Taser defends giving stock options to police

Taser defends giving stock options to police

Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 24, 2005 12:00 AM

Taser International gave potentially lucrative stock options to six police officers from 2001 to 2003, most of whom promoted Taser's stun guns and, in some cases, urged their cities to buy them.

Court documents released this week show that officers in Arizona, California, Washington, Texas, and Canada received thousands of company stock options, some only weeks after urging police commanders or city officials to purchase Tasers.

Four of the six officers are now employed by Scottsdale-based Taser International, which is facing state and federal inquiries over the safety of its stun gun and the weapon's involvement in deaths across the country.

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The stock options, as well as payments to other officers for Taser training, have sparked concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Critics say Taser paid officers to influence cities to get them to purchase the stun guns.

"We've raised concerns about Taser's options-granting practices since this past January," stock analyst John Gavin of SEC Insight wrote in a report to investors this week.

Other critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say payments to police officers have created a conflict of interest, with officers promoting the stun gun and repeating Taser's assurances of safety while minimizing risks.

Taser officials issued a news release Thursday defending the police officers and denying any conflict.

"The officers on our (training) board were involved in training operations at their respective departments - not the purchasing departments," Taser Chief Executive Officer Rick Smith said in the news release. "They followed all relevant conflict-of-interest regulations at their departments, and the grant of stock options did not violate Taser's code of ethics nor industry norms."

The information concerning the stock options was released this week after Taser lost a legal challenge to seal documents from a lawsuit against Taser filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Taser asked the court to keep confidential the deposition of company President Tom Smith, arguing that his answers about who received stock options was proprietary. The Arizona Republic and SEC Insight both filed motions to keep the records open, arguing that information about Taser is vital to the public's interest.

The court agreed, and Taser did not appeal.

According to Republic research, medical examiners in 18 cases have said Tasers were a cause, a contributing factor or could not be ruled out in someone's death.

The newly released documents for the first time reveal who outside the company received stock options.

The six active-duty officers who received options were from police departments in Chandler and Glendale, Seattle, Sacramento, Austin and Victoria, British Columbia. Records show all but the Austin officer promoted the effectiveness of the weapons and some urged their cities to purchase them.

Five other individuals also were issued stock options: a retired New York police officer; a former United Airlines employee; Taser's current medical director; a lawyer who did patent work for Taser, and his assistant. New York, Austin and United Airlines purchased Tasers, but it's unclear if the employees played a role in the decision.

The options could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on when they were exercised and sold.

The 11 individuals received a total of 27,671 options. It is not known when each person exercised and sold his options.

In its news release, Taser defends giving options to officers. Rick Smith says the officers were not being rewarded but being compensated for serving on Taser's Master Instructor Training Board, which advises Taser on law enforcement training programs.

"It should be noted that none of the board members were in a position to approve product purchases," Smith said. "Every one of their agencies had already purchased and deployed Taser devices prior to their joining our advisory training board."

Public records show that one of the officers, former Chandler police Officer Jim Halsted, received 500 stock options a year before he urged the City Council to spend $193,000 on Tasers. Halsted, now a regional sales manager for Taser, was later investigated by the city for conflict-of-interest violations and cleared of any wrongdoing.

On March 27, 2003, Halsted made a presentation to the Chandler City Council in which he stressed the importance of buying Tasers and encouraged officials to act that night. Contacted at his office Friday, Halsted declined to comment.

Former Seattle police Officer Steve Ward, who now works for Taser, was issued stock options on Jan. 1, 2001, almost a year before Taser created its training board. In September 2000, Ward co-authored a report that advocated arming officers with Tasers.

Another officer who received Taser stock options is Darren Laur of the Victoria, British Columbia, Police Department. Laur has been a staunch advocate for Taser for years and helped write a report in 1999 that helped usher Tasers into Canada.

According to court documents, Laur was given 750 stock options in 2001 for helping to design a holster for the Taser. Taser said he sold the options in 2003.

"In my view there is an appearance of a conflict of interest, or at least the perception of a conflict," Canadian lawyer Cameron Ward said. Ward represents the family of Robert Bagnell, who died in June 2004 after officers shocked him with a Taser.

In his deposition, Taser President Tom Smith said he did not believe any of the options granted to police officers represented a conflict.

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

When Canadian Police start behaving like Nazis we better call them on it: Sgt. Willie Merenick has been nominated for TN! of the week!

Who doesn't remember the Soup Nazi? Wikipedia remembers:

"The Soup Nazi" is the title of the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the 6th episode of the 7th season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.

The Soup Nazi is also the name of the titular character played by Larry Thomas. The term "Nazi" is used as an exaggeration of the over-regimentation he constantly demands of his patrons.

More recently another profession has increasingly been acting more like the Nazis: we're talking about the police here, especially when armed with or talking about the notorious stun-gun more commonly known as the taser.

Taser use by Canadian police force has grown exponentially in the last few years. Initially the use of the taser has been defended by the police as a replacement tool for the gun. But as of recent the taser has been used on “non-compliant” fair evaders on Vancouver transit. What's next? Tasering babies for crying out loud?

Amnesty International has reported that Taser use can amount to torture, and in case of the Vancouver Transit Police Taserings we couldn't agree more. If someone who hasn't bought a two dollar ticket can expect to be tasered into compliance by Vancouver Transit Police then we know we have given the police far too much leeway for taser usage; tasering someone into compliance is torture.

Torture was something the Nazis were specifically good at, sometimes with the same goal in mind: forcing the victim into compliance. And just imagine: if the taser had been invented during the 1930s, wouldn't all publicly paid Nazi officers have carried it?

Given the descriptions above, isn't it fair to compare current public officers that engage in or promote Taser use on non-compliant but non-violent members of the public, to their imagined Nazi counterparts by calling them TASER-NAZIS? We think it is :)

If you would like to nominate someone for “Taser-Nazi of the Week” then please leave a comment on this page. Here is the repressive “Getting it Right Policy” on nominating someone. The nominee should comply with at least one of the following policies in order to be considered:

1.Anyone paid by the public who uses or threatens to use a taser on a non-compliant but unarmed (non-violent) member of the public.

2.Anyone paid by the public who works at a policing agency (so not a law maker) and who actively advocates FOR the use of tasers while ignoring (either actively or tacitly) the rationale AGAINST the taser.

3.Anyone paid by the public who keeps repeating taser's unproven mantras (such as “the Taser saves lives” “the Taser prevents injuries” and “the Taser reduces injuries”) when hard facts have proven the contrary (many people have been injured and died after being tasered).

4.Anyone paid by the public who withholds information that can lead to the prosecution of officers that have used the taser gun to abuse or kill a "subject".

5.Anyone paid by the public who obstructs the process that can lead to the prosecution of officers that have used the taser gun to abuse or kill.

