Taser Deaths and Death by Taser

October 16, 2009

Deaths and injuries caused by Taser Guns

Filed under: Taser Deaths — Tags: , , , , , , , , — brian @ 6:40 pm

Between June 2001 and June 2007, there were at least 245 cases of deaths of subjects soon after having been shocked using Tasers. Of these cases:

  • In 7 cases, medical examiners said Tasers were a cause or a contributing factor or could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
  • In 16 cases coroners and other officials stated that a Taser was a secondary or contributory factor of death.
  • In dozens of cases, coroners cited excited delirium as cause of death. Excited delirium has been questioned as a medical diagnosis.
  • Several deaths occurred as a result of injuries sustained in struggles. In a few of these cases head injury due to falling after being shocked contributed to later death. Some police departments, like that of Clearwater, Florida, have tried to eradicate such incidents by prohibiting taser use when the suspect is in danger of falling.

In 2005, a medical examiner ruled for the first time that a Taser was the primary factor in a death.

Several incidents have received publicity:

  • July 2005, UK. Police Tasered a man in hypoglycemic shock, believing that he was a potential security threat.
  • April 2006, USA. A 56 year old, wheelchair bound woman dies after ten Taser shocks, death ruled homicide.
  • October 2006, USA. A 17 year old boy died after being repeatedly Tasered by police.
  • November 2006, USA. UCLA Taser incident
  • September 2007, USA. University of Florida Taser incident
  • October 2007, Canada. Robert Dzieka?ski Taser incident
  • November 2007, Canada. Howard Hyde incident.
  • November 2007, USA. Christian Allen incident.
  • December 2007, Canada. Quilem Registre Taser incident
  • April 24, 2008, USA. Kevin Piskura died after being stunned by a X-26 Taser for 10 seconds while interfering with a friend’s arrest by Police in Oxford, Ohio. He was hospitalized after the confrontation and died five days later. Video and audio of the event was recorded by the X-26’s mounted camera.
  • July 22, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba, a 17 year old aboriginal teen died after being tasered during a standoff. The victim was carrying a knife during the incident
  • September 24, 2008, USA. Iman Morales Taser incident

Fatalities by Tasers

Filed under: Taser Deaths — Tags: , , , , — brian @ 6:27 pm

While their intended purpose is to circumvent the use of lethal force such as guns, the actual deployment of Tasers by police in the years since Tasers came into widespread use is claimed to have resulted in more than 180 deaths as of 2006. It is still unclear whether the Taser was directly responsible for the cause of death, but several legislators in the U.S. have filed bills clamping down on them and requesting more studies on their effects. Despite the growing controversy, a study funded by the U.S. Justice Department asserted that the majority of people tasered from July 2005 to June 2007 suffered no injury. A study led by William Bozeman, of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, of nearly 1,000 persons subjected to Taser use, concluded that 99.7% of the subjects had either minor injuries, such as scrapes and bruises, or none at all; while three persons suffered injuries severe enough to need hospital admission, and two other subjects died. Their autopsy reports indicated neither death was related to the use of a Taser.

The head of the U.S. southern regional office of Amnesty International, Jared Feuer, reported that 277 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser between June 2001 and October 2007, which has already been documented. He also noted that about 80% of those on whom a Taser was used by U.S. police were unarmed. “Tasers interfere with a basic equation, which is that force must always be proportional to the threat,” Feuer said. “They are being used in a situation where a firearm or even a baton would never be justified.” A spokesperson for Taser International asserted that if a person dies from a “tasering” it is instantaneous and not days later. Taser International announced that it is “transmitting over 60 legal demand letters requiring correction of… false and misleading headlines.”

October 14, 2009

Notable Taser Deaths

Filed under: Taser Deaths — Tags: , , , , — brian @ 1:26 am

In October and November 2007, four individuals died after being tasered in Canada, leading to calls for review of its use. The highest-profile of these cases was that of Robert Dziekaski, a non-English speaking man from Poland who died in less than two minutes after being tasered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the Vancouver International Airport, October 14, 2007. The tasering was captured on home video and was broadcast nationally. This was followed by three further death-after-Tasering incidents in , and , leading  to demand Taser use end in Canada, as it had records of 16 other such deaths in the country. On November 18, 2007, a 20-year-old man in  fell unconscious and died also right after being tasered.

On December 12, 2007, in response to the death of Robert Dzieka?ski, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day requested that the federal Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) prepare recommendations for immediate implementation. The CPC report recommended to “immediately restrict the use of the conducted energy weapon (CEW)” by reclassifying it as an “impact weapon.” The commission released its report on 18 June 2008; recommendations include restricting use to experienced officers (5 years or more), providing medical attention to those who have been zapped, improving previous documentation of specific deployment of the weapon, among other things.

A 2004 CBS News report described 70 deaths believed to be caused by the Taser, including 10 in August 2004 alone. At that time Amnesty International reported the number at 150 since June 2001.

Summit County, Ohio medical examiner Lisa J. Kohler cited Taser use as a cause of death in three cases, Mark D. McCullaugh, Dennis S. Hyde, and Richard Holcomb. Taser International sued, and on May 2, 2008, visiting judge Ted Schneiderman ordered the medical examiner to remove all references to “Taser” in the reports and change the cause of death in McCullaugh’s case from “Homicide” to “Undetermined.”

On Sunday 18 November 2007 in Jacksonville, Florida, Christian Allen, 21, was pulled over by police because his car radio was too loud. After a struggle he and a passenger escaped on foot, an officer gave chase, caught Allen and tasered him at least three times. Allen died later in custody.

In April 2006 a 56 year old, wheelchair-bound woman with schizophrenia, Emily Marie Delafield died after being shocked at least 10 times when she threatened officers and her family members with a knife. The death was ruled justified homicide.

On January 12, 2008, Baron Pikes died after being shocked nine times with a Taser by a police officer. Pikes was handcuffed and six of the shocks were administered within less than three minutes. His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.

In June 2008, a federal jury ordered Taser International to pay the family of Robert Heston, Jr., $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages for the 2005 death of the man who died a day after being shocked repeatedly by officers using Tasers. According to a press report, the jury “found that Arizona-based stun-gun manufacturer Taser International should have more effectively warned police that Taser shocks were potentially dangerous.”

On September 24, 2008 Iman Morales was tasered and died after falling 10 feet to the ground.

April 16, 2009, Robert Mitchell was tasered and died after fleeing a vehicle in which he was a passenger during a routine traffic stop. Robert was 5′2, 110 lb, and a 16 year old with a learning disability.

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