Macadam Mason death caused by taser

An electrical discharge from a Vermont state trooper’s Taser weapon caused the death of a Thetford man three months ago outside his home, the New Hampshire Medical Examiner’s Office advised Vermont State Police Friday. Macadam Mason, 39, suffered “sudden cardiac death due to conducted electrical weapon discharge,” Vermont State Police reported late Friday afternoon in a statement relaying the conclusions from Mason’s autopsy in New Hampshire. Mason died June 20 outside his Thetford home after Senior Trooper David Shaffer fired his Taser at Mason’s chest. ...

[LINK]

How Taser International meddles in taser-death medical inquiries

Taser writes investigators, medical examiner, in death of Thetford man [LINK] The day following Macadam Mason’s death, Vermont State Police held a news conference and said, in part, that the Thetford man died after being shot in the chest by a Trooper’s Taser. Less than four hours after the conference, a Taser International spokesman e-mailed State Police suggestions on how to conduct its investigation and asked the agency to forward information to the medical examiners conducting an autopsy on Mason’s body. “The attending medical examiners should urgently know that the University of Miami [a.k.a. Excited-Delirium-R-Us] Brain Endowment Bank is available with cutting edge research center that can determine drug abuse and look for excited delirium markers,” Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle wrote in the e-mail. ...

Ken Harris talks about $10 million Taser verdict

Old news (summer 2011), but still fresh: [LINK]

This is in connection to the taser-caused death of Darryl Turner, a 17-year-old student. Turner was killed by a taser hit directly to the chest.

Taser International continues to deny that the taser can kill in that manner, while simultaneously updating their fine-print legal warning language to warm of the same risk. I'll leave it to reader to calculate the morality of their two-faced approach.

Random thoughts - Hubris comes home to Taser International

A federal jury awarded $10 million against TASER International Inc. for the wrongful death of a teenager who died after being shocked in the chest by a TASER. The jury found that the company failed to warn that discharging the device near the heart could cause cardiac arrest. The model in question was the X26 ECD. [all over the news]

The long-term impact of this finding is huge.

As critics of Taser International have been stating (the obvious) for years, tasers are perfectly capable of causing or contributing to death. Taser International has systematically (and deceptively) denied these risks for many years.

The case of Darryl Turner is one of the clearest examples. He was tasered directly in the chest, which killed him.

The scum at Taser International, and they are the worst type of scum, will continue to deny these risks, while simultaneously adding legal warnings to the fine print.

They will file appeals, primarily as a stalling tactic. They're madly trying to enter other markets (over-priced phone apps, and VASTLY over-priced ear-cams). I suspect that the timing isn't going to work out for them. Their total potential liability exceeds the market valuation of their company by several times.

Their liability insurance payments are probably going to increase. $6M for ONE case? Do the math. Hundreds and hundreds of taser associated deaths.

Their most-recent legal record isn't anything to be proud of. They've lost several significant cases.

Plaintiff lawyers should consider getting some subpoenas on the "private" information held by the insurance carriers. I don't believe that there is any priviledge in the insurance client-provider relationship.

The taser's 'Curious Temporal Asymmetry' caught in action

Nine dead in Connecticut after being Tasered by police. That’s the estimated body count during the past five years from incidents in which a person was hit by a police electronic stun gun and died immediately or soon after, according to reviews of state records, interviews and news reports. In none of those cases were the deaths directly attributed to the use of Tasers. Autopsy results included causes of death such as “cocaine toxicity,” a self-inflicted stab wound to the chest, heart disease and (in three cases) “excited delirium,” a finding not recognized by top medical authorities. ... [LINK]

Isn't it curious how nobody ever dies in that often very long-winding shouting match that precedes a typical taser use (after the taser is drawn and displayed, but just before it is about to be used). Plenty of people die after they've been actually contacted by the taser, but nobody in recorded history has ever died at the sound of the "Taser! Taser! Taser!" warning. There should be hundreds or thousands of such cases, if their fairy tales about "excited delirium" were true.

Considering that tasers are displayed about ten times more often than actually fired, it's a very curious temporal asymmetry.[CLICK HERE]

Consider also that Taser International now "officially" - but very quietly - acknowledges the risk of taser death (while simultaneously lying about it in public forums), the existence of this temporal asymmetry is no mystery.

Tasers can cause or contribute to death. That's a fact. A sad fact.

And perhaps that's why so many people are dying immediately after being tasered.

Those that lie about taser safety in public forums have blood on their hands. They themselves are causing or contributing to taser overuse, that can only lead to more unnecessary deaths.

Evil scum.

