Evidence That Stun Guns May Stimulate The Heart

Submitted by MichaelVail on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 5:14pm.

• 1984
• Big Brother
• CMAJ
• heart-stopping tasers
• Ministry of Love
• Robert Dziekanski
• Spotlight
• stun gun
• Technology
• Torture

Science Daily
Posted: 2008-05-02 17:52:03

On the eve of the British Columbia inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, a review of scientific data in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) finds that in some cases, stun guns may stimulate the heart in experimental models. This evidence is contrary to current views that stun guns only affect skeletal muscles.

"The frequency and the shape of the pulses generated by stun guns are designed to incapacitate the target by electrically overwhelming his or her control of these muscles," state Dr. K. Nanthakumar and colleagues. "In principle, these pulses are designed to act only on skeletal muscles and to not affect internal organs such as the heart." The evidence that stun guns do not stimulate the heart is based on "...theoretical studies [that] suggest that stun guns cannot deliver the amount of energy required to stimulate the heart or cause ventricular fibrillation."

Dr. Nanthakumar and collegues point out that most theoretical and some experimental studies reveal that cardiac stimulation does not occur with stun gun discharges. However, experimental studies on pigs by 3 independent groups of investigators found that "a stun gun discharge can stimulate the heart" depending on the location of the stun gun barbs. Barbs that are located such that they form a vector across the heart have greater effect than those focused on the abdomen. In one study, swine blood pressure was abruptly lost after discharge of a stun gun, and another study "reported the deaths of 2 animals caused by ventricular fibrillation immediately after the stun gun discharge....This suggests that sufficient current density was produced by the stun gun to stimulate the heart, which according to theory should not and could not occur."

The researchers caution against applying data from pigs to humans, although "most of the basic mechanistic concepts in cardiac fibrillation and defibrillation are derived from animal studies, not humans."

Recently, there have been several deaths after the use of stun guns, including Robert Dziekanski in Richmond, British Columbia, a Montréal, Quebec man and 24 year-old Chicago, Illionois resident, Kevin Piskura. More than 300 deaths following stun gun use have been documented, 20 of them in Canada.

Regarding arrhythmias long after the discharge of the stun gun, Dr. Nanthakumar, Dr. Paul Dorian and colleagues conclude "...there is no conclusive evidence to show whether stun gun stimulation (under certain electrophysical conditions) can result in cardiac arrhythmias late after stun gun discharge. With regards to deleterious effects on the heart during the discharge they state "In our view, it is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings."

Submitted by MichaelVail on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 5:14pm.

• 1984
• Big Brother
• CMAJ
• heart-stopping tasers
• Ministry of Love
• Robert Dziekanski
• Spotlight
• stun gun
• Technology
• Torture

Science Daily
Posted: 2008-05-02 17:52:03

On the eve of the British Columbia inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, a review of scientific data in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) finds that in some cases, stun guns may stimulate the heart in experimental models. This evidence is contrary to current views that stun guns only affect skeletal muscles.

"The frequency and the shape of the pulses generated by stun guns are designed to incapacitate the target by electrically overwhelming his or her control of these muscles," state Dr. K. Nanthakumar and colleagues. "In principle, these pulses are designed to act only on skeletal muscles and to not affect internal organs such as the heart." The evidence that stun guns do not stimulate the heart is based on "...theoretical studies [that] suggest that stun guns cannot deliver the amount of energy required to stimulate the heart or cause ventricular fibrillation."

Dr. Nanthakumar and collegues point out that most theoretical and some experimental studies reveal that cardiac stimulation does not occur with stun gun discharges. However, experimental studies on pigs by 3 independent groups of investigators found that "a stun gun discharge can stimulate the heart" depending on the location of the stun gun barbs. Barbs that are located such that they form a vector across the heart have greater effect than those focused on the abdomen. In one study, swine blood pressure was abruptly lost after discharge of a stun gun, and another study "reported the deaths of 2 animals caused by ventricular fibrillation immediately after the stun gun discharge....This suggests that sufficient current density was produced by the stun gun to stimulate the heart, which according to theory should not and could not occur."

