Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Category Archives: taser death

MayDay 2011: Stephen Harper Delivered the HST

The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) ruined one Liberal provincial government (Gord Campbell of BC) and may unseat another Liberal provincial government (Dalton McGuinty of Ontario) in October.

This reflects that the implementation and structure of the HST plan was crafted by the Conservatives with a specific purpose in mind:  bringing down Liberals wherever they can.

In BC, the HST still exists.

Let’s hope people in BC are not quick to forget that the HST was Stephen Harper’s doing.

Let’s hope that people in BC help shut the Conservatives out of Parliament on May 2.

In Ontario, the HST still exists.

Ontario:  you too can have your say on May 2.  Don’t like the HST?  Take your complaint to the top and get rid of Stephen Harper!

Kennedy Slams RCMP (And Another Public Servant Gets Skewered)

Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, issued a report yesterday concerning his opinion of what happened on the night that Robert Dziekanski died in Vancouver.

Full story here.

Among his observations were the following:

  • “Use of the (stun gun) against Mr. Dziekanski was premature and inappropriate,” Kennedy said, dismissing police claims that Dziekanski posed a serious threat.

  • He sharply criticized the Mounties for wanting to delay the release of the commission’s report, and for failing to adopt earlier recommendations on the use of Taser stun guns that were issued following the 2007 incident.

  • Kennedy also warned the iconic national police force that its risked losing the public’s trust over its handling of the case.

Meanwhile, our Canadian government does nothing besides maybe finding ways to fund research into ‘excited delirium’.  In fact, the parting comment from the Reuters article (below) is that Kennedy’s feedback may have cost him his job.

From Reuters:

Canada’s Mounties slammed in fatal Taser case

By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police acted prematurely and inappropriately in their use of electronic stun guns in an incident at Vancouver airport that led to death of a Polish immigrant, a government commission reported on Tuesday.

Robert Dziekanski died in October 2007 shortly after he was repeatedly shocked with a Taser stun gun and subdued by RCMP officers. A bystander’s video of Dziekanski screaming on the floor as he died was broadcast around the world, drawing public outrage and contradicting initial police statements that they shot him after having to wrestle him to the ground.

The four Mounties who confronted Dziekanski at the airport had no plan when they arrived on the scene, and did not warn him before they fired, said Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

“Use of the (stun gun) against Mr. Dziekanski was premature and inappropriate,” Kennedy said, dismissing police claims that Dziekanski posed a serious threat.

He sharply criticized the Mounties for wanting to delay the release of the commission’s report, and for failing to adopt earlier recommendations on the use of Taser stun guns that were issued following the 2007 incident.

Kennedy also warned the iconic national police force that its risked losing the public’s trust over its handling of the case.

Dziekanski, who did not speak English, had just arrived in Canada to join his mother and became distraught after a communications mixup left him stranded for hours in the airport’s luggage pickup area with no explanation of what he should do. Police were called following reports of a man creating a disturbance.

The RCMP officers called to the scene waited less than 30 second before using a Taser stun gun and shocked Dziekanski repeatedly without determining if the further shocks were needed, the report said.

The exact cause of Dziekanski’s death has not been determined, and weapon-maker Taser International (TASR.O) says there is no evidence its device was responsible.

Kennedy said he did not find the police officers’ explanations of what happened credible, but he did not think they broke the law or planned to injure or kill Dziekanski when they arrived.

He also released a copy of a letter from the RCMP asking him to delay releasing the report until after the results of a separate British Columbia inquiry are completed next year.

Kennedy normally allows the Mounties time respond before releasing his reports, but said public interest this time was too high and waiting for the police had delayed the release of some previous reports by more than year.

“I am not impressed,” Kennedy said, holding a copy of the letter in which the RCMP said it was not ready yet to respond.

How the renowned police force responds to his findings and those of the upcoming provincial report “will have a profound impact on how the iconic institution is viewed by Canadians,” Kennedy warned.

The Conservative federal government has said it will not renew Kennedy’s contract at the end of the year, but he dismissed reporters suggestions on Tuesday that the decision was linked to this report. (Reporting by Allan Dowd; editing by Rob Wilson)

Taser Blinks

I remember the expression ‘Coke Blinked’ when they launched New Coke in the era of the ‘Cola Wars’.