6. Anyone who lobbies on behalf of publicly paid workers and who participates in one of the activities described in 1-3.

First nomination for Taser-Nazi of the Week is: Sgt. Willie Merenick.

In an April 2008 interview Mr. Merenick confirmed that tasers have been used 10 times on members of the public in Vancouver by police officers from the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police. The taser was deployed “for the safety of the public, the people themselves and the police”.

The following is what got him nominated:

Sgt. Willie Merenick: “If we didn't believe that Tasers save lives, reduce injuries and are effective, we wouldn't use them.”

Well, Mr. Merenick, let me update you with some hard facts. Tasers do NOT save lives. In fact, there's isn't a shred of evidence that any of the thousands of Tasers out there has ever saved a single life, so who are you fooling here, Willie Merenick?

The same can be said about injuries. No data whatsoever that a taser can PREVENT an injury: If tasers really can prevent injuries shouldn't we all be wearing one? We do know that tasers have caused hundreds if not thousands of injuries (including burns, eye-wounds, broken limbs, and so on) and that many members people have died shortly after they were shot with a taser.

So there you go, Sgt. Willie Merenick, you've been nominated for taser-Nazi of the Week. Repeating corporate mantras while conveniently omitting contradicting facts (also called lying by omission) that would give a more balanced view on the taser has gotten you nominated. Congratulations!

LINK
- Vancouver Sun: Transit police back Taser use
- Amnesty International: Taser Related Deaths
- Democratic Underground: Taser Nazi nightmare needs to end

Head of "Taser France" arrested for spying on leftist presidential candidate

The French are fed up with the tactics of Taser & Co. and have now arrested the head of SMP Technologies (also nicknamed "Taser France"), Antoine Di Zazzo.

No reason to doubt Arizona's TASER INTERNATIONAL has something to do with this, although they love to pretend they don't: TASER INTERNATIONAL is a company that how showed again and again (and again) that it cannot be trusted.

Read on to see how real scum operates:

The Connextion
Police have arrested the head of a French company that supplies Taser stun guns [nicknamed Taser France] to security forces on suspicion of spying on a Trotskyist leader who has campaigned for a ban on the controversial weapons.

Six police officers, a customs official and two private detectives were detained along with Antoine Di Zazzo, head of SMP Technologies ["Taser France", the sole importer and distributor of taser] guns in France, officials said.

Paris prosecutors launched a probe in May after a magazine reported that a private detective firm was tailing ex-presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot, the postman leader of the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire(LCR) [and a fierce critic of taser use in France].

Indeed; "Taser France", in a concerted effort with some police officers, customs, and private investigators tried to frame one of France's main taser critics, Olivier Besancenot.

Why? Read on:

Besancenot said he was due to appear next Monday in a Paris court because Di Zazzo was suing him for libel, "seeking 50,000 euros from me simply because I drew attention to an Amnesty International report" on Taser guns.

And for this libel suit, any more information on perhaps less-than-legal practises on the side of Besancenot would be excellent "discoveries" for the DiZ Zazzo and his rightwing capitalist and statist friends.

It's interesting to read that Di Zazzo is suing merely for mentioning the Amnesty International report on Tasers; how can that be libel? I'm sure the famous report is much hated by TASER INTERNATIONAL, and I don't think it will end up in its own junk science section of their site:

Rights group Amnesty says that nearly 300 people have died around the world after being zapped with a Taser and has demanded a moratorium on the weapon's use while a full investigation is conducted.

A United Nations committee said last year that use of the gun constitutes "a form of torture" that can result in death.

Tasering IS torture, I couldn't agree more.

Di Zazzo, whose company has supplied Tasers to the French army, police and gendarmerie since 2004, has adamantly denied that the guns can be lethal.

Of course tasers are lethal, nobody is denying THAT anymore in North America (unless they are really, really stupid), even TASER INTERNATIONAL doesn't make any of those bigoted claims on their site anymore.

Besancenot is currently winding up his LCR party to found a Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste in January, which will seek to attract members of the Parti Communiste, environmentalists, disaffected Socialists and anti-globalisation activists.

In last year's presidential election [Besancenot] won 4% of the vote.

Four percent of the vote for a communist party? That's not bad.

LINK
- Taser France
- Wikipedia: Olivier Besancenot
- The Connexion: Taser head under arrest for spying
- TASER INTERNATIONAL: the amount of junk science we produce is only second to the amount of killings
- Truth not Taser: See for yourself how well the taser saves lives

More on the domain taser.fr and SMP TECHNOLOGIES

Domain name : taser.fr
Status: Active (see also Web Site)

Registrar : AMEN / Agence des Médias Numériques

Creation date: 03/05/2004
Anniversary date: 26 May

Domain Name Servers (DNS):

* Server # 1 : ns1.amen.fr [62.193.206.141]
* Server # 2 : ns2.amen.fr [212.43.229.70]

More info Holder : SMP TECHNOLOGIES
55, avenue Marceau
75116 Paris
France
Phone: +33 1 45 00 40 83
Email: info@taser.fr

More info Administrative contact: Antoine Di Zazzo
SMP TECHNOLOGIES
55, avenue Marceau
75116 Paris
France
Phone: +33 1 45 00 40 83
Email: info@taser.fr

More info Technical contact : AMEN France
Departement Noms de domaine
12, Rond-Point des Champs-Elysees
75008 Paris
France
Phone: +33 8 92 55 66 77
Email: afnic@amen.fr

Jamie Graham, the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society and TASER - simply well connected.

Who wasn't surprised to hear that a mental health group is advocating FOR the use of the Taser?

Well, I wasn't. The BCSS has a longstanding close relation with former Vancouver police Chief Constable Jamie Graham, who is one of the strongest advocates for taser use in Canada. And I would argue far too close (page 3).

Remember Jamie Graham? He's the officer that will ALWAYS put in a good word for TASER international, that you start to wonder what his share in the company is. I'm sure TASER doesn't stop with a mere $85,000+ TASER sponsorship of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, because buying policemen has become a trademark of TASER international.

Personally I've never trusted this ex-chief. He seems to be able to lie by omission better than anyone else I know; but it's still lying. He'll argue that "the Taser gun is an effective, non-lethal weapon that saves lives in confrontations with combative individuals", but have you ever heard him taking the growing number of Taser deaths in this country serious? Shouldn't TASER-KILLINGS be on his mind too?

But why the BCSS keeps believing this phony guy when it comes to the TASER discussion is still somewhat of a mystery. Does anyone at BCSS get paid for repeating TASER's own junk-science? Besides, there's plenty of evidence out there that schizophrenics are being tasered frequently, sometimes with deadly results. Here's a recent Canadian example:

It was prompted by the case of Howard Hyde, a Dartmouth man who died in November about 30 hours after Halifax police Tasered him twice during his arrest for spousal abuse. Mr. Hyde, a schizophrenic, struggled with jail guards moments before his death.