We spank 'OfficialTASER'

OfficialTASER (Hi Steve!) shows up and gets a good spanking. [LINK]

I pity them (not really, they're scum). They've put themselves into a position on the subject of taser safety that, quite literally, cannot be legally defended without causing hilarity in any court.


excited.delirium at 3:31 PM May 6, 2011

It's also worth noting that tasers are used about one-hundred times as often as police have historically and generally-acceptably used their guns. This overuse ratio varies with jurisdiction and varies over time, but 100X is a good round number.

Keep this in mind in case anyone drags out the old argument that "tasers are better than guns".

Such claims, while very attractive, are about 99% beside the point.

Taser most often replace lower and EVEN-LESS-LETHAL forms of force.

excited.delirium at 3:27 PM May 6, 2011

DaveDavid, assuming it's the same David E. Z____n as last time, is a retired USN corrosion expert. He is apparently (based on his interest in stocks, specifically Taser International) heavily invested in Taser International stock. He vigorously defends Taser International in many on-line forums, and then he sends a message to "Official Taser" to join in with a follow up.

As has happened here...

excited.delirium at 3:23 PM May 6, 2011

Amnesty International dug up 150 autopsy reports (not easy) for taser associated deaths and they found that 50 (or about one-third) listed the taser as a cause or contributing factor.

One third. That fraction can only be a low ball value. Taser International has gone to extreme lengths to install "excited delirium" as the place holder cause of death in cases where no other postmorten evidence is found. I personally suspect the honest ratio is much higher; not 100% obviously, but probably well over half.

The list of taser associated deaths now reaches 600+ (most up-to-date list is on Truth Not Tasers). If the one-third ratio is holding firm, then tasers have caused or contributed to at least 200 deaths.

excited.delirium at 3:16 PM May 6, 2011

The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia held a multi-million dollar public inquiry into the taser death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancover airport.

Google the Braidwood Inquiry.

The arguments of Taser International's bought-and-paid-for experts was rejected as being an "insult to the intelligence." Justice Braidwood concluded that the most significant event in the last minutes of Mr. Dziekanski's life was the repeated and long duration tasering. That was the "most prominent" cause of death.

excited.delirium at 3:13 PM May 6, 2011

Taser International settled with Steve Butler for $3 million. Mr. Butler's heart was stopped by the application of a taser. His life was saved, but the after-effects included permanent brain damage. Taser International tried to keep this settlement secret, but the court would have none of it.

excited.delirium at 3:11 PM May 6, 2011

The condition sometimes called "Excited Delirium" has a long history. It was originally called Bell's mania, where mental patients stopped eating and slowly died over a period of many weeks. This condition had no obvious root cause and left no postmorten clues. So it was adopted by Taser International as a handy-dandy excuse for taser associated deaths since tasers also leave few postmortem clues. They even promoted excited delirium via their funded front - the IPICD. Plenty of funny-business going on between Taser International and IPICD.

As far as testing goes... Those studies have never proven that tasers are completely safe. The studies have been misleadingly characterized as such, but they do not prove that tasers cannot kill. One so-called study demonstrated that tasers are safe, but accidentally also indicated that they don't work at all. There's plenty of dirt in this area as well.

excited.delirium at 3:11 PM May 6, 2011

With respect to taser use and its causal relationship to those that die after its use, what is striking is how nobody has ever died at the sound of the "Taser! Taser! Taser!" warning. Individuals that die in incidents involving tasers die vastly more often after being tasered, than in the often long-winded shouting match that precedes many taser deployments. It's a 'Curious Temporal Asymmetry' (Googe the phrase) that clearly indicates a cause-and-effect relationship between actual contact with the taser and the fatal reaction that occassionally follows.

excited.delirium at 3:10 PM May 6, 2011

One year ago, Taser International modified their "official" position on taser safety. Up until that point they had repeatedly claimed that tasers could never affect the heart, and could never cause or contribute to any death. But on 1 May 2010, Taser International released a new training package that contained newly-updated legal warnings that finally acknowledge what so many people have already concluded: tasers can affect the heart, especially if the darts land on the chest; tasers can cause effects that may endfanger life; use of tasers carries risks including risk of death.

For more information, hit the websites Truth ... Not Tasers and Excited-Delirium.com (with the dash).

OfficialTASER at 3:44 PM May 5, 2011

What "experts" said police should be held responsible besides one plaintiff's attorney? I only saw that medical examiners cleared the TASER ECD for causality.

Check your accuracy regarding Amnesty. They do not state 300 deaths as a "result" of TASER ECDs. In fact their report clearly states, “Amnesty International does not suggest that TASERs necessarily caused or contributed to each of these deaths.”

