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, July 21, 2009

Torts, Tasers and Causation

'Torts, Tasers and Causation', by Greg Hagen [LINK]

...For example, even if one could attribute 99% degree of causation to a non-tortious, pre-existing condition (say “excited delirium”) and 1% degree of causation to a tortious use of the taser by the police officer, 100% of the liability will be apportioned to the police officer’s tortious use of the taser.

...
It follows that a police officer whose negligence proximately and unreasonably exposes someone to a risk of death who subsequently dies because of a pre-existing condition is not excused because the vast majority would not have suffered death or even severe injury.

2 comments:

Critical Mass said...

That is actually a re-statement of the "Felony Murder" principle of Law.

If, in the commission of any Felony, a victim dies, the proper charge is murder.

The example often used is that of a robber knocking a little old lady to the ground, while snatching her purse. The crime is "theft", a Felony, but if that very weak old lady dies of her injuries, the new charge is "Felony Murder", since a death resulted from the commission of the Felony.

The same Rule should apply to Law Enforcement exceeding their "Use of Force" policies regarding stun guns. If an officer feloniously assaults an arrestee with an ECD or stun device, meaning the use was beyond the officer's authorized guidelines for deployment, the proper charge should be a Felony (Assault & Battery), and if the victim dies, the proper charge should be "Felony Murder".

Excited-Delirium.com said...

In January 2008, I posted this gem:

http://excited-delirium.blogspot.com/2008/01/pre-existing-medical-condition.html

It's about the Thin Skull Doctrine.