Or what about this one:

My son is dead. He suffered from schizophrenia most of his adult life and yes, was developing heart problems. As a full-time resident of a group home for the mentally ill we might have expected more for Ray when he went into crisis.
Ray was stunned [with a Taser] in the chest and behind the left ear. [...] If the Taser is so effective, it is necessary to stun people multiple times in the presence of multiple officers.

Or how about Delafield, who died shortly after being tasered in her wheelchair for more than 2 minutes total:

Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.

"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said. According to a police report, one of the officers used her Taser gun nine times for a total of 160 seconds and the other officer discharged his Taser gun once for a total of no more than five seconds. A medical examiner found Delafield died from hypertensive heart disease and cited the Taser gun shock as a contributing factor, the report said. On her death certificate, the medical examiner ruled Delafield's death a homicide.

So why exactly does the BCSS endorse Taser use on schizophrenic people?

I have to give Jamie Graham some credit for this too; he's done so much for Taser International, so why shouldn't he be rewarded? His help to set up the Justice Institute of British Columbia, an organisation that regulary hosts Taser's own "Use of Force, Risk Management and Legal Strategies Seminars - For Chiefs, Sheriffs, Risk Managers and Legal Advisors" (pdf, see page two) has ensured that all Taser lies (including those by omission) would be installed in the minds of police officers across BC. Thank you Jamie Graham, well done.

Footnote for Taser International:
If your company hasn't already done so; I'm sure either the BCSS and/or their board members would appreciate a "donation" for their endorsement of Taser usage, including usage on patients suffering from Schizophrenia.

TN! of the Week: RCMP Constable Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo

It's one thing to apply the taser WITHOUT killing the "suspect", it's another thing to use it as an "excellent example" that a deadly device is able to "save lives".

At issue is the deployment of the taser on a suicidal man who was hiding on the balcony of a Nanaimo motel, after he had slit his wrist.

RCMP Constable Gary O'Brien:

The suspect was losing large quantities of blood and the officers came to the conclusion he could cause either death or grievous harm to himself [...]

So what did the officer in question do? He shot him with his torturous taser. Zapper-Di-Zap-Zap!! And why not? The "suspect" was apparently in for dieing anyways, so why not help him a bit along the way? He wouldn't be the first one that week to die after being tasered to shit:

Police used a Taser while arresting Marreel in the hamlet of Fisher's Glen, south of Simcoe, at Front Street and Fisher's Glen Road, about 10:30 a.m. Monday. Marreel died two hours later and was pronounced dead at hospital.

Anyways, back to our Taser friend O'Brien. The following quote got him nominated:

RCMP spokesman Gary O'Brien:

[The electro-shocking of the suicidal man] was an excellent deployment [of the taser] and an excellent example of how these things can save lives.

It's a beautiful success story for Taser of course, if it were the truth. Unfortunately it is far from it, and here's why:

• In order to save lives one would have to assume that without the use of the taser this suicidal person would have died. This doesn't necessarily follow (since there are plenty of other ways to resolve issues like these), it's hard to believe and it is even harder to proof. All that was needed to have helped this man was some good policing: there are plenty of other techniques to help and/or handcuff a suicidal man, without the use of a taser.
  
• Contrary to popular believe, there isn't ANY serious proof/evidence that the taser has saved a single live, EVER. Therefore declaring this incident as an "excellent example of how tasers can save lives" is like saying that Christmas is an excellent example that Santa Claus can fly through the sky...
  

I love to believe in fairy tales and miracles, Constable Gary O'Brien, but the reality is that tasers kill, again and again. And as long as the police remains numb on their own police taser killings, yet dare to have the guts to take each and every opportunity to spread corporate supplied misinformation about the taser, I will keep honouring publicly paid spin-masters with "excellent" awards.

Readers, I'm honoured to present to you a perfect example of a Taser-Nazi: RCMP spokesman Gary O'Brien.

Congratulations!!

LINK
- Globe and Mail: "We, Canada's Corporate Press, have never been sure that Taser International's wonderful tasers can kill, but we're positive tasers they save lives - just check out our headline"
- MSN: "We're MSN Money, and we love Taser too"
- Taser International: "We at TASER love doing research (when we're not busy suing coroners that don't agree with junk science)"
- Taser's old site: "Our mantra is that "we save lives everyday" - The reality is quite different, but who cares?
- Truth not Tasers: "Do tasers kill? You do the math"

PS1: Here's another take on Taser death.
PS2: Find spin-master O'Brien's press release below. And why don't you give him a call to congratulate him? His phone number as at the bottom of the press release:

Nanaimo - Taser ends stand off with suicidal male armed with knife
File #2008-18130 2008-06-26 12:06 PDT

Nanaimo RCMP deployed a Taser June 21 successfully ending a standoff with a suicidal male armed with a knife.

The incident began shortly after 7:00 am on Saturday June 21, near the 7-11 on Terminal Avenue. An RCMP member sitting in his police vehicle, saw a male carrying a knife and dripping blood from an apparent wound to his wrist. The officer called for back up and was told by the unidentified male he wanted to die. The male, bleeding profusely from his wrist, continued to slash at and worsen his injury. Additional officers arrived and they attempted to establish dialogue with the male.

The incident carried across the street to a second level landing at the Port of Call Motel. The male then without warning escalated his actions and placed the knife to his throat and began to turn away from the officers. Fearing he was about to slash at his throat, one of the officers deployed the Taser from approximately 8 feet, instantly incapacitating him, allowing the officers to safely move in and take the knife from him. He did not sustain any injuries from the deployment of the Taser or when he fell to the ground. He was then treated by waiting paramedics for his life threatening self inflicted injury and transported to hospital.

The 44 year old male and resident of Nanaimo for the past year was arrested under the Mental Health Act and remains in hospital. No additional charges were laid. Constable O’Brien, Media Relations Officer for the Nanaimo RCMP spoke with him today he admitted the Taser and actions of the police officers probably saved his life.

Released by:

Constable Gary O'Brien
Media Relations Officer
Community Policing Services, Nanaimo
303 Prideaux St, Nanaimo V9R 2N3
Office No.: 250-755-3257
Cell No.: 250-713-0701
Fax No.: 250-755-3238
ediv_internet_webmaster@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Tasers kill, and Taser International's Tom Smith agrees!

Yeb, that's what Taser Tom's statement in Vancouver's taser death inquiry boils down to. It happened yesterday and it went like this:

[Tom Smith] said Tasers save 70 lives for every life lost.

It's easy for me to proof that he got the numbers wrong (because apart from this "fortunate guy" I can't find another single life saved on the whole www), but that's not the point. Tasers kill, and Tom agrees.