The researchers caution against applying data from pigs to humans, although "most of the basic mechanistic concepts in cardiac fibrillation and defibrillation are derived from animal studies, not humans."

Recently, there have been several deaths after the use of stun guns, including Robert Dziekanski in Richmond, British Columbia, a Montréal, Quebec man and 24 year-old Chicago, Illionois resident, Kevin Piskura. More than 300 deaths following stun gun use have been documented, 20 of them in Canada.

Regarding arrhythmias long after the discharge of the stun gun, Dr. Nanthakumar, Dr. Paul Dorian and colleagues conclude "...there is no conclusive evidence to show whether stun gun stimulation (under certain electrophysical conditions) can result in cardiac arrhythmias late after stun gun discharge. With regards to deleterious effects on the heart during the discharge they state "In our view, it is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings."

Ah, dah, the heart IS a muscle.

Anatomy 101.

EIGHTH GRADE SCIENCE!!

Toronto taser tidbit

Councillor wants to put Tasers on hold

Posted 19 hours ago

A Toronto city councillor wants to see a moratorium on the purchase of additional police Tasers until there's more evidence about the safety of the stun guns.

Michael Walker says he plans to ask fellow councillors on Monday to support his motion.

Walker says the city has had effective policing for a century and a half without Tasers.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair wants to outfit all 2,600 frontline officers with Tasers at the cost of about $8 million.

The force currently has 432 Tasers for frontline supervisors.

The problem with Toronto is that we need more frontline officers with good training, period. Not more HARDWARE. Any street cop could tell someone that is a FACT.

Someone is getting good kickbacks and inducements to push tasers here.

Bravo to Michael Walker who is taking a politically unpopular position based on ethics, not opportunism of the moment.

We need a comprehensive civic program to avoid crime and far better mental health services, NOT more power to STUN and TORTURE people. But then, Blackwater is already up here working away in the Police Services Board.

Sigh.

the tasar/taser phenomena - MORE

Here's a video from CES where Taser is debuting their latest C2 model self defense device.



Police Suspects in Fla., Md., and N.M. Die After Being Shocked by Taser Devices

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3886107&page=1

By DAVID SCHOETZ

Three men died this weekend after being zapped by Tasers during confrontations with police.

The three deaths came one week after a video surfaced of a Polish immigrant writhing in pain at Vancouver International Airport moments after being Tasered by Canadian police. The 40-year-old man died a short time later.

Sheriff's officers in Jacksonville, Fla., discharged a Taser on Christian Allen, 21, after he and a passenger in his sport utility vehicle tried to flee on foot after a traffic stop, Melissa Bujeda, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville, Fla., sheriff's office, told ABC News.

An officer pursued Allen in his car and then caught up to him on foot before discharging his Taser multiple times on the suspect. "They were in a struggle at the time," Bujeda said.

Allen, who had a previous arrest record, was carrying bags containing what police believe is crack cocaine and had a loaded handgun in his jacket pocket when an officer finally subdued him. Allen did not raise the gun at the officer, Bujeda said.

After he was Tasered, Allen was checked by EMT at the scene. EMT then cleared police to put him into the back of a cruiser. At that point, according to the sheriff's office, he became unconscious. He was driven to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Maryland police said today they will investigate the death of 20-year-old Jarrell Gray, who was involved in a fight in Frederick County, Md., early Sunday when police used the Taser to subdue him.

An autopsy will be conducted, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said. Jenkins said that so far this year his officers have used Tasers to safely detain suspects 27 times.

In New Mexico, 20-year-old Jesse Saenz was Tasered after struggling with police as they tried to take him into custody Sunday. Saenz died after being rushed to a hospital.

Canadian officials said Saturday that four police officers involved in the death of a Polish immigrant have been reassigned to different posts.

The decision followed the release of video showing Robert Dziekanski writhing in pain at the Vancouver International Airport after being struck by the Taser and before he died.

