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.



Saturday, May 16, 2009

UCLA cuts Mr. Tabatabainejad a VERY fat check

Tabatabainejad v. The Regents of the University of California, U.S. District Court Case No. CV 07-00389 SVW (VBKx)

They've 'settled'. Obviously UCLA has imposed a gag-order on Mr. Tabatabainejad as part of the settlement agreement. "The two parties will have no further comment on the incident or the settlement." [LINK]

UCLA conducted an investigation that found that the officers' actions were within department policy, but they subsequently changed those policies (an obvious admission of at least some degree of guilty feelings).

Reading between the lines, it seems obvious that the settlement must be in the middle to upper end of the five-figure range. Perhaps it is less, perhaps it is (much?) more.

As a placeholder, US$75,000 is probably about right.

Financial Darwinism at work.

UPDATE: My guess was wrong. The settlement was reportedly - get this - $220,000. [LINK] Excellent.

So if a good solid tasering for no apparent reason is now worth $220,000, then how much for a unlawful taser-associated death? Attention insurance companies of North America - your clients' taser fiascos just became a whole lot more expensive.

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