Thanks for clearing that up, mate.

PS1: Leftdog says that Taser stocks are down. No wonder.
PS2: After extensive research I found another life saved (wink, wink). 2 saved, 344 taser related deaths; you do the math.
PS3: For more information on protecting life with TASER technology, please visit: http://www.TASER.com.

LINKS:
- Times Colonist: taser [kills] : see for all of it below
- Wikipedia: Taser
- Truth not Tasers

---

Taser boss says weapon saves lives
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, May 12, 2008

VANCOUVER - The chair of the company that makes Taser electrical shock weapons says the device is not risk-free but has been proven to save lives.

"Are Tasers risk free? No, they cause people to fall down," Tom Smith of Taser Inetrnational told a Taser inquiry in Vancouver today.

He compared the use of Tasers to that of air bags, which inflate during car crashes.

He said air bags cause some deaths but save many lives.

He said Tasers save 70 lives for every life lost.

Smith said it is a common myth that there has been no independent reseach of Taser use.

One of those attending the inquiry is Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who said outside the hearing that he remains unconvinced that Tasers won't cause death.

"I believe the science is incomplete," he told reporters.

Dosanjh, who will testify later today at the inquiry, approved use of Tasers in B.C. in 2000.

He said he was misled at the time, saying he was told during a briefing that Tasers were totally safe.

He now believes the weapons need further study and national standards should be set for police about when they can be used.

Smith said there are about 300 documented deaths that occurred after Taser use in North America, including 20 in Canada, of which seven were in B.C.

He pointed out only 30 of those deaths listed the Taser as a contributing factor.

"I think it's extremely low," Smith said of the risk factor of using Tasers.

Smith said after his presentation to the inquiry that it is a myth that there have been no independent studies of Taser use.

There have 129 medical and field studies, he said, with less than 20 per cent funded by Taser International.

"I certainly encourage more studies," Smith said. "This is the most studied non-lethal force option in the world."

He pointed out that Amnesty International is one of Taser's biggest critics but has not funded any scientific research to support its allegations.

Smith said studies show that Taser use reduces the number of injuries to officers and suspects being arrested.

Smith said one study looked at a continuous Taser shock of 45 seconds, which found no evidence of increased risk.

"You show me the science that says risk increases with multiple exposures," he told reporters.

He said the death of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver International Airport was a tragic event that prompted the cuurent inquiry, but it remains unclear what killed the man.

Some police forces such as Cincinnati since bringing in Tasers, reported officer injuries are down 75 per cent, suspect injuries have dropped 40 per cent and use of force complaints against police are down 50 per cent, Smith told the inquiry.

Tasers kill, but do they actually save lives?

We've heard the catch phrase many times in the last few days, tasers are supposedly saving lives. Here are some recent examples:

London Free Press (November 21, 2007): Taser critics don't know what they're talking about, Fantino says
"“I can say without qualification that Tasers save lives,” said Fantino."

570News Victoria (November 19, 2007): Police weapons expert says Tasers save lives, prevent injuries
"A Victoria police weapons expert says Tasers save lives and he personally believes he would have killed several people in the line of duty if it wasn't for his Taser. Const. Mike Massine says his use of the Taser diffused several tense situations where using his firearm was the next alternative.

CBC (November 17, 2007): RCMP to review Taser policy in wake of airport death: commissioner
Numerous police forces say the weapon is a crucial "non-lethal" option for officers that helps save lives and protect both them and civilians from injury.

Not that there's any hard evidence of course, on the contrary, there's a growing number of cases in which the Taser has been considered a primary or secondary cause of death.

So how can "experts" keep claiming that tasers save lives?

They use a technique called informal predictions, which are often nothing more than opinions marketed as "evidence".

Here's one of Taser's own fallacies, from Taser's paper: TASER Device Liability and Litigation Riskown fallacies (p.3):

TASER technology is saving lives as well. Houston (TX) Police reported that in 39 instances between December 2004 and October 2006, incident involved officers would have been justified in using deadly force instead of stunning them;

Taser makes several mistakes in reasoning:
- reporting that in 39 instances officers were "justified in using deadly force" doesn't mean that these officers would have actually used deadly force if they wouldn't have had a taser.
- using deadly force doesn't guarantee that the "victim" will die from it. There are many ways to shoot someone without killing; try the legs for example. And not all "use of deadly force" will actually result in a hit; police officers miss too.

So how many lives were actually saved? We don't know and neither does Taser. There is simply no hard evidence. What we do know for sure is that tasers kill. There's proof that between June 2001 and June 2007, there were at least 245 cases of deaths of subjects soon after having been shocked using Tasers.

Then why are there so many police officers repeating the "tasers save lives" myth? Well, why don't you read it for yourself?

(don't forget to read the comment section)

Update: more "Taser Saves Lives" bullshit below:

CBC (November 22, 2007): B.C. police chiefs defend Taser use but support reviews
But [British Columbia Association of Chiefs president Gord Tomlinson said the association is rejecting calls for a moratorium on Taser use because members believe the weapon is safe and saves lives.

CTV.ca (November 22, 2007): Commons committee to probe Dziekanski's death
"Forgive us if we sound biased in the defence of the Taser. But if we didn't believe completely that they've saved live[s] and prevented injuries . . . we wouldn't be using them."

Thunder Bay's Source (November 22, 2007): Fantino concerned about rhetoric over Taser use
[Fantino] says Tasers have been studied enough and is adamant that they save lives.

Note: Not a single journalist asked what the reasons are for believing that tasers save lives. Neither did anyone bother asking what the equation between lives saved and people killed is: so much for sound evidence or good journalism.

Upper-date: more "Taser Saves Lives" bullshit below:

CBC.ca (February 24, 2009): Tasers save lives, police associations say
Canada's two main police associations are defending the use of Tasers, saying in Ottawa Tuesday that [tasers] save lives and there is no proof the stun guns have been directly responsible for civilian deaths.

CNW (February 24, 2009): British Columbia Police Association supports national position on Taser use
Describing the Taser as a "vital tool that protects the lives of police and the public" BCPA President Tom Stamatakis notes that the 2,500 members of the 12 police services across B.C. that he represents "support the use of the Taser within clear guidelines".

Calgary Herald (February 13, 2009): RCMP limits use of Tasers
During a meeting of the Commons public safety committee on Thursday, [Commissioner William Elliott] insisted Tasers are still useful weapons that save lives, but also said the RCMP now recognize they can cause death in"acutely agitated" suspects.

Metro Canada (February 24, 2009): Chief Backs use of Tasers
[Police Chief Rick Hanson]: “Absolutely, they should have Tasers; Tasers save lives."

