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 29, 2010

Toyota 89, Taser International 160+

MSNBC - Unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles may have been involved in the deaths of 89 people over the past decade, upgrading the number of deaths possibly linked to the massive recalls, the government said Tuesday. ... [LINK]

So Toyota - as many as 89 deaths (max).

.: Huge publicity, massive and expensive recall.


Meanwhile, use of tasers has been "associated" with at least 482 483 deaths. [LINK]

Amnesty International made a huge effort to track down about 150 autopsy reports of those that died in a taser incident. Of the randomly-obtained 150 autopsy reports involving tasers, the taser was reportedly mentioned as a cause or contributing factor in 50 of those 150. Sometimes you'll see this number reported as "50". I prefer to report it as "about one-third", because I see no reason why this wouldn't be applicable to all [now] 482+ taser-associated deaths. You do the math.

[50 of 150 is about one-third. Extrapolate that to the ever-increasing 482 483, and it's 160+. And 160+ is just the probable baseline, the true value is somewhere between 160+ and 483+. Keep reading...]

By the way, this ratio is just what has slipped through the net. Taser International has manufactured much of the so-called science, and then used (US) Daubert motions to quash any alternate testimony. This legal trick has run its course. Given the larger picture, this one-third ratio can only be a low ball value. [LINK]

Even ignoring the obvious ratio between the number of Toyotas on the toad as compared to the number of tasers, it is clear that tasers have probably caused or contributed to more deaths than the recent unintended acceleration problems with Toyotas.

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