More on: U.S. judge orders references to tasers removed from autopsies

This despicable and scandalous development in an Ohio court last week has barely registered on the radar screen south of the border (notwithstanding Robert Anglen's excellent report on the weekend). My hat is off to the CANADIAN MEDIA who see this for the travesty of justice that it is.


May 7, 2008
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Ohio judge orders stun gun references removed from autopsies

AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio medical examiner must change her autopsy findings to delete any reference that stun guns contributed to the deaths of three people involved in confrontations with law enforcement officers, a judge has ruled.

The decision was a victory for Taser International Inc., which had challenged rulings by Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler, including a case in which five sheriff's deputies are charged in the death of a jail inmate who was restrained by the wrists and ankles and hit with pepper spray and a stun gun.

Kohler ruled that the 2006 death of Mark McCullaugh Jr., 28, was a homicide and that he died from asphyxiation due to the "combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint."

Visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman said in his ruling last week that there was no expert evidence to indicate that Taser devices impaired McCullaugh's respiration. "More likely, the death was due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia brought on by severe heart disease," the judge wrote.

Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh's death undetermined and to delete any references to homicide.

The judge also said references to stun guns contributing to the deaths of two other men must be deleted from autopsy findings. Dennis Hyde, 30, died in 2005 after a confrontation with Akron police, and Richard Holcomb, 18, died the same year after being hit with a stun by a police officer in suburban Springfield Township.

It was unclear what affect Schneiderman's ruling may have on the upcoming criminal trial of the five sheriff's deputies. One of them, Deputy Stephen Krendick, is charged with murder. Other deputies face charges of reckless homicide or felonious assault. All have pleaded not guilty.

Krendick's trial is scheduled to begin June 16. A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office, which is handling the case, said its lawyers are prepared to go forward.

Steve Tuttle, vice-president of communications for Arizona-based Taser International, said the company was pleased with the Schneiderman's ruling, which came down Friday.

"Taser International believed from the beginning that these determinations of cause of death must be supported by facts, medical research and scientific evidence," Tuttle said.

John Manley, a Summit County prosecutor who represented Kohler, said the judge's order went too far. The county is considering an appeal, he said after the decision came down.

"Taser is quite a force to be reckoned with and does everything to protect their golden egg, which is the Model X26," Manley said.


May 7, 2008
CBC News

U.S. court ruling on Tasers worries Canadian doctors

A court ruling in the United States about Tasers is causing concern in Canada's medical community. The U.S.-based manufacturer of the controversial stun guns, Taser International, has won a court order in Ohio that forces a medical examiner to change autopsy reports.

Dr. Lisa Kohler had found that electrical shocks from Tasers were partially to blame for the deaths of three men in separate confrontations with police.

Taser International launched and won a civil suit, forcing Kohler to delete any reference to the deaths being related to electric shocks, and to term them "accidental deaths."

Dr. Matthew Stanbrook of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says the decision doesn't take into account the difficult of determining an exact cause of death in almost every case.

"If we were required to have at the level of scientific and medical certainty that something was the cause of death, before we were permitted to declare it, most of the people who died in North America would have died of unknown causes," Stanbrook said.

"It is a physician making their best judgment given all the facts available."

Stanbrook is deputy editor of the CMA Journal, which last week carried an editorial that expressed discontent with the current research into the effects of Taser use on suspects. The editorial said most of that work was done at the behest of Taser International and needed to be verified by independent researchers.

"New and independent research, both epidemiologic and biological, into whether Tasers can kill is essential to settle this issue," the editorial said.

Doctors and medical examiners in the United States have also expressed unease over the Ohio court decision.

Dr. Jeff Jentzen of the National Association of Medical Examiners said the case could affect other autopsy results.

"The physician shouldn't be threatened by individual companies attempting to preserve the reputation of their project," Jentzen said.

Taser International CEO Rick Smith told CBC News in January that medical examiners had to be sure of their facts because if they made what he called a careless opinion, they will be held accountable in court.

In submissions to the court in Ohio, Taser International said 68 wrongful-death or injury lawsuits involving Taser use have been dismissed or found in favour of the company.


May 6, 2008
Adrian Humphreys, NATIONAL POST

Taser win in court puts chill on doctors

“It is dangerously close to intimidation,” says group representing medical examiners

Taser won a court case in Ohio which forces medical examiners in that state to expunge any mention of the device as contributing to deaths of people in police custody.

A lawsuit by the makers of Taser stun guns has prompted an Ohio court to order a chief medical examiner to delete any reference to the use of a stun gun as a contributing factor in the deaths of three men, a move rebuked as "dangerously close to intimidation" by the National Association of Medical Examiners.

The outcome of the U.S. civil trial comes as the device is under scrutiny in Canada at an inquiry in British Columbia following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport in October after he was stunned by a Taser.

Taser, which has a reputation for vigorous legal defence of its popular law-enforcement products, filed a lawsuit against Dr. Lisa Kohler, chief medical examiner in Summit County, Ohio, after she named the use of a stun gun as a contributing factor in three deaths in her jurisdiction.

The case went to trial last month and on Friday, Judge Ted Schneiderman ruled in Taser's favour. Judge Schneiderman was explicit: "There is simply no medical, scientific, or electrical evidence to support the conclusion that the Taser X26 had anything to do with the death of Dennis S. Hyde, Richard Holcomb, or Mark D. McCullaugh."

"The multiple number of experts offered by [Taser International] in the area of sudden and unexpected death while law enforcement attempted to obtain custody, provided overwhelming credible medical and scientific evidence to support their positions."

Judge Schneiderman then ordered Dr. Kohler to change her official autopsy reports and death certificates for each of the three men.

John Manley, chief counsel of civil litigation in the Summit County Prosecutor's Office, said he is disappointed with the judgment. He is considering filing an appeal. He said defending against Taser was a daunting task.

"They are very vigilant, as you would expect a corporation to be who is making a product that makes so much money for you. "They have a record of 68 and 0 -- they've never lost and are quite a force to be reckoned with," he said.

Jeffrey Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, an organization that represents the majority of medical examiners in the United States, said the court's ruling and Taser's legal propensity is sending an unwelcome message to medical examiners. "Our membership is very concerned about these cases and the reaction of Taser to these cases," he said last night.

"Our membership is looking into the area and although Taser has developed its own opinion, there are certainly opposing opinions as to their involvement in causing sudden death in individuals.

"Our organization feels that it violates the physician's ability to make a medical decision. Ordering a professional physician to change or alter their records is in violation of their right to practise medicine.

"Taser has sued a number of medical examiners for making informed medical opinions in an attempt, I think, to both protect their product and send a threatening message to medical examiners.

"It is dangerously close to intimidation," he said. "They are attempting to send a message to medical examiners that if they elect to make that determination they may face a civil suit."

Steve Tuttle, Taser's vice-president of communications, said he was surprised by Dr. Jentzen's comments, disagrees with them and defended the company's decision to seek redress appropriately through the courts.

"I would disagree with that premise completely. At the end of the day, the judge's ruling is very, very crystal clear," Mr. Tuttle said.

In a previous statement, Mr. Tuttle said: "Taser International remains adamant in our position of not settling suspect injury or death lawsuits.

"Taser International's products have been demonstrated by numerous medical studies to be safe and effective. Taser International therefore aggressively defends our products in all litigation brought against the company with the best legal, scientific and medical expertise available."

Taser has faced more than 100 product liability suits, according to the company's filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. stock market regulator. The company's report lists wrongful deaths, training-related injuries to officers and injuries during arrests as being among the claims alleged.

There have been at least 10 training-injury lawsuits filed against Taser since 2003, according to the company. They include one by an RCMP officer who suffered a back injury after a voluntary Taser strike, he claims. Officers are encouraged to experience a Taser shot as part of their training, the lawsuit says.

A majority of lawsuits against it have been dismissed and several have brought judgments in Taser's favour.

Canadian researchers dispute taser safety

May 7, 2008
CTV British Columbia

Canadian medical researchers are disputing the theory that stun guns do not cause irregular heart rhythms that are sometimes fatal.

Tests had shown that Taser shock could cause fibrillation -- a very rapid, irregular contraction of muscles fibers -- in any muscle, except the heart.

"Bottom line is we think that assumption is incorrect," said Dr. Paul Dorian, a medical researcher from the University of Toronto. "Under certain circumstances, the Taser electrical discharges can, in fact, cause the heart muscle to beat and to beat very fast."

Dorian and his team shocked six pigs with stun guns looking for signs of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and other adverse heart effects. The results echo a recent Chicago study, where prolonged stun gun shocks caused VF.

Two pigs died in the Chicago study. One pig died of VF in Dorian's study and the other five pigs showed cardiac disturbance.

When it occurs in humans, VF can be lethal, Dorian said.

"When this rapid irregular heart rhythm occurs, the heart doesn't beat effectively," Dorian told CTV News. "No blood is pumped from it, and the victim, unless they get CPR and gets an electrical shock to the heart, will die within 10 minutes."

In response to the Toronto study, manufacturer Taser International said it will present results from three cardiac studies of its own later this month at the Heart Rhythm Conference in San Francisco, California.

"Taser International is dismayed by attempts to present this information as something it is not," the company said in a statement.

"I can understand if they're dismayed," Dorian said. "I'm dismayed as well. Dismayed that we have a technology that potentially can cause harm."

When Victoria police conducted Canada's first Taser trials in 1999, VF was the medical problem they were most concerned about.

But no one was considering the adverse effects of another medical condition caused when muscles are shocked and contract too quickly. High levels of acidity, or low levels of alkalinity in the body fluids, including the blood, can cause acidosis.

"The problem with acidosis is that the organs don't function properly when the acids are present in the blood," Dorian said.

Inspector Darren Laur, who spearheaded the Victoria Taser trial, told CTV News in an email that VF was the only medical concern of their research.

"I was not involved in any studies surrounding acidosis," he wrote.

Ken Stethem, a use-of-force expert from Washington, D.C. said acidosis, which worsens if victims are stunned repeatedly, needs to be considered in the Taser debate.