23 Canadians dead; we need a moratorium on the use of tasers, NOW!

The Canadian Press has a list of Canadian cases since 2003 in which people died after police use of Tasers:

Nov. 3, 2008: Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, from Castlegar, B.C., died in hospital after he was located in the basement of a Calgary home by police responding to calls about a possible break-and-enter.

Oct. 29, 2008: Trevor Grimolfson died after he was confronted by police armed with Tasers who found him running amok in an Edmonton pawn shop.

Sept. 30, 2008: Frank Frachette, 49, died after he was jolted with a Taser by police who were trying to arrest him in connection with a bank robbery in Langley, B.C.

Sept. 16, 2008: Sean Reilly, 42, died less than 12 hours after he was Tasered during a struggle in a cell at a police station in Peel Region, outside Toronto.

July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, died in hospital after being shot with a Taser. Winnipeg police say the youth refused to comply with repeated requests by officers to put a knife down. The victim was believed to be involved in the theft of property from a vehicle.

June 23, 2008: Jeffrey Marreel, 36, died in custody after Ontario Provincial Police, responding to a disturbance in the town of Norfolk, near Simcoe, shocked him with a Taser. Marreel's father said the man had a history of drug use and lost his job at a flower nursery two weeks prior.

Nov. 22, 2007: Howard Hyde, 45, died about 30 hours after he was Tasered by Halifax police at a Dartmouth jail. An inquest later ruled his death accidental and the result of "excited delirium," not the Taser.

Oct. 17, 2007: Quilem Registre, 39, died in a Montreal hospital after police used a Taser on him at a police station. Police say Registre became aggressive during questioning after he was stopped for a traffic violation.

Oct. 14, 2007: Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after police used a Taser and forcibly subdued him after he became agitated at Vancouver Airport, where he had arrived from Poland.

Aug. 30, 2006: Jason Doan, 28, died in Red Deer, Alta., after police used a Taser in responding to a complaint about a man seen damaging vehicles.

Dec. 24, 2005: Alessandro Fiacco, 33; witnesses said police used a Taser to subdue an agitated Fiacco who had been running into traffic in Edmonton.

July 15, 2005: Paul Saulnier, 42, died in Digby, N.S., after police tried to keep him from leaving the detachment by using pepper spray, batons and a Taser.

July 1, 2005: James Foldi, 39, died after police used a Taser while trying to arrest him following reports of numerous break-ins in the Beamsville, Ont., area.

June 30, 2005: Gurmeet Sandhu, 41, died in Surrey, B.C., after police used a Taser while responding to complaints about a domestic dispute.

May 5, 2005: Kevin Geldart, 34, died after police tried to subdue him with a Taser outside a Moncton, N.B., bar.

Aug. 8, 2004: Samuel Truscott, 43, died in Kingston, Ont., hours after being shot with a Taser. The Ontario coroner said Truscott was killed by a drug overdose.

July 17, 2004: Jerry Knight, 29, died in hospital in Brampton, Ont., after he was shot with a Taser during a violent struggle with police. A pathologist found no proof the stun gun was to blame for his death, saying Knight died from restraint asphyxia and cocaine-related 'excited delirium'.

June 23, 2004: Robert Bagnell, 44, died at a Vancouver hotel after being shot with a Taser by police, who said Bagnell was in the throes of a potentially lethal cocaine-induced psychosis at the time.

May 13, 2004: Peter Lamonday, 33, died in London, Ont., after being pepper-sprayed, punched and shot several times with a Taser during a struggle with police. Ontario's Special Investigation Unit concluded Lamonday died from cocaine-induced 'excited delirium" and not from police action.

May 1, 2004: Roman Andreichikov, 25, died in Vancouver after he was forcibly subdued and hit with a Taser by police while reportedly high on crack cocaine.

Sept. 28, 2003: Clark Whitehouse, 34, died in Whitehorse, Yukon. RCMP reported Whitehouse fled on foot while attempting to swallow drugs. Officers used a Taser to subdue him. A short time later, he appeared to be having trouble breathing and was pronounced dead at hospital.

July 22, 2003: Clay Willey, 33, died in hospital in Prince George, B.C., 16 hours after police used a Taser on him at an RCMP detachment. Willey was arrested in the parking lot of a local mall after police received complaints about a man acting aggressively. An autopsy found he had potentially lethal amounts of cocaine in his system.

April 19, 2003: Terrance Hanna, 51, died at the North Burnaby Inn in Burnaby, B.C., after pulling a knife and hammer on police. High on cocaine, he went into cardiac arrest after police shot him with a Taser.

Victoria Police Chief Darren Laur's Actual Conflict of Interest

Seargent Darren Laur's private little business dealing with Taser International have now been exposed, but also read how Dirk Ryneveld decribes an conflict of interest as "not actual" when reality seems to proof him differently.

Wanna know what I was thinking when I read Dirk Ryneveld's describe that Darren Laur's conflict wasn't "actual": that Dirk Ryneveld is a lying bastard, helping to cover up this story of a corrupt police chief. But no worries, these were my thoughts at that time, and those aren't necessarily actual.

Bastard.

Globe and Mail

December 11, 2007 at 5:02 AM EST

Perhaps no one is more responsible for tasers coming to Canada than Darren Laur. The veteran Victoria police officer played a pivotal role in a 1998 pilot program that led to his force adopting the weapons permanently. A subsequent research paper he wrote - which concluded that tasers were safe and effective - laid the groundwork for the devices' spread to police departments across the country.

But questions linger about his motivations.

Sgt. Laur has received several payments from Taser International since 1999, documents show, including expenses to travel to its training courses and to train two U.S. police forces to use tasers. In 2001, a private company that Sgt. Laur co-owns with his wife designed a holstering system for Taser, which paid the couple by issuing them 775 stock options days after Taser International went public.

The Globe and Mail's investigation reveals Sgt. Laur's financial dealings with Taser International recently caused his own police department to recommend that officers be prohibited from business relationships with outside weapons manufacturers. The British Columbia police complaint commissioner also concluded that Sgt. Laur should not have been selected to conduct a high-profile 2004 review of tasers, one that advocates use of the weapon and that the company itself often cites.

Despite this, there has never been a comprehensive review of Sgt. Laur's early influence on the myriad of Canadian pro-taser studies, including a highly lauded review from the Canadian Police Research Centre.

In December, 1998, the Victoria police became the first in Canada to launch a six-month pilot program to test stun-gun technology on patrol. This caught the attention of police departments across Canada.

At the time, Sgt. Laur was the department's top use-of-force expert, and he was the first Canadian officer to travel on Taser's expense to its Arizona headquarters to be trained as what the company calls a "master instructor."

After the pilot program ended in the summer of 1999, Victoria police decided to add tasers to their toolkit, and a report by Sgt. Laur was circulated to police departments nationwide.

