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, October 16, 2010

Once in 24 years...? Okay, think!

Ref. immediately-previous post on Jeffrey Marreel inquest. [LINK]

Doctor sees cocaine overdose on a "daily basis", but also admits to having seen what she describes as 'excited delirium' only "ONCE IN 24 YEARS".

DUH!!!

Fugetaboutit!

Depending on their assigned beat, MOST police are not going to witness cocaine overdose on a daily basis. Some certainly might, but there will be many more doing paperwork or writing traffic tickets that will bring the average way, way down.

So the average police officer (in comparison to the good doctor) would be expected to see a case of 'excited delirium' once every, what?, 120, 240 or perhaps 480 YEARS ?!?!?!!

The average police officer is as likely to see a unicorn given that sort of multiple-century timeframe. It'd be a pony with a horn glued-on by drunk students, but given hundreds of officer-years, someone is going to see what looks like a unicorn.

Given this relative occurence data, from a self-proclaimed expert in the field of 'excited delirium', the following lesson plan is presented for your consideration:

'Excited Delirium' for police - what you need to know
1) 'Excited delirium' may not even exist.
2) Even if it does exist, it's so incredibly rare that you're not likely to ever see it during your entire career in law enforcement.
3) If you even think about it, then it'll just confuse you when you should be responding to the underlying drug overdose as a medical emergency.
4) So fugetaboutit! As a concept, it brings extreme negative value. It's dangerous. It's useless. It's unhelpful.
5) Just treat the insane subject on the assumption that they've overdosed on drugs, likely cocaine.

Here endeth the lesson.

PS. 'Excited Delirium' is however a very handy excuse in case you've accidentally tasered someone to death.

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