Canadian federal police Commissioner William Elliott defended the use of Tasers, saying that they are safe and effective in most cases. Eighteen people have died in Canada after being hit with a Taser in the last four years.

Please email the author of this story, Sheila Pratt at spratt@thejournal.canwest.com and thank her for her honest commentary.

Public refuses to believe reports from police and manufacturer claims
The Edmonton Journal
Sheila Pratt
November 18, 2007

Watching the painful images of Robert Dziekanski's terrible death at the Vancouver airport will shake your Canadian complacency to the core. Four police officers rush in, pull out a Taser within seconds and the middle-aged Polish visitor collapses. An officer kneels on top of the writhing body which soon goes still.

Even worse is to hear Dziekanski's last terrified scream. There's no mistaking this is a man in deep agony, held down by police in his last dying moments with no recourse.

How can this disturbing scene be happening in Canada? Dziekanski's death is not the normal image we carry of our peace-loving, fair-minded country.

The chairman of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission, Paul Kennedy, has called for exactly that, as has Amnesty International.

Stockwell Day should get that underway as well.

Edmonton has seen its share of bad Taser use. Who can forget the Randy Fryingpan case? The drunken teenager was Tasered six times within 66 seconds as he slept in the back seat of a car. Tasers were never designed to wake up sleeping drunks; they're supposed to be used to subdue violent suspects that threaten the safety of officers and the public.

Yet no officer was disciplined for that incident.

About a year ago, Edmonton Chief Mike Boyd put tighter supervision on Taser use, requiring a supervisor to be informed after each incident. Taser use has dropped somewhat and that's good.

The RCMP is downplaying the revealing Vancouver airport video as just one side of the story. Yes, we need to hear what police have to say. But Day should be aware Canadians have heard plenty of rationalization from their national police force of ugly incidents and have no patience for more. Canadians understand police work is dangerous and that officers need to use force.

That's not in dispute. There's no greater reminder than the terrible loss of young constables like 20-year-old Douglas Scott in Iqaluit.

In the same way, the unnecessary death of an innocent civilian, Robert Dziekanski, is not in keeping with the traditions of the RCMP the community used to respect.

http://reddit.com/info/60w0r/comments/

blog.wired.com
Aaron Rowe
November 16, 2007


Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PPVe4aIjw

Scientists: In Theory, Tasers Can't Kill People. Others: How do you Explain These Dead Guys?

To show just how murky the waters surrounding Taser safety are, I have compiled a list of several recent scientific reports about the controversial less lethal weapon.

Most of the links below will bring you to free summaries of the research papers, but some require a subscription to read the full stories.

The video to the right shows a demonstration of the new civilian Taser at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The cameraman asks some excellent questions.

Intracranial penetration of a TASER dart

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the face with a Taser while resisting arrest. One of the darts went through his skull and poked into his brain just a little bit. Link

Taser-induced rapid ventricular myocardial capture demonstrated by pacemaker intracardiac electrograms.

The first case of a man with a pacemaker getting tasered. A data logger on the pacemaker recorded the effects of the shock on his heart. Link

Taser use in restraint-related deaths

A review of Taser-related deaths. Autopsies were performed less than half of the time. Most of the dead were on drugs or had heart disease. Tasers were identified as contributing to one quarter of the deaths. Link

Can the direct cardiac effects of the electric pulses generated by the TASER X26 cause immediate or delayed sudden cardiac arrest in normal adults?