"These devices being used and backed up by policies that don't limit the number of stuns of the length of the exposure times -- it's hard to believe how that would support public safety," Stethem said.

The officer who is in charge of the Taser program for the Victoria police department told a public inquiry Tuesday that he's uncertain if Tasers cause death.

"I think I would be negligent as a police trainer if I stood up here and said they don't cause death," Constable Mike Massine told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who is conducting the first public inquiry into the controversial use of Tasers.

"I don't know if they do. I don't know if they don't," the officer added. "Maybe there is a correlation, I don't know. I hope when we find out what it is, I hope we find that silver bullet."

Massine said putting a moratorium on Tasers would cause a knee jerk reaction, adding stun guns are a necessary tool for officers facing violent suspects.

The inquiry, which started Monday in Vancouver, is scheduled to continue until May 23.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger

Jonathan Kay on the best corporate media department in the world (even if they did get my name wrong)

May 7, 2008
Jonathan Kay, National Post

The people who man the media shop at Taser International Inc. are the aces of the corporate flak world. You write anything — anything — even vaguely skeptical (let alone downright negative, in which case they rattle their legal sabers) about stun guns, and they, er, zap you with an inbox full of electro-spin.

Case in point: my Tuesday column about this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal study on the health risks of being stun gunned, which earned me (or, should I say, "Jay") the note below. True, the guy not only got my name wrong, but also the name of my article (which he seems to have confused with Marni's blog post on the same subject). Still, it's the thought that counts.

Jay,

I read with interest your column entitled “Watch where you put that Taser” which appeared last Friday. As such, I wanted to make certain you had a copy of the official statement issued by TASER International related to the discussion article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The statement is attached below.

Related to the CMAJ article and editorial, TASER International will point out that Dr. Stanbrook’s editorial is based primarily on a 2005 article from the Arizona Republic as his ONLY source that TASER International has “’sponsored research to prove the Taser's safety,’ he continues. ‘Just about all the research, as it turns out.’” Over the three years since that article was written, much of the research by the Governments of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and leading academic and medical institutions has been funded independent of TASER International. To date, there are more than 120 major studies or analysis of TASER devices and TASER technology with more than 80 percent of them funded independent of TASER International. In fact, the US Department of Justice has been a prolific funder of TASER research recently and one of the first to fund human studies.

Finally, I have provided you with a press release issued this morning by TASER International regarding a Summit County, Ohio law suit involving erroneous medical examiner reports in three cases involving TARSER devices. I thought that you find this of interest and relevant.

<<080505 Summit Co OH Lawsuit.doc>>

My best,

Peter

________________________________________________

The following is the official statement of TASER International regarding the Canadian Medical Association Journal article “Cardiac stimulation with high voltage discharge from stun guns”:

The manuscript released today by researchers at the University of Toronto appears to be a discussion paper that offers no new research. Rather it appears to be simply a discussing of prior papers and findings. TASER International is dismayed by attempts to present this information as something it is not.

Most important to note is that the authors of this manuscript themselves, in their conclusion, clearly state that there are “many studies suggesting that stun guns do not affect the heart” and that, “the evidence and studies presented in this review suggest that, in some circumstances, stun guns may stimulate the heart while discharges are being applied. However, there is no conclusive evidence to show whether stun gun stimulation (under certain electrophysiological conditions) can result in cardiac arrhythmias late after stun gun discharge.”

The authors, also in their conclusion, acknowledge that final conclusions should not be drawn solely from the referenced pig studies and call for human studies to be done: “In our view, it is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings. We believe that the findings that stun gun discharges are able, under specific circumstances, to stimulate the heart should be taken into account in future studies involving people. Whether stun guns can stimulate the heart can only be established if one can record electrical activity in the heart during a discharge, especially when the vector of discharge is directed across the heart. Additional research studies involving people will help to resolve the conflicting theoretical and experimental findings, and they could lead to the design of devices with electrical pulses that cannot stimulate the heart.”

To this point exactly, three human studies on the effects of TASER® electronic control devices will be presented at the Heart Rhythm Society’s Heart Rhythm 2008 , May 14-17, 2008, in San Francisco, CA USA. The studies include:

(Thursday May 15, 2008) Presenting Rhythm in Sudden Custodial Deaths After Use of TASER® Electronic Control Device, Charles Swerdlow, MD, FHRS, Mark W. Kroll, PhD, FHRS, Howard Williams, Mazda Biria, MD, Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD and Patrick J. Tchou, MD. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, San Marcos Police Department, San Marcos, TX, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.

(Friday May 16, 2008) Can Electrical-Conductive Weapons (TASER®) alter the functional integrity of pacemakers and defibrillators and cause rapid myocardial capture? Dhanunjaya R. Lakkireddy, MD, Mazda Biria, MD, Esam Baryun, MD, Loren Berenbom, MD, Rhea Pimentel, MD, Martin P. Emert, MD, Kevin Kreighbaum, RN, Mark W. Kroll, PhD and Atul Verma, MD. Mid America Cardiology @ University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, KS, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Southlake Regional Health Center, Toronto, ON, Canada.

(Friday May 16, 2008) Echocardiographic Evaluation of Human Transcutaneous TASER® Application Along the Cardiac Axis, Jeffrey D. Ho, MD, Donald M. Dawes, MD, Robert F. Reardon, MD, Anne L. Lapine, MD, Jeremy D. Olsen, MD, Benjamin J. Dolan, BA and James R. Miner, MD. Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN, Lompoc District Hospital, Lompoc, CA.

The Heart Rhythm Society is the international leader in science, education and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients, and the primary information resource on heart rhythm disorders. Its mission is to improve the care of patients by promoting research, education and optimal health care policies and standards.

Third person in England dies after being tasered

Mark Saunders, 32, England died on May 6, 2008

Missouri man dies after police taser him

May 7, 2008

James S. Wilson, 22, died in Alton, Missouri yesterday - Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

U.S. court ruling on Tasers worries Canadian doctors

May 7, 2008
CBC News

A court ruling in the United States about Tasers is causing concern in Canada's medical community. The U.S.-based manufacturer of the controversial stun guns, Taser International, has won a court order in Ohio that forces a medical examiner to change autopsy reports.

Dr. Lisa Kohler had found that electrical shocks from Tasers were partially to blame for the deaths of three men in separate confrontations with police.

Taser International launched and won a civil suit, forcing Kohler to delete any reference to the deaths being related to electric shocks, and to term them "accidental deaths."

Dr. Matthew Stanbrook of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says the decision doesn't take into account the difficult of determining an exact cause of death in almost every case. "If we were required to have at the level of scientific and medical certainty that something was the cause of death, before we were permitted to declare it, most of the people who died in North America would have died of unknown causes," Stanbrook said. "It is a physician making their best judgment given all the facts available."

Stanbrook is deputy editor of the CMA Journal, which last week carried an editorial that expressed discontent with the current research into the effects of Taser use on suspects. The editorial said most of that work was done at the behest of Taser International and needed to be verified by independent researchers.

"New and independent research, both epidemiologic and biological, into whether Tasers can kill is essential to settle this issue," the editorial said.

Doctors and medical examiners in the United States have also expressed unease over the Ohio court decision. Dr. Jeff Jentzen of the National Association of Medical Examiners said the case could affect other autopsy results. "The physician shouldn't be threatened by individual companies attempting to preserve the reputation of their project," Jentzen said.

Taser International CEO Rick Smith told CBC News in January that medical examiners had to be sure of their facts because if they made what he called a careless opinion, they will be held accountable in court.

In submissions to the court in Ohio, Taser International said 68 wrongful-death or injury lawsuits involving Taser use have been dismissed or found in favour of the company.

Taser Inc. founder to testify at Braidwood Inquiry

May 6, 2008
By Travis Lupick, straight.com

Tom Smith, founder and chairman of Taser International Inc., is scheduled to appear in Vancouver next Monday (May 12) to present at the first Braidwood Inquiry.

Thomas R. Braidwood, a retired B.C. Supreme Court judge, was appointed by the Province to preside over two inquiries into the use of conducted energy weapons (commonly referred to as Tasers).

On May 5, the first Braidwood Inquiry began an investigation into how Tasers are used by police officers in British Columbia. The second inquiry will focus on the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. Its aim is to “provide the Dziekanski family and the public with a complete record of the circumstances of Mr. Robert Dziekanski’s death”, according to the Inquiry’s website.

Upon completion of both inquires, Braidwood is expected to make recommendations on how Tasers should be used by police in B.C. Those recommendations could include restrictions on when and how the weapon is used.

Although RCMP officers were involved in Dziekanski’s death, the RCMP will not be subject to Braidwood’s recommendations. As the RCMP is a national police force, a B.C. commission of inquiry has no authority over its officers’ conduct. The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is presently conducting its own review on the use of Tasers.

Subject to change, Smith is scheduled to appear at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at 580 West Hastings Street for the Inquiry’s morning session, which will begin at 10 a.m. According to the inquiry’s website, commission forums are open to the public.

A Briefing Note on the State of Tasers in Canada: A SELECT Review of Medical and Policy Review Literature

Prepared for: The Canadian Association of Police Boards
By: Steven Synyshyn
March 30th, 2008

This is a "SELECT" review indeed - conspicuously silent on a couple of renowned studies that have found tasers to be detrimental to your health.

Inquiry hears from mom - Cathy Gallagher's son was tasered in his own home

May 7, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

The mother of a Vancouver man who was jolted by a police Taser about two months ago told an inquiry Tuesday that there should be a better understanding of the mentally ill.

Cathy Gallagher recalled her 37-year-old son Chris, who is bipolar, was off his medication and became psychotic before police were called to his Kitsilano home on Feb. 24.

Chris Gallagher wouldn't open his door, so police broke it down and ordered him to get down on the floor, she said, adding her son was given a Taser jolt when he didn't comply.

He was in his own home and he was psychotic," the mother told the inquiry looking into the controversial use of Tasers, officially known as conducted energy weapons (CEWs).

