Yet another Taser death... How many more will die? (supposedly non-lethal)

[garybeck]

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120621/NEWS07/120621011/Police-release-name-man-who-died-after-being-tased-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Vermont man dies after being tased by Trooper

Vermont State Police say a man has died after being tased by a trooper during a confrontation Wednesday afternoon in Bradford.

At about 3:15 p.m., the state police barracks in Bradford received a call from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. regarding a suicidal subject who was threatening to harm himself and others in Thetford, according to authorities.

Troopers responded to the man’s Thetford residence, where the man was seen moving between his home and the woods, police said. At about 6:23 p.m., a trooper made contact with the man outside the home, according to police.

“The trooper displayed his firearm and gave verbal commands to the subject,” police said in a prepared statement. “As the trooper spoke with the subject, the trooper transitioned from his firearm to his taser. The subject then advance in the trooper’s direction refusing to comply with the trooper’s directives. The trooper discharged his taser at the subject.”

Police said the man was placed into custody and transported to the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where he later died. An autopsy will be conducted on the body at 1 p.m. today, police said.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. "POLICE SAY ...

advanced in the trooper's direction refusing to comply with the trooper's directives."

Quite frankly, after all the documented police use of excessive and unnecessary force with Tasers, I find it hard to believe what they say.

How do we know that the cop didn't just encounter a suicidal guy, decided to try out his Taser, and then made up some story?

[garybeck]

2. are you saying you don't trust police? :) n/t

[Apollinair]

3. Taser Not The Cause

No autopsy and yet you state that Taser was the cause of death. Total nonsense. No one has died from the electrical shock from Taser - ever! A handful have fallen and struck their head with fatal consequences.

The facts are that Taser has saved thousands of lives, and dramatically reduced injuries to both suspects and police. There have been more than one and a half million people shocked by Taser in training and voluntarily with ZERO deaths. In fact more children have died from ballons than died from Taser in the same period. Why not start a campaign to ban them?

The real bad news for you is that you too will die. We all do. Taser is rarely (extremely rarely) even a secondary cause.

[uppityperson]

4. While technically perhaps true in many cases, totally missing the point. And "ever!" is wrong.

And this is what you signed on at DU for? huh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser_safety_issues#Deaths_and_injuries_related_to_Taser_use

Between June 2001 and June 2007, there were at least 245 cases of deaths of subjects soon after having been shocked using Tasers.[82] 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.
(clip)
A study published by the American Journal of Cardiology found that California police departments that introduced Tasers experienced significant increases in the numbers of in-custody sudden deaths and firearm deaths in the first full year following deployment. The rates declined to predeployment levels in subsequent years. No significant change in the number of officer injuries was found.[85]
After hearing many witnesses and briefs the report[87] by the Canadian House of Commons, Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security makes 17 recommendations as a result the death due to the repetitive tasering of a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver International airport....(more, much more)

[HiPointDem]

8. according to these people, it's more like over 500.

Last edited Fri Jun 22, 2012, 05:43 AM - Edit history (5)

Today we added 39-year old Macadam Mason (Thetford, VT) as the175th taser-related death in America since 2009. [NOTE: the full list is shown below].

According to Amnesty International, between 2001 and 2008, 351 people in the United States died after being shocked by police Tasers. Our blog has documented another 175 taser-related deaths in the United States in 2009-2012. That means there have been 526 documented taser-related deaths in America.

This blog has been pointing out incidents of police taser torture for quite awhile. The work done over the past few years by Patti Gillman and Cameron Ward continue to be the inspiration for our work. Gillman and Ward documented over 725 taser-related deaths in North America on their blog.

http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2009/05/taser-related-deaths-in-united-states.html

basically one person is killed by a taser every week.

according to these people, 736 in north america, & 1.2 americans killed every week in 2011.

http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

TASER sues medical examiners who rule a taser caused a death.

According to Taser International, the taser had nothing to do with any of these deaths. According to Amnesty International, the taser has been identified as either a cause or contributing factor in at least 60 of them. That number would be higher; however medical examiners and coroners are often not impartial but are instead biased in favour of the Crown or, as has been shown, they are under tremendous pressure from - among others - Taser International, to make a particular finding.

http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/


Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.

The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone's death.

That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge's order to remove Taser's name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men's deaths.

"We will hold people accountable and responsible for untrue statements," Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said earlier this week. "If that includes medical examiners, it includes medical examiners." Many medical examiners, who are charged with determining the official causes of death, view the Scottsdale-based company's efforts as disturbing, the spokesman for the National Association of Medical Examiners says.

"It is dangerously close to intimidation," says Jeff Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. "At this point, we adamantly reject the fact that people can be sued for medical opinions that they make."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/05/02/20080502taser0503.html#ixzz1yVmeP3jH


CEOs = patrick w smith & his brother thomas, of arizona. harvard grads, which likely means $$$ run in the family.