In this paper, the authors used the fundamental law of electrostimulation to theorize that an X26 Taser can't cause a dangerous ectopic heartbeat in most healthy adults. Link

Taser dart-to-heart distance that causes ventricular fibrillation in pigs

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin tasered anesthetized pigs and found that the risk of ventricular fibrillation is very low. The darts must land extremely close to the heart to cause the dangerous condition. Link

If you have any thoughts on the safety of Tasers, or links to news, videos, and papers about their safety, please weigh in by submitting your comments below.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/scientists-tase.html

also see;
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/19/
bc-taserinquiry.html?ref=rss

it never ends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZQZKHB7bUQ&NR=1

For those who live in Minneapolis be sure to watch this video to help bring police brutality to a halt in your community: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkawiGZ1X3c

Amnesty International report
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Head of state and government: George W Bush
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: signed but declared intention not to ratify

Thousands of detainees continued to be held in US custody without charge or trial in Iraq, Afghanistan and the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In June, the US Supreme Court struck down the military commissions established by President Bush and reversed the presidential decision not to apply Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions to detainees suspected of links with the Taleban or al-Qa'ida. Congress passed the Military Commissions Act stripping the US federal courts of the jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus appeals from such detainees, providing for trials by military commission, and amending the US War Crimes Act. In September, President Bush confirmed the existence of a programme of secret detentions run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). There were reports of possible extrajudicial executions by US soldiers in Iraq, with a number of soldiers facing prosecution. There was a continued failure to hold senior government officials accountable for torture and other ill-treatment of "war on terror" detainees despite evidence that abuses had been systematic. There were reports of police brutality and ill-treatment in detention facilities in the USA. More than 70 people died after being struck by police tasers [bringing to more than 230 the number of such deaths since 2001 - see report linked below]. Fifty-three people were executed in 14 states.

----

Amnesty International report covers these US human rights violations:

Military Commissions Act
Renditions and secret detention
Guantánamo
Detentions in Afghanistan and Iraq
Unlawful killings by US forces outside the USA
Detention of 'enemy combatants' in the USA
Torture and other ill-treatment
Ill-treatment in jails and police custody
'Supermax' prisons
Women in prison
Prisoners of conscience
Death penalty

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Regions/Americas/United-States-of-America

Henry Aubin on the Police Murder of Robert Dziekanski

Don't forget to sign the petition! See below! and pass it ON!

cellphone-video of an RCMP murder:
Robert Dziekanski was killed on October 14 in
Vancouver International Airport

Pulling the plug on Taser deaths
INCLUDING A CAMERA on the electric-shock weapon would help clear up questions on its use

HENRY AUBIN

Everyone is appalled by the tragic death of a man in Vancouver after police shot him with a Taser. But you don’t have to go far to find other cases of questionable use of this electric-shock weapon.

So far this fall, two men have died in Quebec after police tasered them. Unlike the death of Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport, no videos exist of the incidents, and they have received too little attention in the Montreal media.

On Oct. 14, the same day that Dziekanski died, Montreal police stopped Quilem Registre, 38, because of his erratic driving in the St. Michel area. Police say they shot him with a Taser because he was aggressive. Cocaine has been linked to numerous deaths of tasered people, and tests show that cocaine was in Registre’s blood when he was admitted to hospital after the incident. Relatives say he was in a coma for three days and suffered heart problems before he died.

The other case is still more troubling because a witness says the victim was peaceful. Claudio Castagnetta, a 32-yearold translator, was arrested for loitering barefoot and acting strangely inside a small grocery store in Quebec City. Unlike Registre, he had no criminal record.

The store owner who called police because of Castagnetta’s annoying presence told the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil that when he asked the man what he was doing, “To my great surprise, he was not at all arrogant and was very diplomatic.” The store owner said that when the cops arrived, Castagnetta told them he had the right to be where he was. When police took him to their cruiser and tried to put handcuffs on him, he resisted – not with violence but by making his body rigid.

Two witnesses say police fired a Taser at him not once but at least three times – although they were unable to say how many times the weapon’s two darts hit him. It took six cops to bring him under control while lying on his stomach. Afterward, he was well enough to tell a lawyer that he suffered from bipolar disorder, but he died two days later in his cell.

Let me say right off that there’s not a mote of evidence that the Taser directly caused the deaths of Dziekanski, Castagnetta or Registre. Eight police forces in this province use Tasers (including the Sûreté du Québec and the Laval and Longueuil police), and a spokesperson for Quebec’s public security ministry, which oversees police, stresses that no deaths are directly attributable to the weapon since its introduction here in 2001.