"When he's psychotic, he doesn't understand who I am," she added. "So how can police expect compliance?"

Gallagher said her son, who has a master's degree, has no history of violence. She suggested the proper response was to send Car 87, which has a nurse trained in mental health issues.

"It's systemic prejudice against the mentally disabled," said Joseph Gallagher, the father of Chris and a retired English professor at Simon Fraser University.

Cathy Gallagher said the Taser incident terrified her son, who is still under psychiatric care in hospital. "He had a period when he didn't speak, which is very strange because he talks a lot."

Outside the inquiry, she told reporters there should be a moratorium on the use of Tasers.

It was the first time the inquiry had heard from family members of a person who had been subjected to a Taser jolt by police.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Christine Hall, a Victoria emergency doctor who has a research interest in in-custody deaths, produced a chart showing that while Taser use by police in B.C. has shot up to about 650 incidents in 2006 from about 150 in 2004, the number of Taser-related deaths has remained relatively stable.

There have been seven Taser-related deaths in B.C. since 2003 -- two that year, two in 2004, one in 2005 and two last year.

Over the same period, there were 20 Taser-related deaths across Canada, so about one-third were in B.C.

The reason behind those numbers needs more study, Hall said.

She said there is an overwhelming similarity to the circumstances of in-custody deaths -- the subjects are usually violent, agitated and incoherent, and an unexpected death happens in minutes.

"An acutely agitated person may be a medical emergency manifesting itself as a police call," Hall told the inquiry.

She said police need to appreciate who they are dealing with and get the person medical attention "once the person is under physical control."

Victoria police Const. Mike Massine, who is in charge of the Taser program for the Victoria police department, told the inquiry that he's uncertain if Tasers cause death.

"I think I would be negligent if I stood up here and said they don't cause death," he told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who is conducting the first public inquiry into the controversial use of Tasers.

The officer said Victoria police have been using CEWs since 1998 and the city has not experienced a CEW-related death.

"The weapons appear safe," Massine told the inquiry, adding there may be a variety of factors involved in CEW-related deaths, such as medical conditions and the behaviour of subjects.

Massine, who has a master's degree but works on street patrol and has used CEWs 50 times, said a common misconception is that the Taser is used as a substitute for deadly force.

The CEW is an intermediate weapon within the category of bean-bag guns, police batons and anti-riot weapons that fire rubber bullets, he said.

Such weapons are used when someone is actively resisting arrest or police commands, he added.

He said he believes police do not get enough training in control tactics -- Victoria police only get eight hours each year. Massine also said Tasers are not checked to make sure they are discharging electrical current to the manufacturer's specifications.

The inquiry, which started Monday and continues today, is in its first phase of public forums, which are scheduled until May 23.

Police officer calls for B.C. wide standards on taser training

May 6, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The co-ordinator for Victoria police's Taser weapons program is recommending a provincewide training program for officers.

Const. Mike Massine told a public inquiry into the use of Tasers by police that there's a lot of talk about amalgamated police units and it shouldn't be any different for training programs.

He says training experts from several different departments around the province should be brought together as a team with provincial standards.

Massine says that would mean members from very small police departments could be trained in the same manner as officers from large departments.

He says many police departments spend less than one per cent of their budget on firearms and use-of-force training and yet those are often the issues that land police departments in court.

Massine took the witness stand on the second day of the inquiry, which will look at the general use of the shock weapons by police as a result of the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport last fall.

Victim's parents testify at taser inquiry

May 6, 2008
Staff Reporter, The Province

VANCOUVER -- The Braidwood Commission inquiry into Taser use continued Tuesday with emotional evidence from Cathy and Joseph Gallagher, parents of a mentally ill Vancouver man who was subdued by seven police officers and Tasered twice.

Cathy Gallagher held up a small, red T-shirt with a hole in it showing where her son -- a slight, 37-year-old man who had an MBA from McMaster University -- was Tasered in the heart.

Christopher Gallagher has remained in hospital since the incident, which occurred on Feb. 24. The Gallaghers want a complete moratorium on Taser use.

The inquiry also heard from Victoria police Const. Mike Massine, a conducted-energy weapons trainer for the Victoria Police Department, who said Tasers pose very little risk and are useful weapons for police.

The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, continued Tuesday afternoon with evidence from an emergency-room physician and a prison warden.

On Monday the inquiry opened with presentations by two American experts who concluded after years of research that the weapon poses very little risk.

Electrical engineer J. Patrick Reilly, a consultant and Johns Hopkins University lecturer from Maryland, said "the hazards are very low, but probably not zero." Outside the inquiry, Reilly said the Taser is "not benign" and admitted he wouldn't want himself or any family member to be Tasered, but insisted the Taser may be one of the more acceptable weapons in the police arsenal.

"If you compare [the impact of a Taser] with a bullet, it's a no-brainer," said Reilly, adding "safety is relative." Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired Supreme Court judge, said there will be two inquiry phases -- the first, a series of public forums throughout May to get expert opinion on the use of "conducted-energy weapons [Tasers]," by B.C. police forces, sheriffs and corrections officers.

Wisconsin biomedical engineer John Webster outlined by videolink his detailed experiments on pigs that concluded the chances of Taser use causing a person's heart to stop "are extremely low." Webster said the probability that a Taser could stop a person's heart, even in the worst-case scenario where the darts hit a slight or thin person in vulnerable spots near the heart, would be one in several million.

More than 300 people across North America have died after being stunned by Tasers.

The "electrical stun weapons" manufactured by Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., can shoot two barbs attached to wires, or the gun can be applied directly to a person's skin.

The second phase of the commission will look into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, but will not start until the RCMP has finished its own investigation in the fall.

Expert uncertain if tasers can cause death

May 6, 2008
Neal Hall , Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - An officer who is in charge of the Taser program for the Victoria police department told a public inquiry Tuesday that he's uncertain if Tasers cause death.

"I think I would be negligent if I stood up here and said they don't cause death," Constable Mike Massine told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who is conducting the first public inquiry into the controversial use of Tasers, which are officially known as conducted energy weapons (CEWs).

"I don't know what the answer is," the officer added. "I certainly wouldn't rule it out."

The officer said Victoria police have been using CEWs since 1998 and the city has not experienced a death from using the weapon.

"The weapons appear safe," Massine told the inquiry, adding there may be a variety of factors involved in CEW-related deaths, including those suffering medical conditions and the behaviour of the subject. "To blame one certain thing I think is wrong," he said. "The No. 1 police priority is the preservation of life," he said. "There can be no medical treatment without restraint."

He used a Power Point presentation to show there have been 20 CEW-related deaths in B.C. between 2003 and 2005, and seven in B.C. in the last five years.

Massine, who has a master's degree but works on street patrol and has used CEWs 50 times, said a common misconception is that the Taser is used as an alternative to deadly force. "It was never intended as a substitute for deadly force," he explained.

He said the CEW is an intermediate weapon that falls into the same category as bean-bag guns, police batons and anti-riot weapons that fire rubber bullets. Such weapons are used when someone is actively resisting arrest or police commands.

Massine said his partner used a CEW on a person sleeping on the street last week. He recalled they woke the man up and he immediately was angry and came at the officers and began assaulting them.

The inquiry, which started Monday in Vancouver, is in its first phase of public forums, which are scheduled to continue until May 23.

Taser proponents dominate inquiry

VANCOUVER -- The first of two provincial inquiries examining the use of Tasers by police began yesterday, and while it's far too early to predict what conclusions will be made at the end of Round One, one can see where things are headed.

"Stun weapons" are not the malevolent instruments some have learned to hate, suggested J. Patrick Reilly, a U.S. electrical engineer and Taser expert, and the first witness to appear before inquiry boss Thomas Braidwood.

Rather, they are tools that police can use to deal efficiently with "dangerous" or "belligerent" people. The use of electronic control weapons such as Tasers rarely results in death, Mr. Reilly noted. "The probability of that is very small."

It will be a refrain heard often from the inquiry floor in the next three weeks. Many of the 40 witnesses scheduled to speak are from the law enforcement business. Tasers are popular with police departments. Even some transit cops brandish them. In Vancouver, this is another source of controversy. Transit police have fired on 10 people, including "non-compliant" customers, since January, 2007, the Vancouver Sun recently reported.

None of the transit riders has filed an official complaint, but the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which will make a presentation here, has asked that people come forward and appear before Mr. Braidwood.

The inquiry is to have "no preconceived agenda…no preconceived notions" about the use of Tasers by police, commission counsel Art Vertlieb said yesterday. But in one of several interviews he gave before the inquiry launched yesterday, Mr. Braidwood said it "appears" that Vancouver transit police "didn't follow their own policy in the use of [Tasers]. I'm not involved in making any blame or anything but that would certainly red-flag it."

In another interview, Mr. Braidwood seemed mildly skeptical about how the RCMP was investigating the apprehension and accidental death of Robert Dziekanski. The Polish immigrant died last year during an incident involving the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport. Bewildered and frustrated after a long flight from Poland, Mr. Dziekanski acted aggressively at the airport. The Mounties were called. He was twice hit with Taser shots and was manhandled while writhing on the ground.

The event was captured by a passerby on video and eventually was broadcast around the world. Public reaction, Mr. Braidwood said in his opening remarks, "was immediate and intense."

Indeed, the tragedy moved B.C.'s provincial government to call the two inquiries. Mr. Braidwood was appointed to head them both. But the Dziekanski case, while the catalyst, will not be discussed in any detail at the present inquiry; that is for "later this year," Mr. Braidwood said. Witnesses at the second inquiry, an evidentiary proceeding, will be required to take an oath and avail themselves to cross-examination by lawyers.

It may not happen at all. A date for the second inquiry can't be set until the RCMP completes its own investigation of the Dziekanski death. If charges are recommended to the Crown, and the officers are sent to trial, then Mr. Braidwood's second inquiry could be delayed for years.

