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, December 29, 2009

Officer killed in Ottawa

CBC - An Ottawa police officer has died after being stabbed at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital early Tuesday morning. ... [LINK]


This tragic death (murder?) of a police officer in Ottawa is, as far as I know, not directly related to the taser issue.

But it worth noting that it is, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), the first death by violence of a police officer in all of Canada since 2007 (when there were four). I believe it is worth distinguishing between deaths by violence (gunfire, assault) and, for example, automobile accidents.

CANADA

2007 Line of Duty Deaths: 4 (Gunfire: 3, Vehicular assault: 1) [ODMP 2007]

2008 Line of Duty Deaths: 2 (Automobile accident: 1, Heart attack: 1) [ODMP 2008]

2009 Line of Duty Deaths: 3 [+1] (Automobile accident: 3, [+Stabbing: 1]) [ODMP 2009]

It's a sad end to a good run of relative non-violence in Canada for the past two years.

UPDATE: There's a very strange twist to this incident.

CBC News - A former Saskatchewan RCMP officer has been arrested in the stabbing death of an Ottawa police officer. Kevin Gregson, 43, was arrested at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital early Tuesday after an Ottawa officer was stabbed while writing notes in his cruiser outside the emergency room doors. ... [LINK]

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