"I have been inundated with phone calls from Canadian police departments and correctional agencies wanting information on the TASER and the results of our study," Sgt. Laur wrote in the report. "As I predicted, the floodgates in Canada for the use of TASER technology have opened up."

Victoria's self-described success with the weapon seemed to prompt other departments to launch pilot projects. At the end of 2000, forces in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto were all testing tasers.

By then, Sgt. Laur was also being paid to train some U.S. police forces on behalf of Taser International.

Neither Sgt. Laur nor Taser International responded to requests for comment yesterday.

Victoria police documents show that in April, 2000, the Laurs' private company was retained by the Jackson County sheriff's department "to provide training in TASER's weapons system." Taser paid for Sgt. Laur to make the trip.

In 2001, Sgt. Laur's company designed a "holstering system" for the M26 Taser. In exchange for the design rights, the company issued 775 stock options, worth about $5,000. Sgt. Laur sold the shares on Nov. 7, 2003, when the stock traded at between $5.04 and $5.39.

The public wouldn't learn of Sgt. Laur's investment until 2005, when the officer was asked to conduct an impartial review of tasers after a Vancouver man, Robert Bagnell, was shot a year earlier with the weapon and soon died.

Four days before his 45th birthday, police found Mr. Bagnell behaving erratically at a Vancouver residential hotel. He was high on cocaine and had barricaded himself in a bathroom on the fifth floor. They tasered the struggling man. His heart stopped.

After Mr. Bagnell's death, the B.C. office of the police complaint commissioner ordered two investigations.

One was an examination of taser use in B.C. The investigating team - which included Sgt. Laur - issued two reports, both of which advocated the future use of stun guns.

The first report in September, 2004, made no mention of Sgt. Laur's financial dealings with Taser International. However, in the ensuing months, Bagnell family lawyer Cameron Ward learned about Sgt. Laur's investments and raised the issue with the Vancouver police and the police complaint commissioner.

When the final report was issued four months later, it included a disclaimer on its final page: "Darren Laur held stock in TASER International and provided training to two external agencies at the request of those agencies."

In an interview yesterday, B.C. police complaint commissioner Dirk Ryneveld said he didn't know about Sgt. Laur's stock options when he was assigned to the review. "I probably would have preferred that no one who had any relationship with Taser [be involved]," Mr. Ryneveld said. He added that any conflict of interest was "perceived" and not actual, and didn't undermine the validity of the report.

U.S. court documents show Sgt. Laur and five other U.S. police officers - most of whom promoted Taser's products or urged their cities to buy them - got stock options between 2001 and 2003.

The revelations in 2005 about Sgt. Laur's financial relationship with Taser led Mr. Bagnell's sister, Patti Gillman, to log a formal complaint with the police complaints commissioner. That sparked Victoria police to launch an internal investigation into whether Sgt. Laur had violated the force's conflict-of-interest policy.

"I do consider Sgt. Laur to have been in an apparent and perceived conflict of interest by reason of having held a financial interest in TASER through his stock options," the investigator, Inspector Cory Bond, wrote in her report.

Insp. Bond concluded that Sgt. Laur did not specifically violate the conflict-of-interest policy at the time, because the force had no procedure for conflict-of-interest disclosure.

Insp. Bond recommended that the force review its policy and develop specific restrictions on relationships with weapons manufacturers. "Such an interest might be seen to influence or impair police officers in the exercise of their duties," she wrote.

All RCMP officers involved in Vancouver's taser killing should be fired and prosecuted

After seeing the RCMP Taser Video I can only conclude the following:

1. This teaser death was completely unnecessary.

The video shows pure police brutality resulting in death. These officers are not our friends; these guys act like coldblooded beasts out to taser the hell out of somebody, nothing more, nothing less. Where is the compassion? Why can't these officers handle this confused man in a humane way?

If these officers felt threatened (which is extremely hard to believe after watching this video), they could have used other means of force such as the baton to defend themselves. The use of a taser in this killing should be considered torture resulting in death.

2. The officer in charge and the officer who applied the taser should be fired and prosecuted for the use of excessive force (torture) resulting in death.

Again, there really was no reason to use the taser, and definitely not twice. Whoever (most likely an officer) yelled "[taser] him again, [taser] him again" should also been charged for encouraging violent behaviour.

3. All officers who were trained to assist with CPR but neglected to do so should be charged with gross neglect.

There was a living being, dying right in front of all officers eyes and not a single RCMP officer had the decency to give CPR? WTF!

4. Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre should be fired for purposely misrepresenting the facts and suppressing the video on a false premise.

From the BCCLA complaint:
"Shortly after the incident, Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre publicly stated that the officers present at the incident attempted to calm Mr. Dziekanski down verbally and with hand gestures. It was stated that Mr. Dziekanski ignored the officers, prompting them to use the taser. [...]"

Anyone who has seen the video can clearly see with their own eyes that is assessment is false. Why Mr. Lemaitre appears to be lying is less clear, although the BCCLA gives some more insight into Sgt. Lemaitres spin:

"Sgt. Lemaitre repeatedly made statements implying if not alleging that Mr. Dziekanski was under the influence of alcohol or drugs or had a medical condition that caused his death. Sgt. Lemaitre spoke without specific evidence to support his position. [...] Mr. Dziekanski's autopsy and toxicology results refute Sgt. Lemaitre's position. [...]

Sgt. Lemaitre appears to have misled the public while casting aspersion on the character of Mr. Dziekanski. Either the intent or effect of the characterizations of the events and of Mr. Dziekanski appear designed to provide a favourable account of the RCMP’s role in this death.

This is inappropriate especially given the fact that the RCMP members are under investigation and the RCMP has a lead role in undertaking that investigation.

With respect to the video, an unnamed officer spoke with Paul Pritchard and obtained his recording of the incident under the promise it would be returned immediately. The officer quickly informed Mr. Pritchard that the available equipment would not allow a copy to be made, and an agreement was reached to return the recording within 48 hours. Once in possession of the recording, the RCMP first informed Mr. Pritchard that previous agreements would have to be retracted and the recording would not be returned until a coroner's inquest concluded, some 1.5 to 2.5 years in the future.

According to public statements by Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, the video had to be withheld because it would contaminate witnesses' memories (see also this YouTube video). Yet, by the time these statements were made, the RCMP had already established and publicized their version of the story in great detail. If there were witnesses that had not been interviewed, contamination had already occurred. [...]

Read the whole letter here: Complaint against the RCMP over public statements and actions in the investigation of the in-custody death of Robert Dziekanski

Other progressive views on Vancouver RCMP Taser electrocution:
-- Dr. Dawg: "Deadly Dudley"
-- Unrepentant Old Hippie: "Vancouver Airport taser death"
-- The Galloping Beaver: "Your State Police"
-- Creekside: "Another RCMP Murder"
-- Sean in Saskatchewan: Taser Video: RCMP fail to cover it up

Update:
- there's now a support site named "Justice for Robert Dziekanski" that includes a call for contacting "your MP, the minister for Transport Canada - Lawrence Cannon and the minister for Public Safety - Stockwell Day". This site also shows YouTube footage of the killing.

