www.Excited-Delirium.com: RCMP planning to make about 50 taser policy changes

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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.

Friday, February 19, 2010

RCMP planning to make about 50 taser policy changes

OTTAWA (Jim Bronskill, CP, 15 Feb 2010) - The RCMP plans a sweeping overhaul of its taser policy following recommendations from inquiries prompted by the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. An internal briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press says the Mounties' policy centre on use of force recommends four dozen specific changes on stun gun use. ... [via TNT]

Well, assuming that these are the sorts of changes that we're expecting, then that would be nice.

I hope that the changes are accompanied by an explicit acknowledgment that the previous taser policies, almost certainly traceable back to slick-talking stungun salesmen, were wrong / incorrect / unethical / lethal / evil / deadly / counterproductive / immoral / dangerous / illegal / criminal.

There has to be some blowback against those within the law enforcement community that were so damn stupid and naive. But also the stungun salesmen that orchestrated much of this mess; they need to be held to account.

5 comments:

Critical Mass said...: The 2008 Taser related death of Ricardo Abrahams resulted in a settlement by the the California city of Woodland in the amount of $300,000.00. The parents are suing the mental health facility (Yolo CCC) and Taser International, in civil court, for what I assume is negligence and contributing to the wrongful death of their son.

In searching their official SEC Filings, it is interesting that Taser International does not use the "Legal Proceedings" portion of their official SEC Filings to list the cases filed against them, and their outcomes, but lists the cases in the more obscure "Notes To Financial Information" on their Quarterly 10-Q and Annual 10-K Reports.

From those "Notes" we know that the Abrams case is "Discovery Phase-trial scheduled Oct — 2010", yet appears to be ongoing, unless separate suits and trails are being conducted against the Yolo CCC facility and the stun gun manufacturer.

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_14439566

The November 2005 "Rosa Wrongful Death" case, should have started and be ongoing, since it was scheduled for a December 2009 trial, in the US District Court in California's Northern District.

The Oct-04 Glowczenski wrongful Taser death suit, is commencing this February in the Eastern District Court of NY. As far as I can determine, it is the next wrongful death case to go to, or already be at trial, before March of this year, when the "Butler" case will be heard.

It might be helpful to start a "Trial Date List", since these legal proceedings seem to take years to come to trial, and are now piling/lining up for 2010.

Various "Training Injury" cases are also scheduled for trial this year.

A good source to read the SEC Filings in searchable format, is the official NASDAQ Site:

http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=TASR&selected=TASR

If it is true that "Justice delayed, is justice denied", the seeming snails pace of the wrongful death cases filed against Taser International, is inflicting more harm on its victims.

CM; February 21, 2010 at 2:15 AM
Critical Mass said...: The December 2009 Rosa case was decided:

"United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered an order and judgment for TASER International in the arrest-related-death lawsuit entitled Rosa v. TASER International, et al. granting TASER International's motion for summary judgment."

http://www.policemag.com/Channel/Weapons/News/2009/11/23/TASER-International-s-100th-Lawsuit-Dismissal-Won-on-Summary-Judgment.aspx

Sorry for the error.

CM; February 21, 2010 at 3:13 AM
Critical Mass said...: "Justia.com" offers some useful search options.

http://blawgsearch.justia.com/search?query=excited+delirium&x=35&y=4

http://blawgsearch.justia.com/search?query=taser&x=52&y=21

http://dockets.justia.com/search?q=Taser+International+Inc.

Have fun!

CM; February 21, 2010 at 3:40 AM
Critical Mass said...: Although a summary judgment was issued in the Rosa case, the attorney for both Rosa and Heston ~ John Burton ~ plans to file appeals in both the Heston case to seek greater monetary awards, and to challenge the Rosa summary judgment:

"“Does he point to anything that happened [between the two deaths] that changed anything?” asks Pasadena attorney John C. Burton, who represents both the Rosa and Heston families. “Doesn't he have to point to something to say that?”

The summary dismissal of the Rosa case averts a trial that had been scheduled for next month. Burton says he will appeal the decision, which he called a “travesty.”

http://www.onpointnews.com/NEWS/Stunning-Decision-Finds-Taser-Risks-Not-Knowable.html

CM; February 21, 2010 at 6:07 PM
Critical Mass said...: Is this worth exploring? Tasers used for torture by the Israeli Dirty Tricks "Mossad"? ~

"When the Hamas commander gets off on the second floor, so do the tennis players, and one follows, easily able to figure out in which room their target is staying, room 230.” A day later, al Mabhouh’s body was found in room 230 and the cause was said to be suffocation. Police say his murderers used an electric shock taser, tortured him with a lit cigarette and smothered him with a pillow – all in ten minutes."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2010/02/clems-chronicles-nuclear-powertaliban-ceo-capturedhamas-official-assassinated.html

It seems that the use of lit cigarettes AND a stun gun, is a bit repetitive, no?

