Province won't act on Taser recommendations

February 2, 2009
Joe Fantauzzi, YORKREGION.COM

The province appears to have no plans to hand Tasers to more police officers despite a recommendation to do so by a jury in York Region.

More time and study is needed to delve into the safety of Tasers, a type of conducted energy device, both the governing Liberals and a local member of the opposition Progressive Conservatives said following recommendations Thursday by an inquest jury examining the 2005 death of Jeffrey George Black, 21, who was fatally shot by York Regional Police in Markham.

“With respect to expanding the use of conducted energy devices, at this time, we have no plans to either call a moratorium on Tasers or to extend their use,” said Laura Blondeau, spokesperson for Rick Bartolucci, the minister of community safety and correctional services. “Currently, we are reviewing the use of Tasers in general and that review is expected imminently.”

While recognizing the need for police officers to be adequately armed while performing their duties, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees said there have been many instances that conducted energy device technology has been called into question.

“I believe there is a place for the Taser equipment,” he said. “I have serious concerns about the safety of that equipment. Tasers can kill if they are used under the wrong circumstances and used irresponsibly. I think everyone will agree with me: let us make the thing safe first and then issue the tool.”

The issuing of more Tasers to more officers should not be done until the provincial review is complete, Mr. Klees added.

The three-woman, two-man jury hearing the inquest into Mr. Black’s death recommended Thursday that the province amend laws, that currently restrict the use of conducted energy devices, such as Tasers, so only specialized police units such as tactical officers and supervising road sergeants can use them.

The jury also recommended the province fund police training and refresher courses for the devices and that all York police are permitted to carry Tasers.

The recommendations concluded the inquest, which took place at Aurora Town Hall and began Monday.

The jury followed the recommendations from Mr. Black’s father, Kenneth English.

Mr. English did not attend the hearing Thursday but in an interview with the York Region Media Group said he was happy the jury made recommendations to the province based on his suggestions.

“I am very thankful for that,” he said.

The Ontario government ordered the review of some Tasers to ensure their proper functioning in December, following an investigative report about a specific model of the device. There were concerns it discharged an electrical voltage higher than specified by Taser International, the manufacturer.

However, there has never been a death associated with Taser use by York police, the Black inquest heard.

Several inquest juries in Ontario, before the Black inquest, have made recommendations that front line officers be permitted to carry conducted energy devices.

York police, which permits only its tactical officers to carry the device, has 30 Tasers, Chief Armand La Barge said. Twenty-one Tasers were recently taken out of circulation for inspection but all were found to be in proper working order, he added.

York police want the province to permit front-line officers to carry Tasers, he said.

“We have used the Taser sparingly here,” Chief La Barge said.

“We give a front-line officer a gun and yet we do not seem to trust a front-line officers with a less-than-lethal force (option),” the chief said.

And, the resources, such as training time, needed to equip York supervisors with Tasers would be better directed to front-line officers who are often the first at scenes, Chief La Barge said.

The Black inquest heard Tasers cost $700 a piece and the cartridges used with the devices are $36.

On Oct. 17, 2005 at about 11:45 p.m., two York officers responded to an alarm call on Denison Street in south Markham. The officers spotted a dark van without its lights on as it drove out of the parking lot and accelerated onto Esna Park Drive, according to a case summary released in December 2005 by the province’s Special Investigations Unit.

The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates cases of serious injuries and deaths involving police.

When the van reached Esna Park and Alden, it slammed into another van entering the intersection, the SIU said.

Three men got out of the van and ran from the collision scene. One man was arrested and an officer chased Mr. Black, who ran behind an industrial complex, the SIU said.

The officer found Mr. Black in a parking lot, told him he was under arrest and ordered him to show his hands, according to the SIU.

The officer had his gun drawn, but put it away when he discovered Mr. Black was cornered between storage trailers. When the officer moved in, Mr. Black struck and punched the officer in the chest, according to the SIU.

After he was hit several times, the officer realized Mr. Black was armed with a knife and had been stabbing the officer’s bulletproof vest, the SIU said.

As the officer attempted to grasp Mr. Black’s hand, he stabbed the officer on the top of his head, according to the SIU.

Mr. Black then pulled away and “dared the officer to shoot him”, the SIU said. The officer pulled his gun and pepper-sprayed Mr. Black.

While the officer was dealing with Mr. Black, the York police helicopter flew over the scene and a call was put out for more police to respond.

A second officer arrived to find Mr. Black moving toward the injured officer. The officer had his firearm drawn and pointed at Mr. Black. When the injured officer called out that Mr. Black was carrying a knife, Mr. Black lunged toward the second officer, Const. Ryan Lidstone, and brought the knife down in a stabbing motion, according to reports from the scene.

Const. Jason Griffiths fired twice, striking Mr. Black in the abdomen.

Mr. Black died at Scarborough Hospital Grace Campus.

The inquest heard there was no front-line supervisor at the scene when Mr. Black was shot.

A provincial review of police action in connection with Mr. Black’s death found the shooting justified.

Both Const. Griffiths and Const. Lidstone were later recognized for their bravery.

RECENT INQUEST RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TASERS:

• 2008: A jury in Brampton recommended the province consider authorizing all front-line police officers to carry a Taser or have access to a Taser, following an inquest into the 2004 death of Jerry Knight, 29, who died while in the custody of Peel Regional Police.

• 2006: A jury in Toronto recommended the province take the necessary steps to ensure all front-line or primary response police officers are authorized to carry a Taser, following an inquest into the 2000 death of Otto Vass, who died from injuries sustained while in the custody of Toronto police.

• 2005: A jury in London recommended the province take whatever steps are necessary to ensure all front-line officers are authorized to carry a Taser, following an inquest into the 2004 death of Peter Lamonday, 33, who died at a London hospital shortly after being arrested by London police.

— source: the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

Brampton man in struggle with police is hit by taser and dies

September 17 2008
By PAM DOUGLAS, The Brampton Guardian

BRAMPTON - A Brampton man died in hospital Wednesday morning, 12 hours after being hit by a Taser in a struggle with police in a Mississauga police station.

An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday to determine how Sean Reilly, 42, died.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating the incident. Reilly was arrested on a charge of assault with a weapon at a Mississauga home Tuesday and taken to 12 Division on Dixie Road at Dundas Street. At 5 p.m. he became involved in a struggle with Peel police officers who were attempting to put him into a jail cell.