YouTube and Google videos






some sources used:
- CKNW News Talk 980: Taser Video Now Released
- wikipedia: police brutality
- BCCLA: Jason Gratl's complaint againts the RCMP (pdf)
- Taser video
- CBC: Taser video shows RCMP shocked immigrant within 25 seconds of their arrival
- CBC The National: video of RCMP Vancouver Tasering (.mov)
- CBC: download complete taser video (.wmv)
- wikipedia: CPR
- wikipedia: Taser Incident Vancouver

Langley RCMP kill unarmed (and seriously wounded) man with taser

Another day, another taser death. Who's still counting all taser deaths?

A man is dead after he crashed through a second-storey window, naked and bleeding from a chest wound, and was hit with an RCMP Taser.

If this man was seriously bleeding from a chest wound, then why would someone taser him? Is having crashed through a window any reason to taser someone to death?

RCMP say they converged on a home in suburban Langley, B.C., Tuesday, following an armed robbery earlier in the day. A witness who saw a vehicle leaving the scene of the hold-up alerted police and followed the car to the home.

That's quite the stretch, "following an armed robbery". Is the account of one eyewitness enough to taser somebody to death?

Cpl. Peter Thiessen said police heard a man and woman arguing inside the home, and then witnessed the man come through an upper-floor window and hit the ground.

Did the woman throw this guy out? Then why taser the guy and not the woman?

With the gun used in the robbery nowhere in sight and the suspect trying to run inside the home despite a serious chest wound, police decided to use the Taser, Thiessen said.

What do you mean, despite? If I was naked and bleeding like hell I wouldn't consider going for a drink or see a movie; I would go inside, call an ambulance and if possible get dressed. What's so weird about that reaction?

[Thiessen] said the man was still alive when he was arrested but died en route to hospital.

Does anyone else have a Robert Dziekanski deja-vu here? Robert was still alive when he was arrested. But not much later he was dead, thanks to the great work of the RCMP.

Thiessen said a woman who was inside the home was arrested.

Well, problem solved then. It was all the woman's fault. How wonderful to turn the single reason for tasering the now dead man (to protect the female) into the perfect scapegoat.

This story stinks, and I don't like it.

LINKS
- Canadian Press: Langley RCMP kill seriously wounded and unarmed man with taser
-Truth not Tasers: 371+ Taser deaths, and still counting...

Full Article follows, comments at the bottom.

PS: RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen says that they killed the suspect "in the interest of public safety and the safety of police officers". Well done, Peter.

Wounded B.C. robbery suspect dies after being Tasered

LANGLEY, B.C. — A man is dead after he crashed through a second-storey window, naked and bleeding from a chest wound, and was hit with an RCMP Taser.

RCMP say they converged on a home in suburban Langley, B.C., Tuesday, following an armed robbery earlier in the day. A witness who saw a vehicle leaving the scene of the hold-up alerted police and followed the car to the home.

Cpl. Peter Thiessen said police heard a man and woman arguing inside the home, and then witnessed the man come through an upper-floor window and hit the ground.

With the gun used in the robbery nowhere in sight and the suspect trying to run inside the home despite a serious chest wound, police decided to use the Taser, Thiessen said.

He said the man was still alive when he was arrested but died en route to hospital.

Thiessen said a woman who was inside the home was arrested.

The RCMP Major Crimes Unit and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team are investigating the incident with the oversight of Vancouver police.

The use of the shock weapons has been under scrutiny since Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after RCMP officers shocked him with a Taser at the Vancouver airport in October 2007.

A public inquiry into Dziekanski's death is scheduled to get underway in November.

Last week, Vancouver police used a Taser on a 16-year-old mother who refused to hand her one-month-old baby over to social workers.

Police said they acted because of fears the "mentally distraught" mother might smother the little boy during the three-hour standoff.

Taser now linked to sudden cardiac arrest; taser victims have died for years but Taser International doesn't seem to care

Today was a fascinating day. For the first time we were able to hear the expert knowledge of two heart specialists, information I've NEVER heard from any of Canada's nominated taser-Nazis. Here's what the heart specialists had to say:

VANCOUVER — Two heart specialists told an inquiry into the use of Tasers on Tuesday that a jolt from the weapons can "almost certainly" cause heart problems and possibly even sudden cardiac arrest.

Gee wiz, possible sudden cardiac arrest, that sounds kind of serious, doesn't it? Wikipedia thinks so:

The term sudden cardiac death refers to natural death from cardiac causes, heralded by abrupt loss of consciousness within one hour of the onset of acute symptoms.

But fortunately all police officers were aware of the possibilty of “sudden cardiac arrest”, right?

And a senior police officer who trains others on how to use the Taser said his training from the company that manufactures the device suggests the Taser does not lead to cardiac arrest.

I suppose that's a NO.

More medical experts had more troubling news for police officers trainees:

Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of British Columbia, told the inquiry that based on his study of available literature on Taser use, "almost all physicians would conclude that Tasers can induce ventricular fibrillation."

Ventricular fibrillation? What the heck is that? Wikipedia!!!

Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib or VF) is a condition in which there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, making them tremble rather than contract properly. Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency. If the arrhythmia continues for more than a few seconds, blood circulation will cease, and death will occur in a matter of minutes.

That's serious stuff. Not that Taser seems to care:

Staff Sgt. Joe Spindor, of the New Westminster Police Department, told the inquiry Tuesday his Taser training is based on what he was taught by Taser International. "The information we receive is that it's safe to use on subjects," Spindor said. He said he hadn't heard of Janusz's opinion on possible cardiac arrest. "No. I've actually heard the opposite from Taser in my instruction."

Thank you, Taser, for all of your helpful “education”; leaving out essential warnings about possible cardiac arrest has likely led to several taser deaths, deaths that could have been prevented if proper education would have been in place.

LINKS
- The Canadian Press: Cardiologist, heart surgeon tell Taser inquiry weapon can cause cardiac arrest
- Wikipedia: Sudden Cardiac Arrest
- Wikipedia: Ventricular Fibrillation

Ticket or Taser? Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 Transit riders warned

Babies that recovered from being tasered by tasering moms and pops now have something else to worry about: getting tasered while on Vancouver Transit. Vancouver's version of "trick or treat" is called "ticket or Taser". Visitors of the 2010 Winter Olympices, be warned and either rent a car, or grab a cab.

VANCOUVER — The country's only armed transit police have been tasering passengers who try to avoid paying fares.