CM; February 21, 2010 at 7:05 PM

Why "Excited-Delirium.com" ???

It's used in the sense of "excited delirium" my ass.

I don't believe it. My finely-honed 'BS Detector' pegs when I see that flimsy excuse being dragged out.

But my real intent in choosing this counter-intuitive name was to preempt Taser's use of the phrase.

Now, every time Taser uses the phrase excited delirium, they are essentially advertising this blog. This blog is now on the first page for any Google search [LINK] for the phrase excited delirium. I love it.

Taser et al hate it. They've been forced to switch to the new meaningless empty phrase Sudden Death Following Restraint (shouldn't that be '...During Restraint'?). If you look at that phrase closely, you can see that it is a placeholder for ignorance.

So by choosing the name Excited-Delirium.com, I have made a good attempt at preempting Taser's use of the phrase excited delirium.

And it is not as if they could actually trademark the phrase...
(see the Trademark Notice section for the rest of the joke).

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A Point to Ponder - Part 1

Since when did 'compliance' to police orders become mandatory on pain of death(*) or of immediate application of excruciating pain (torture)?

(* Except - obviously and reasonably - in the case of something like 'Drop that gun!" And apparently, in Canada, attempting to escape from prison.)

For example: if a police officer tells you to get into the back seat of his police car, and you don't (in a passive manner similar to Ghandi), is the police officer:

1) Allowed to kill you?
2) Allowed to induce unnecessary severe pain (torture)?
3) Allowed to pick-up your sorry ass and shove it, and you, into the back seat of his police car himself (or with others helping); and if you accidentally bonk your head on the way in, too bad?

I thought that the ONLY correct answer was #3, and I don't recall ever getting a memo that said that #1 or #2 were EVER considered to be legal.

I'll repeat that because it's REALLY important...

I don't think that options #1 nor #2 are EVER considered to be legal.

If there is a law about obeying a police officer's orders, and you don't, then it should result in just ONE MORE CHARGE and (maybe) ANOTHER 30 DAYS IN JAIL (or whatever). It certainly doesn't justify #1 nor #2.

Such a law, where such laws exist, is just another law. It is not a blank check for police to commit murder, nor to commit abuse.

Passive disobedience should never be considered to allow #1 (murder) or #2 (abuse) by the police under any circumstances (except, as mentioned above, in the case of "Drop the gun!")

Did I miss the memo? Or have we all forgotten our 'Civics' lessons from Grade 6?

Continued below...

A Point to Ponder - Part 2

Some of you might still be wondering why #2 isn't permissible.

Well, let's think about that for a second...

Imagine that instead of tasering YOU (the passive-resistive subject), the police officer grabs YOUR CHILD and starts to taser your child until you obey his verbal orders to get in the back of his car. I'm sure that this sort of emotional extortion would be highly effective in most cases, but would it be acceptable?

Well obviously not. Tasering a subject's child to coerce obedience from the subject is completely unacceptable and totally illegal in any civilized country.

So what's the difference between the passively-resisting subject and the subject's innocent child?

Answer: NOTHING.

You might be thinking that the subject is breaking the law (or laws) and therefore deserves to be punished.

Yeah, maybe. But that's for the court to decide. Remember all that mumbo-jumbo about 'innocent until proven guilty'?

In the eyes of The Law, the subject is exactly as innocent as the child until he is convicted in a court of law.

This Philosophy-101 thought-experiment clearly demonstrates that a very common (the most common?) actual field application of the taser (i.e. pain compliance) is illegal in any civilized country.

I'm honestly surprised that this point hasn't been the subject of successful lawsuits ten-thousand times over by now.

And the Taser training material and methods should be closely reviewed to ensure that they haven't been promoting this sort of illegal pain-compliance abuse (such as 'Drive-mode'). If they've been the source of this confusion, then I hope that they're somehow sucked into the civil rights lawsuits.

Continued below...

A Point to Ponder - Part 3

Why has the legal system failed to pursue this point each and every time that someone's rights are so flagrantly violated?

I think that the authorities are getting confused between the two different words, both spelled 'force'. It's as simple as noun versus verb.

Legal or lawful force is physical force (noun) sufficient to accomplish the goal and no more. It means that if the police want someone to get into the back seat of the police car, then the police are entitled to physically place the subject into the back seat of the police car using reasonable amounts of physical force (noun).

For back-up of this statement, please refer to the following blog post regarding the Criminal Code of Canada - lawful force where the conclusion is that "...the Criminal Code of Canada ... the word 'force', when applied to the concept of lawful force, is ALWAYS a noun, NEVER a verb."

Another meaning of the word 'force' would be an extortion (or an intimidation, or a coercion). As in to 'force' (verb) someone to do something.

Examples of this meaning include:

"Get in the car or we'll taser your child."