He was stunned with a Taser and went into “medical distress”, according to SIU spokesperson John Yoannou. Reilly was taken to hospital and admitted. He died at 4:45 a.m. the next day. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

The SIU has designated four subject officers and one witness officer.

In Peel, only supervisors are armed with Tasers. In 2006, Peel officers used Tasers 56 times, with no deaths reported.

Earlier this year, an inquest jury looking into the death of amateur boxer and Brampton resident Jerry Knight — who was hit by a Taser during a violent struggle in the lobby of a Mississauga motel in 2004 — recommended that Tasers be issued to all police officers. The coroner in that case concluded Knight’s death was not caused by the use of a Taser.

More recently, a Taser was used to subdue a double murder suspect who was attempting to kill himself in the parking lot of a McLaughlin Road strip plaza this past April. In that case, the SIU ruled that the use of the Taser saved Dwayne Palmer’s life. He is now facing two second-degree murder charges in the brutal stabbing deaths of Rahimullah Shahghasy, 53, and his wife Nazifa, 52.

However, the frequency of use of Tasers by RCMP officers and their affect has been discussed recently and is now the subject of two public inquiries in British Columbia, both probing the death of a Polish man at a Vancouver airport.

Front-line police should have taser: Ontario coroner's jury

June 13, 2008
Jordana Huber , Canwest News Service

Brampton, Ont. - Jurors at an Ontario coroner's inquest into the death of a 29-year-old man in police custody recommended Friday the provincial government consider authorizing all front-line officers either to carry or have access to a Taser.

Jerry Knight, a former amateur boxer, died in the summer of 2004 less than 30 minutes after police were called to a Mississauga motel lobby by a clerk reporting an unruly guest.

High on cocaine and acting erratically, officers used pepper spray and eventually a Taser to try and subdue Knight who died after loosing consciousness while lying on his stomach, hog-tied in handcuffs.

The five-person jury ruled Knight's death a homicide - a finding of fact rather than guilt, as coroner's inquests do not assign blame.

Knight died of restraint asphyxia with cocaine related "excited delirium," according to a coroner's report.

A highly controversial term, excited delirium is not recognized by the American Medical Association but has been listed by coroners as a cause of death in people restrained by police during an altercation - whether or not a Taser is used.

Associated with individuals who have taken drugs, alcohol or have a mental illness, it can trigger agitation, super-human strength and can lead to sudden death according to experts who testified during the two-week inquest.

Ron Ellis, a lawyer for Knight's family, said using a Taser to immediately subdue the 29-year-old may have prevented the ensuing melee that involved more than 20 officers.

Tasers are only carried in Ontario by police sergeants and emergency task force officers under current provincial legislation.

A spokeswoman for the province's minister of community safety and correctional services said there are no plans to amend the current rules to allow front-line officers to carry Tasers.

The jury recommended police reinforce through training the risk of death associated with hog-tying restraints which experts testified makes it difficult for a subject's diaphragm to move when they are lying on the ground.

They also recommended officers be trained to recognize the risk of death associated excited delirium and a dispatch code be created to alert officers and paramedics they are dealing with a suspected case.

Coroners' inquests in B.C. and Ontario have previously recommended Tasers for all officers as a non-lethal option to rapidly defuse volatile situations.

But critics charge research is still out on whether they are safe.

The debate was brought to the fore last fall when Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver International Airport following an encounter with RCMP who used a Taser on him.

Several probes into the use of Tasers were launched following the incident, captured on video, including a coroner's inquest currently underway.

Paul Kennedy, chair of The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is also expected to make public his final report on Tasers next week after delaying its release Thursday.

In an interim report released in December, Kennedy called on Mounties to immediately restrict - but not suspend - the use of Tasers citing concerns they were increasingly being deployed in situations where individuals were not being actively resistant or combative.

Witnesses called at the Coroner's Inquest of Jerry Knight

June 13, 2008

Michael Pollanen, MD, Pathologist
Laura Gorczynski, CFS, Toxicologist
Chris Lawrence, Ontario Police College, Team Leader
Melissa Lee, Paramedic, Peel EMS
Chung Cho, Civilian
Christopher Pancras, Civilian
Joey Rego, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Jamie Zohr, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Peter Cleary, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Amy Viaene, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Lisa Rumley, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Paul Noonan, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service
Graham Kolle, Constable, Peel Regional Police Service

Recommendations from the Jerry Knight Coroner's Inquest

We the Jury in the Jerry Knight inquest wish to recommend the following:

To the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services-Policing Services Division (MCSCS):

1. To provide hand restraint devices to all Tactical, Supervising and frontline Officers which allow the subject to be restrained with the hands of the subject to the side of the hips.

To the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care – Emergency Health Services Branch (MHLTC-EHSB) and to the MCSCS:

2. To reinforce and identify through regular and refresher training, the risk of death associated with Excited Delirium.

To the MCSCS and the Ontario Police College (OPC):

3. To create a dispatch code, or call, to announce that officers are dealing with a subject whom they suspect is suffering from Excited Delirium and that EMS dispatch be notified.

4. To reinforce, through regular and refresher training, the risk of death associated with the use of prone restraint and the Hog-tying restraint.

5. To encourage increased research and training in Excited Delirium and restraint; including, the advisability of using the Taser in drive stun mode and pepper spray.

6. To encourage all police services currently using Tasers to update their Taser technology.

7. To reinforce, through regular and refresher training, the risk of death associated with the use of neck restraint techniques.

8. To encourage the development of better forms of leg restraints and have all Police vehicles equipped with such devices. ie: flexicuffs

9. To encourage the development of a coordinated approach to rapidly restrain non-compliant subjects. ie: starfish technique.

10. If possible, when multiple Officers are dispatched, the more experienced Officers should take the lead role in dealing with the situation. The senior Officer in charge, or designate, should be responsible for communicating with Officers newly arriving to the scene as to the status of the situation and remain on scene for the full duration.

11. Development of alternate standardized procedures to replace hog-tying and once these procedures are in place, hog-tying be banned altogether.

12. Development of procedures and policies for Police Officers to communicate to the subject during a violent struggle, to include instructions of a potentially hazardous or fatal outcome if resistance continues.

To All Local Governments:

13. To encourage development of a protocol whereby Advanced Paramedics and/or Tactical Paramedics would attend during cases involving excited and non-compliant subjects.