The key word in all this, of course, is “directly.” The fact is that people hit with Tasers have a way of dying shortly thereafter. Amnesty International counts 18 such deaths in Canada and more than 240 in the U.S.

The only time police ought to be able to use Tasers is to defend either themselves or other citizens from life-threatening attack or injury – precisely the same criteria that governs (or is supposed to govern) police use of firearms.

We can’t tell if the Registre case meets that criteria because Montreal police have divulged so little about it. But the Castagnetta and Dziekanski cases flagrantly fail the test. First, neither victim had threatened police or endangered the public in any way. Second, police fired the Taser at them more than once, then pounced on them en masse (possibly inflicting serious injury on Dziekanski when an officer knelt on his neck).

Both times, then, police used the weapon gratuitously as an easy way to master people. Pardon me if I sound like the National Rifle Association, but Tasers don’t kill people, irresponsible police do.

A way exists to deter police from such casual use of this dangerous device. Taser International now makes a camera that clips on to a Taser and records what’s happening in video and audio. The company’s website notes that this “offers increased accountability – not just for officers, but for the people they arrest. Until now, it’s been the officer’s word against the suspect’s word.” If the suspect survives, that is.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made the camera a precondition for introducing the Taser to his country. This little gizmo might be worth the Charest government’s consideration.

The above is from today's Montreal Gazette - i apologize for not having time to write about this myself, as some of you have noticed i'm posting a lot less these days. Too much work, and it's not showing any signs of abating...

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Comment on Sketch Thoughts

Anonymous said...

I agree that the Taser is not the only factor in the demise of this poor innocent man. After the RCMP had tasered him several times and he was lying on the floor writhing and screaming in pain, two (2) RCMP knelt on his body; one with his knees on his back and another with his knee and body weight on the poor man’s neck until he died of asphyxiation! The video clearly reveals the RCMP standing to the extreme left had a big smile on his face when they said their victim had died. They never even tried to revive him.

I am haunted by the images of this video every day. I am outraged, horrified and furious that our police force is allowed to torture and take the life of innocent people without paying the consequences of their sadistic actions. The RCMP have lied about the true facts in the deaths by their hands of many people over the years. Thank God that Paul Pritchard recorded the whole disturbing and gut wrenching damning and incrimating evidence of how Robert Dziekanski’s life was brutally ended by the hands of the RCMP.

The RCMP are a Federal Government agency who have become corrupt and sadistic and have been given the authority to torture and murder innocent people without any questions being asked and with no consequences for their heinous crimes. I shudder every time that I think of the thousands upon thousands of men and woman who fought and died during the 1st and 2nd World Wars to put an end to this type of corruption, terrorism and injustice against humanity.

Unless all the people in Canada band together and take a forthright stand against the Federal Government to change the control and power they have given to the RCMP, our everyday lives will end up being totally controlled by this corrupt and sadistic entity of law and order. This form of law and order existed under the Russian KBH and the German Gestapo. We are heading in that same direction faster than we think.

The RCMP should be disbanned and dissolved in order to put a stop to this corruption. They have destroyed any creditability and honour they had throughout the countries of the world since the release of the damning and incriminating video of Robert Dziekanski’s horrific death.

I believe that Robert Dziekanski’s disraught Mother, Zophia, should have the right to sue the Federal Government and the RCMP on behalf of her son for his unjustifiable and horrific death, and for the unmeasureable suffering and loss, heartache and grief she is and will suffer throughout all the remaining days of her life. They have destroyed her life forever. Zophia should be awarded at least $20 million settlement plus all her legal costs seeing as how the Canadian Government so willingly paid Maher Arar $10 million settlement plus $2 million legal costs. These funds should be paid from the RCMP’s Pension Fund.

I have now lost any and all respect I ever had for the RCMP.