Well, yesterday it seems like Taser International blinked when they announced to the public that tasers should be aimed at the shoulders, legs or arms of a suspect instead of the chest area.

Original story from the CBC here.

After hearing about ‘excited delirium’ and other reviews from the world’s “scienticians”, we now have the company admitting to ‘a slight risk of cardiac arrest when the electrified darts’ hit suspects in the chest.

What’s fascinating about this story is the reality that many officers simply aren’t arming themselves with Taser any more.  There are rumours of them leaving this weapon in their locker, raising another critical question:  Should the public continue to pay for something that our security forces won’t use?

ex-RCMP Boss: End Taser Use

Original Story Here .

Giuliano Zaccardelli says that Canada should end its controversial use stun guns.

Zaccardelli said he supported the use of stun guns, commonly known as Tasers, during his seven-year reign as commissioner because they were simply another tool for policing.

But given the recent controversy surrounding police force’s use of Tasers in Canada, the former commissioner has reconsidered his position, he said.

"And you know, after all that I’ve thought about it, I’ve come more and more to the conclusion that I’m not sure that having Tasers is worth the negative impact that it has on police forces in terms of public perception," he told the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge.

"I think we should stop using it."

Putting Tasers in Schools

I don’t know a lot about the context of this school and what the rationale might be for doing something so severe as to use Tasers against children, but I do know this: Treating people like criminals will have one major result. They’ll become criminals.

Full story here .

Tasers have already been desrcibed by the United Nations as a tool of torture and yet brainiacs all over the continent are finding new and creative places to put them to subdue ‘the people’.

I notice that the event in Winnipeg received honourable mention in this article:

The anecdotal evidence of Walczak’s argument has been striking in recent years as news media have publicized claims stemming from alleged excessive force by using Tasers. Many cases involve teenagers.

Last month, a 17-year-old Winnipeg boy wielding a knife became the youngest Canadian to die after being zapped by a Taser. His family is considering a lawsuit against authorities.

When kids start dying in high school corridors simply because hall monitors chose to use a Taser, what will we then call ‘excited delirium’? Will it become another manufactured ‘disease’ like ADHD?

United Nations: Tasers a Form of Torture

The United Nations has declared that the use of Tasers, the stun guns manufactured by Taser International, represent a form of torture when used on people.

Original Story Link .

Quotes from the story:

"The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture,” the UN’s Committee against Torture said.

"In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events,” the committee of 10 experts said.

Three men, all in their early 20s, were reported to have died in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being Tasered by Canadian police.

The man, Robert Dziekanski, 40, fell to the ground and died after the police officers piled on top of him.

There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks.

The company that makes the weapons has said that similar deaths have been shown by "medical science and forensic analysis” to be "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser".

The UN committee made its comments in recommendations to Portugal, which has bought the newest Taser X26 stun gun for use by police.

Portugal "should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,” as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN’s Convention against Torture, the experts said.

Expect to see lots of stories and new scientician books about ‘excited delirium’ and how this ‘disease’ is the true cause of death related to Tasers.

Sask Police to hold off getting Tasers

Regualr municipal police in Saskatchewan will not be issued Tasers because of safety concerns.

In Canada, 22 people have died in incidents related to Tasers.

Full CBC story here.

“Nobody Deserves to Die that way”: Father of Taser-teen victim

Full CBC story link here.

No amount of description about ‘excited delirium’ or other symptoms justify this kind of abuse. Hopefully, this death is not in vain and authorities realize that Tasers are lethal weapons.

Taser Loses Liability Suit

Full Story Here.

According to the lawyer, Doug Klint:

Use of the Taser on Heston didn’t cause his death, Klint said. Heston [the victim] fit “the well established symptom pattern for methamphetamine intoxication and associated excited delirium,” a condition linked to sudden death in custody, Klint said.

Tasers: NYPD Increases Tasers, RCMP Recommends Decrease

A couple of stories about Tasers, one good, one not so good.

In New York, Rand Corp has recommended that the NYPD outfit cops with Tasers. I’m sure the price of Taser Intl went through the roof after this reco.

That’s the not so good news.

The good news is that in Canada, a review of Taser use in the RCMP has been released and the recommendations call for massive restrictions on the use of Tasers. In fact, officers with less than 5 years experience should be prohibited from using Taser stun guns at all. Good call, Paul Kennedy!