"Get in the car or we'll taser you."

"Get in the car or we will beat your child with a club."

"Get in the car or we will beat you with a club."

"Get in the car or we'll shoot your dog."

"Get in the car or we'll torture you with a cattle-prod."

"Get in the police car or we'll kick-in the grill of your car."

All of these statements are clearly illegal. They're a form of extortion or coercion (which is illegal), and they're threats of police abuse (which are also illegal). And if the threat is actually carried out, those actions would also be illegal.

What would be legal or lawful approach is something like the following:

"Get in the police car. Or we will place you in the police car anyway, and then we will ALSO charge you with 'Failure to obey...' and perhaps 'Resisting Arrest', in accordance with (chapters and verses). It is your choice sir, and I'll give you another few seconds to consider your options."

Now, doesn't that sound more civilized? And it sounds strangely familiar too. Like from another era (1968?) when perhaps people understood the subtle meaning of words slightly better than it seems that they do now.

A Point to Ponder - Conclusion

The boundary between what constitutes lawful force (noun), and what constitutes illegal police abuse, is a very fine line.

But with the subtle distinction described above, it is also (thankfully) a very clear and distinct line, and one that can be easily tested in court.

It is an important distinction that is critical to forming the basis of the society.

If you live in a society that generally permits the police to force (verb) people to obey their orders, then (putting it simply) you live in what amounts to a police state. On that side of the very fine line is a very slippery slope.

But if you live in a society where the police powers are generally limited to issuing tickets and making arrests, where the determination of guilt and assignment of punishment of any form is the strict domain of the courts, where the police are never allowed to apply severe pain as a method to force (verb) compliance or as an on-the-spot punishment, then you live in a society that is under the Rule of Law.

We obviously need a clear boundary. This appears to be a very good one. It also seems that it is already written into the Criminal Code of Canada. But it really seems that we've forgotten.

What has been missing is a more aggressive approach on the part of lawyers representing victims of abuse, and perhaps less tolerance from the courts to fanciful tales of 'high risk' encounters with people that obviously pose very little risk on any sensible scale.

If the police officers involved in some of these incidents are so risk-adverse that they're willing to taser someone before trying other approaches, then perhaps those police should be reassigned to a nice (very safe) desk job for the next year or two, or perhaps they should even be forced to permanently change careers away from policing to something with less risk.

The take-away point is this:

Lawful 'force' is a noun, never a verb.

Extreme-pain, extra-judicial punishment device

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Using the taser as an extreme-pain extra-judicial punishment device is ALWAYS illegal.

In other words, once the police have the subject under control, then any further applications of the taser as 'punishment' constitute torture, unlawful abuse, and a clear violation of civil rights. Have a look at YouTube for far-too-many examples of this exact crime.

There are examples where, after the fact, the police force and prosecutor will strike a bargain with the victim along the lines of, "We'll ignore your heinous crime if you ignore ours."

What SHOULD happen is that the local prosecuting attorney should go after BOTH parties. The subject should be prosecuted for whatever misdemeanor he committed, and the police officer(s) for all the applicable serious crimes that they may have committed.

The local prosecuting attorney should not be in the business of trading-off one crime against another. In fact, negotiating such a trade (often on behalf of the police, for the purpose of 'making it go away') should itself be a crime. There have even been horror stories where the prosecutor reportedly threatened to pile-on more charges to intimidate the victim into not suing everyone involved.

Sarcasm

Here's an idea that might explain the 'unexpected' lethality of the tasers:

Maybe some victims really believed in their bones that they were in a free and democratic 'Rule of Law' society - as opposed to a police state where they could be tortured in public. So, while they are contemplating the meaning and purpose of life during the longest five seconds of their life, they decide that they are now so disappointed at what has happened to their country, that they basically just lose the will to live.

Look at the common sense: If we have 3000 people standing around one afternoon drinking Tim Hortons coffee and tasering each other for laughs, will 20 of them topple over dead if there wasn't some sort of connection? Even if some of them were snorting cocaine and fighting, 20/3000 is still one heck of a death rate. The fact that these incidents are spread out in time, doesn't change the absurd ratio.

And if the country-wide total denominator is actually much higher than 3000 (thereby helping to reduce this apparent taser-related death ratio) because of other organizations (other than the RCMP) also being taser trigger-happy, then this recalculation simply adds fuel to the fire about how often the tasers are being misused in Canada (as evidenced by the even larger excessive deployment rate)!

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In this blog, the word 'taser' is generally used to refer to the X26 or M26 Conducted Energy Weapons. And 'X26' and 'M26' are used to refer to those specific Taser products. Again, this usage is nominative, fair and reasonable because those are the products to which I'm referring.

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Friday, February 19, 2010

RCMP planning to make about 50 taser policy changes

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A Point to Ponder - Part 1

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A Point to Ponder - Conclusion

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