statism watch

The TASER bodycount continues to climb. At least we were spared the spectacle of police accusing this disabled individual of being on cocaine, the usual excuse for death by electrocution.

Related: Toronto police disclose Tasers often used on mentally ill | PQ wants probe after Taser used on mentally challenged man

Jeff Gray, The Globe and Mail
June 25, 2010

An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday morning on the body of a 27-year-old man who died after Ontario Provincial Police used a Taser to subdue him at a Collingwood, Ont., group home.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit is probing the death, which occurred after OPP were called to intervene after a man assaulted a elderly woman at the home.

At least four OPP officers confronted the man, whom the SIU identified as Aron Firman, around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The OPP say he became “combative” and assaulted an officer before police used a Taser to subdue him.

The SIU, which probes incidents involving police that result in death or serious injury, is looking into the death, said the man then became “unresponsive.” The OPP says its officers performed first aid. The man was then taken to hospital and pronounced dead. The assaulted officer was also taken to hospital with minor injuries, OPP said.

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Related: Officers suspended after using Taser on 10-year-old | RCMP had no grounds to use Taser on N.W.T. girl: report | U.S. police taser 10-year-old | US Cop Tasers and Arrests a 10-Year Old Girl For Throwing a Fit | RCMP defend Taser use on girl, 16 | US Lawsuit: Cops tasered 3 kids in shelter, threatened one with sodomy | Officer denies uttering sexual threat before lethal TASERing | Latest TASER victim looked ’scared’ as officer approached with knife | UK Police watchdog to investigate Taser arrest, beating posted on YouTube | New video shows officer shove, then taser 72-year-old great grandmother | Dziekanski’s ‘combative behaviour’ justified Taser jolt: Mountie | Cops Taser Drowned Dad’s Distraught Son | 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 | Family sues police claiming Taser raid on autistic son in own bedroom | Tasering of mom with baby ‘necessary’ in order to take child, police say | Probe into tasering of teenaged girl reopened | Mounties pinned me down in cell and tasered me, Manitoba girl says | RCMP Taser Confused, Hospitalized 82 Year Old

Tim Hull, Courthouse News Service
June 24, 2010

Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn’t breathe, after her grandson called 911 seeking medical assistance, the woman and her grandson claim in Oklahoma City Federal Court. Though the grandson said, “Don’t Taze my granny!” an El Reno police officer told another cop to “Taser her!” and wrote in his police report that he did so because the old woman “took a more aggressive posture in her bed,” according to the complaint.

Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, “connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose.” She is “in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily,” and “was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds,” so, Tinsley says, he called 911 “to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her.”

In response, “as many as ten El Reno police” officers “pushed their way through the door,” according to the complaint.

The grandma, Lona Varner, “told them to get out of her apartment.”

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Absolute exoneration for this poor man. All the rationalization and prevarication by fans of the murderous, TASER-happy officers hits a brick wall here. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Braidwood report has apparently knuckled under to the manufacturer of the weapon used in his assassination, ruling that a heart attack – nothing to do with the TASER you see – was the most likely cause of death. Sheer coincidence it happened right when he was being electrocuted, right? For more, see the RCMP emails and documentation as released under Freedom of Information act requests here.

Related: RCMP wrong to use Taser on Dziekanski: final Braidwood report | Taser International allowed to challenge Braidwood report | RCMP gives cash settlement to Taser victim’s mother | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

Neal Hall, Philip Ling, Canwest News Service
June 18, 2010

VANCOUVER – Within hours of the release of a report damning the Tasering of a Polish immigrant by RCMP officers in 2007 as “shameful” and unjustified, the B.C. government announced Friday the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the circumstances of Robert Dziekanski’s death – opening up the prospect of criminal charges against the officers involved.

B.C. Attorney-Solicitor General Michael de Jong made the announcement Friday following the release of the final report by the Braidwood Inquiry, which reviewed the October 2007 Tasering and death of Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport.

In 2008, B.C.’s criminal justice branch announced that it would not approve any charges in relation to Dziekanski’s death because there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction.

However on Friday, following the release of the Braidwood report, de Jong said that “the circumstances here not just warrant, but require, a fresh look and a reconsideration of the decision made some time ago.”