Stop The Taser Petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/notasers/petition.html
Can we can deliver this with a couple hundred thousand signatures ?

Check also http://nomoretasers.com and http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

SIGN THE PETITION AGAINST TASARS!!

Save someone you LOVE now, before it's too late.

Hundreds honour man hit by Taser at airport

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/277476

Kamloops, B.C.-Hundreds of people packed a funeral home here yesterday to both grieve and express their outrage over the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died last month at the Vancouver airport.

Many of those attending the memorial service in Kamloops, the town where Dziekanski was supposed to start his new life in Canada, only knew him through the lens of a video camera.

Millions of people around the world saw the video of his last moments - a panic-stricken man barricading himself into the international arrivals hall before police shot him with a Taser gun.

His mother, Zofia Cisowski, wiped away her tears to quietly narrate a slideshow of Dziekanski's photographs shown during the memorial celebration of the 40-year-old man's life."

That's my brother, that's my uncle, that's us,"

Cisowski whispered to pictures of her son, a smiling, swarthy man, arms wrapped around family in his native Poland.

Cisowski had worked for seven years to save up enough money to sponsor her son.

He was supposed to look after her and support her as she aged, according to Maciej Krych, Poland's consul general in Vancouver.

"The people in Poland are still in shock. They cannot believe something like this could happen in Canada,"

said Krych, who vowed that the Polish government will continue pressing the federal department of foreign affairs for answers.

Dziekanski was cremated following a private funeral two weeks ago.

His mother, who plans to keep part of her son's ashes with her in Kamloops and return part to Poland, said she hopes some good comes from her son's death. (...)

Among the nearly 300 people who attended the memorial service, a handful were outside carrying signs urging the RCMP to ban the use of Taser guns.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered a review of the weapon, but has resisted calls by critics galvanized by Dziekanski's death for a moratorium on the guns, which deliver 50,000 volts of electricity to their targets.

Since 2002, Amnesty International, which has advocated banning Tasers, reports that 17 people have died in Canada as a result of the weapon. CLIP

Stop The Taser Petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/notasers/petition.html
Can we can deliver this with a couple hundred thousand signatures ?

Check also http://nomoretasers.com and http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

I've said it and said it: People who are having panic attacks and post traumatic stress episodes cannot be hit with tasars - and in fact, they DO fight back even though it will kill them - the MORE electricity runs through them, the MORE They fight back despite what the "training manuals" say.

In this particular case, there was never ever an emergency worker on the scene, although Robert was held in the airport for HOURS in distress. And yet, when the police DID come, and he calmed down they shot him and he died. Whether the TASAR did it or his neck was broken by the extreme police brutality applied, is yet to be determined.

Please sign and DON'T let there be a whitewash. We have already had 17 deaths here in Canada with tasars already. And there is an omnibus crime bill about to be passed to buy MORE of them; obviously the contract has been signed or Stockwell Day would not be taking this position.

update: Hundreds honour man hit by Taser at airport

Again, I ask .. where were the EMERGENCY workers?

Where tasars used on a man having a PTSD attack?

Are people really that IGNORANT??

VIDEO: Hundreds pay respects to Taser victim

Video shows final minutes before death

Taser gun: How it works (.pdf)

Hundreds honour man hit by Taser

CP Video: Funeral for taser victim

Day: Tasers necessary

RCMP officers reassigned

RCMP confident about Taser probe

Video stirs outrage

RCMP officers reassigned

OTTAWA–RCMP commissioner William Elliott broke his silence yesterday on the death of Robert Dziekanski, who was hit with a Taser, saying the four officers involved in the incident at Vancouver International Airport have been reassigned.

Grief, anger expressed at memorial service for 40-year-old Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski

Petti Fong
Western Canada Bureau Chief

Kamloops, B.C.–Hundreds of people packed a funeral home here yesterday to both grieve and express their outrage over the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died last month at the Vancouver airport.

Many of those attending the memorial service in Kamloops, the town where Dziekanski was supposed to start his new life in Canada, only knew him through the lens of a video camera.

