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.



Friday, January 23, 2009

Recent study is example of GIGO

"...The three-year study by Wake Forest University's medical school found no links between tasers and fatal heart attacks ... Of the 1,201 cases studied, two people died; but those deaths were attributed to a combination of prolonged struggles, drug abuse and pre-existing medical conditions." [LINK] & [LINK]

And so in conclusion, if you take a data set where there are two deaths, and you're in an environment where any taser-associated deaths are attributed to anything (such as being overweight, or having a pre-existing heart condition) anything except the taser, then the circle is complete.

GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Fact - Coroners have repeatedly found that tasers have contributed to deaths. I've seen some reports that the number of such findings is 30+, other reports indicate 50-ish. And this in spite of the campaign to prevent such findings.

Fact - Taser still bears a judgment for an alternative blood pH death mechanism. The judgment was reduced (for purely legal technicality reasons) from $6.2M to something in the six figure range, but the judgment seems unlikely to be overturned.

The only real question raised by this circular study is if there are any undeclared connections from any of these researchers back to Taser. Wake Forest University does seem to have a peculiarly strong interest in tasers for some reason. Hey, I'm just asking!

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