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.



Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Is the financial equation shifting?

Way back when, back in the golden days of the Church of Taser (when almost everyone had faith in the savior Taser) [about two years ago], you didn't see very many news reports about settlements.

Now they're coming thick and fast.

On the It all goes here blog, one recent post called More Tasers Being Expensive [LINK] listed three recent settlements of various amounts up to $2M.

Today there's another one...

Relatives Settle Stun Gun Wrongful Death Suit Against LAPD [LINK]

Trial had been scheduled to begin today in the case filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2007 on behalf of the family of Jesus Mejia.

The terms of the settlement were not released, so my placeholder guess will be something around $1M. Got more info?


My instincts are telling me that the winds of change are upon us. The taser-wielding defendants are caving. Perhaps because they're frightened of the new evidence that has been emerging recently. They're obviously getting advice to settle.

Therefore, time to turn up the settlement figures. Six-figure settlements are so last year. 7-figure settlements are now in fashion. If anyone has a very strong case, why not hold out for 8-figures ($10M+)?

If this trend continues, and it ends up costing a small fortune to legally debate the merits of tasers with each deployment, then the financial equation about how tasers save money may become yet another stale pro-taser argument (if it isn't already).


PS: I went to the TNT List of the Dead [LINK] and tried to do a quick search on the name Jesus (as in Jesus Mejia). The Find on Page search found THREE people with the name Jesus on that page. Mr. Mejia in listed in an addendum to The List. THREE!

Reminds me of the
FIVE Wilsons I stumbled across on another similar search. [LINK].

These numbers of
Jesus (3!) and Wilson (5!) on The List of the Dead should help to put the issue into perspective. It's not a short list.

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