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Flashback: TASER’s medical expert says weapon didn’t cause Dziekanski’s death | Chicago study calls Taser’s safety claims into question

CBC News
May 8, 2009

Robert Dziekanski would have lived if he hadn’t been stunned by a Taser when confronted by RCMP officers at Vancouver airport in 2007, a medical expert in sudden death testified Friday at a public inquiry.

Dr. Zian Tseng, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of California in San Francisco, has studied in-custody sudden deaths, and his work shows that once Tasers were deployed, the rate of those deaths increased six times, though not all were directly attributed to Tasers, the inquiry heard.

In his testimony, Tseng outlined what happens to the heart when a person is stunned by a Taser. In the Dzeikanski case, he concluded that the Polish immigrant would not have died if he hadn’t been jolted by a Taser.

“I tried to put myself in that situation and think about if the Taser was not discharged in that case and he simply struggled with police,” Tseng said. “In my opinion, in that kind of scenario, he would not have died.”

Dziekanski died on the floor of the airport soon after being shocked five times by a police Taser. Four RCMP officers had been sent to the international arrivals lounge in response to reports that Dziekanski was throwing furniture and causing a scene. Within seconds of their arrival, a Taser was deployed to subdue Dziekanski.

Tseng told the inquiry Friday Dziekanski was already in a heightened state of stress, frustrated by the situation he found himself in.

Dziekanski’s stress level was made worse by the use of the Taser, which triggered a medical condition known as “ventricular tachycardia,” which Tseng described as a dangerous heart rhythm.

The Taser jolts in this case either directly or indirectly led to that condition, which could lead to the heart stopping completely, Tseng testified.

The inquiry heard last month from a cardiology expert, who was paid by Taser International for sitting on its medical advisory board, that Dziekanski’s death didn’t seem to be related to the stun gun.

Dr. Charles Swerdlow testified Dziekanski’s heart didn’t stop immediately after the deployment of the Taser, adding that if the heart was affected by electrical current, the resulting heartbeat would be either too fast or irregular.

Not acting in public interest: Dosanjh

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh paid a surprise visit to the inquiry Friday to listen to Tseng’s testimony.

Dosanjh, who was B.C.’s attorney general in 1999 and okayed the use of Tasers by police in the province, said he now regrets his decision.

“If I had known all of the information [about Tasers], if I had been given the truth, which I wasn’t given, I wouldn’t have made the decision I made,” Dosanjh said.

He also said lawyers representing the federal government and the Mounties in the inquiry are not acting in the public interest at the inquiry.

The provincial inquiry was called in the wake of Dziekanski’s death and is being overseen by Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal justice. Braidwood will make recommendations to prevent similar incidents, and he could make findings of misconduct against the officers or anyone else involved.

Throughout these proceedings, Dosanjh said, the federal lawyers have taken a position of undermining Dziekanski’s victimization and defending the role of the RCMP officers and the use of the Taser.

He said the federal lawyers seem to be doing that “because they want to limit the liability of the four officers in the RCMP and the federal government.”

“But what they are doing by pursuing that short-term interest is actually preventing the public interest in a larger sense from being served, and that is absolutely not appropriate,” Dosanjh said.

Source | See Also under Tasers: TASER’s medical expert says weapon didn’t cause Dziekanski’s death | RCMP didn’t tell pathologist Dziekanski suffered multiple TASER stuns, inquiry hears | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP ’sorry’ for errors in taser briefings | MPs grill top Mountie on tasers | RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year | RCMP still uses Tasers too often, watchdog finds | RCMP credibility battered by TASER inquiry | Quebec orders police to turn in Tasers | RCMP softened Taser-use restrictions | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | Boys, 15, Tasered by police, stats show | Toronto police used Tasers 367 times in 2008: statistics | Stun gun shock to head may cause seizures, doctors warn | TASER launches new headcam for police – with ‘privacy mode’ | TASERed immigrant ‘had the stapler open… he was in a combative stance’ | Dziekanski’s ‘combative behaviour’ justified Taser jolt: Mountie | Witness alters story but maintains Dziekanski attempted to staple RCMP | Airport refused help from Polish-speaking employee before Taser death | Dziekanski didn’t wield stapler before RCMP fired Taser, inquiry hears | Selkirk teen sues RCMP over stun gun allegations | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | Emergency call taken out of context: airport Taser death witness | RCMP destroyed evidence, charges dismissed in second torture case for officers | U.S. study raises more questions about TASER safety | Second phase of Taser inquiry begins in Vancouver | RCMP watchdog launches new Taser probe around deaths | Police forces withhold information on Taser use from public: audit | US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | No charges to be laid against RCMP officers in airport Taser death | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Taser International disputes CBC/Radio-Canada testing as ‘flawed’ | Red Deer man shot by Taser had pre-existing heart condition: doctor | Cops Taser Drowned Dad’s Distraught Son | Amnesty urges moratorium on Taser use after CBC/Radio-Canada probe | Some tested Tasers fire stronger current than company says: CBC/Radio-Canada probe | RCMP Investigates, Clears Self of Wrongdoing in Case of TASERed Inuvik Girl | US Cops Tase 54 Year Old Woman For Sitting In Wrong Seat At Football Game | Prison service ices TASER pilot project | B.C. man dies after Taser used during Calgary arrest | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Drug abuser executed by TASER blasts – TASER toll stands at 25 | Mountie arrested in fatal crash present at airport Taser death | Inquiry into Vancouver airport Taser death put off 2nd time | Tasers being used for pain compliance during interrogation, suit alleges | Family sues police claiming Taser raid on autistic son in own bedroom | Naked Langley, B.C., robbery suspect dies after Taser jolt | Tasering of mom with baby ‘necessary’ in order to take child, police say | Brampton man is 23rd Canadian TASER death; police duly investigate themselves | RCMP didn’t study Taser use enough: Report | Probe into tasering of teenaged girl reopened | Police Taser and abuse suspect, lie on stand, man still convicted | RCMP should end use of Tasers: Zaccardelli | Police delay report on Taser until 2009 | Mounties pinned me down in cell and tasered me, Manitoba girl says | 21st Canadian TASER death occurs in Winnipeg alleyway | RCMP e-mails throw Dziekanski Taser probe into question, critics say | Taser use could put police under fire | Inquiry says ‘insidious’ TASERs being used as tool of convenience, should be reclassified, restricted under criminal code | Man dies in custody after Taser incident involving Ontario police | Ban Tasers if RCMP doesn’t curb use by year’s end: Commons committee | One-third of people shot by Taser need medical attention: probe | RCMP firing Tasers multiple times at subjects, probe reveals | U.S. jury shocks Taser, investors, with rare loss in court | Youth Worker Subjected to Warrantless Raid on Secret Evidence | Tasering violated suspect’s rights, judge rules | RCMP willing to change Taser policy, inquiry told | Tasers pose risk to heart, MDs testify | ‘Peel and Stick’ Tasers Electrify Riot Control | Canadian police have been brainwashed, Taser inquiry told | Mounties censor Taser report | Taser group’s chair to defend stun guns at public inquiry | RCMP release heavily censored incident report about Dziekanski | Inquiry examining Taser use, Dziekanski’s death begins Monday | Chicago study calls Taser’s safety claims into question | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man | Officer injured in Taser demonstration

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