Man dies after Taser shock in Vancouver Int'l Airport

[babylonsister]

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/10/15/man_dies_after_taser_shock_in_vancouver/5324/

Man dies after Taser shock in Vancouver

Published: 15, 2007 at 10:39 PM


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A Taser expert is questioning police methods after a man died shortly after being shot with one of the stun guns at Vancouver International Airport.

Dr. John Butt said the length of time between the death and the shock promotes the theory that it was most likely not the 50,000 volts of electricity that killed the man, The Vancouver Sun reported.

Butt, who has co-authored a report on Tasers for British Columbia's police complaint commissioner, said questions need to be asked about the way police restrained the man after the shock, and whether that led to his death.

"Was he face down? Was there anything on his chest? Was there anything on his airway?" asked Butt, "We need to know the exact position of the three officers, particularly where their hands and knees were. By kneeling on the guy or even keeping him face down, that can cause him to asphyxiate."

The officers moved to subdue the man, who was in his 40s, after he became belligerent, throwing chairs and pulling a computer off a desk.

[ixion]

1. uh, how many people have to die by Taser before we remove them from the "non-lethal" list?

:shrug:

[babylonsister]

3. Yet we read stories of how safe they are. They obviously aren't both. nt

[cigsandcoffee]

2. Canada is becoming a totalitarian police state! n/t

[Snarkturian Clone]

4. Are cops getting lazy or something?

"after he became belligerent, throwing chairs and pulling a computer off a desk."

You take this kind of action, you can expect a reaction. I would like to know the WHOLE story before making any official judgments- but what happened to nightsticks? Couldn't they just take out his legs with a nightstick and call it a day? He'd be alive...

[goddess40]

5. I think you're on to something

maybe getting a little soft around the middle - like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Harrison Ford is about to fight someone with a bull whip and pulls out his gun and shoots his opponent instead.