And while the RCMP has promised to participate in the inquiry now underway, only its complaints commission chairman, Paul Kennedy, has confirmed he will testify. But he's not free until June, which is after the public forums are to have ended. Mr. Braidwood has asked that the length of the first inquiry be extended. He's still waiting to hear back from the B.C. government, he said yesterday. For now, he'll have to be content hearing from technical experts and municipal police officers, as well as health officials.

Mr. Reilly, the first witness, described how research he con-ducted on the environmental impact of electrical production evolved to the study of electric shocks on people. The research was aimed at determining how much electrical shock a person could tolerate.

He eventually conducted research for the U.S. Army, examining the safety and efficacy of electronic weapons similar to Tasers. A report he wrote in 2004 was funded by the U.S. Department of Defence; he also wrote a book on the subject.

Mr. Reilly described how the devices work. When triggered, a compressed nitrogen charge inside a gun propels two barbed projectiles; these are attached to copper wires. The projectiles lodge into the target's skin. The operator of the weapon then releases "pulsed electric shocks" that are set five seconds apart. These travel the length of the wires and enter the target's body, causing him to lose musculature control. "Usually" the target will "cry out" in pain and "fall down," Mr. Reilly said.

The devices are not "benign," he conceded, but neither do they pose a serious risk of death if used properly. New research conducted since making his studies has simply "reinforced the opinion I had then," he said yesterday. He may have missed a study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal just last week, which concluded that "in some circumstances, stun guns may stimulate the heart while discharges are being applied … In our view, it is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings."

The CMAJ authors are not among the 40 witnesses scheduled to speak at the inquiry.

Proceedings continue today with statements from the Victoria Police Department's controlled electronic weapons program co-ordinator, an emergency room physician and a prison warden. Tom Smith, founder and chairman of TASER International, Inc., is to appear next week.

No evidence that deputies killed cat with taser

May 6, 2008
By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

Orange County sheriff's officials have found no evidence to prove that deputies used a Taser electric stun weapon on a stray cat at the Theo Lacy jail in Orange, a spokesman said today.

Last month, the department disclosed that it was investigating inmate reports that deputies had shocked a cat with a Taser and that the decomposed carcass of a cat was found on the jail grounds.

A necropsy was inconclusive as to whether the dead cat had been shot with a Taser, said department spokesman John McDonald.

"We were unable to determine if there was any connection between the dead cat and the reported Taser use," McDonald said.

The investigation concluded that deputies may have pulled the trigger of the Taser, without firing the darts through which electric current is transmitted into targets. The test-firing made a loud noise that may have spooked a nearby cat, causing it to run away, department sources said.

Results of the investigation have been turned over to Mike Gennaco, who is serving as an internal affairs consultant for acting Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson. Gennaco is chief attorney for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office of Independent Review.

Two newly hired deputies who had been assigned to Theo Lacy were discharged from the department after the investigation began, but there was no indication that their termination was related to horseplay with the Taser.

Deputies Joseph E. Mirander and Duy X. Tran each ended their employment with the Sheriff's Department on April 17, county personnel records show. Both had been assigned to Theo Lacy.

Taser guns not tested by police: CTV finds

May 6, 2008
CTV British Columbia

Even though they are often used as restraining devices on members of the public, police do not carry out routine tests on Taser guns, a CTV News investigation has found.

It means that police officers are unaware of the true electrical output of what has proven to be a lethal weapon.

This information has come to light in the wake of the death in 2004 of Robert Bagnell, who was killed almost instantly after being shocked by a Vancouver police Taser.

Questions about the safety of Tasers have also been sparked by the recent death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport last fall. The polish immigrant is one of 20 Canadians who have died after being shocked by a Taser gun.

Engineering firm Intertek tested the two weapons fired during the Bagnell incident. Their research found while one Taser performed within a normal electrical output, the other was 30 times higher.

Taser International, a U.S. stun gun manufacturer, later disputed Intertek's test results. Since then, the two Bagnell Tasers were sent to the Canadian Police Research Centre in Ottawa for further examination. That was two years ago.

Victoria Const. Mike Massine, considered one of Canada's foremost police experts on stun guns, says Tasers are not tested by police.

"I'm assuming (Tasers) are tested at the factory," he said. "We don't have the mechanism to do that."

Professor William Dunford of UBC's electrical engineering department was surprised to learn that police don't regularly check their Tasers.

"It's reasonable that testing be done once a month or once a week, whatever is appropriate," Dunford said. "You look at how these things fail -- that's the whole engineering method."

Intertek's data came as a surprise to Federal Lliberal Party safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh.

"If they've known about this and have done nothing -- that is absolutely wrong," Dosanjh said.

Ten years ago, Const. Massine took part in Canada's first Taser trial. The six-month study set the stage for the purchase of the weapons by police forces coast to coast.

"How safe are they? It really depends on who you talk to," Massine told CTV News. "If you have pro-Taser people, they'll say they're safe. If you have anti-Taser people, they're gonna say they aren't safe."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger

First witness at taser inquiry says risk of death from the weapon very small

May 5, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — An independent expert on the effects of the Taser on the body told a public inquiry into police use of the weapon on Monday that the risk of death or injury after being shocked is very small.

However, the man who has spent decades studying the impact of electricity on living things said he would never want to be "Tased" himself.

J. Patrick Reilly, an electrical engineer at Johns Hopkins University, was the opening witnesses at the inquiry in British Columbia. "There are hazards, but they are rare," Reilly summed up during his assessment. "You could not rule out the possibility of it effecting the heart and possibly even causing a fatal incident."

The death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport last October prompted the two-part provincial inquiry that began Monday. The first phase won't directly address Dziekanski's death, but inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood made it clear the death set off the need for an inquiry.

"I expect that all of you, and many people indeed around the world, have seen the video recording of the incident at the Vancouver International Airport," Braidwood, a former B.C. appeal court judge, said in his opening statement. The video shot by a bystander shows RCMP officers jolting Dziekanski within seconds of confronting him at the airport's international arrivals area. He was seen on TV and over the Internet around the world screaming and writhing in pain afterwards, while four officers held him down on the airport floor.

"Public reaction to the events at the airport was immediate and intense," Braidwood said.

The first phase of the inquiry will look into police use of the conducted energy weapons, how police are trained and the medical aspects of the Taser. Medical experts, police, the weapon's manufacturer and groups such as the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, as well as a lawyer representing Dziekanski's mother, are among the scheduled witnesses.

The second phase of the inquiry will look specifically at Dziekanski's death.

Reilly spent several hours Monday explaining what the Taser can do to the body.

Most of the studies into the use of the weapons were conducted on pigs and Reilly admitted that further study is needed on how Taser use affects people, especially on someone who has taken drugs such as cocaine, on smaller people, on the elderly and on pregnant women.

He told the media after his presentation that compared to a bullet, the use of the Taser is a "no-brainer."

"I wouldn't want to be Tased myself and I wouldn't want a family member to be Tased," he said. "But I recognize among the arsenal of things police have to deal with, that this may be a useful tool."

Reilly said he has heard of cases of abuse of the weapon and said he hopes the inquiry will address the use of force and that the weapons should not be used in a cavalier way.

"Without question there are situations in which these things are abused."

Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother, said it was clear even from Reilly's presentation that there was a lack of information from police services about how often and who they use the weapon on.

"So when we don't have that it's hard to really judge how safe the Taser is, what the effects are, who's died, who's been hurt, what's happened during the course of training. We don't have that information; (police) have been withholding it," he said outside the inquiry room.

Penny Priddy, a New Democrat member of a House of Commons public safety committee looking into Taser use, said the problem is that none of the dozen studies or inquiries looking at Taser use will mesh.

After travelling across the country speaking to police and the public she said coming together with some national rules seems paramount.

"The deeper I got into this, the more I worried about the system," she said. "We can study this from coast to coast to coast, but somebody has to have the power to make something happen." Braidwood has already asked B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal for an extension to his final report from the first phase, which he hopes to have ready by October.

The second phase of the inquiry - the one dealing specifically with Dziekanski's death - will only begin after the Crown has made a decision on whether charges will be laid in connection to his death.

Minnesota man dies

May 4, 2008

Joe Kubat, 21, dead after being tasered by St. Paul police on May 4, 2008

Public inquiry into taser use [in British Columbia] begins on Monday

May 4, 2008
Lora Grindlay, Vancouver Province, with Canwest News Service

A public inquiry into the use of the controversial Taser in B.C. begins Monday.

Headed by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, the first of two phases of the inquiry is a study into the use of the conducted energy weapons.

After reviewing written submissions and public forums to be held until May 23, Braidwood will make recommendations on the appropriate use of the weapons by B.C. police forces (other than the RCMP, who operate under federal regulations), sheriffs and corrections officers.

Braidwood has said he will also review Taser use by the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police. Input will focus on rules of use and training for officers, and the safety and effectiveness of the stun guns. Tasers are used to physically incapacitate a person by discharging controlled electric energy into the body.

Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, who has conducted extensive legal research into Taser use, and represents the family of Robert Bagnall who died after being Tasered by Vancouver Police in 2004, will speak at the inquiry on May 22.

Ward told The Province Sunday that until studies independent of the manufacturer and of law enforcement are conducted, there should be a moratorium on their use.

"Given the number of deaths that have occurred consequential to Taser use - well in excess of 300 in North America to date - I'm concerned that there has not been sufficient independent, rigorous, scientific and medical testing of the weapon to determine whether or not they are safe or whether they may cause death," Ward said.

He is hopeful Braidwood will recommend a moratorium. "If the Braidwood inquiry carefully considers the range of views offered by the presenters that certainly would be a possibility. It is certainly the approach I would advocate."

Ward will also speak of his concerns about "useage creep" of Tasers by police and others. "The weapon is being used often to get people to comply with direction and perhaps even as punishment," said Ward. "The use has gone way beyond that which originally the proponents were advocating which is as an alternative to lethal force."

It was recently revealed that members of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service used their Tasers 10 times since January 2007, twice against fare-evaders.

Braidwood is set to hear from electrical engineer J. Patrick Reilly Monday morning and biomedical engineer John Webster Monday afternoon.