I also enjoyed the statement that "excited delirium is not recognized by top medical authorities. I wonder if the reporter would like to present that statement to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) who formally recognize excited delirium as a unique syndrome or the National Association of Medical Examiners. You might want to also check the status of what the ACEP Physicians Task Force that Excited Delirium Syndrome recently stated. Hint: “Syndrome is a real syndrome with uncertain, likely multiple, etiologies.” I guess those aren't top medical authorities? Not exactly.

Have we spent money on sponsoring testing? I would hope people would hope so. But here’s a nugget that often gets missed about TASER studies: TASER ECD are the most studied less-lethal option on an officer's belt today with more than 70% of these studies INDEPENDENT of TASER. People don't like seeing that statistic for some reason, yet it is a fact.

I agree with DaveDavid.

DaveDavid at 11:02 PM May 4, 2011

I have never read a story so full of outright fiction and incomplete facts. Easy to tell that the "personal injury trial lawyers" representing the drugies that died are the ones willing to fill this reporters head with crud. Nine died and yet the Medical Examiner has never blamed a Taser. It is clear that this reporter will not let facts get in the way of a good story, a real fairy tale.

Zuskin, you're an arse.

New PERF Taser-Use Guidelines - April 2011

It's hilarious. Seriously funny.

Capt. Greg Meyer (ret.) [LINK], Taser International-sponsored columnist, participates in the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) committee that just adopted some brand-new Taser Use Guidelines [via TNT].

These new guidelines, while still not absolutely perfect, move even further AWAY from the previous generations of dangerously-bad, morally-bankrupt advice from the manufacturer, and directly TOWARDS the position that concerned citizens (such as this blogger) have been recommending for years.

The funny part is how he maintains his composure while moving from his previously-held position to a position much closer to our own. He's able to stand in a bucket of poop on stage for an hour, and not mention the bucket of poop. Good acting skills Greg, bravo!

It would be reasonable to suspect that behind the scenes he may have been vigorously fighting against some of these recommendations. Obviously there's no available evidence of this, just gut instinct.


Extracts (Fair Use righteously claimed):

PERF Taser Use Guidelines - April 2011

10. Agencies should not rely solely on training curriculum provided by an ECW manufacturer. When they do use the curriculum, agencies should ensure the manufacturer’s training does not contradict agency use-of-force policies and [basic human] values. ...

[What have we been saying for years? And note the BS-choice of words "an ECW manufacturer"; they are referring specifically to Taser International.]

11. Agencies should be aware that exposure to ECW application during training could result in injury to personnel and is not recommended. ...

[Duh!]

13. Personnel should be trained to use an ECW for one standard cycle (five seconds) and then [STOP! and] evaluate the situation... Training protocols should emphasize that multiple applications or continuous cycling of an ECW resulting in an exposure longer than 15 seconds (whether continuous or cumulative) may increase the risk of serious injury or death and should be avoided.

[Increase the risk? So the risk exists even with ONE cycle, but is increased with longer durations. Years ago, many had observed that taser deaths seemed to be more-highly associated with longer duration taser hits. Clear cut evidence of the risks, but ignored by many fan-boys...]

16. Agencies’ policy and training should discourage the use of the drive stun mode as a pain compliance technique. ...

[Because it's Torture. This is huge news. They've finally come out and strongly hinted that using a taser in pain-compliance mode isn't a good idea. Ask yourself why they would make this recommendation. There's only one answer, and that is that such use is equivalent to using the glowing end of a lit cigarette to force (verb) compliance; i.e. Torture. Hey! Welcome back to humanity.]

17. Personnel should be trained to attempt hands-on control tactics during ECW application, including handcuffing the subject during ECW application (i.e., handcuffing under power). ...

[This commonsense advice has been widely ignored since Day 1.]

21. Personnel should use an ECW for one standard cycle (five seconds) and then evaluate the situation to determine if subsequent cycles are necessary. Personnel should consider that exposure to the ECW for longer than 15 seconds (whether due to multiple applications or continuous cycling) may increase the risk of death or serious injury. ...

[Note the "increase" the risk of DEATH...  You watch the scumballs at Taser International give us the silent treatment...]

25. ECWs should be used only against subjects who are exhibiting active aggression or who are actively resisting in a manner that, in the officer’s judgment, is likely to result in injuries to themselves or others. ECWs should not be used against a passive subject.

[This is huge. It's the same as one of Braidwood's best recommendation. This should result in a ~90% reduction in use. That's what happened in some western Canada jurisdictions post-Braidwood.]