To the MCSCS:

14. To consider authorizing all front line Police Officers to carry a Taser or have access to a Taser.

To the National Research Council and the Ontario Government:

15. Encourage funding for continued research into sudden death that may occur in police custody.

Taser not to blame in suspect's death: MD

June 4, 2008
Michele Henry, Toronto Star

A Taser probably did not kill a boxer who "went crazy" in the foyer of a Brampton motel, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist said yesterday during the GTA's first inquest into a death linked to the device.

Within minutes of taking the stand, Dr. Michael Pollanen said there isn't much weight to the theory that Jerry Knight's heart stopped beating because an officer pressed a Taser to his back.

"I don't believe there's good evidence to support Tasers as a primary cause of death here," he said. "We need more research."

Pollanen, the only expert witness to testify on the inquest's first day, told a five-member jury Knight most likely died on July 17, 2004, from a lethal combination of being hogtied, face-down, on the ground while suffering from excited delirium.

Knight, 19, was found to have no vital signs only 26 minutes after he burst into the tiny foyer of the White Knight Motel, on Dixie Rd., acting erratically, pulling the fire alarm, smashing items and sending the clerk cowering into a corner.

Despite widespread controversy over use of the term, Pollanen believes excited delirium is an accurate description of Knight's frenzied mental state when he used his fists and teeth to resist arrest by up to 20 officers. People with ED exhibit extreme agitation, superhuman strength, paranoia and resistance to pain, he said. In Knight's case, neither pepper spray nor a Taser blast could subdue him.

Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that when people suffering from ED die in the care of police, Pollanen said, it is usually while they are restrained in a prone position with pressure on their chest that restricts breathing.

Evidence that suggests Knight's sudden death could have occurred without the Taser included pinpoint hemorrhaging in the whites of his eyes, caused when pressure is applied to the chest or neck; bruises; a fractured tooth; cocaine, known to cause ED, in his blood; and marks on his wrists and ankles.

Pollanen suggested that changing a restrained suspect's position, from prone to tipped on their side, might reduce the risk of death.

Crown attorney Michael Blain said police are expected to testify at the inquest about how officers are trained to use Tasers.

The inquest continues today.

Tasers: More questions than answers

June 1, 2008
Michele Henry, Toronto Star

Jerry Knight may not have left police any choice but to Taser him that tepid July morning on the floor of a Brampton motel. But within minutes of arching his back to absorb the white-hot sting of 50,000 volts, he was dying.

His heart stopped beating just 26 minutes after he burst into the tiny foyer of the White Knight Motel. He'd been punching walls, trying to vault the front desk. The clerk was cowering in a corner.

Knight, 29, a trained boxer on the verge of a comeback, attacked around 20 officers with fists and teeth, sending two to hospital, before he was finally brought under control with the help of one – possibly more – blast from a Taser.

Still anguished four years later, his mother Zoe Knight and 12-year-old daughter Tyeonna Wade, need closure, the family's lawyer Ron Ellis says. "They want to know why he died," he says. "They don't know if it's the Taser or not; they just want to know what happened."

Zoe and Wade will start getting answers to that question Tuesday when a coroner's inquest examines the circumstances surrounding his death on July 17, 2004.

More importantly, this inquest, the first of its kind in the GTA, will explore the issue of Tasers at a time when Toronto police are pushing to have them included among the waist-borne armaments of close to 5,510 officers.

Tasers have already burned a scar on the nation's psyche after an amateur video caught police firing the weapon's metal darts into Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski's chest last October. He died minutes later in the Vancouver airport.

A British Columbia public inquiry is in the midst of examining many of the issues a Brampton jury will consider, including whether the benefits of allowing police to carry Tasers outweigh the risks to a public who might face them.

Bearing down on the Ontario inquest jury will also be the weight of the police. They aim to change a provincial statute that only allows Emergency Task Force officers and a handful of frontline sergeants to carry an electro-shock weapon.

Unfortunately, there is little conclusive scientific evidence available about the physical dangers of the weapon. There are only about 120 studies across the globe and more than 20 per cent have been funded by Taser International, the world's largest manufacturer of the device.

And since ethical complications prohibit scientists from jolting humans with current, most research is conducted in controlled settings that are nothing like crime scenes. Or, on pigs, our distant, thicker-skinned, stouter, four-legged cousin.

This may be why Tasers have only been linked to seven deaths in Ontario between 2004 and 2007, not blamed for them. Critics seize on this failure to prove a direct cause and effect. They say it's what precipitates a dangerous myth that the device is non-lethal.

"It doesn't leave a hole like a bullet," one critic says. "But there's no doubt it can kill."

Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist at St. Michael's Hospital and the author of the most recent Taser study, would never say it's impossible to meet a deadly fate at the end of a Tom A Swift Electric Rifle (Taser).

But it's rare.

According to his research, an analysis of the existing literature coupled with his own observations and study, the odds of a "death by Taser" are the same as dying from, say, living next to power lines, getting breast implants, or drinking from a bisphenol-leaching plastic water bottle.

"It's unlikely," he says, acknowledging these concerns are real and should be taken seriously once they are put into perspective. "But never say never."

It would take a confluence of factors, Dorian says, for a Taser to force a victim's heart into fatal contractions that outlast the Taser's jolt. Pre-existing heart damage is a must, he says. So is a surge of adrenaline through a victim's blood, which could be caused by drugs, such as the cocaine found in Knight's blood, alcohol, agitation, or the stress of facing police and the crackling end of a live Taser.

To turn deadly, officers must shoot at close enough range for the weapon's two metal darts, barbed like fishhooks, to land next to, or right on, each of the victim's nipples, where the electricity from the Taser is most likely to disrupt normal pulses in the heart.

"They have to penetrate the skin," Dorian says. "And the charge has to be sufficiently prolonged."And if the Taser is to blame for a death, the victim would not hang on for a few hours, Dorian says. He would be dead within minutes, like Dziekanski.

[Hmmm - not so fast ... see 15 second time limit?]

Proponents claim the weapon is "safe" because despite the high voltage, Tasers have very low amperage, which reduces the total power flowing through a victim to a miniscule amount. Without that punch from higher amps, 50,000 volts will only make surface muscles contract, they say, leaving the ones deeper inside – the heart and the diaphragm – free from disruption.

Despite the odds, critics say, even one death is too many.

But aside from getting killed, it's the peripheral dangers of giving cops a weapon, the strength and consequence of which are largely unknown, that's a greater cause of concern.

Injuries, such as burns, bruises from dropping like a stone after being hit, and taking a dart to the eye, are common. Some critics argue Tasers are counterproductive, making subjects angrier and more willing to fight back.

But it's the Taser's high potential for misuse that makes detractors most antsy.