Millions of people around the world saw the video of his last moments – a panic-stricken man barricading himself into the international arrivals hall before police shot him with a Taser gun.

His mother, Zofia Cisowski, wiped away her tears to quietly narrate a slideshow of Dziekanski's photographs shown during the memorial celebration of the 40-year-old man's life.

"That's my brother, that's my uncle, that's us,"

Cisowski whispered to pictures of her son, a smiling, swarthy man, arms wrapped around family in his native Poland.

Cisowski had worked for seven years to save up enough money to sponsor her son.

He was supposed to look after her and support her as she aged, according to Maciej Krych, Poland's consul general in Vancouver.

"The people in Poland are still in shock. They cannot believe something like this could happen in Canada,"

said Krych, who vowed that the Polish government will continue pressing the federal department of foreign affairs for answers.

Dziekanski was cremated following a private funeral two weeks ago. His mother, who plans to keep part of her son's ashes with her in Kamloops and return part to Poland, said she hopes some good comes from her son's death.

When Yuri Baltakis, a friend of Cisowski, got up to speak at the memorial service, he said a few words in Polish and nearly half the mourners raised their right hand.

"Most of you are confused and can't follow that simple instruction," said Baltakis. "That is what it was like for him for nine hours at the airport."

Mother and son were separated at the airport by just a few hundred feet behind frosted windows and security doors.

But because of language difficulties and poor signage, neither could find the other.

After hours of searching, Cisowski made the four-hour drive back to Kamloops hoping there would be a message waiting from her son.

Baltakis said yesterday that the airport should have had people on staff who could provide help or at least direct someone like Dziekanski, who had taken his first flight from Poland to Canada, to a phone where he could call for directions.

At the service, Joseph and Maria Drobina, who emigrated from Poland a year ago, said they had a similar experience. Just two days before Dziekanski arrived at the airport, Joseph Drobina's sister, who did not speak any English, could not find anyone to help her.

"She had travelled before but there was no effort from anyone at the airport to help her or help us try to connect," said Maria Drobina. "When we heard what happened to Zofia's son, we knew this will happen to other people, and pray to God it will not be the same tragedy."

Among the nearly 300 people who attended the memorial service, a handful were outside carrying signs urging the RCMP to ban the use of Taser guns.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered a review of the weapon, but has resisted calls by critics galvanized by Dziekanski's death for a moratorium on the guns, which deliver 50,000 volts of electricity to their targets. Since 2002, Amnesty International, which has advocated banning Tasers, reports that 17 people have died in Canada as a result of the weapon.

A preliminary autopsy done on Dziekanski showed that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system, but a definitive cause of death has not yet been determined.

A coroner's inquest will be held in May.

---

With files from The Canadian Press

update: Hundreds honour man hit by Taser at airport

Again, I ask .. where were the EMERGENCY workers?

Where tasars used on a man having a PTSD attack?

Are people really that IGNORANT??

VIDEO: Hundreds pay respects to Taser victim

Video shows final minutes before death

Taser gun: How it works (.pdf)

Hundreds honour man hit by Taser

CP Video: Funeral for taser victim

Day: Tasers necessary

RCMP officers reassigned

RCMP confident about Taser probe

Video stirs outrage

RCMP officers reassigned

OTTAWA–RCMP commissioner William Elliott broke his silence yesterday on the death of Robert Dziekanski, who was hit with a Taser, saying the four officers involved in the incident at Vancouver International Airport have been reassigned.

Grief, anger expressed at memorial service for 40-year-old Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski

Petti Fong
Western Canada Bureau Chief

Kamloops, B.C.–Hundreds of people packed a funeral home here yesterday to both grieve and express their outrage over the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died last month at the Vancouver airport.

Many of those attending the memorial service in Kamloops, the town where Dziekanski was supposed to start his new life in Canada, only knew him through the lens of a video camera.

Millions of people around the world saw the video of his last moments – a panic-stricken man barricading himself into the international arrivals hall before police shot him with a Taser gun.