26. Fleeing should not be the sole justification for using an ECW against a subject. Personnel should consider the severity of the offense, the subject’s threat level to others, and the risk of serious injury to the subject before deciding to use an ECW on a fleeing subject.

[Are the meat-head police-wannabes at BART4brains paying attention?]

27. ECWs should not generally be used against pregnant women, elderly persons, young children, and visibly frail persons. ...

[Because it could kill them...]

28. Personnel should not intentionally target sensitive areas (e.g., head, neck, genitalia). ...

[Nor the chest. Manufacturer advises against aiming at the chest. And don't taser if they're fleeing (see above #26) - makes the back a difficult-to-explains target. So you're left with what? ...targeting the ankles?  They have to specifically mention the genitalia because some hopefully-small minority of locker-room mentality officers find those areas strangely attractive.]

36. All subjects who have been exposed to ECW application should receive a medical evaluation by emergency medical responders in the field or at a medical facility. Subjects who have been exposed to prolonged application (i.e., more than 15 seconds) should be transported to an emergency department for evaluation. Personnel conducting the medical evaluation should be made aware that the suspect has experienced ECW activation, so they can better evaluate the need for further medical treatment.

[Why do they need medical attention? We thought you said that these things were "safe"! Were you lying or just plain wrong?]

37. All subjects who have received an ECW application should be monitored regularly while in police custody even if they received medical care. Documentation of the ECW exposure should accompany the subject when transferred to jail personnel or until the subject is released from police custody.

[This certainly explains why Taser International and their merry band of bought and paid-for scuzball minions have been strangely silent for about the past year or so.]

46. ECW activations should be tracked...

47. Agencies should periodically conduct random audits of ECW data downloads and reconcile use-of-force reports with recorded activations. Agencies should take necessary action as appropriate when inconsistencies are detected.

[We made this common sense observation a long time ago.]

Please note that many of the above recommendations clearly indicate that the old lie that tasers-R-safe has now been officially abandoned. Will someone please send out a general memo to all the idiot taser fanboys that still claim that tasers-R-safe? Puhleze...

And here's the punchline...

Proximity death: The death of a subject following exposure to an ECW.

What? "following"? The word "proximity" means before OR after... Preceding OR following.

So why in the f**king h*ll have you assumed it only means "following"?

Could it be that all these supposedly "coincidental" taser-proximal deaths only ever occur AFTER the taser hit? Even though taser warnings and displays vastly outnumber taser hits. Even though the duration of the taser warning and display can be longer than the time between the ultimate taser hit and the subject's immediate fatal reaction.

Google the taser's "Curious Temporal Asymmetry" [LINK] for complete details of this curious observation that implies that many taser-proximal deaths are actually in a cause-and-effect relationship.

There is no other explanation except that tasers can sometimes kill.

New (old?) avenue of apparent legal liability for Taser International

Within a month or so of starting this blog, way back in late-2007, I had already asked the duh!-obvious question, "Why not include a simple timer chip?" [LINK]


See also: Death by Electrocutioner (May 3, 2005) [LINK]

In a worst-case scenario for stun guns, a Phoenix cop kills a suspect with an 84-second tasing

...For reasons that go to the heart of this story, Phoenix police officer Charles Anderson III fired his Taser stun gun into Keith Graff's bare chest from close range and held the trigger for 84 uninterrupted seconds as it discharged 50,000 volts of electricity into the man. That's about 79 seconds longer than it normally takes police to subdue someone shocked by the device. For all intents and purposes, Graff [age 24] was dead when Anderson finally released the trigger. ...

This obvious design defect (not limiting the duration of taser hits) should bring huge liability upon Taser International.

Even if it wasn't obvious in 2003, it absolutely was perfectly duh!-obvious by 2005.

Professor David Williams contradicts offical taser warnings

At the inquest regarding the taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-taser-associated death of Antonio Galeano, 39.

"I felt there was no connection between the tasering and the death, because tasering is an external event and shouldn't affect the heart," he said. "Tasers are not a threat to life, that's my bottom line," Prof Williams said. ...[LINK]

Here's the problem Prof. Williams...

Taser International's official legal warnings [LINK] clearly state that tasers may affect the heart and may cause death.

"The risk of an ECD application having a negative effect on a person's heart rate and/or rhythm is not zero."

"Experts have indentified heart-to-dart distance as being a key determining factor in whether an ECD can affect the heart."

"When possible avoiding chest shots with ECDs reduces the risk of affecting the heart..."

"The ECD can produce physiologic or metabolic effects." and  "Any physiologic or metabolic change may cause or contribute to death or serious injury."

"Reasonable effort should be made to minimize the number of ECD exposure and resulting physiologic and metabolic effects." 