He will also hear from a prison warden, doctors, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, police forces and the manufacturer of the guns, Arizona-based Taser International Inc.

The second phase of the inquiry - for which a date has not been set - will probe and report on the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport in October.

Dziekanski died moments after being Tasered by airport Mounties.

Video shot by a passerby horrified people all over the world who watched an erratic, frustrated and confused Dziekanski die on the airport floor.

Braidwood is expected to report back on the first phase to the B.C. government by June 30. Victoria ordered the inquiry following Dziekanski's death.

Walter Kosteckyj, lawyer for Dziekanski's mom Zophia Cisowski, will speak to the inquiry on May 15.

EDITORIAL: Tasers do affect the heart

May 3, 2008
The Globe and Mail

The case for a moratorium on police use of tasers in Canada has been immeasurably strengthened by a group of cardiologists and research scientists from the University of Toronto. They have exploded police and manufacturer claims that the taser does not affect the heart and therefore does not cause fatal heart problems. With taser use growing rapidly - the Mounties alone use them more than 20 times a week - a study by the University of Toronto researchers published in the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal should be bedside reading for legislators across Canada.

The issue of taser safety has been dominated by questionable science, a point made inadvertently by RCMP Commissioner William Elliott and Alberta Solicitor-General Fred Lindsay when they were voluntarily tasered on Thursday. The idea was to demonstrate that the electric stun gun's effects wear off almost as soon as the five-second zap ends. Step right up, ladies and gents. This is the science of the snake-oil salesman.

It would take more than one William Elliott for an effective experiment, and some of them would have to be on psychotropic drugs, or have a weak heart, or be in the anxious, sweating, breathless state police call "excited delirium."

Especially key, the gun's electrical charge would have to fall across the heart - what the University of Toronto professors call "the worst-case scenario" - and not just across the abdomen. And perhaps Mr. Elliott would afterward volunteer to have a 100-kilogram officer press a knee on his exhausted windpipe. (Respiratory exhaustion, not just heart problems, may be behind some of the taser-related deaths.) Then it would simulate the real world - the world in which Robert Dziekanski was fatally tasered by the Mounties at the Vancouver airport in October.

This is not to deny that the taser has benefits. In Brampton, Ont., this week, police saved a man's life by zapping him after he took a knife to his own neck. But police are permitted to use tasers where serious physical harm is not at issue, in part because they assume it is risk-free.

As the CMAJ study shows, this assumption is wrong. "New and independent research, both epidemiologic and biological, into whether tasers can kill is essential to settle this issue," the journal says in an accompanying editorial. The safety of tasers is a live issue.

Police don't believe it. To them, "tasers do not kill" has become a mantra; no matter how many people die (20 in Canada in the past five years), the mantra does not change. Not even Mr. Dziekanski's death prompted Mr. Elliott and his outfit to question the official line. On what does that line rest? Largely on a few studies of tasers' effects on pigs, and on coroners' inquests that have not directly blamed the taser for deaths.

But the CMAJ study from the University of Toronto researchers found major weaknesses in the pig studies, and clear evidence, both in a study they did on pigs and in pig studies they reviewed, that the heart could be affected when the gun's two barbs struck in such a way that the electricity passed through the heart (without the barbs actually penetrating the heart). In one study, researchers opened a pig's chest when it was zapped and observed that the heart was affected. The stun gun could cause the pigs to abruptly lose their blood pressure. Two pigs died immediately after the stun-gun discharge in the study. As for the inquests, the CMAJ makes no reference to them, but in an interview, co-author Paul Dorian said that "as a scientist, I'm sympathetic to the difficulty of ascribing cause with very limited information." His study concludes: "It is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings." But that is exactly the police conclusion.

Whom is the public to believe, Mr. Elliott and Mr. Lindsay, who faced the taser's barbs, or medical scientists who specialize in the heart? The answer seems obvious.

Police guidelines for taser use are based on faulty assumptions. A temporary suspension of taser use would allow for those guidelines to be rewritten to reflect the weapon's real world risks.

Gedanken

A must-read from www.excited-delirium.com

I had to look up the meaning of gedanken.

Judge rules for taser in cause-of-death decisions

May 3, 2008

ROBERT ANGLEN, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.

The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone's death.

That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge's order to remove Taser's name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men's deaths.

"We will hold people accountable and responsible for untrue statements," Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said earlier this week. "If that includes medical examiners, it includes medical examiners."Many medical examiners, who are charged with determining the official causes of death, view the Scottsdale-based company's efforts as disturbing, the spokesman for the National Association of Medical Examiners says.

"It is dangerously close to intimidation," says Jeff Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. "At this point, we adamantly reject the fact that people can be sued for medical opinions that they make."

In the Ohio case, the judge said the county offered no medical, scientific or electrical evidence to justify finding the stun gun was a factor in the deaths of two men in 2005 and another in 2006. Taser and the City of Akron sued the medical examiner, saying examiners in the case lacked the proper training to evaluate Tasers.

Chief Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said that her examiners rightly concluded Taser contributed to the deaths and said county lawyers will appeal the judge's ruling.

"I would not be going forward with this if I did not believe in the rulings," she said.

The judge's order could have an immediate impact on criminal cases against five Summit County sheriff's deputies who were charged in the 2006 "homicide" of a jail inmate. Instead of homicide, the judge ordered the cause of death changed to "undetermined."

Laying a foundation

Before Friday's verdict, legal experts said Taser's victory could lay the foundation for other cases against dozens of medical examiners who have ruled that shocks from the 50,000-volt stun gun can be fatal.

Medical examiners say they're concerned that Taser's aggressive moves could have a chilling effect on doctors, preventing them from blaming Tasers for deaths even when evidence exists.

Taser still faces lawsuits from family members of victims who claim the stun gun is deadly and the company has not done proper medical research. They allege police officers are using the weapon as a compliance tool against people who do not pose significant threats.

But the company has won an impressive number of legal victories and said it has only paid out settlements in a few cases involving police officer injuries. To date, the company says more than 60 cases have been dismissed.

Taser stun guns are a fixture among police. It is used by more than 12,000 police agencies across the country, and by every major law enforcement agency in the Valley. Many police agencies credit the gun with preventing deaths and injuries to officers and suspects.

Taser maintains they are safe

Taser maintains that its guns have not caused a death or serious injury. Officials say company-funded and independent medical studies show the stun guns are safe.

More than two dozen medical examiners across the country have found the stun gun at least partly responsible in the deaths of suspects.

Since 1999, more than 300 people have died in North America following police Taser shocks. The vast majority of those deaths have not been linked to the stun gun. But medical examiners have cited the gun directly or could not rule it out as a factor in nearly 10 percent of the cases, an The Arizona Republic investigation found.

Medical examiners, who typically work for the county or state, are supposed to provide independent scientific analysis about the cause of someone's death. Their rulings are recognized by courts and the police as the official cause of death.

Taser officials have repeatedly said that medical examiners who rule against the stun gun are not qualified to judge whether a Taser was a factor in someone's death. In court disputes, it often presents opposing testimony from company representatives, doctors and medical examiners paid by the firm.

"The qualifications of a medical examiner depend on their professional and educational background as well as their level of understanding of Taser technology and the underlying effects of electricity upon the human body," Tuttle said.

The company's tactics worry Jentzen, a former medical examiner and current director of autopsy and forensics at the University of Michigan.

"I am concerned any time there is a person who is an advocate who may have a conflict of interest," he says.

Jentzen says there are few cases where companies have taken the position that coroners can't be trusted to evaluate their product's involvement in someone's death, and none so aggressively as Taser.

Taser targets rulings

In addition to Ohio, Taser sued a coroner in Indiana who had ruled that Taser caused the death of a man in 2004.

Several coroners have also reported being challenged by Taser, says Jentzen. Among them was a Cook County, Ill., medical examiner who ruled Taser shocks contributed to the death of a 54-year-old man in 2005. Taser dismissed the autopsy report as not credible and said the medical examiner was unqualified. The company demanded a judicial review.

Taser also has asked coroners to reverse opinions. An Anderson, S.C., deputy coroner said Taser representatives showed up in his office on the same day that he ruled Taser shocks contributed to a man's death in 2004.

Charlie Boseman said Taser wanted him to remove any reference to the stun gun from his report. He refused.

Coroners told to bone up

Taser officials have provided coroners reams of medical research in support of the stun gun following a death.

Tuttle says it is up to medical examiners to do the proper research, read the papers and perform tests before making a ruling on a death involving a Taser.The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in 2007 that a county medical examiner based half of his testimony at a coroner's inquest on information supplied by Taser. The medical examiner did not disclose to a jury that he met with Taser officials and reviewed the company's literature before testifying that the stun gun's role in a death was debatable.

In Summit County, Kohler said she has received volumes of medical studies and literature from Taser, all suggesting that the rulings in her cases are wrong.

In Maricopa County, at least 10 people have died following police Taser strikes since 2002. In a 2004 case, the medical examiner's office ruled that Taser shocks contributed to a Mesa man's death. Autopsy reports were unavailable for review this week by The Republic.

Neither Chief Medical Examiner Mark Fischione nor Taser would discuss what, if any, involvement the company had with medical examiners performing autopsies in the cases.

Fischione did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Taser for years touted autopsy reports as proof of the stun gun's safety. Company officials told police departments and shareholders that no medical examiner had cited the stun gun in an autopsy report. But The Republic's investigation found that 27 medical examiners concluded that the gun caused, contributed to or could not be ruled out in deaths.

'Excited delirium' blamed in Taser-related deaths

Taser advocates an alternative cause-of-death scenario called excited delirium. The condition, which is not recognized as a diagnosis in official medical manuals, is used to describe deaths of suspects who become so agitated by drugs, psychosis or poor health that their bodies shut down during struggles with police.

Excited delirium has been cited in police custody-death cases for decades. It is now being blamed more and more by medical examiners for deaths that occur following a police Taser strike, including at least one in Maricopa County in recent years.

Taser has funded excited delirium studies and has been involved in promoting its research. The company maintains that excited delirium is a valid syndrome, and some doctors say it will gain acceptance as more research is conducted.