They fear officers will use them to control crowds and punish perpetrators for bad behaviour – in effect, use a jolt in lieu of communication and reason.

The problems, they say, start in Ontario's Use of Force Model, which dictates officers can draw the electric rifle if a subject becomes assaultive. Loosely defined, that is when someone tries to or becomes combative, either by gestures or aggressive body language, and leads their target to believe they're capable of doing harm.

While it's contained on a narrow, shaded area of the model, critics argue the definition is too broad, giving officers dangerous freedom of interpretation. That's how the 454 Toronto police who have a Taser deployed them 404 times last year in 368 incidents, charges lawyer, scientist and Taser critic Peter Rosenthal.

"They use them too liberally," he says. "It's a very painful, unpleasant thing."

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair is a wholehearted supporter of the device for one simple reason.

"It's an alternative to a fist fight," he says.

"In its simplest form, that's exactly what the Taser is."

In addition to self-defence, it's an option for police trying to stop someone from harming themselves without the officers risking their own lives. It proved gold in that capacity earlier this year, when a jolt of electricity momentarily incapacitated a Brampton man, who was slicing his wrists and throat. Moments earlier, he had fatally stabbed a husband and wife in a strip mall parking lot.

Blair is pushing the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to authorize wider use of the pug-nosed weapons. And he's already got a few aces in the hole.

Several shooting inquests have recommended Tasers over the lethal alternative.

That was the result of Ontario's first Taser inquest, which examined the May 2004 death of Peter Lamonday.

He died 50 minutes after being stung three times in a London, Ont. parking lot.

Ruling a shock would have killed him within minutes, the jury recommended the ministry take "whatever steps are necessary to ensure all front-line police officers are authorized to carry a Taser."

Toronto police say they aren't taking these recommendations lightly. Like every tool in their "use of force" arsenal – people die if they're cuffed incorrectly, Blair notes – Tasers come with risks.

But the chief says officers are trained to be accountable each time they curl their hand around any kind of weapon. They must be able to explain their decision before judge or a jury.

"In the hands of properly trained officers," Blair says, "Tasers can save lives."

So why is Jerry Knight dead?

A Special Investigations Unit report lists the cause of death as restraint asphyxia with cocaine-related excited delirium – not influenced by a Taser – but the final answer will come from the jury.

Even though Ellis has been critical of the process and wrote "numerous" letters to the coroner's office asking that the matter be heard in a timely manner, it's taken four years to get Knight's inquest to court.

Ontario's chief coroner, Dr. Bonita Porter, says a backlog is to blame for the time lag. But Ellis says a date was set about two months after he sent one last letter noting memories will fade and evidence will be lost or forgotten if it doesn't go before a jury soon.

Whatever the outcome, Dorian says, research shows Tasers are a potential health hazard, no matter what the odds against them causing someone's death.

While everyone is trying to figure out if they kill, or if they're safe, he says, it would be wrong to continue using them without making any changes – or at least trying to minimize the risk.

What about not shooting at someone's chest? he offers. Or, reconfiguring the device?

"There's a lot of possibilities, but so far none have been discussed," he says. "Nothing in the world is safe. But we haven't taken this as seriously as we should."

POLICE LAY OUT THE BASICS FOR TASER USE

On a recent Friday morning, a group of officers crowded into a lecture hall at the Toronto police college, to kick off a mandatory refresher course on crisis resolution with a workshop on Tasers. Leading the charge was Staff Sgt. Tom Sharkey, Toronto police defensive tactics trainer, who laid down the basics:

Never in a meth lab – it may ignite a fire.
Never on a child, a pregnant woman or the elderly.
Not on the face or neck.
Never on the edge of stairs, a cliff or when someone's holding a weapon to themselves, because subjects can drop like a stone when darts land in their skin.
Never when a perpetrator's wielding a more powerful weapon or when a target is behind the wheel of a moving car.
Only when a subject is "assaultive."

In other words, says Sharkey, "when someone is subdued and under control – in handcuffs – we do not use the Taser. That should be common sense."

He urges every officer to "document, document, document," and to picture themselves on the witness stand in two years. They'll have only their notes to hide behind when they're forced to stammer out an explanation.

Inquest will examine death of local boxer (Jerry Knight - Canadian)

May 11 2008
Pam Douglas, Staff Writer, The Caledon Enterprise

An inquest has been called into the death of a Brampton boxer who was zapped with a Peel police Taser four years ago. Jerry Knight, 29, died July 17, 2004 during a violent struggle in a Mississauga motel lobby.

The coroner at the time ruled out the use of the Taser stun gun as a factor in Knight’s death following a post mortem. Knight died from “restraint asphyxia” with cocaine-related excited delirium, a post mortem revealed.

Because Knight was in Peel police custody at the time of his death, an inquest is mandatory and will examine all force options available to police.

The inquest begins June 3 and will last three weeks. Dr. William Lucas will preside over the inquest, which is expected to hear from 18 to 20 witnesses at the Brampton Provincial Courthouse on Ray Lawson Boulevard.

The Peel officers involved in the incident were cleared of any wrongdoing by the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) two months after Knight’s death. The coroner found no evidence that the Taser or pepperspray used to try to subdue Knight played a role in his death. In fact, witnesses said Knight continued to struggle with police after he was hit in the back with the electric pulse of the Taser.

Excitation delirium is a state in which an individual’s body produces so much adrenaline that the heart goes out of rhythm. Being restrained while in that state can cause death. The syndrome has been linked to cocaine use and the use of a prone-position restraint hold, particularly “hog-tying”, according to a study co-written in 1998 by Ontario Chief Coroner Dr. James Young.

Knight struggled violently with police for 20 minutes in the early morning hours of July 17, according to the SIU report. Pepperspray had no effect on him and he only “slowed momentarily” when hit in the back with the Taser, but then resumed his violent struggle. He bit a police officer several times and tried to pull his gun out of its holster.

He was subdued only after being hog-tied, according to the SIU investigation. “This was indeed a tragic outcome to a very difficult situation,” said SIU Director James Cornish at the time. “It is clear that the officers had grounds to arrest Mr. Knight and it is also abundantly clear that Mr. Knight violently resisted the efforts of the officers to arrest him.” One officer was bitten several times and two others were also injured.

The incident raised speculation in the media about the use of the Taser.