"The ECD can produce physiologic or metabolic effects, which include changes in: acidosis, adrenergic states, blood pressure... heart rate and rhythm..."

"Disregarding this information could result in death or serious injury..."

 If not in the case of multiple taser hits (probably TWENTY-EIGHT), then when?

Your so-called expert opinion is rubbish and demonstrably so (see above).


Google also the taser's Curious Temporal Asymmetry.

Taser ineffective, struggle ensues, man shot dead

[Police say that] Deputy Michael Medina shocked Charles Roy, Jr., 37, with his Taser, but the stun gun appeared to be ineffective. Roy grabbed the Taser from Medina. Then Medina, fearing for his safety, fired his gun, hitting Roy once [killing him]. [LINK]

Why was the taser ineffective?

Why are tasers so unpredictable?

Why do police put their naive faith in unreliable tasers?

If Medina had simply drawn his gun and aimed it at Roy (at the appropriate point in the escalation of violence), how would Roy have reacted at that point? Would he have taken the situation more seriously and immediately surrendered?

Is it possible that the reliance on the taser actually cost a life?

Would the simple and reliable gun have been a more predictable choice?

Note - the issue here is NOT with Deputy Medina. Bless him. I'm glad he is okay. He is perfectly entitled to defend himself.

The issue is with the stupid, unreliable, dangerous-to-all taser. The issue is with the over-selling of this defectively-conceived product. The issue is with the infiltration of scummy, bought-and-paid-for, taser salesmen into the law enforcement community.

Go to your local "Taser Expert", back him into a wall, and poke him in the chest a few times. Ask him why he's taking money and putting officers' lives at risk with his incomplete and misleading misinformation.

Canada Feds to study taser safety

OTTAWA - Gaps in the research on how Taser stun guns affect people will be one focus of a federal program aimed at better understanding the powerful weapons used for years by Canadian police. Other studies will look at test procedures to ensure Tasers operate properly and ways to evaluate new weapons police might adopt, records obtained under the Access to Information Act show. The $1.8-million Taser research program is overseen by the federal Centre for Security Science, a joint initiative of the Public Safety Department and Defence Research and Development Canada. The effort is slated to run through 2012-13. ... [LINK]

Here, I'll save you $1.8M...

In dart-deployment mode, tasers are ineffective about 10% to 30% (reports vary) of the time. Such ineffective deployments often make a bad situation much worse.

In touch-torture (drive-stun, dry-stun) mode, tasers are too-frequently used to apply electroshock torture as part of civil and human rights violation. Officers are typically confused by the subtle distinction between lawful force-the-noun and force-the-verb (often torture).

Tasers are usually non-lethal, but every now and then someone is tasered and immediately begins to die. This is most often related to taser darts on chest, but other taser-death mechanisms exist. When darts hit chest, the risk becomes measurable (low end of single digits). Even Taser International has slowly shifted to the position (May 2010) that avoiding the chest reduces the risk of cardiac effects, something they had previously denied. Given that the X26 taser can kill, and given that it is essentially random, using the word "safe" is a lie.

Taser International will continue to deny these truths, while burying legal disclaimers deep within their published information. The bald-faced contradictions within their own positions make them a sitting duck for any lawyer that bothers to prepare.

Maybe Taser International should 'RTFM'

... Michael Brian Langan, 17, died in July 2008 after an altercation with police in a William Avenue back lane. An autopsy report obtained by the Free Press last year said Langan died of heart arrhythmia after police shocked him twice with a Taser. ... In the autopsy report, a medical examiner's report said Langan's death was due to "cardiac arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation) due to deployment of electronic control device." The report also said Langan had a heart abnormality that contributed to his death, as did running from police. ... [LINK] [via TNT]

Review the following:

"The risk of an ECD application having a negative effect on a person's heart rate and/or rhythm is not zero."   AND SO MUCH MORE HERE -> [LINK]

"When possible avoiding chest shots with ECDs reduces the risk of affecting the heart and avoids the controversy about whether ECDs do or do not affect the human heart." They are slowly micro-stepping their safety warnings hoping that nobody will notice the slow change... [LINK]

If Taser International won't Read The F__king Manual, then the manual should be read aloud in court. [LINK]

Tasers Can Kill.

Even Taser International has been forced to admit that cold hard fact in their legal warnings.

And then they have the nerve to deny it ever happens.

Scum.