Mark Schlosberg, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California who has worked on several Taser cases, argued that excited delirium has become a convenient way to explain away deaths that occur at the hands of police.

"There are plenty of medical examiners who are very skeptical of excited delirium," he added. "But that is not what Taser is promoting . . . They attribute almost all of the deaths following a Taser strike to excited delirium."

Reach the reporter at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8694.

EDITORIAL: Stunning concerns

May 3, 2008
The Kingston Whig Standard

Are electric stun guns potentially lethal? Are they more dangerous than their manufacturer and police forces let on? Definitive answers to these questions have been hard to find. So much so that it was becoming clear that medical intervention would be necessary - that doctors and researchers would have to enter into the debate.

Now they have. This week, an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal called for more independent studies into the devices. It points out that enough people have died soon after being shocked that further investigation is warranted.

More than 300 North Americans, including 20 in Canada, have died after being shot with stun guns. Sadly, it took the videotaped death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport last October to arouse wider public concern.

Determining whether or not the stun guns are as safe as the manufacturer says they are will influence how and when they are used. Initially, they were promoted as a less lethal alternative to guns. But a Canadian Press analysis of RCMP stun-gun use between 2002 and 2005 revealed that in 563 incidents, 79 per cent of the suspects were unarmed and didn't necessarily pose a high risk to officers.

Amnesty International has called for a moratorium on the use of stun guns until further studies are done. Indeed, overuse of the weapons is becoming a concern. Last month it was revealed that Vancouver transit police were zapping people who refused to pay their fares.

Public health and safety may be compromised by stun-gun use. We welcome the doctors' input.

Ohio judge orders taser removed from autopsies

May 2, 2008
By Ed Meyer, Beacon Journal staff writer

A judge ruled today that the Summit County Medical Examiner must change her autopsy findings to remove all references to the Taser stun gun as a contributing cause of death in the cases of three men who died during encounters with law enforcement officers.

The decision by visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman, released late this morning after a four-day trial in Common Pleas Court last week, stated that there is "simply no medical, scientific or electrical evidence to support the conclusion that the Taser . . . had anything to do with the death of Dennis S. Hyde, Richard Holcomb, or Mark D. McCullaugh."

In his findings of fact and conclusions of law, Schneiderman further explained that Taser International, which joined the City of Akron in filing the lawsuit against the medical examiner, "proved their claims for changing the reports of autopsy and death certificates on the three individuals by more than a preponderance of evidence."

Lawyers for Taser, relying on a "multiple number of experts . . . in the area of sudden and unexpected death while law enforcement attempted to obtain custody provided overwhelming credible medical and scientific evidence to support their positions," Schneiderman's ruling stated.

The medical examiner, Dr. Lisa J. Kohler, who was named as the defendant in the suit, said this afternoon that she was declining to comment because she had not read the judge's 15-page decision.

Kohler said she would have something to say after reviewing it.

Schneiderman's decision could have an effect on the criminal cases against five Summit County sheriff's deputies charged in the August 2006 death of 28-year-old jail inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr., because the ruling orders Kohler to change the manner of death from homicide to "undetermined."

Schneiderman, quoting passages from Kohler's autopsy report on McCullaugh, stated that his death "shall be ruled undetermined and any reference to death by 'asphyxia due to the combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint,' as well as any reference to 'homicide' due to 'multiple restraint mechanisms with beating and anal penetration' shall be deleted from both the death certificate and the Report of Autopsy."

Inspector Keith Thornton, head of the sheriff's investigative division, said Sheriff Drew Alexander would have a comment on Schneiderman's decision after reviewing it.

Schneiderman, a retired Common Pleas judge, presided over the trial as a visiting judge.

Read the full text of the decision here.

Father accused of using taser on child

A Monroe [North Caroline] father is accused of using a Taser gun on his son three times. 30-year-old Donald Ricci was arrested for felony child abuse. Police said he shocked his son on the buttocks, back, and chest late last year. Just a few weeks ago, the 10-year-old boy's grandparents took him to the doctor for an unrelated reason. The doctor saw the infected wounds and alerted police.

RCMP commissioner, Alberta solicitor general zapped by taser

May 2, 2008
The Canadian Press and CBC News

Alberta's solicitor general says being hit with a Taser was one of the most painful experiences he's ever had. He and RCMP Commissioner William Elliott agreed to be shot by the stun gun.

Fred Lindsay said it was Elliott's idea to be shocked with the electronic gun Thursday after they watched a demonstration by an RCMP emergency response team on Thursday. "I think it started with the commissioner, just in conversation, so it just proceeded from there," Lindsay said Friday.

Elliott was the first to get the jolt, which burned a tiny hole in his shirt from the electric charge, said Lindsay, who added he pulled a T-shirt over his own shirt before he was zapped. "My shirt survived and so did I."

It wasn't clear exactly where in the torso either man was hit.

A spokesman for the RCMP in Ottawa said Elliott would not be commenting on the experience. But Lindsay described his shock as one of the most painful experiences in his life. "I remained standing up, but certainly was unable to do anything as far as moving. It freezes you to the spot. I couldn't describe any experience that would be more painful than that. It's pretty much over the whole body," he said. "Certainly afterwards, it's a little bit warm in those two entry points." Lindsay said he was fine moments later: "Within seconds, the pain is gone and you're back to normal."

The solicitor general said it firmed up in his mind that the Taser is an effective tool in handling situations where police need to control an aggressive individual who may harm themselves, police or a member of the public.

Elliott told a Commons committee in February that he'd never been hit with a Taser, voluntarily or otherwise.

In April 2003, the RCMP issued an operational bulletin prohibiting use of the Taser on civilian volunteers for demonstration purposes. However, the force has frequently turned the weapon on officers in training sessions.

At least one Mountie and several U.S. police officers have sued over injuries allegedly sustained during such instruction.

CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL - Tasers in medicine: an irreverent call for proposals

EDITORIAL
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Early release, published at www.cmaj.ca on May 1, 2008 – subject to revisions

In this issue, we call your attention to an emerging and increasingly popular medical device: the taser. It may strike you as odd to hear tasers described as medical devices. Tasers are probably more familiar to you, depending on your point of view, as a valuable tool for subduing criminals and safeguarding the lives of law enforcement personnel(1) or, alternatively, as a potentially lethal weapon being deployed with wanton disregard for public safety.(2) The latter perspective has possibly been inflicted on society by the media, which has an annoying habit of publicizing when someone dies after being exposed to a taser discharge. In fact, media reports to date have documented over 300 such deaths, 20 in Canada.(3,4) Critics charge that tasers are too dangerous, that independent studies evaluating their safety are urgently needed and that a moratorium should be placed on their use.(2-4)

Fortunately, comforting words can be found if you're looking for reassurance that tasers really are the greatest invention since pepper spray - another weapon that medicine has appropriated, now that capsaicin cream is used as a topical analgesic. You see, despite what scientific demonstration of potentially lethal effects in animals and humans (as reviewed by Nanthakumar and colleagues in this issue(5)), overwhelming circumstantial evidence and a certain notorious airport video might lead you to believe, tasers are perfectly safe and have never, ever killed anyone. We know this because TASER International, manufacturer of the market¬leading device, says so, claiming "the TASER ECD cannot stop the heart".(6) And TASER International is an honourable, and for most of its existence very profitable, company.

So honourable, in fact, that they have sponsored research to prove the taser's safety. Just about all the research, as it turns out.(7) Moreover, they pay for experts to travel across North America and spread the good news about how safe tasers are and correct any misconceptions that might arise from events like deaths of suspects in police custody or immigrants in Vancouver's airport.(8) They even set up demonstration booths where, like some bizarre extreme sport, people line up voluntarily to experience a taser shock for themselves.(9) Notably, volunteers are almost always shocked in the back and not in the chest, where the electrodes might cross the heart, nor do volunteers experience the repeated and sustained shocks that are often used in the field, a feature that has led the United Nations to classify the taser as a form of torture.(10)

TASER International appears to attract loyalty. The scientific literature bears witness to a small group of dedicated researchers who diligently write letters to journals pointing out flaws in studies reporting harm from tasers. Unfortunately, some of these researchers occasionally neglect to mention their participation on TASER International's medical advisory board or board of directors.(11,12) TASER International itself sometimes goes further, to the extent of suing a researcher for publishing scientific results critical oftasers in a peer-reviewed journal and a medical examiner for the "error" of listing taser exposure on a death certificate as the cause of death.(13) Obviously, no one is better suited to instruct a qualified physician, coroner or specialist in forensic pathology on how to determine the cause of death than advisors to a corporation with a vested interest in the device being critiqued. This bold step ushers in a new medico-legal era: physicians can now be sued not only for delivering bad care but also for holding bad opinions.

Owing to these diligent efforts, the taser's good reputation has been maintained. Law enforcement agencies worldwide are increasingly adopting its use. In the United States, the general public can also exercise their second-amendment right to bear tasers, with the latest consumer models sporting stylish leopard print or camouflage motifs.

And now, apparently, it is medicine's turn. You see, the company and its hired experts have managed to explain why so many people seem to die after being zapped by a taser without this being in any way the fault of the device. They have taught us about an emerging disorder called "excited delirium." As reported recently in CMAJ,(14) this disorder, which does not officially exist as a recognized clinical condition in the DSM-N classification, enjoys lively discussion whenever tasers are involved. The message to remember is that tasers do not kill people: excited delirium does. Only cynics would observe that tasers nevertheless appear to be the leading risk factor associated with sudden death due to excited delirium, suggesting a potential cure for this increasingly prevalent and fatal condition if society could accept the drastic measure of withdrawing tasers from use.