At 1:46 a.m. a clerk at the White Knight Motel called 9-1-1 to report an unruly guest. Knight was acting “strangely and belligerently” in the lobby, the SIU determined. A trained boxer, Knight was in “excellent physical condition”. Knight had been detained by Peel police officers under the Mental Health Act for “erratic behaviour” on three separate occasions before the July confrontation. In the lobby, he threw business cards, pulled the fire alarm and tried to vault the front counter.

Knight tried to run when a male officer and two female officers arrived. In their attempt to arrest Knight, the male officer grabbed him from behind while the two female officers attempted to grab his legs. He resisted and screamed as they tried to handcuff him.

The officers sent out an emergency call for help and in the end 17 more officers responded.

See also: Stun gun company planning to monitor autopsy

See also: Ontario coroner hit for taser link

See also: Taser manufacturer picked up Ontario coroner's tab

What's in it for the coroners?

Earlier today, I learned that, on Monday, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, currently reviewing the use of tasers in Canada, will hear from two Canadian coroners: namely, Graeme Dowling (Chief Medical Examiner for Alberta) and Andrew McCallum (Regional Supervising Coroner for Eastern Ontario).

See the Notice of Meeting

I do not know Andrew McCallum's position on tasers but I *do* know that he works for the same Ontario government Ministry that employed Dr. James (Jim) Cairns, - the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. The same Ministry that allowed tasers into Ontario, the same Ministry that found tasers had nothing to do with the deaths of Peter Lamonday, Samuel Truscott and James Foldi and which has yet to hold an inquest into the death of Jerry Knight who died FOUR years ago, the same Ministry that, according to the Globe and Mail, allowed its deputy chief coroner, Jim Cairns, to accept payment from Taser International for lecturing at their conferences. And on and on it goes. OK, I think we can guess what Andrew McCallum's stance will be.

Here's what the taser manufacturer had to say about Graeme Dowling on its website:

Medical Examiner Says TASER Devices Not a Death Sentence

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices released the following News Alert:

According to news reports from Alberta's Edmonton Sun in Canada, a local medical examiner has stated that misconceptions and misinformation about police TASER devices are causing misguided speculation in excited delirium deaths. Excited delirium is a condition that causes victims to display extremely aggressive behavior and "superhuman" strength and often requires several people to control the affected individual. Most often excited delirium victims stop breathing and do not respond to resuscitation attempts.

Dr. Graeme Dowling of Edmonton's medical examiner's office stated that there are actually "no definitive cases where TASERs have actually killed anybody." Dowling also noted that because the electricity from a TASER device flows across the skin surface, as opposed to through internal organs, there is no effect on the heart. "The frustrating thing for us is these deaths occur and the immediate speculation is TASER," says Dowling.

To date, TASER systems have not been named in any in-custody death situation in Edmonton.

-- SNIPPED --

Later today, a fellow blogger left a comment on "340 dead after taser use." I didn't want it to be missed, so here it is in its entirety:

Okay, let's lay it out:

Taser has cultivated close relationships with many leading coroners and medical examiners. They sponsor almost-'captive' organizations that sponsor nice seminars in pleasant locations. They pay for coroners to attend. They're deeply involved in the coroner and ME business. Skeptics might find this cozy Taser+Coroners relationship very suspicious.

Would you eat ice cream from an ice cream company that was this friendly with coroners and medical examiners? I certainly wouldn't.

If you ask many coroners, they'd tell you flat out that tasers are perfectly safe (because Taser told them so, and Taser wouldn't lie, would they?). Some skeptics might use the word brainwashed. Taser has had quite the head start in this.

Many of these coroners have been told that the various tasers emit only about 2 mA ("average"), but I'll bet most don't realize that the M26 emits 162 mA RMS and the X26 emits 151 mA RMS. The industry standard method to measure electrical waveforms is RMS (like your household power is 120 volts RMS).

I'll put it out again because it's important:

Taser M26 is 162 mA RMS
Taser X26 is 151 mA RMS

These RMS values, which appeared on earlier revisions of their specification sheets, have been curiously expunged from the later revisions.

Why?

Taser sues coroners that have found that the taser was a contributing factor. They're in court this week in fact.

There are other coroners that list everything (EVERYTHING!) except (!) the taser. Amazing!!! Why? Well, see above. And see below too.

The taser leaves zero internal footprints. There is no physical evidence. This 'proof issue' is a huge problem for opponents of Taser. It's as if Taser has invented a magic electric rifle that can take down victims (and possibly stop their heart) without leaving a sign.

But to claim that the taser is perfectly safe in the face of such numbers is an insane position.

If Taser was honest, they would provide a numerical risk value. The number will not be zero. I've never seen such a number. Even Boeing has to submit a thick report showing their estimated risk for the wings falling off (etc.).

Look for my post "Looking for 'proof' in all the wrong places" on my blog www.Excited-Delirium.com for further discussion on this issue.

Perhaps the standard for proof should be that someone died and there were all those little Taser serial number tags found scattered around at the scene. At least it is strong evidence that the taser is a possible contributing factor to the death.

It's naive to exclude the taser as a possible contributing factor because Taser told them so.

And when you see the ethical missteps associated with Taser, you wouldn't trust them as far as you could throw them.

Lawyer says taser overused by police

October 22, 2007
KATHY RUMLESKI, London Free Press

A London [Ontario] lawyer isn't surprised to hear a 34-year-old Londoner suffered a heart attack after being tasered by police last week. Ron Ellis said yesterday he warned the province at two cases linking deaths to police tasers that there would be more tragedies. At an inquest in 2005, Ellis represented Cathy Colborne, the wife of Peter Lamonday, who died minutes after London police shocked him with the 50,000-volt taser during a rampage along Hamilton Road in 2004. The inquest found Lamonday's death was a result of a cocaine-induced excited delirium, but Ellis said he told those involved more deaths would result from taser use.

"I said, 'This is not the end. When this happens again, you're going to have to answer to it.' I've told that to several people, the coroners, crown and others."

In the last month, three men have died in Canada after being tasered. Ellis is pushing for an inquest into the July 2004 death of another London client's husband, Jerry Knight, who was tasered multiple times at a Brampton hotel.

Ellis is critical of the provincial coroner's office in the Knight case, saying it has failed to supply him with all the information about the death. "They keep telling me there's a backlog of cases, but that was 2004."

Coroner's office personnel could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Ellis said Knight had a small amount of cocaine in his system when he was tasered. The taser can be fatal if used on someone who is on drugs, has mental-health problems or is diabetic.

"I'm not anti-taser. I think they can be a very effective device, he said. "But they're over-utilized. (Police) are told it's a (quick) device to take people down safety. If the officers knew people could die from it, they wouldn't taser them."