Derek Jones, 17, tasered_and_died of "acute cardiac dysrhythmia" - $10M lawsuit

Martinsville, Virginia - The mother of a 17-year-old boy who died after being hit by a police taser in 2009, is suing the city of Martinsville, the officer who fired the taser, and the taser company. Filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, the lawsuit blames the taser company, Taser International of Scottsdale, Arizona, with failing to train Martinsville Police on the potential lethal consequences of a direct hit to the chest. The lawsuit states Derek Jones died at his home on the night of January 8, 2009, after Martinsville Police Officer Ronnie Wray tased him in the chest. Jones' mother, Sharlene English, is suing the three parties for more than $10 million. ... [LINK]


Sunday, August 30, 2009: Derek Jones, 17, cause of death... [LINK]

"...Derek Jones, 17, died Jan. 8 of “acute cardiac dysrhythmia of uncertain etiology (cause),” Branscom said the autopsy determined. That means “basically, his heart quit,” he said, and “the report leaves it to someone else to draw a conclusion” on why. The autopsy stated that the Taser cannot be “definitively excluded as a causative or contributive factor” in Jones’ death, Branscom said. The teen “died suddenly about the same time” the Taser was used...

2009.

By late-2007, I - a layman - knew beyond any doubt whatsoever that tasers could kill.

It was *obvious*.

Rockford, IL police - no tasers, LESS police injuries

No Tasers, no rise in Rockford police injuries

It's not magic. It's not difficult to explain. It's perfectly simple.

...Tasers were taken away in October 2009 after the manufacturer issued a nationwide warning advising against shooting someone in the chest. The bulletin said it opens the officer, the agency and TASER International to liability if heart damage, such as sudden cardiac arrest, or death occurs. Critics predicted a spike in the number of injuries to officers as offenders, without the threat of a Taser, resisted arrest.

Fourteen months later, that has not been the case for Rockford officers.

Deputy Chief Lori Sweeney also said every officer in the department this year has undergone at least eight hours of crisis intervention training. "Good communication skills are key," she said. "The first resource should be communications, and you work your way up the levels of use of force until you get the compliance that you need." Sweeney said basic CIT training entails teaching officers verbal skills and techniques to gain compliance, and how to be aware of a person’s behavior and any signs that may suggest mental illness and homelessness. ... [LINK]

Tasers are "...safe and effective..."

Taser International claims that tasers are "...safe and effective..." They also claim that tasers operate in a manner that directly affects the muscles and that the mechanism does not relay on pain, and is therefore effective on subjects even if they're high on drugs and resistant to pain.

So, are these claims true? Or just the sort of BS that spouts from deceptive salesmen?

CBC News - ...Scott said he used his Taser once, but with no effect. Another officer deployed his Taser, but again, Grimolfson was not subdued. 'He could feel nothing.' Scott told the inquiry he struck Grimolfson twice in the jaw. Scott deployed a stun gun on Grimolfson a third time. "Nothing was working," Scott said. "He could feel nothing." ...

Police were able to handcuff Grimolfson and put a spit mask on him, but then Grimolfson stopped struggling and ceased breathing. Scott took off the handcuffs and Grimolfson's tongue flopped out as he removed the spit mask. Scott could only detect a faint pulse and started doing chest compressions. Paramedics rushed Grimolfson to hospital where he was declared dead. ... [LINK]

'Effective'? Not the first time. Not the second time. Not the third time. 1, 2, 3 - Do you see a trend here?

'Effective on drug users'? Apparently not so much.

'Does not rely upon pain; directly affect the muscles'? Yeah, right...

How are the claims holding up? Do you see a trend here?


So how about the claim that 'tasers-R-safe'?

Mr. Grimolfson was tasered_and_died.

If he was a drug addict, then (by definition) he'd probably taken drugs many times before. But on this day he was tasered_and_died, in that order, and reportedly in quick succession. (Note: Another report [LINK] claims a "roughly five minutes" time gap, but that doesn't match the above report.)

Given that the official cause of death was assigned to the meaningless and unhelpful phrase excited delirium, then perhaps the official cause of death might be considered to be under suspicion.

It's simply not rational to give the taser a free pass because the manufacturer claims that it's "...safe and effective..."

--

Please note that I'm not so much concerned with the actions of these particular officers on this particular day.

The question I'm concerned with is the subject of this entire blog...

Are tasers as safe (and effective) as has been repeatedly claimed by Taser International?

Apparently not.

RCMP rookie stabbed in arm, uses taser, makes arrest

Stabbed RCMP rookie still makes arrest [CBC News]

The incident began with a complaint about a suspicious vehicle. Insp. Al Ramey said "A member with six months' experience attended the scene and was confronted by a man brandishing a knife. The man attacked our police officer, cutting him severely in the forearm. Our member responded with the deployment of a conducted energy weapon [assume taser], managed to immobilize the suspect and take him into custody."