Despite this, some law enforcement training materials actually discuss excited delirium as an indication for taser use(15) which is a position endorsed by the manufacturer. As it seems from this that tasers are being recommended as a treatment for a medical condition, we infer that they are in effect being construed as a medical device. Now, we have some bad news for the manufacturer. To be approved for use, medical devices must satisfy rigourous scientific standards and be subjected to clinical trials. This is to protect the public from unsafe medical devices. Fortunately for TASER International, there are no similarly rigourous scientific standards mandated to protect the public from potentially unsafe law enforcement devices. Tasers can thus be used freely on any member of the population, albeit safeguarded by the sound judgment of law enforcement personnel and, in the United States, by the sound judgment of most any adult who has money to purchase one.

To keep health care professionals from being excluded from this exciting treatment option, perhaps the Canadian Institutes of Health Research should issue a call for proposals for taser research. A randomized trial of tasers for excited delirium would seem a logical place to start, but given the lack of an accepted case definition for this condition, a study in ordinary delirium might have to do. For those who might have ethical concerns with such a trial, we point out that a management strategy currently popular in this context, the off-label use of antipsychotics, is already known to increase the risk of death,(16) thus one could argue that clinical equipoise exists as to whether tasers would be a safer and more effective intervention. The emergency department may be a safer environment to study taser use because, curiously, patients rarely seem to die of excited delirium in an emergency department and physicians' hearts are comforted by the presence of a defibrillator.

On the other hand, perhaps the CIHR should issue a different kind of call. The CIHR could start by recognizing that deaths occurring in association with taser use make the safety of these devices a public health issue. New and independent research, both epidemiologic and biological, into whether tasers can kill is essential to settle this issue. Also, law enforcement agencies could be made to open up their databases on taser use for independent analysis, on the principle that the assertion that tasers have saved lives of police and suspects alike, while plausible, should be proven, not merely asserted as fact. We imagine that, to TASER lnternational, this type of research may seem unnecessary and pedantic. We're sorry, but in the end, we are used to thinking like physicians and scientists concerned about health, preferring to gather and analyze the facts rather than succumbing to the bald assertions of a large corporate entity that has demonstrated a willingness to squelch any messages that could hurt its bottom line.

Matthew B. Stanbrook MD PhD Deputy Editor, Scientific, CMAJ
With the Editorial-Writing Team (Paul C. Hebert MD MHSc,
Rajendra Kale MD, Barbara Sibbald BJ, Ken Flegel MDCM MSc and Noni MacDonald MD MSc)

REFERENCES

1. Klint DE. TASER device liability and litigation risk. Scottsdale (AZ): TASER International, 2007. Available here. (accessed 2008, Apr 15).

2. Amnesty International's concerns about Tasers. Ottawa: Amnesty International Canada, 2007. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

3. Amnesty International reiterates call to suspend police use of tasers following airport death [news release]. Ottawa (ON): Amnesty International Canada, 2007. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

4. TNT - TRUTH...not TASERS [blog]. Available: http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/ (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

5. Nanthakumar K, Masse S, Umapathy K, et al, Cardiac stimulation with high voltage discharge from stun guns CMAJ 2008;1781:1451-7.

6. Kroll MW. Cardiac safety. Scottsdale (AZ): TASER International: 2007 Mar 25. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

7. Anglen R. Taser tied to "independenr' study that backs stun gun. Arizona Republic 2005 May 21. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 14).

8. S. Alphonso C, Leeder J, EI Akkad O. Taser firms picked up coroner's tab to give lectures. The Globe and Mail 2007 Nov 30. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

9. Basler R. Oh, we're playing LASER tag? Not TASER tag? My bad... London (UK): Reuters: 2007. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

10. United Nations Office at Geneva. Committee against torture concludes thirty-ninth session. Geneva: United Nations, 2007. Available here.(accessed 2008 Apr 15).

11. Kroll M, Luceri RM, Calkins H. A very interesting case study involving a TASER conducted electrical weapon (CEW) used on a patient with a pacemaker. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2007;18:E29-30.

12. Kroll MW, Calkins H, Luceri RM. Electronic control devices and the clinical milieu. J Am CoIl Cardiol 2007;49:732-3.

13. Randerson J. Stun gun makers sue experts over safety criticisms. Guardian (UK) 2006 Mar 9. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

14. Truscott A A knee in the neck of excited delirium. CMAJ 2008;178:669-70.

15. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Operational manual. Chapter 17.7: Conducted energy weapon. Ottawa: the Police, 2007. Available here. (accessed 2008 Apr 15).

16. Singh S, Wooltorton E. Increased mortality among elderly patients with dementia using atypical antipsychotics. CMAJ 2005;173:252.

Medical journal calls for independent studies on Taser safety

May 1, 2008
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Potential health risks of Taser stun guns must be independently studied, says the latest Canadian Medical Association Journal in a sardonic editorial that blasts the manufacturer for intimidation tactics.

Taser International funds much of the research it cites to support Taser safety while challenging and sometimes suing those who raise concerns, it says.

"Tasers are perfectly safe and have never, ever killed anyone," writes Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, an assistant professor, researcher and specialist in respirology at the Toronto Western Hospital.

"We know this because Taser International . . . says so, claiming 'the Taser . . . cannot stop the heart.' And Taser International is an honourable and, for most of its existence, very profitable company.

"So honourable, in fact, that they have sponsored research to prove the Taser's safety," he continues. "Just about all the research, as it turns out. Moreover, they pay for experts to travel across North America and spread the good news about how safe Tasers are and correct any misconceptions that might arise from events like deaths of suspects in police custody or immigrants in Vancouver's airport."

Stun guns are now the subject of several continuing or pending inquiries across Canada. The weapons came under intense scrutiny last fall when amateur video of the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport was released, to public outrage.

No comment from Taser International was immediately available. It has vigorously defended its devices in several lawsuits and stresses that the weapon has never been directly blamed for a death. It has, however, been cited repeatedly as a contributing factor.

Especially at issue is the unknown effect of zapping severely agitated suspects with up to 50,000 volts. The sudden deaths of several people who were in a heart-pounding state before being Tasered have been explained using the contentious, non-medically recognized term "excited delirium."

"It's troubling that it's trotted out so often as an explanation for these events given the uncertainty around it," Stanbrook said in an interview. Taser advocates, along with an RCMP training manual, go so far as to suggest it might be best to zap people in that condition so they may be quickly subdued and medically treated, he added.

"It seems that these deaths due to excited delirium only occur in the context of being confronted with a law-enforcement officer with or without a Taser. Delirium in general is a very common condition - we see it all the time in hospitals.

"It is rare if ever that people who are delirious in hospitals have sudden death. So this has really come out of nowhere as something that suddenly kills people and requires rapid intervention."

To recommend the Taser as a go-to management tool in such situations "seems to us bordering on the absurd," Stanbrook said."Another perspective . . . is this is exactly the situation in which someone is at risk of dying from the Taser."

He says federally funded, independent research is badly needed to get to the bottom of such questions. At the very least, there should be an unbiased review of police-confrontation deaths before and after Tasers were introduced to assess net harm or benefit.

More than 300 people in North America, including 20 in Canada, have died soon after being Tasered. The electronic guns are overwhelmingly popular with police, who say they avoid injuries to suspects and officers and are certainly a better option than firearms.

Amnesty International and other critics have called for a moratorium pending an independent and comprehensive safety review. They say "Taser creep" has led to the jolting of unarmed suspects as a matter of handy compliance rather than to defuse major threats.

A Canadian Press analysis of 563 Taser incidents reported by the RCMP between 2002 and 2005 revealed that more than 79 per cent of suspects were unarmed.

The reports also suggested a pattern of use by the Mounties as a quick means to keep relatively low-risk prisoners, drunks and unruly suspects in line. More recent reports released by the RCMP have been heavily censored to remove key details such as exact dates and injuries linked to the stun guns.

Canadian medical journal calls for independent studies on taser safety

May 1, 2008
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A scathing editorial in the latest Canadian Medical Association Journal says the safety of Taser stun guns must be studied independently. The journal blasts Taser International, which makes the powerful weapons, for funding much of the research used to support the safety of Tasers. It reviews existing scientific studies and says there's an urgent need for new and unbiased research.

More than 300 people in North America, including 20 in Canada, have died soon after being Tasered. The electronic guns are overwhelmingly popular with police, who say they avoid injuries to suspects and officers. The medical association says Taser International has aggressively challenged researchers and coroners who've raise safety concerns.

Tasering could affect heartbeat, Toronto researchers find

May 1, 2008
Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service

Despite the theory that stun guns don't harm internal organs such as the heart, Canadian researchers are reporting that, in fact, research suggests stun gun discharges are able to stimulate heart muscle under certain circumstances.

"In our view it is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real-world settings," Dr. Kumaraswamy Nanthakumar, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, published online Thursday.

The researchers studied a total of 150 discharges in six anesthetized pigs and found that 74 of the discharges resulted in stimulation of the myocardium, or heart muscle.

"We took care to ensure that the gun barbs did not pierce deep into the tissue," the researchers reported, just days before a B.C. inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski is set to begin. Dziekanski was Tasered by the RCMP last October after he began behaving erratically in a secure area of Vancouver airport, and died shortly after.

The researchers from the University of Toronto and two Toronto hospitals found that the positioning of the barbs, which transmit the electrical impulses from the device, played a key role. Placing them across the chest, nearest the heart, simulated "the worst-case scenario of creating a current vector that directly passes through the heart," the researchers reported.

If the barbs were placed away from the chest and across the abdomen, none of the 56 test discharges stimulated the heart, "suggesting that the location of the barbs had a crucial influence on stimulating the heart."

In one study, the pigs' blood pressure was suddenly lost after a stun gun, such as a Taser, was discharged. In another study, two animals died from ventricular fibrillation - rapid, uncontrolled contraction of the heart - immediately after being Tasered.

"This suggests that sufficient current density was produced by the stun gun to stimulate the heart, which, according to theory, should not and could not occur."

"Three different studies involving pigs, one of which was performed by us, have shown that a stun gun discharge can stimulate the heart,"Nanthakumar noted.

The team cautions that a human's chest is different from that of a pig, and that "one should be prudent in extrapolating data from animals to humans because of this fact." Still, most of what's known about cardiac defibrillation comes from studies in animals, not humans.

