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.



Thursday, May 29, 2008

Dziekanski - restraint asphyxia?

An article in The Province [LINK] is headlined:

Robert Dziekanski may have died from suffocation while restrained

Although I'm absolutely-positively not an expert on this topic, I understand that such a proposed asphyxia death would normally leave obvious pathological clues.

1. Pulmonary edema, with froth in trachea and bronchi.
2. Bulky, crepitant and over‑distended lungs.
3. Right ventricular dilatation.
...and possibly more...

Ref.: Asphyxia, Dr. J.A.J. Ferris [LINK]

On the other hand, a hypothetical taser-induced death might leave no physical evidence whatsoever (which should be interpreted as very strong evidence in itself).

So, this speculation seems to be perfectly meaningless. If asphyxia is the cause of death, then the autopsy results should indicate asphyxia and provide some details to justify that conclusion. On the other hand, if the autopsy results are inconclusive, then that lack of evidence would point in another direction.

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