Top Vancouver criminal lawyer Richard Peck has been brought in by the province to review a decision to not charge the four Mounties involved in Dziekanski’s death.

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Oh my goodness… the judge is saying the police lied. The way some of the apologists for this kind of police behavior talk, you’d almost think Judge Braidwood should be forced to resign for impugning the holy name of the RCMP.

Related: Taser International allowed to challenge Braidwood report | RCMP gives cash settlement to Taser victim’s mother | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

CBC News
June 17, 2010

Officers’ accounts called ‘patently unbelievable’

The final inquiry report on the death of Robert Dziekanski has concluded the RCMP were not justified in using a Taser against the Polish immigrant and that the officers later deliberately misrepresented their actions to investigators.

The long-awaited report, by retired B.C. Court of Appeal justice Thomas Braidwood, was released Friday in Vancouver.

Braidwood was commissioned by the B.C. government to investigate the actions of the four RCMP officers who confronted and subdued Dziekanski on Oct. 14, 2007, at Vancouver International Airport.

Braidwood said the four officers involved initially acted appropriately, but the senior corporal intervened in an inappropriately aggressive manner.

“I found that Mr. Dziekanski had been compliant and was not defiant or resistant, did not brandish the stapler, did not move towards any of the officers,” he said.

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The Globe and Mail is reporting that these changes ‘respond to‘ the recommendations of the Braidwood inquiry. That’s one step in the right direction – no more pain compliance allowed.

Related: Ontario report rewrites stun gun rules, somewhat | Ontario stun gun review complete: report | Chicago police expanding Taser use | RCMP to test Taser cameras | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | US: Ruling allowing Taser use to get DNA may be nation’s first | RCMP halts use of malfunctioning Tasers after B.C. decision | RCMP still uses Tasers too often, watchdog finds | RCMP softened Taser-use restrictions | Ban Tasers if RCMP doesn’t curb use by year’s end: Commons committee | U.S. jury shocks Taser, investors, with rare loss in court

CBC News
May 4, 2010

The RCMP are now limited to using their stun gun in cases where a person is causing bodily harm or an officer has “reasonable grounds” to believe a person will “imminently” harm somebody, according to new policy restrictions.

“Members’ actions must be reasonable and the force used must be necessary in the circumstances,” according to the RCMP’s revised policy released Tuesday in Ottawa.

RCMP officers must always give a verbal warning, “where tactically feasible,” that they are about to use their stun gun, the policy says.

In medically high-risk situations, officers will be required to request medical assistance, when feasible, before using their stun guns.

Multiple shocks restricted

Officers have also been ordered not to shock someone for more than five seconds and to avoid multiple deployments. But the policy says this rule can be amended if “situational factors dictate otherwise.”

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Related: Taser International challenge should be dismissed, B.C. government argues | RCMP gives cash settlement to Taser victim’s mother | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

The Canadian Press
May 3, 2010

B.C. Supreme Court accepts that findings could have commercial implications for weapons’ maker

Taser International will be able to proceed with its legal challenge of a British Columbia public inquiry report prompted by the death of Robert Dziekanski, after a judge ruled against the province’s application to have the case dismissed.

In a written decision released Monday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Sewell found that the B.C. Attorney-General had not proved that the Arizona-based company’s petition would surely fail, or that it had no right to judicial review.

“In this case, it seems to me that the report and recommendations of the Study Commission could have important commercial implications for the petitioner,” the judge wrote, noting that he was not saying that it does or does not – just that it could.

The province had wanted the court to toss out Taser’s court action against the report released last year by inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood.

Justice Sewell noted that Taser’s accusations that the report findings are not based on the evidence presented have not been tested in court, but his ruling means they will be.

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Raccoons? Fine. Shock the monkey. This willingness to whip out a TASER, the modern day equivalent of the cattleprods in Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale – well, that’s just disturbed.

Flashback: PQ wants probe after Taser used on mentally challenged man

Kelly Grant, The Globe and Mail
April 20, 2010

New data, part of an annual report on the use of stun guns, being watched by human rights group

Toronto police zapped or threatened with stun guns at least 50 people with mental-health problems last year, according to a new report that provides the most detailed information yet on how local officers use the controversial weapon.

The 50 suspects escorted to a psychiatric facilities after tasering incidents in 2009 are part of a broader category of 80 “emotional disturbed” subjects who make up about one-third of those tasered by Toronto Police.