According to documents provided in response to a Freedom of Information request, police patrolling public transit in the Metro Vancouver area have used tasers 10 times in the past 18 months, including five occasions when victims had been accosted for riding free.

Good old Freedom of Information request can come up with some nasty things these days. Read on.

In one incident, a non-paying passenger was tasered after he held onto a railing on the SkyTrain platform and refused to let go.

Holding onto a railing? You can't have that. Go ahead, taser, taser, TASER!!! Why can't these suckers buy a ticket, or travel by car like everyone else does? TASER those losers, with or without ticket, TASER TASER TASER!

“After several warnings to the subject to stop resisting arrest and the subject failing to comply with the officers' commands, the taser was deployed and the subject was taken into control,” said the report provided by TransLink, the region's transit authority.

Comply or be Tasered.

An internal review of the incident concluded that the action taken by transit police officers complied with the force's policy and was within guidelines “set out in the National Use of Force Model,” the report said.

Okay, Taser AND comply then.

On another occasion, a passenger was tasered when he fled from police who found him without a payment receipt during a “fare blitz.” This time, however, the passenger got away because, as recounted in the report, “the Taser was ineffective due to the subject's clothing and [he] escaped the custody of the officers.”

Lots more to read here.

LINKS
- Globe and Mail: Vancouver transit riders tasered for not paying fares
- Wikipedia: Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010
- Vancouver Transit: Translink
- Wikipedia: Skytrain Vancouver
- Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service - Strategic Plan Update (including use of Taser)

Harper Government to blame for increase of Taser usage

Not the RCMP. Well, at least according to Kate McMillan's analogy.

Anyhow, tasers are in the news again, and it ain't lookin' pretty:

OTTAWA - The RCMP is stripping crucial details about Taser firings from public reports as use of the controversial stun guns skyrockets across the country.

A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC found the Mounties are now refusing to divulge key information that must be recorded each time they draw their electronic weapons.

As a result, Canadians will know much less about who is being hit with the 50,000-volt guns, whether they were armed, why they were fired on and whether they were injured.

Sure, holding back a taser video isn't that easy these days, but "stripping crucial details" still works, as long as some conservative liberalist party rules this country all is good.

Taser report forms obtained under the Access to Information Act show the Mounties have used the powerful weapons more than 4,000 times since introducing them seven years ago.

Incidents have increased dramatically, topping 1,000 annually in each of the last two years compared with about 600 in 2005. The overwhelming majority of firings took place in Western Canada, where the national force often leads front-line policing.

East, West.....damn, I'm in the wrong corner of Canada.

As Taser use escalates, however, the RCMP has tightened the lid of secrecy.

Information stripped from the forms includes details of several Taser cases the Mounties previously made public under the access law. In effect, the RCMP is reclassifying details of Taser use - including some telling facts that raised pointed questions about how often the stun guns are fired and why.

Good for you, RCMP, I mean Harper Government, transparency rules!

A Canadian Press analysis [...] found three in four suspects Tasered by the RCMP were unarmed.

A majority unarmed? WTF?

Several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use as a handy tool to keep drunk or rowdy suspects in line, rather than to defuse major threats.

This doesn't surprise me, really. Why would someone who is paid in stock by Taser not use it whenever he can?

There's more:

Stun guns have swiftly become the go-to weapon for scores of police and correctional officers across Canada. The RCMP has more than 2,800 Tasers and some 9,100 Mounties are trained to use them.

Getting it right knows all about why the RCMP lovers the Taser.

Public wariness about the weapons turned to full-blown anger last fall when amateur video showing the death of Robert Dziekanski was released. RCMP were called last October when the Polish immigrant became agitated at Vancouver International Airport after spending hours in a secure section while his mother tried in vain to contact him from the public side.

Exactly. We need MORE transparency when it comes to Taser use, not less. And then perhaps, one day these torturous devices will become history too.

Although Dziekanski appears more confused than threatening on the video, the officers waited less than 30 seconds before they zapped [...]. Within minutes, he was dead.

Thank you, Stephen Harper. I'm sure you meant well (and so does Kate).

LINK
- Canoe/Canadian Press: Taser News
- Wikipedia: List of torturous devices
- Getting it Right: Taser use in Canada (all posts)
- Wikipedia: electric shock
- Wikipedia: Electrocution

Canadian Police paid in stock by TASER International

Taser is in the news again. This time Thomas Smith, Taser stun gun manufacturer, was grilled by MPs on Parliament Hill. The Public Safety commission was questioning Mr. Smith as part of study stemming from death of Robert Dziekanski.

Deadly Tasers

OTTAWA — With his company under intense scrutiny following a high-profile death, and with a potentially lucrative Canadian business deal on the horizon, the CEO of Taser International vigorously defended his company's signature stun gun on Parliament Hill yesterday. [...]

The committee's study of tasers, and in turn Mr. Smith's appearance, were in large part prompted by the case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died last October after RCMP officers tasered him at Vancouver International Airport.

Mr. Dosanjh asked Mr. Smith whether he was suggesting that tasers played absolutely no role in the 300 or so North American deaths that occurred after the [use of one or more Tasers] in the past few years. Mr. Smith said the use of tasers was deemed a contributing factor in [the deaths of] about 30 cases.

Victoria Police Darren Laur paid with TASER stockHere's another reason why the police love their Taser so much:

It was during subsequent questioning about Taser International's financial relationship with Canadian police officers that Mr. Smith revealed TASER International had paid two Canadian officers for services.
One of those officers, Darren Laur of the Victoria B.C police, was compensated with Taser stock after designing a holster for the device. However, it was not publicly known that a second officer was paid until yesterday's hearing. After the session, Mr. Smith said he believes the second officer was from a Montreal police force and was paid to provide taser training in Europe because he could speak French.

- Wikipedia: Taser International
- Globe and Mail: Taser CEO grilled by public safety committee
- Getting it Right: Why the Police love their Tasers so much

Taser International loses court case: Taser stock fall

Taser stocks are down! Yep, it's all because of the latest liability suit that they've lost.

It's not the first time Taser didn't win a court case. Taser ended settling many court cases in the past to preempt embarrassment.

Here's why they lost this liability suit:

Taser failed to warn police in Salinas, Calif., that prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could increase the risk of cardiac arrest, a San Jose, Calif., jury said on June 6. The jury awarded $1-million in compensatory damages, and $5.2-million in punitive damages to the estate of Robert Heston, 40, and his parents. The police officers weren't held liable.

"Police weren't held liable", that's interesting, isn't it? And on many levels. But the result is most important: the police can turn against Taser if they have to.

So it's for real. Taser loses the case in court. The beginning of the end of the taser-era.

LINKS
- G&M: Taser loses first liability suit - Shares fall 11% after jury orders manufacturer to pay $6.2-million (U.S.) in man's death
- Wikipedia: Taser
- Google Finance: Taser