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.



Thursday, February 5, 2009

Medical Examiner "...can't say..."

"...Medical Examiner Leszek Chrostowski... said he can't say whether the use of the taser itself contributed to Wilson's death." [LINK]

It's difficult to prove because the taser wouldn't leave any obvious postmortem clues. There's nothing to point at, and there are probably some black-turtlenecked lawyers hovering around outside. This combination tends to make things difficult for even the best-intentioned MEs.

Maybe someday there will be a postmortem blood test that will clearly reveal fatal cardiac stress factors causally associated with the taser's electric shock. But until that day arrives, there seems to be a reasonable probability that taser-caused deaths are being under-reported.

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