Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

Yeah right, 'Excited Delirium' my ass...

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The primary purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for my observations and analysis about tasers, taser "associated" deaths, and the behaviour exhibited by the management, employees and minions of Taser International. In general, everything is linked back to external sources, often via previous posts on the same topic, so that readers can fact-check to their heart's content. This blog was started in late-2007 when Canadians were enraged by the taser death of Robert Dziekanski and four others in a short three month period. The cocky attitude exhibited by the Taser International spokespuppet, and his preposterous proposal that Mr. Dziekanski coincidentally died of "excited delirium" at the time of his taser-death, led me to choose the blog name I did and provides my motivation. I have zero financial ties to this issue.



Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Interesting case...

Link= RICKEY A. BEAVER v. CITY OF FEDERAL WAY

The judgment has a few interesting tidbits:

1) Judge wrote: The analysis changes, however, with the arrival of Officer Castro. At this point, there were two officers to control the situation. [see 41]

The judge found that the subsequent taserings were illegal. Compare this to the news that the average number of police present at taser incidents in Montreal is SIX. That would seem, by this judge's reasoning, that most taserings in Montreal would be illegal (based on the numbers).

2) Judge wrote: Officer Myers ("expert witness" for the defense) has a business relationship with Taser International. He is sent by Taser International on trips around the world to promote the use of Tasers and instruct police departments on their use. He also has an ownership interest in a small consulting group that Taser International contracts with for pre-release versions of some of its equipment. He has been named a "Senior Master Instructor Armorer" by Taser International. [see 65]

File this sort of relationship under 'Ethically-challenged' (with respect to presenting ones self as an expert witness).

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