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, September 8, 2009

Who has the data?

Someone, somewhere has access to a key part of the puzzle. But this information is apparently not readily available. I've looked for it and it appears to be redacted from the available databases and reports.

What info?

The taser-associated death rate per deployment of the older 1999-era M26 taser model versus the newer 2003-era X26 taser model. This death rate needs to include deaths from all "causes".

Science is about making predictions. Here is mine: The data will show that the use of X26 taser is significantly more often associated with fatal outcomes than the M26 on a per deployment basis. This is just a prediction.

I don't have access to the well-buried reports that provide the necessary data to prove or refute this prediction. But the apples to oranges data sets seem to indicate an inexplicable imbalance.

Why is this data not readily available?

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