Former NHL player Ryan VandenBussche said yesterday he feels lucky he wasn't seriously injured or killed when he was tasered several times by police at a Turkey Point bar.

"I don't really remember the occurrence, but after watching it on the news I felt very lucky because I was apparently tasered three times. They left marks on me," said VandenBussche, who lives in Vittoria, near Port Dover.

"They are obviously not the safest thing. They might want to do a little more research. You don't want anyone dying."

A constable has filed a lawsuit against VandenBussche, alleging he was assaulted during the incident. VandenBussche said the lawsuit is still outstanding.

Meanwhile the province's Special Investigations Unit continues to probe the circumstances surrounding the tasering of the London man at a residence last Monday.

A family member said Saturday the man -- whose name has not been released -- is recovering well in hospital. An update on his condition could not be obtained yesterday.

July 2004 - Inquest to be held in the death of Jerry Knight

On July 19, 2004, two days after the death of Jerry Knight, the Chief Coroner for Ontario announced that an inquest would be held to review the events surrounding the death. At the time of the announcement, the autopsy had been completed and the results had been forwarded to the SIU. The announcement noted that the date, time and location for the inquest would be announced following the completion of the investigation by the Special Investigations Unit.

In September 2004, although they said that the actions of the police appeared to have played a role in Mr. Knight's death, the SIU cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and Jerry Knight's death was blamed on cocaine and not the taser.

Curious as to why THREE YEARS have passed since the Chief Coroner announced his intent to hold an inquest, I sent a written inquiry to his office. The reply I received came from the Regional Supervising Coroner, Central Region (Brampton) who wrote the following:

"To date, the announced inquest has not taken place due to constraints relating to manpower and resources within our office. It is our intention to proceed with this inquest as soon as we are able."

Canada - Excessive and lethal force?

November 30, 2004
Amnesty International

Police Cleared in TASER Death; Boxer Died While High on Cocaine, Stun Gun Not to Blame, SIU Rules

September 28, 2004
Tracy Huffman, Toronto Star

Peel Region police involved in a violent struggle with a semi-pro boxer that ended in his death after one officer used a Taser stun gun have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

Jerry Knight was high on cocaine when 20 officers responded to a 911 call in the early hours of July 17 at a Dixie Rd. motel. Police had reasonable grounds to arrest the 29-year-old, who forcefully resisted arrest, the province''s Special Investigations Unit concluded.

Pepper spray, batons and attempts to handcuff the belligerent Brampton man did not calm him. At one point, he bit an officer. After a 20-minute fight, one officer used the Taser on Knight, hitting him in the back. He eventually lost consciousness and died in hospital.

"The actions of the police appear to have played a role in Mr. Knight''s death, but their actions in and of themselves cannot be said to be criminal, at least based on the available evidence," SIU director James Cornish said in announcing the decision yesterday.

"The cause of Mr. Knight''s death was restraint asphyxia with cocaine-related excited delirium," Cornish said. Excitation delirium is a state in which an individual''s body produces so much adrenaline the heart goes out of rhythm and the person dies.

The forensic pathologist "ruled out the use of the Taser as being a contributing cause to Mr. Knight''s death," according to the report of the SIU, a civilian agency that investigates police incidents involving a serious injury or death.

At the time, witnesses said Knight had "gone berserk" inside the small lobby of the White Knight Motel. Knight had been arrested three times before under the Mental Health Act for erratic behaviour. On July 17, Knight - who was in excellent physical condition - tried to vault the check-in counter, threw business cards around and pulled the fire alarm.

Knight''s death provoked debate on the issue of Tasers and their use by police. Electric guns that discharge up to 50,000 volts, Tasers are designed to cause pain and temporary paralysis, but not death.

The coroner''s office has called an inquest in this case to look at all forms of "less lethal force" used by police. A date has not yet been set.

Police Taser not a factor in Knight's death, SIU says

September 28, 2004

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit has cleared police of wrongdoing in the death of Jerry Knight in July.

The 29-year-old Mr. Knight, a drugged-up and out-of-control boxer, became violent in a motel lobby and died after police used a Taser to subdue him.

"The forensic pathologist in this matter has ruled out the use of the Taser as being a contributing cause to Mr. Knight's death," SIU interim director James Cornish said in a statement released yesterday.

"The cause of Mr. Knight's death was restraint asphyxia with cocaine-related excited delirium."

When Stun Guns Go Bad: After five deaths in one year, police chiefs order an investigation into Taser use

August 23, 2004
Graham F. Scott, Macleans

EARLY LAST WEEK, high and paranoid on cocaine, Samuel Truscott barricaded himself in his Kingston, Ont., bedroom with a knife and a baseball bat, threatening to hurt himself. Police were called, and when pepper spray failed to subdue the 43-year-old man, he was zapped through an open window with a Taser -- the sophisticated stun gun that disrupts muscle control and is used by more than 5,000 police forces worldwide. After being disarmed and searched, Truscott was taken to hospital for an evaluation of his mental health. Within hours he suffered a seizure and died.

Two days later, Ontario's deputy chief coroner reported the cause of death was a drug overdose -- not the stun gun. Still, Dr. James Cairns made it clear he was not yet ready to dismiss Tasers as a factor. How could he? Truscott was the fifth Canadian to die in the past year after being shocked with a police Taser. Formal investigations and coroner inquiries are ramping up in Brampton, Ont., as well as in Vancouver.(In both instances, drugs seemed to have played some role.)And now the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has asked for a full review of the science and techniques of Taser use in Canada and around the world.

All this heightens a controversy that has been on the boil in the United States, where more than 50 deaths have been associated with the device over the past four years. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have issued calls to suspend their use. But Steve Tuttle, VP of communications at Arizona-based Taser International Inc., says such doubts are groundless, citing the more than 50,000 incident-free uses in the field as proof the devices are safe. "Our technology is explicitly designed not to cause fatalities," he says. "We've still not been listed as a direct cause of death."

That's true -- in only a few cases has a Taser been tagged as a contributing factor in a police suspect's death, and it's never been labelled the direct cause. But there is also little scientific consensus on the actual safety of the device, particularly when it's used on addicts or people with heart disease or pacemakers. Dr. Andrew Podgorski tested several early-model stun guns in 1989 at Canada's National Research Council. He found that pigs with implanted pacemakers could die from the electrical shocks. "I published this in a report," says Podgorski. "We suggested to police that maybe they shouldn't use the stun guns because nobody knows who has an implanted pacemaker."