It is good to read about a story that describes an incident where it appears that a potentially-deadly weapon was used successfully and (assuming the story is accurate) without any moral/ethical downsides. As some comments on the CBC website have noted, the officer could have drawn his revolver and plugged the suspect in the chest.

That he chose to reach for his taser is a questionable decision (due to the relatively high rate of ineffective deployments). But perhaps the details not mentioned made his choice rational.

--

Critically - please compare the rate that such apparent success stories appear to the rate of taser use.

--

UPDATE: More details here [LINK]. Subject is 61 years old.

Speculation Alert - I wonder if the story will eventually shift so that it is revealed that the stabbing occurred because the officer was relying upon his untrustworthy taser?

Sparks flew out of tasered man's chest

Police repeatedly fired a Taser into a man until a spark "like a piece of lightning" shot out of his chest, an inquest has heard. Witness Sandra Wynne yesterday told an inquest into the death of north Queensland man Antonio Galeano, 39,  how she begged a police officer to stop firing the 50,000-volt device.

"His face turned black," she said. "I could hear the buzzing of the Taser and Tony screaming in pain. Every time I could see a little spark, like a piece of lightning, coming out of his chest."

"I said to them: 'How many times can you hit him with that bloody thing until you kill him?'"

She broke into tears as she told the inquest how she watched as her lover died and his "eyes rolled back in his head." ... [LINK]

As unfair as unfair can be...

October 20, 2010.
 
MEDIA RELEASE:  CANADIAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (CCRM)
 
Edmonton (Alberta) Fatal Inquiry into Death of Trevor Grimolfson, who died in a confrontation with Edmonton police officers October 29, 2008.
 
 
The Canadian Civil Rights Movement (CCRM) has significant concerns about the legitimacy of  an Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Trevor Grimolfson who died in confrontation with Edmonton police officers on October 29, 2008.
 
The matter was investigated by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) which determined the police officers “actions were justified, when considering all of the circumstances.”   No criminal charges were recommended against the police officers involved.
 
A Fatal Inquiry, under the Alberta Fatal Inquiries Act is scheduled for November 22-26, 2010, in the Provincial Court of Alberta.  The police officers statements indicated the officers fired tasors three times, twice in the chest and a third time in the back of the neck, when the two officers involved were allegedly behind Mr. Grimolfson, and attempting to restrain him and had his left hand in handcuffs.  Mr. Grimolfson went into medical distress and died shortly thereafter.  Subsequent testing on the tasors (X-26 model) indciated they may have been fired five times.   One of the tasor applications appears to have been cycled for as long as fifteen seconds. 
 
Government lawyers acting for the Inquiry are relying on the investigation by ASIRT and opinion evidence of the Chief Medical Examiner (CME) for Alberta and a toxicoligist that the cause of death was “Excited Delirium” and multiple drug toxicity.  This includes the conclusion of the CME that “there was no evidence to suggest that the conductive energy weapon was the cause of death.”  The conclusions relied upon do not accord with the findings and recommendations of the Braidwood Commission into the death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR.   Commissioner Braidwood concluded that tasors do pose fatal risks and can cause death.  He made numerous recommendations restricting the manner and circumstances in which they ought to be deployed.  Commissioner Braidwood also determined that “Excited Delirium” was not scientifically supportable and a “convenient label.”   The Braidwood Inquiry Report(s) have been drawn to the attention of government legal counsel for the Inquiry. 
 
The CCRM is concerned that there has been a consistent theme of blaming the victim and that the Inquiry will be a whitewash.   The government has appointed counsel at the Inquiry, the Edmonton Police Services has retained legal counsel and so has Taser International.   No provision is made for legal funding to assist the family of the deceased and no member of his family has been invited to testify. Mr. Grimolfson is survived by three children (ages 19, 16 & 13) and one grandchild. His children are being cared for by his mother, Bev Broadhead, of Dauphin, Manitoba. Ms. Broadhead is a single grand-parent.   Mr. Grimolfson and his family are Metis.   The family has sought the legal assistance of William Sundhu, a lawyer in Kamloops, British Columbia ... who was involved in assisting Zofia Cisowski, the mother of Robert Dziekanski.  Mr. Grimolfson’s family is unable to afford legal counsel and Mr. Sundhu has been assisting them pro-bono.   An application is pending before the Judge assigned to the Inquiry seeking a judicial recommendation that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Alberta make reasonable funding for the legal representation of the family to properly participate in the Inquiry.   Previous government decisions indicate an unwillingness to provide funding to assist the families of deceased victims. The judge may only make a recommendation and it is then up to government to decide if it will honour the judicial recommendation or not.
 
