Taser's Self Defeating Prophecy: Excited Delirium

There's currently an interesting civil court case against a medical examiner in Summit County Common Pleas Court:

The Taser International Co. is suing Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler, who ruled the use of the stun gun-like weapons were a contributing factor in the deaths.

That's what the court case is about, a contributing factor. Then the lies follow:

Patricia Ambrose called Tasers ''a crucial, nonlethal instrument'' used by thousands of officers.

We all know the Taser is NOT a non-lethal weapon, even Taser knows this and has removed all non-lethal references to the Taser from their website years ago. Of course the Taser CAN kill, nobody doubts THAT; just let some taser-Nazi hold the taser-trigger for an extended peroid (3-5 minutes should do) on not too healthy person and that will be the end of that life. But beyond the more obvious "mistake" of what's nonlethal, it gets more interesting:

Ambrose said the city and Taser will show Kohler incorrectly blamed the weapons and that ''excited delirium'' instead was responsible. Excited delirium is used to describe deaths of suspects who are in police custody and are highly agitated or under the influence of drugs.

Excited Delirium is Taser's code-word for in custody death. Taser uses excited delirium as a red herring, pointing to all kinds of other reasons (besides the taser) from which someone could have died after a taser-death (defined by Getting it Right as a death that happened soon after a Taser was deployed) happened while continuing to uphold that a taser could NEVER bare any responsibility in any of those deaths. But this medical examiner is not giving up so easily and fights back:

John Manley, chief counsel in the Summit County prosecutor's civil division, said the Taser company's request ''asks the court to issue an order that steps on the thought-out, carefully deliberated'' findings of three pathologists.'

'We are not saying this is the sole or direct cause,'' Manley said. ''We are saying it contributed in some way. How much, we may never know.''And Man

And he has a very good point here. Taser has up until now been able to use the controversial term excited delirium as a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the taser would bare non of the responsibilities of deaths. But it's about time WE turn this around. Here's the self-defeating argument that John Manley used:

Manley pointed to Taser's product warning, which says ''it is important to remember that the very nature of self-defense, use of force, and physical confrontation or incapacitation involves a degree of risk that someone will get hurt or may even be killed due to physical exertion, unforeseen circumstances and/or individual susceptibilities.'' Manley said the three men in this case may have had ''individual susceptibilities'' that made the use of Tasers lethal for them.

The three deaths at issue are:

• Hyde, 30, who died in January 2005 after being shocked with a Taser multiple times by Akron police.

• Richard Holcomb, 18, who died in May 2005 after being stunned with a Taser by a Springfield Township police officer.

• Mark McCullaugh Jr., 28, who died in August 2006 after a struggle with deputies in the Summit County Jail. The deputies used pepper spray and a Taser to restrain him. (Five deputies have been indicted in his death.)

Kohler's office listed the cases as homicides and said the electrical shocks by the Tasers contributed to the deaths.

The civil trial will last at least through Thursday, with both sides calling competing expert witnesses. Kohler, who is sitting beside Manley during the trial, is expected to testify this afternoon.

Good for you, Dr. Lisa Kohler, keep up the good work and don't let any of those taser-Nazis intimidate you, either through lawsuits or otherwise. It's time people learned about the fact that so many people have died from "excited delirium" after being tasered. Of course there's a connection between exited delirium and taser-deaths. Excited delirium .com said it well, in connection with the many drug addicts that die (according to Taser from excited delirium) after being tasered:

Monday: Take drugs.
Tuesday: Take drugs.
Wednesday: Take drugs.
Thursday: Take drugs.
Wednesday: Take drugs.
Thursday: Take drugs.
Friday: Take drugs.
Saturday: Take drugs.
Sunday: Take drugs.
Monday: Take drugs.
Tuesday: Take drugs.
Wednesday: Take drugs.
Thursday: Take drugs.
Friday: Take drugs.
Saturday: Take drugs.
Sunday: Take drugs.
Monday: Take drugs.
Tuesday: Take drugs.
Wednesday: Take drugs.
Thursday: Take drugs. Tasered. Died.

Well obviously it was the drugs that killed him. The taser obviously had nothing to do with it.

{ROLLS EYES}

Obviously such drug use could be a contributing factor. Hell, it could even be a MAJOR contributing factor. But to leave out any mention of the taser is either intellectually dishonest, or pays too much respect to the questionable "science" that concludes that the taser is 'perfectly safe'.

LINKS
- excited delirium: drug addicts and excited delirium
- Ohio.com: Taser maker disputes autopsy findings
- Wikipedia: In Custody Deaths