Taser International says it has made significant improvements since then. And police forces believe in the Taser in part because standard training encourages officers to test the jolt on themselves. "It made me feel like I had no control over anything," wrote one officer of the experience, "I could not fight back." Another simply wrote, "Hurt like hell. Dropped like a stone." Edmonton police are one of 62 Canadian forces, including the RCMP, employing Tasers. Const. Shawna Goodkey, who works in the Officer Safety Unit, says the device "actually decreases injury for our subject and our officers out there because they can control somebody within five seconds."

Tasers work by shooting two small metal probes, attached to wires, into the body from up to six metres away. If both probes make contact -- even through several layers of clothes -- then the circuit is completed and the person's muscles are immobilized by 50,000 volts of electricity. That sounds like a lot -- it is -- but a Taser jolt is not the same as sticking your finger in a light socket and receiving a continuous shock. The Taser's zap is intermittent, and lasts five seconds -- just enough to force muscles into a rigid state.

The argument for Tasers is that they're a preferable alternative to guns, at least in situations where suspects are not armed. But police allow there are no silver bullets. Any time force is used, something bad can happen. The question where it comes to stun guns: when is it worth the risk?

Tasers in Canada
The Main Users
RCMP 640
MUNICIPAL FORCES
Edmonton Police Services 134
Vancouver Police Department 36
Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Services 24
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
B.C. Sheriff's Service 55
Court Services Branch, Federal Ministry of Attorney General 53
Alberta Solicitor General's Correctional Branch 18
NUMBER OF POLICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES DEPLOYING
Tasers in Canada: 62, In U.S.: over 5,400
Number of devices in use in Canada: 1,193
In U.S.: over 100,000
NUMBER OF DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH TASER USE:
Five in Canada, 50 in U.S., over four years
[SOURCE: Taser International Inc., media reports]

Police chiefs to review use of Tasers

August 11, 2004
CBC News

The Canadian Association of Police Chiefs has commissioned a review of data and research on the use of Taser guns in the wake of two fatal incidents involving the high voltage stun devices.

"The Taser has undergone extensive research and has a solid track record for safety," said Jim Cessford, chairman of the association and chief of the Delta, B.C., police department.

"We have noted many instances in which the Taser has prevented injuries and saved the lives of private citizens and police officers. However, we understand the interest in this enforcement tool now that it is more widely utilized,'' he said.

The review will be conducted by the Canadian Police Research Centre – a coalition of the police chiefs association, the RCMP and the National Research Council.

The police chiefs association said it has commissioned "a unique and comprehensive review of scientific research, field reports, and data on the use of Tasers in police work in Canada and around the world.''

Tasers emit a jolt of 50,000 volts that interrupts the body's electrical impulses, causing involuntary muscle seizures. Last year, Tasers were blamed in about 50 deaths in the United States. In Canada, at least five people have died after being shot by Tasers.

The Arizona-based manufacturer of the weapons, Taser International, says the weapons are safe. It says none of the deaths have been directly attributed to a shot from a Taser.

Last week, B.C.'s Police Complaints Commissioner ordered an investigation into the use of Taser guns a month after a man died when he was shot with one in a hotel room in Vancouver.

In Ontario in July, a man died when police used a stun gun to immobilize him at a hotel in Mississauga. The hotel receptionist had called police to report a man breaking things in his room.

On Monday, Ontario's coroner said a Kingston, Ont., man who died Sunday just hours after being shot with a Taser by police was killed by a drug overdose.

Amnesty International has called for a ban on Tasers until further safety tests are done.

Autopsy finds police Taser gun played no role in man's death

August 10, 2004
JAMES RUSK, Globe & Mail

Kingston suspect subdued by officers died from a drug overdose, coroner rules

Ontario's police watchdog called off an investigation yesterday into the weekend death of a Kingston man after an autopsy concluded that police use of a Taser gun played no role in his death.

The Special Investigations Unit, which automatically reviews deaths in which police are involved, had been called in on Sunday after Samuel Truscott, 43, died in Kingston General Hospital.

His death occurred about two hours after Kingston Police Service officers subdued him using pepper spray and a Taser gun.

After the autopsy in Toronto yesterday morning, Ontario deputy chief coroner James Cairns said the cause of death was a drug overdose.

"After a review of the medical record and the autopsy findings, I can state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death.

"The death was due solely to the drug overdose," Dr. Cairns said.

He also said that the police needed to use the Taser to subdue Mr. Truscott, who was armed with a knife and baseball bat.

"The Taser worked appropriately. Mr. Truscott walked unaided to a police cruiser and was immediately taken to hospital, where he died approximately two hours later despite medical care."

SIU director James Cornish said in a statement that the investigation had been terminated because "there is no basis to believe that any criminal act on the part of any officer caused or contributed to the man's death."

Even though the coroner concluded that the use of a Taser did not play a role in Mr. Truscott's death, its use remains controversial.

At least 50 people in North America have died after being shocked by Tasers, which administer five-second shocks of up to 50,000 volts of electricity.

The British Columbia Police Complaints Commissioner ordered an investigation into the case of Robert Bagnell, a Vancouver man, who died in June after being stunned by a Taser.

The SIU is investigating the death in July of Jerry Knight, a Brampton man, after Peel Regional Police used a Taser to subdue him.

Once the SIU investigation in the Knight case is finished, Ontario will conduct a coroner's inquest.

Dr. Cairns said that the inquiry will look at whether the use of a Taser played a role in Mr. Knight's death and, more generally, the issue of Taser safety.

"I don't want any confusion that I'm stating that Tasers haven't got an issue," he said.

"I'm purely looking at the facts of this one [the Kingston case], and the facts are easily obtained and quickly obtained and are irrefutable in this case. . . . I did not want this one running away when you have absolute, clear evidence that it had no role."

The option of Tasers

August 10, 2004
Globe & Mail

The Taser has been described as a non-lethal alternative to guns for police officers facing an aggressive suspect. This was evidently the case in the death in Kingston Sunday of Samuel Truscott, who was shot with a Taser when pepper spray failed to subdue him and who then walked unaided to the police cruiser to be taken to hospital, where he died. Ontario deputy chief coroner James Cairns announced after yesterday's autopsy that the Taser had played no role in Mr. Truscott's death; he died of a drug overdose.

