocked him after he refused to drop the knife he was brandishing.

The autopsy report says Langan's death was caused by a heart arrhythmia brought on by the Taser shocks.

The report indicates two darts hit Langan above his collarbone and on the left side of his chest.

Contributing to the death was a heart abnormality Langan had, as well as running from the police before he was shocked, says the report.

After Langan's death, his mother called on police to suspend their use of stun guns, saying she believed the Taser was connected to her son's death.

"This confirms it. There's no question about that," said lawyer Jay Prober, who represents Sharon Shymko, Langan's mother.

The report indicates Langan had injuries on his scalp, trunk and arms and legs as well as a high volume of alcohol in his system. The teenager also had marijuana in his system, the report says.

Prober said the family is planning a lawsuit that would "especially" target Taser International, the Arizona-based manufacturer of the stun guns Winnipeg police carry.

He said the family will also seek government funding to have counsel at the inquest into Langan's death.

"They don't have money," said Prober.

Taser International, which did not have access to Langan's autopsy report, issued the following comment Friday:

"TASER stands behind the safety of its products but it is our policy not to comment on a tragic death without having been provided any factual documentation whatsoever. We do know that TASER devices save lives and reduce injuries to officers and suspects," said the statement.

Dr. Thambirajah Balanchandra, Manitoba's medical examiner, said he has not called an inquest into the death yet because he is awaiting word from Manitoba Justice and the Winnipeg Police Service on whether criminal charges will be laid. Under the province's Fatality Inquiries Act, an inquest is called in all cases in which someone dies in an incident involving on-duty police.

"We're obviously waiting anxiously for dates (for the inquest) to be set," said Prober.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice said it has not received a request for funding yet from the Langan family.

"Should the family request funding when the inquest is called by the Chief Medical Examiner, their request will be considered in light of the policy currently being developed," she said.

The spokesperson said, in a prepared statement, the government supports the use of stun guns by police. "We believe that officers should have access to the best equipment possible in order to keep themselves and Manitoba communities safe.''

Prober said Langan's family still has questions about the teen's death which could be answered at the inquest.

"We know what the cause of death was, but what prompted the police to use the Taser in these circumstances?" said Prober.

"Was it one of those Tasers that emitted a stronger shock than it was supposed to?"

In October 2009, Taser International sent out a directive to people using stun guns to avoid targeting the chest area. Instead, the company encouraged them to stun the "lower centre of mass (below the chest) for the front of the body, and below the neck for the back."

"Should sudden cardiac arrest occur in an arrest situation involving a TASER electronic control device (ECD) discharge to the chest area -- plaintiff attorneys will likely file an excessive use of force claim against the law enforcement agency and officer and try to allege that the (stun gun) played a role in the arrest related death by causing ventricular fibrillation (VF), an arrhythmia that can be fatal without intervention," said a Taser release.

"The available research does not support this and demonstrates that while it may not be possible to say that (a stun gun) could never affect the heart under any circumstances, the risk of VF is extremely rare and would be rounded to near zero."

The Winnipeg Police Service also recalled 50 older models of the stun guns in December 2008, along with other police agencies in the country.

The move came after CBC News and Radio-Canada tested some X26 Tasers made before 2005 and found some delivered more electricity than promised.

Police told the Free Press in December 2008 there was no indication one of the recalled weapons was connected to Langan's death, but the possibility was being investigated.

Tasered-teen case raises new questions for MPs

January 30, 2008
BRODIE FENLON, Globe and Mail

Troubling new questions are being raised about the police use of tasers just as a House of Commons committee hears Wednesday from one of the inventors of the controversial stun guns.

Top of mind for many MPs will be the acquittal Tuesday of a 17-year-old Halifax girl who was charged last year with assaulting police and resisting arrest after she was tasered in her bedroom during a confrontation with three officers.

Politicians will also be interested in a Chicago study unearthed by CBC News which reportedly found the weapon may not be as safe as the manufacturer claims.

Tom Smith, co-founder of Arizona-based Taser International Inc. and chairman of the company, appeared before the Commons public safety committee Wednesday afternoon.

His testimony follows a provincial court decision Tuesday in which a Halifax judge had harsh words for the city's police service for stunning a teenager when she resisted arrest inside her home. “The spectacle of a 17-year-old girl being tasered in her bedroom is a very disturbing and disconcerting one,” Judge Anne Derrick said.

The arrest happened last February in Dartmouth after the girl's mother asked police to remove the teen from their home. Two male officers and a female officer confronted the girl in her bedroom. When they tried to arrest her for breaching the peace, she fought back. Two officers struggled with the teen while a third hit her once with the taser. Judge Derrick said the police had no legal grounds to arrest her, because there had been no breach of the peace, said Megan Longley, a legal aid lawyer who represented the teen.