They narrowly edged out drunks and drug users as the most frequent targets of conducted energy weapons, but most of the at least 246 citizens who wound up on the wrong end of a taser last year had some combination of substance abuse, mental illness or emotional trouble.

Hilary Homes, a security campaigner for Amnesty International Canada, called the report a rare instance of hard numbers on tasers and the mentally ill that confirms the group’s suspicions.

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It’s TASER vs BC, various doctors, the weight of Canadian public opinion, and the consensus of most studies published in the Canadian media. It’s TASER vs Canada’s alternative take on the TASER conducted energy weapon as revealed by the courageous cameraphone footage of one Paul Pritchard. So why not send a hotshot law team up to Canada to argue against truth and make fools out of themselves? Could be fun. But BC wants to nip this in the bud, and TASER will whine and retreat if they know what’s good for them.

Related: RCMP gives cash settlement to Taser victim’s mother | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

The Canadian Press
April 12, 2010

The company that manufactures Tasers has no more right to dictate regulations for their use than cigarette makers do over second-hand smoke regulations, says the B.C. government.

But Craig Jones, a lawyer for the province, told a B.C. Supreme Court justice Monday that if the company is successful with its application to quash the findings of a public inquiry, it would be akin to giving Taser International that power.

The province is asking the court to toss Taser’s court action against a report prompted by the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport.

The report released last year after the first phase of the inquiry by former judge Thomas Braidwood found that shock weapons pose a risk of serious injury or death.

It set out recommendations for their use and cautioned against multiple stuns. Both the B.C. Solicitor General and the RCMP endorsed the recommendations.

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Flashback: Ontario report rewrites stun gun rules, somewhat | Ontario stun gun review complete: report | Ontario stun gun review complete: report | Chicago police expanding Taser use | RCMP to test Taser cameras | RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | US: Ruling allowing Taser use to get DNA may be nation’s first | RCMP halts use of malfunctioning Tasers after B.C. decision | RCMP still uses Tasers too often, watchdog finds | RCMP softened Taser-use restrictions | Ban Tasers if RCMP doesn’t curb use by year’s end: Commons committee | U.S. jury shocks Taser, investors, with rare loss in court

CBC News
April 02, 2010

The City of Montreal will hold public hearings on April 27 about the use of stun guns by police officers, the city’s public consultation office announced Thursday.

The hearings are part of a mandate to study the use of Tasers given by city council to the city’s public security committee last year.

The committee is chaired by Claude Trudel, the executive committee member responsible for public security.

The news comes as the RCMP has apologized to the mother of Polish visitor Robert Dziekanski for its role in his death in Vancouver.

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And the killers walk free.

Flashback: RCMP plans dramatic changes to Taser policy | Scathing report concludes RCMP used TASERs prematurely in Vancouver airport death | Taser inquiry wraps up in Vancouver with legal squabbles | Canadian police adopt new TASER directive | RCMP actions ‘gratuitous, ‘violent,’ BC needs own police lawyer tells inquiry | Braidwood inquiry reopens, RCMP bickers over preplanned TASER use | TASER files court motion to quash Braidwood probe’s findings | Mounties have no choice but to comply with TASER ruling | Justice says changes needed in Taser use | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | Judge: B.C. taser probe can rule on Mountie misconduct issue | Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report | Witness blames RCMP, Vancouver airport for death of Tasered man

Petti Fong, Toronto Star
April 2, 2010

RICHMOND–The mother of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski says her battle with authorities is over after she received a financial settlement and an apology from the RCMP for its role in the death of her son.

“I have to close this chapter,” said Zofia Cisowski. “I think I will sleep better for today.”

Dziekanski died after he was Tasered during an encounter with four RCMP officers at the Vancouver International Airport in October 2007. Cisowski sued the police force a year later.

At that time, Cisowski’s lawyer said punitive damages would be in the millions. But the financial settlement from the RCMP for Cisowski announced Thursday is confidential.

Cisowski’s lawyer Walter Kosteckyj said his client wanted the settlement to be withheld from the public because of privacy reasons.

“It would help provide for the privacy of Mrs. Cisowski,” said Kosteckyj. “People would either think it’s right or wrong. It’s for privacy reasons and for her to move forward.”

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