The CCRM is concerned about the ASIRT investigation and that the evidence the government intends to present to the Inquiry is flawed and biased.   The purpose of the Inquiry is to look into the circumstances surrounding the death and to make recommendations to prevent future deaths. The CCRM does not have confidence that the judicial Inquiry will be able to make appropriate findings and recommendations without the family being represented by legal counsel acting on their behalf and asking important questions and presenting proper evidence.
 
The CCRM believes that the current direction of the Inquiry raises serious questions about fairness and balance.
 
Zygmunt Riddle
CCRM – Vancouver, B.C.
+1 (604) 868-7070
...

Australia (NSW): Rules draw new line on the use of Tasers

Australia catching-on to the evil side of tasers.

NSW Police will only be able to use Tasers as a last resort and in situations where negotiation and conflict resolution has failed, under new operating procedures. ... Mr Daley said all frontline officers trained in the use of Tasers were already told never to use the device to resolve a passive or non-threatening situation. ... [LINK]

I'm happy to read that Australia is taking steps to rein-in the use of tasers. Tasers have too freely been used as an instrument of "persuasion" (electrotorture), considering that they are perfectly capable of causing or contributing to death.

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Police Minister Michael Daley said, "They present an option that is infinitely less lethal than a firearm."

"...infinitely less lethal than a firearm..." (ibid)

The above short statement contains two falsehoods.

The first is the comparison of tasers to firearms. In every jurisdiction I've studied, tasers are used approximately one hundred times as often as the police have historically used lethal force. It's an approximate ratio, but a good round number. (The second part of this first falsehood is that police use of firearms tends to increase when tasers are introduced, typically dropping back to the original level after a year or two. I've seen this same trend mentioned in two studies, one covering numerous cities in the US.)

Any comparison of tasers to firearms is approximately 99% pure pro-taser propaganda.

The second false aspect is the word "infinitely".

Taser safety margins are primarily external. The inherent (internal) safety margin is significantly lower than the "15-to-1" claimed. Once taser darts land on the chest with a transcardiac vector, the risk of death (real world on typical real world subjects) creeps up to surprisingly high levels.

And perhaps that explains why Taser International has apparently yanked down their "Cardiac Safety" webpage, and recommended not aiming at the subject's chest.

It's only by what I've termed 'denominator washing', where the taser usage figures are inflated with might-as-well-be FAKE training and demonstration hits into the back, and in some cases perhaps even display-only mode deployments, that they can manipulate the figures down to very low values.

If you estimate the actual darts-on-chest rate and compare that to the real world death rate (including so-called 'excited delirium' taser-deaths), then you see that the word infinitely is a hopeless exaggeration.

I'm not arguing that tasers are as lethal as firearms (don't be stupid). My position (shared with many) is that the claims of safety are vastly overstated, and the risks associated with taser use are significantly understated.

The new guidelines came in after the death of a Vietnamese man who was stunned by a police Taser in Sydney’s southwest last month.

Do your own math...

Compare the answer to "infinitely".

PS: police firearms appear to be about 50% lethal.

Repost: Nugent's own video...

From 3 February 2010

Nugent's own video... [LINK]

Note the "directly into his chest". That can make the Touch Torture mode lethal.

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What was in Nugent's head while he was video taping the death of Mr. Pike?

CNN - ...The video sealed Monday by the judge shows the aftermath of Nugent's Taser use, according to sources who have seen the tape. They told CNN that it runs about 17 minutes and was shot by Nugent himself.
The tape begins with Pikes handcuffed to a chair in the Winnfield Police Department, the sources said. He had already been hit by a so-called "direct" stun -- a Taser fired directly into his chest rather than from a distance -- and eight other Taser shots.
Off camera, voices can be heard taunting him, shouting the "N" word and demanding to know if he was high on drugs, the sources said. The tape also shows Pikes foaming at the mouth and struggling to breathe. He later slumps to the floor and is ultimately taken to an emergency room with shackles around both of his ankles. CNN has seen still photographs of the lifeless body, still in leg shackles at the hospital. ... [LINK]

On January 17, 2008, an unarmed and handcuffed black man, Baron "Scooter" Pikes, was tasered nine times within the space of 14 minutes. The coroner concluded that Mr. Pikes was probably already dead before the final two taser hits.

According to Taser International, the taser is cardiac-safe. The implication is that it makes an ideal instrument of torture, with no fear of causing death.

Because of those false claims, I can't help but think that they deserve to also be held criminally responsible for Mr. Pikes death.