“I still am astounded that ... three-full grown police officers cannot find some way to deal with a 17-year-old girl apart from using a taser,” Ms. Longley said, noting her client was unarmed at the time and has no criminal record. “It certainly highlights for me the need for specific policies on taser use,” she said.

The girl, who is now 18 and can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, told reporters outside court she intends to file a complaint against the Halifax Police service and is considering a lawsuit. “I just don't understand why I was tasered because I'm not a criminal,” she said.

Halifax Regional Police Const. Jeff Carr, spokesperson for the service, said he couldn't comment on the arrest or the tasering. However, he said police are taking a close look at the evidence presented at trial and are in discussions with the Crown about an appeal of the judge's decision. Const. Carr also noted that the media did not cover the trial, only the decision, and would not have heard all the evidence.

Mike Taylor, president of the Nova Scotia Criminal Lawyers' Association, agreed that the case raises serious questions about when and why police officers use tasers. “To me, the taser is the last line before the gun is drawn. It's supposed to take the place of that,” said Mr. Taylor, a former Calgary police officer. “It's just completely ludicrous that they would taser a 17-year-old because she was being non-compliant when there was no weapon,” he told globeandmail.com. Mr. Taylor said his view on the necessity of the taser as a police tool has been shaken recently by some high-profile arrests and deaths. He said he welcomes the committee hearing in Ottawa. “There has to be something done in a formal fashion, because some internal report from a police force is not going to satisfy the public at large that the police are being monitored appropriately in the use of the taser.”

CBC News reported Wednesday on a study by a team of doctors and scientists at the trauma centre in Chicago's Cook County hospital that found 11 pigs stunned twice with tasers were left with heart rhythm problems. Two of the animals died from cardiac arrest, one three minutes after being shocked, CBC reported.

Death raises Taser safety questions - High school grad died after being stunned by police officer

August 8, 2011
Cincinnati.com

University of Cincinnati officials said Monday the university has asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to review the circumstances surrounding Everette Howard's death during a campus incident over the weekend.

Howard, 18, died about 2:30 a.m. Saturday after an officer Tased him.

The university's assistant police chief, Jeff Corcoran, said the student approached officers in a dorm hallway, and appeared agitated and angry. Officers ordered Howard to back off, but he refused, Corcoran said. Howard was then hit once by an officer's stun gun.

Afterward, Howard appeared incoherent, according to UC police. He went into cardiac arrest after paramedics arrived and was pronounced dead at University Hospital.

UC has not yet released an incident report.

Hamilton County Coroner Anant Bhati, who is investigating the death, said the teen was shocked with a stun gun once before, and rushed to a hospital.

North College Hill police said Monday that Howard was Tased in January 2009 by an officer at North College Hill High School after he fell ill and became combative.

Once medics got him into an ambulance, they realized he had low blood sugar. A relative said Monday Howard did not suffer from diabetes.

Howard had thrown up the night before and hadn't eaten because he was trying to lose weight to wrestle in a lower weight class, according to the police report.

UC police have temporarily stopped their use of electroshock Taser stun guns.

"Initial review by UC Police suggests that all departmental policies and procedures were followed appropriately," UC's Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration Robert Ambach said in a statement. "The tragic outcome, however, resulting in the death of a young man, calls for extraordinary and objective measures to ensure that the collected facts are independently arrived at and beyond reproach" he said in explaining the decision to involve the Ohio BCI. Howard's parents said they have retained a lawyer but declined to name their attorney. They declined to speak further, saying their focus must now be on burying their son.

Howard was an honor roll student and football player nearing graduation from UC's Upward Bound program, which helps prepare high school students from low-income families for college. He had enrolled this fall in sports and exercise science at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., where he earned a scholarship and planned to join the wrestling and football team.

Family members want more information about what happened and insist the police version of the story conflicts with Howard's character and upbringing.

"My cousin was not in a fight. He was trying to break up a fight," said Stephanie Brown, 40, of Montgomery. "It's devastating. He had a promising future. He had a full scholarship. Why would he put that in jeopardy?"

At least two local suburban police agencies - Colerain Township and Fairfax - stopped using Tasers in the past year over safety and liability concerns in favor of a new tool.

Larger departments such as Cincinnati police and sheriff's offices in Hamilton and Butler counties continue using Tasers. Officials have credited them with helping to reduce fatal police incidents. Cincinnati police began using Tasers after the Nov. 30, 2003, death of Nathaniel Jones in police custody. The 41-year-old man's violent struggle with officers ended when his heart stopped. Jones had cocaine, PCP and methanol in his system.

Cincinnati defense attorney Mike Allen predicts the UC case cause more police agencies to drop the use of Tasers.

The device administers 50,000 volts that usually temporarily immobilize a person's muscles so officers can gain control of the subject. They have a range of 35 feet.

Critics argue that Tasers, while considered non-lethal weapons, too often have a deadly outcome. Since 2001, Amnesty International has recorded more than 340 deaths in North America following police use of Tasers.