However, Dr. Cairns said he wasdrawing no conclusion about the use of Tasers in general. Enough people have died after the use of the stun gun -- more than 50 to date in the United States and Canada -- that the "non-lethal" tag is ripe for re-evaluation. After the death in June of Robert Bagnell, a B.C. man who had been subdued with a Taser, provincial Police Complaints Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld asked Victoria Police ChiefPaul Battershill to investigate the use of Tasers.

The Taser shoots barbs at people as far as six metres away. The barbs are on wires connected to a battery. The more powerful Tasers administer 50,000 volts for five seconds, causing temporary loss of muscle control. The question is to what extent the use of Tasers may be lethal if a person is in a weakened condition or is a heavy drug user. Mr. Bagnell, for instance, was shot with a Taser after a complaint that he had been screaming and destroying bathroom fixtures; he stopped breathing while being handcuffed and arrested. The toxicology exam found a potentially lethal amount of cocaine and other drugs in his body.

The best argument for Tasers is to consider the alternative. Pepper spray often proves inadequate. Bullets are predictably fatal and may hit bystanders. After the death west of Toronto last month of boxer Jerry Knight, who had been subdued with a Taser, Craig Platt of Peel Regional Police said, "If we take the Taser away, it's one less option that we have."

One option may be not to take the Taser away but to impose strict regulations on its use. If, for instance, officers are found to be using it less discriminately than they should because of its non-lethal reputation, authorities might choose to limit the Taser's use to situations in which there would otherwise be absolutely no alternative but a firearm. The conclusion of the B.C. investigation may help in this regard.

Death won't spark re-evaluation of Taser, Peel police say

July 20, 2004
JEFF GRAY, Globe and Mail

Peel Regional Police say they have no plans to re-evaluate the use of Taser stun guns, even as questions about their safety surfaced after the death of a 29-year-old Brampton man in a confrontation with police officers on the weekend.

"We stand by their effectiveness," police spokesman Acting Sergeant Craig Platt said yesterday of the weapons, which are meant to deliver non-lethal electric shocks to subdue suspects.

Witnesses said that Jerry Knight, a 29-year-old former boxer, went berserk in the lobby of a Mississauga motel at about 2 a.m. Saturday, throwing and smashing objects.

Police were called, and the province's Special Investigations Unit, looking into the death, said an officer used a Taser to subdue Mr. Knight.

SIU spokeswoman Rose Bliss said yesterday that the cause of death had not been determined, and that more tests are needed before the results of yesterday's postmortem would be known. An officer was designated a subject officer of the investigation, she said, and the Taser was seized.

As with all deaths of people in police custody, a coroner's inquest has been called, and will take place after the SIU completes its probe.

Mr. Knight's friend and former boxing coach, Peter Sjouwerman, 70, said he suspected his onetime protégé, who won a silver medal as a welterweight at the Canadian championships in his late teens, was having trouble with drugs.

Still, Mr. Knight, who kept in shape despite dropping his dream of one day representing Canada at the Olympics, was well liked and a gym fixture, Mr. Sjouwerman said.

"He was a very funny guy, quick to laugh, and he had a great laugh. We were very close."

"There is a percentage of risk in these Tasers -- but on the other hand, in a gun there's a lot more danger. Obviously, there was something wrong that night. . . . Who knows how strong, how bullheaded he was?"

The Peel Regional Police tactical squad has carried Tasers since November, 2002.

Sgt. Platt defended the stun guns as a way to avoid using bullets to stop suspects from hurting police or bystanders: "The firearm is a lethal option. The Taser is a non-lethal option. If we take the Taser away, it's one less option that we have."

Other forces across the Greater Toronto Area -- Toronto's, Halton's, York's and Durham's -- said that specially trained tactical units have been equipped with Tasers.

Durham Regional Police spokesman David Selby said the weapons are not used often by his force but that officers feel they are useful.

"Obviously, the province is going to be looking at this case closely. And obviously, we're going to be looking very closely at that, too.

"We don't want to be using anything that isn't safe."

Lawyer pushing stun-gun scrutiny

July 20, 2004
ERIN POOLEY, Globe and Mail

Information lacking on extent of use and by whom, rights advocate says

The use of controversial Taser stun guns by police forces across the country should be monitored more closely by the federal government, a civil rights lawyer said yesterday.

"What is disturbing is, it's not clear there are any kind of provincial or national regulations that regulate their usage and frequency of usage," Julian Falconer said. "Right now there is an utter lack of information concerning the frequency of usage of Tasers and who is using them. There has to be far greater transparency in their usage."

The debate over the use of Taser guns resurfaced after 29-year-old boxer Jerry Knight died on the weekend when police used one of the stun guns during a violent confrontation at a Mississauga motel.

Law-enforcement officials say the guns -- which deliver up to 50,000 volts of electricity to their targets, causing temporary loss of muscle control -- offer a safer and more effective alternative to the use of deadly force or pepper spray and batons.

But human-rights and civil-liberties groups argue that the weapons are being overused and that their safety is questionable.

The M26 Taser gun has been approved for use by several municipal police forces across Canada -- including those in Windsor, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto and London.

Mr. Falconer, who co-chaired a 2001 conference on alternatives to the use of lethal force by municipal police departments, said it is extremely difficult to determine how many Tasers are out there, who is using them and the requirements officers must meet to use the "less-than-lethal" stun guns.

In Ontario, for example, where the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services approved Taser guns for specially trained emergency response officers and hostage-rescue teams, ministry officials said they do not keep track of the number of Taser guns across the province or the frequency of use.

"They buy them. They look after them. We don't have anything to do with them. All we do is approve them," ministry spokesman Bruce O'Neill said yesterday. "We give them the guidelines, and as long as they fall under the guidelines, it's up to them."

In February, Monte Kwinter, Minister of Community Safety, expanded the use of Tasers to include "front-line supervisors" -- the officers who secure an area before emergency tactical units arrive on scene.

Mr. Kwinter also approved a six-month pilot of a smaller and more expensive version of the Taser for use by Toronto Police.

The battery-operated X26 model is 60 per cent smaller than the M26 and costs twice as much, at about $1,000.

The study is expected to be completed in September.

Taser International, the Arizona-based company that manufactures the guns, said the X26 delivers a more focused pulse that results in increased muscle contractions. However, it is less powerful than the M26.

A company spokesman also said a microchip contained in the X26 model will track when the gun is fired and for what duration.

Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, said yesterday the company "stands by the safety of its products 100 per cent."

He likened being shot with a Taser gun to "a funny bone that's working 18 times per second from head-to-toe" but added that the effects are only temporary.