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Taser safety claim questioned
Medical examiners connect stun gun to 5 deaths
Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
an Arizona Republic investigation has revealed that Taser's claims are based on autopsy reports the company never possessed.
For years, Taser officials cited these reports as proof that the stun guns never caused "injury or death to another human being." Now, officials acknowledge they never had those autopsy reports and didn't start collecting them until April.
The Republic's review of autopsies and interviews with medical examiners found Tasers have been linked to at least five deaths.
Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
These deaths raise questions about a weapon police routinely use on drunks, shoplifters, mentally ill people and others who refuse to obey commands.
The Republic's review of autopsies and interviews with medical examiners found Tasers have been linked to at least five deaths.
Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
These deaths raise questions about a weapon police routinely use on drunks, shoplifters, mentally ill people and others who refuse to obey commands.
Often, company officials point to a person's pre-existing conditions and insist the person would have died with or without being shocked by a Taser.
But relatives of those who have died in Taser-related incidents say the company rushes its defense, predicting the outcome of cases before investigations are finished.
Kelly Deitrich, whose brother, Raymond Siegler, died in February after being shot by police with a Taser in a Minneapolis group home for mentally ill people, said Taser's explanations are misleading.
"That is the polite way to say it," she says. "The other way to say it is they are full of you-know-what."
Taser safety claim questioned
Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic
Medical examiners connect stun gun to 5 deaths
Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
Thousands of police departments, including every major law enforcement agency in the Valley, buy Tasers on a claim that the electric stun guns will instantly take down suspects without inflicting harm.
That assertion of safety has generated record sales for Scottsdale's Taser International Inc., which markets its guns as alternatives to deadly force and says its goal is to arm every police officer in America.
But an Arizona Republic investigation has revealed that Taser's claims are based on autopsy reports the company never possessed.
For years, Taser officials cited these reports as proof that the stun guns never caused "injury or death to another human being." Now, officials acknowledge they never had those autopsy reports and didn't start collecting them until April.
• Claims safety based on pig, dog tests
.
The Republic's review of autopsies and interviews with medical examiners found Tasers have been linked to at least five deaths.
Medical examiners in three cases involving suspects who died in police custody cited Tasers as a cause or a contributing factor in the deaths. In two other cases, Tasers could not be ruled out as a cause of death.
These deaths raise questions about a weapon police routinely use on drunks, shoplifters, mentally ill people and others who refuse to obey commands.
When presented with cases linking Tasers to deaths, Smith says the medical examiners got it wrong and dismisses their reports.
Smith says his company's report presents the "big picture" of Taser-related deaths. He says it proves that Tasers are not to blame and that actual autopsies are not needed to summarize each case.
"I know in my heart what the truth is," Smith says. "Taser hasn't killed any of these people."
Often, company officials point to a person's pre-existing conditions and insist the person would have died with or without being shocked by a Taser.
But relatives of those who have died in Taser-related incidents say the company rushes its defense, predicting the outcome of cases before investigations are finished.
Kelly Deitrich, whose brother, Raymond Siegler, died in February after being shot by police with a Taser in a Minneapolis group home for mentally ill people, said Taser's explanations are misleading.
"That is the polite way to say it," she says. "The other way to say it is they are full of you-know-what."
Among those raising questions about Taser is the human rights group Amnesty International.
Amnesty says there is a pattern of deaths in the United States and Canada involving Tasers. It is asking law enforcement agencies to suspend purchases until more independent studies are performed.
"If a number of Taser-related deaths were attributed to 20 different things, that would be something else," he says. "But we see the same three causes."
Tasers linked to deaths
Medical examiners in different parts of the country have linked Tasers to at least five deaths.
The Republic, using computer searches, media accounts, police reports and Taser's own records, identified 44 cases in the United States and Canada of death following a police Taser strike from September 1999 to March 2004.
Siegler, who lives in Mesa, complains that the company fails to tell the whole story.
For example, in its report on Raymond Siegler's death, Taser writes in bold type that he died "about a week after he was hit by a Taser."
Siegler says his son actually "lay in a coma for a week until we turned off the life-support system."
Siegler says tests a day after the 40-year-old was shocked showed low brain-stem activity.
"He went into cardiac arrest after being shocked," he says.
and this is from the ARIZONA REPUBLIC.