In an accompanying editorial, CMAJ deputy editor Dr. Matthew Stanbrook says deaths occurring in association with Tasers "make the safety of these devices a public health issue."

He says police should share information about their use, and that information that should be analyzed by independent researchers, "on the principle that the assertion that Tasers have saved lives of police and suspects alike, while plausible, should be proven, not merely asserted as fact."

"New and independent research, both epidemiologic and biological, into whether Tasers can kill is essential to settle this issue."

More than 300 deaths following stun gun use have been documented, 20 of them in Canada.
The devices are used to physically incapacitate a person by discharging controlled electric energy into the body.

The Toronto researchers found no conclusive evidence to show whether stun guns can cause erratic heartbeats sometime later, after the stun gun discharge is complete.

My submission to the House of Commons Committee on Public Safety and National Security

Here is what I said to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa (Canada) on April 16, 2008:

Good afternoon, Chairman and members of the committee.

I'm relieved to be here today. For me and my family, this is an extremely important destination in what has been a very, very long journey.

As I'm sure you know, my brother, Robert Bagnell, died on June 23, 2004, moments after he was tasered by Vancouver police. Two days after his death, the Vancouver Police Department contacted my family to inform us that Bob died of an apparent drug overdose.

I know you won't be able to answer these questions, but my questions have always been as follows: If using tasers on my brother was the right thing to do, would the police not have disclosed the fact of their use immediately? Would they have concealed the fact that they used tasers, for an entire four weeks, before announcing to the media, not to us, that they used tasers the night my brother died? Would they have waited a further three weeks before coming up with a burning building from which Bob needed to be rescued?

No, I believe the police knew immediately that the force they used on my brother was excessive. They needed those seven weeks to pull together a plausible explanation to justify their use of the weapon whose manufacturer had aggressively marketed it to them, misleading them into believing that the taser could cause no harm.

More than two years after Bob died, a coroner's inquest was finally convened in September 2006. The inquest, in our opinion, was about saving the taser, not about the changes that might be made to prevent similar deaths in the future. No one, least of all the lawyer for the police and the two lawyers who had standing at the inquest for Taser International, was prepared to conceive of the possibility that the taser may not be the perfect weapon, that there may even exist the possibility that the taser could cause or in some way contribute to death.

We learned some interesting facts at the inquest. We learned that the four ERT members who were in physical contact with Bob when he stopped breathing delivered their mostly identical statements to investigators 17 days after the incident, after seeking legal advice. We learned from the advanced life support staff who attended to Bob right after he stopped breathing that every muscle in his body was spasmed. They said they had only ever seen that in rigor mortis, which they normally would not see until hours later.

We learned that it was possible that Bob had less than half the lethal amount of narcotics in his system, not nearly enough in and of themselves to kill him. We learned that the data download feature on both tasers that were used on Bob conveniently failed, so that the number, duration, and mode of uses were impossible to verify. We learned that police attended the autopsy. The pathologist testified that the cause of death was partly determined by information she was given. The cause of several taser-like marks on Bob's body were inconclusive and the pathologist was unable to determine whether Bob's heart underwent any electrical arrhythmia.

That's the thing about death that occurs after tasering. Even Dr. Butt testified recently to this committee that very uncommonly is there specific pathology with the taser. And I don't begin to understand the science behind the taser or how it affects the human body.

Coroners and medical examiners often choose to mention a condition they call “excited delirium” as the cause of death. They are influenced by Taser International to specifically not mention the taser. The manufacturer's aggressive approach against coroners and medical examiners explains why relatively few deaths have been found to be caused by tasers. Both so-called excited delirium and the taser are undetectable on autopsy, and therefore unprovable. However, as a friend of mine says, “Excited delirium doesn't sue coroners, Taser International does.” So drugs, psychosis, and excited delirium take the blame for these deaths despite the lack of any evidence to show that the taser did not cause or contribute to them in any way.

Tasers have not been safety-tested in this country, and nobody knows whether individual weapons match the manufacturer's specifications. The only truly independent testing I am aware of is what was done on the two tasers that were used on my brother the night he died. One of those two tasers was found to be 84.5 times more powerful than the manufacturer's specifications. Of course, Taser International reacted to those findings in its usual hostile manner, and the company that tested the tasers was made to resile from its findings. However, the author of the report, the man who tested the tasers, testified at my brother's inquest and stood steadfastly behind his methodology and his conclusions.

At this time the two tasers are still awaiting new testing protocols, protocols that are being developed by police. Today I learned that the two tasers used on my brother arrived in Ottawa this week.

Tasers urgently require expert and truly independent testing for safety on humans. Every time a police officer uses a taser they engage in a deadly game of Russian roulette with a potentially lethal weapon. Not so long ago, the past president of the Canada Safety Council urged that minimum standards for the efficacy and use of tasers be developed and noted that relying completely on specifications provided by the manufacturer of the taser is completely unacceptable. Since we are dealing with possible electrocution, it seems the Canadian Standards Association would be the most logical place to start. And if after the taser has been tested it is to remain in the police arsenal, then a much higher standard of necessity must be imposed upon its use in Canada so that police officers can better predict the potential for severe, unintended, and possibly deadly effects, and therefore consider their force options more carefully.

There has been a great deal of reluctance by law enforcement officials and coroners in Canada to admit that the taser may not be as safe as the manufacturer originally misled them to believe. This has only been exacerbated by the fact that the manufacturer has ingratiated itself into our law enforcement community by, for example, compensating individual police officers and at least one coroner, and spending thousands of dollars in sponsorship of Canadian law enforcement events. They have even recently announced that they'd like to be part of any inquests and reviews in Canada.

My brother Bob's death was the 58th in North America. According to my research, the number of dead now stands at 337. It's no coincidence that the taser is the common denominator in all of these deaths.

Canadians witnessed the last horrifying moments of Mr. Dziekanski's life as it was stolen from him. Had the events leading up to my brother's death been captured on video, Canadians would have been outraged in 2004, and perhaps many of those who have since died in Canada, including Mr. Dziekanski, might still be alive today.

What would we learn if we could bear witness to the last moments of the lives of Terry Hanna, Clayton Willey, Clark Whitehouse, Ronald Perry, Roman Andreichikov, Peter Lamonday, Robert Bagnell, Jerry Knight, Samuel Truscott, Kevin Geldart, Gurmeet Sandhu, James Foldi, Paul Saulnier, Alesandro Fiacco, Jason Dean, Claudio Castagnetta, Quilem Registre, Howard Hyde, and Robert Knipstrom?

Would we agree that taser use was justified during Clayton Willey's "altercation" at the mall? Were three taser jolts justified when Clark Whitehouse "tried to flee" from police on foot? What about when police arrived, tasers already drawn, to find Roman Andreichikov sitting on a couch rocking back and forth mumbling to himself? Was it okay to shock Peter Lamonday several times when he was already on the ground? How about Alesandro Fiacco, who "refused to cooperate" with police? These are but a few Canadian examples where the lives of these men and their loved ones went sideways in a heartbeat.

Would we agree that taser use was justified as my brother, all 136 pounds of him, lay on his back on a bathroom floor alone, unarmed, in extreme medical distress, resisting police attempts to drag him out by his feet by holding on to inanimate objects for dear life while 13 highly trained police officers stood by as the only witnesses to the last moments of Bob's life, watching as he was subdued to death?

No, I believe that if Canadians could see with their own eyes what really happened--not the police's tidy version of events, but what really happened when these 20 people died in this country--they would be outraged.

In the days leading up to today, I have wracked my brain trying to conjure up the words that might help you look at the issue of tasers from a different perspective: that of a person who has been deeply affected by the loss of a family member to this deadly weapon. I am but one grieving family member. Somewhere out there are thousands of other family members left behind to mourn the other 336 people who have died.

I know that the eyes of the world are on Canada at this pivotal point. They watch, and they wait. Those who know us know that we will do the right thing. Canada will take the lead and see these weapons finally and independently tested. Canada will set the standard and impose strict regulations that will not allow police unfettered access to this technology. And finally, they know that Canada will impose a much-needed moratorium on tasers until we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, whether or not their use on human beings is safe. Canada will pay special attention to the studies that have found problems with tasers.

As the father of one taser victim said, "The issue is not whether or not the taser can be used in a high percentage of cases to reduce death and/or physical trauma to officers and civilians alike. The issue is whether or not it's OK to kill the rest through ignorance and rationalization just because it's a small percentage.... The successes aren't the problem--the failures are."

Thank you.

Police board to review local taser use

May 1, 2008
By Jennifer O'Meara, Northumberland News

COBOURG - The Cobourg Police Service Board is asking Acting Chief Paul Sweet to look into the police service's policy on Taser use, after a report on the state of Tasers in Canada from the Canadian Association of Police Boards came to the board.

"Reading this report it's obvious the board does have an oversight role to play in this issue," said police board member Greg Kay.

The report recommends police boards work with the service's management to make sure training and policies are regularly updated with the latest information; monitoring is good so those in charge of policy know how Tasers are being used; and those making the policy are keeping up to date on medical research into in-custody deaths.

Conducted Energy Devices (CED), or Tasers, are an electro-shock weapon used to stun someone from a distance. According to the report, the device has a great appeal to police because it can incapacitate subjects from a distance, limiting injuries to the officer and suspect. After several high profile deaths of suspects after being shocked, including the man who died immediately after being shocked in Vancouver's International Airport in late-2007, Taser use has become controversial.

In the local police force, only Cobourg police sergeants and their second-in-command carry Tasers, said Acting Deputy Chief Dave Cromlish.

All Cobourg officers who carry Tasers are retrained every year and have to re-qualify to carry the weapon, added Chief Sweet.

Tasers were first brought into the Cobourg police force at the end of 2006 and Deputy Chief Cromlish does not believe the new equipment was used that year. In 2007 officers used the Tasers twice and so far in 2008 police have used a Taser once, he added.

"No injuries have been reported," said Deputy Chief Cromlish.

Chief Sweet will bring more details on Taser policy and training by local police to the police board at the next board meeting on May 29.