Patrick W. Smith. Mr. Smith has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the Company since 1993. He is also co-founder of the Company. After graduating from Harvard cum laude in just three years (class of 1991), Mr. Smith entered directly into the Master of Business Administration Program at the University of Chicago, the youngest person accepted into his class that year. In two years...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qjr2gUZlXxEJ:www.forbes.com/profile/patrick-smith/+patrick+w+smith+thomas+smith&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us


yep, $$$ run in the family. here's dad:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lightwave-logic-appoints-phillips-w-smith-as-board-chairman-81327047.html

Lightwave Logic, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: LWLG) a technology company focused on the development of the "Next Generation Electro-Optic Platform" for applications in high speed fiber-optic telecommunications and optical computing, today announced that Dr. Phillips W. Smith, PhD, was appointed to Lightwave's board of directors and will also serve as its chair.

Dr. Smith has over 35 years of experience with high technology companies serving as both chief executive officer and chairman, and in corporate officer positions at three Fortune 500 Companies. In 2001, Dr. Smith brought TASER International, Inc. public through an IPO and most recently served as Chairman of TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq: TASR) until his retirement from that position in December 2004. Dr. Smith subsequently resigned his TASER board seat in October 2006. Since then, Dr. Smith has been actively involved as an investor in start-up companies.

Previously, he was Chairman and CEO of CAE Systems (sold to Tektronix Inc. for $75M in 1986), CEO and Chairman of EDGE Computer and CEO and Chairman of ZYCAD, a public company on NASDAQ.

Dr. Smith received his B.S. degree from West Point, an M.B.A. from Michigan State University and a PhD from St. Louis University.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lightwave-logic-appoints-phillips-w-smith-as-board-chairman-81327047.html

this is dad:

http://usma1961.westpointaog.com/61SmithP.htm

Military-industrial complex family: this is grandpa:

Major General Phillips W. Smith (AFSN: 897A), United States Air Force, was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal (Army Design) for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility.

General Orders: Department of the Air Force, General Orders No. 68 (1955)

Service: Air Force

Rank: Major General

http://militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=49903

grandpa went to harvard too:

http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7187

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Actually in some circumstances

the Taser IS THE PRIMARY CAUSE.

This is why it is classified as a LESS THAN LETHAL weapon... that does not mean it cannot be lethal.

I am almost positive that the autopsy will reveal a heart issue, that the electricity just exacerbated causing fibrillation or just plain out standstill.

That said, it's been used thousands of times, and hundreds have died, so far... and yes, it can be, and it is, used in not the right conditions. This one, I am positive, will not be in that category. This is little comfort to the officer by the way.

[HiPointDem]

9. bullshit. you must work for TASER International Corp.

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."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser_safety_issues#Deaths_and_injuries_related_to_Taser_use


For the first time, amid continuing controversy and lawsuits over use of Tasers, a scientific, peer-reviewed study released this week shows the electronic stun guns can cause cardiac arrest and death....the American Heart Association's premier journal, Circulation, published an article online Monday that examined eight cases involving the TASER X26 ECD. Seven of the people died.

Dr. Douglas Zipes, of Indiana University's Krannert Institute of Cardiology, found that a shock from the Taser "can cause cardiac electric capture and provoke cardiac arrest" as a result of an abnormally rapid heart rate and uncontrolled, fluttering contractions.

A spokesman for the devices' manufacturer, Taser International Inc., based in Scottsdale, Ariz., assailed Zipes' conclusions. Steve Tuttle pointed out that the study looked at only a handful of cases "and he argued that broader conclusions shouldn't be drawn based upon such a limited sample.

Since 2001, more than 500 people have died following Taser stuns according to Amnesty International, which said in February that stricter guidelines for Taser use were "imperative." But in only a few dozen cases, medical examiners have ruled that the Taser contributed to the death. In some cases, other factors, such as drug use and prior medical conditions, also played roles.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-02/taser-study-deaths/54688110/1

Possibly because TASER sues if medical examiners try to do their jobs.


Analysis: Taser-related deaths in US accelerating

A 2008 report (PDF) from Amnesty International found 351 Taser-related deaths in the US between June, 2001 and August, 2008, a rate of just slightly above four deaths per month.

A database of Taser-related deaths maintained at the African-American issues blog Electronic Village counts 96 deaths related to the use of Tasers since January, 2009....that indicates the death rate has increased to an average of five per month.

Amnesty International notes that efforts to determine the lethality of Tasers are being frustrated by the weapon’s manufacturer, Taser International.

“Medical studies so far on the effects of Tasers have either been limited in scope or unduly influenced by the weapons’ primary manufacturer,” the group states.

“Given the unresolved safety concerns, Amnesty International recommends that police departments either suspend the use of Tasers and stun guns pending further safety research or limit their use to situations where officers would otherwise be justified in resorting to firearms,” Amnesty says.

Source: Raw Story (http://s.tt/1d8nR)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Less than Lethal...

nobody said that they are not lethal... they just have a lesser chance to cause injury or death.

And from the story... no taser then the trooper would have opened fire with his service weapon. In the end, same result. but there is a less likelihood that in a similar circumstance the taser will kill as many people as a service gun.

Not defending the death, just explaining this.

[Overseas]

7. K&R. Too much brutality in our law enforcement all around. We need more Democrats in office, who

value compassion and justice, rather than brute force.

[BlueIris]

10. I think we should ban these brutal devices now.

They give too many an excuse to brutalize civilians.