Since 2009, Taser's manufacturer, Arizona-based Taser International, has warned law enforcement agencies to avoid stunning suspects in the upper chest, a way of alleviating concerns the weapon's volt shock could affect the heart.

"I see the tide turning," said Allen, a former UC police officer and board of trustee. Allen was also a Cincinnati police officer, Hamilton County Municipal Court judge and Hamilton County Prosecutor before starting his law firm downtown.

Colerain Township and Fairfax officers use the new "Mark 63 Trident" device. Manufactured by Virginia-based Aegis, the device essentially is several weapons rolled into one with high intensity light, pepper spray and a stun gun, although the electrical prongs on the front do not shoot out and enter the body, said Colerain Township Police Chief Dan Meloy.

Colerain officers are completing training on the device this week.

Fairfax Chief Rick Patterson suspended use of Tasers in September over safety concerns.

"I do not know the facts of the UC case so I will not comment on the UC case,'' Patterson said. "I just feel that I didn't want that liability out there for myself, my department and my officers."

Last month a jury handed down a $10-million judgment against Taser International, finding the company and its device partially responsible for the death of 17-year-old Darryl Turner after police in Charlotte, N.C., used a Taser device on him during an altercation at a grocery store in 2008.

Taser officials expressed their condolences to the Turner family, but insist their device was not responsible for his death. Taser plans to appeal the court decision.

A spokesman for Taser did not return a call Monday for comment on the UC case.

Ontario Provincial Police sued after teen girl tasered

February 3, 2009
By Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service

The father of a 14-year-old girl who was Tasered while inside a jail cell with two Ontario Provincial Police officers last summer has launched a $500,000 lawsuit against the province’s police force.

The girl, who is identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, was hit once in the leg “for three to five seconds” with a Taser inside the OPP detachment in Sioux Lookout, Ont., about 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

The family’s lawyer, Jeff Roberts, told Canwest News Service on Monday that the girl was taken to the hospital for burn marks after the incident on July 10, 2008. The lawsuit claims that the girl was “left traumatized” when her leg went numb for a month.

More information was expected at a news conference scheduled for Tuesday.

Roberts said the two officers used the conductive energy device after the girl had been “sporadically peeling paint from the walls of her jail cell.” The lawsuit said she “remained motionless for nearly an hour.”

The girl, who is from the nearby Lac Seul First Nation, had initially been arrested the previous night for being drunk and disorderly. She eventually pleaded guilty to the charge.

“Police describe her as a dangerous girl. It’s not true.” Roberts said. “She has a cognitive impairment and her emotional responses have been stunted. She’s not a bad kid.”

The lawsuit claims police used unnecessary force to subdue the girl, after giving her only one warning.

It’s seeking $250,000 in response to negligence, assault and battery allegations. It’s also seeking $250,000 for punitive damages, an opportunity for the courts “to send a message,” Roberts said. It also is calling for an order to ban the weapon from being used on minors, except in life-threatening situations.

The lawsuit lists the OPP and the two officers - Mark Zappitelli and Andrew Hampson - as defendants.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

OPP spokesman Insp. Dave Ross said Monday the force was not contesting that the girl had been Tasered, but that the OPP’s professional-standards bureau completed an investigation in December 2008 and cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.

“The OPP investigation was a result of a public complaint,” he said from OPP headquarters in Orillia, Ont. “The matter was unsubstantiated. The complainants are able to appeal the decision to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services. I’m not sure whether they have done that.”

Ross said Tasers were only used by specially trained officers in situations “dealing with a dangerous or unstable individual.”

The conductive energy devices were only deployed in the interest of public safety, the safety of the officers, or the person in police custody, he added.

“As you recognize, conductive energy weapons are an intermediate form of force,” Ross said. “The use of force is a last resort.”

But Roberts called the subsequent police investigation “insulting and bizarre.”

“This is not a matter of us being anti-cop because we know that most cops do a great service for us every day,” he said. “This tool is something that is to be used only in emergency situations, and now it is being used frequently. I don’t understand why they feel the need to apply an electric shock to a 14-year-old girl presenting no danger to herself or anyone.”

Roberts said a surveillance video taken in the jail cell that has been viewed by the girl’s father and the native band chief allegedly showed the girl scream as she was pinned down and Tasered for three seconds by the officers. He said police have refused to turn over the video to him.

Tasers have been under intense scrutiny in recent years after the use of the weapons resulted in civilian deaths, including that of Robert Dziekanski. The Polish immigrant died of cardiac arrest at the Vancouver International Airport in October 2007, after being Tasered five times. An inquiry is now being held to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

Late last year, the RCMP and several municipal police forces in B.C., Alberta and Ontario pulled several X26 model Tasers for testing under claims that some may have been generating more power than regulated.