His mother, Zofia Cisowski, wiped away her tears to quietly narrate a slideshow of Dziekanski's photographs shown during the memorial celebration of the 40-year-old man's life.

"That's my brother, that's my uncle, that's us,"

Cisowski whispered to pictures of her son, a smiling, swarthy man, arms wrapped around family in his native Poland.

Cisowski had worked for seven years to save up enough money to sponsor her son.

He was supposed to look after her and support her as she aged, according to Maciej Krych, Poland's consul general in Vancouver.

"The people in Poland are still in shock. They cannot believe something like this could happen in Canada,"

said Krych, who vowed that the Polish government will continue pressing the federal department of foreign affairs for answers.

Dziekanski was cremated following a private funeral two weeks ago. His mother, who plans to keep part of her son's ashes with her in Kamloops and return part to Poland, said she hopes some good comes from her son's death.

When Yuri Baltakis, a friend of Cisowski, got up to speak at the memorial service, he said a few words in Polish and nearly half the mourners raised their right hand.

"Most of you are confused and can't follow that simple instruction," said Baltakis. "That is what it was like for him for nine hours at the airport."

Mother and son were separated at the airport by just a few hundred feet behind frosted windows and security doors.

But because of language difficulties and poor signage, neither could find the other.

After hours of searching, Cisowski made the four-hour drive back to Kamloops hoping there would be a message waiting from her son.

Baltakis said yesterday that the airport should have had people on staff who could provide help or at least direct someone like Dziekanski, who had taken his first flight from Poland to Canada, to a phone where he could call for directions.

At the service, Joseph and Maria Drobina, who emigrated from Poland a year ago, said they had a similar experience. Just two days before Dziekanski arrived at the airport, Joseph Drobina's sister, who did not speak any English, could not find anyone to help her.

"She had travelled before but there was no effort from anyone at the airport to help her or help us try to connect," said Maria Drobina. "When we heard what happened to Zofia's son, we knew this will happen to other people, and pray to God it will not be the same tragedy."

Among the nearly 300 people who attended the memorial service, a handful were outside carrying signs urging the RCMP to ban the use of Taser guns.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered a review of the weapon, but has resisted calls by critics galvanized by Dziekanski's death for a moratorium on the guns, which deliver 50,000 volts of electricity to their targets. Since 2002, Amnesty International, which has advocated banning Tasers, reports that 17 people have died in Canada as a result of the weapon.

A preliminary autopsy done on Dziekanski showed that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system, but a definitive cause of death has not yet been determined.

A coroner's inquest will be held in May.

---

With files from The Canadian Press

Obvious PTSD attack, leads to police MURDER in CANADA

http://www.thestar.com/fpLarge/video/276752

In what this video shows, Robert Dziekanski's MURDER is totally unwarranted.

If proper police and emergency training were given, there is NO WAY that this man should have been left in an area without a support worker when his PTSD symptoms began to show, which is LONG before he smashes the window.

The arrival of a HORDE of cops is guaranteed to only aggravate the situation, which of course it did - each cop backing up the others in their drive to DEPERSONALIZE the man's already obvious distress, while no reasonable person is ever seen to be arriving at the scene.

People who have been at the forefront of extreme political repression or get left in impersonal airports, are going to aggravated. Doe that mean they should be TASARED and then die?

C'mon CANADA! You can do better than to spend billions of dollar$ on new police equipment and instead bring real emergency workers into our airports, seeing that we have millions of foreign visitors each year. Where for instance, were the Traveller's Aid people? Couldn't they pass your security clearance there in Vancouver??

There are many questions to be answered here. It is ALLEGED that certain voltages which definitely stop people fighting back: but the videos I have seen when LARGE amounts of police are used on people CLEARLY HAVING PANIC ATTACKS has shown me this is NOT so. They tend to keep on fighting - and then that survival instinct (which is what a panic attack is showing) is used against the person to rationalize even further lasar attacks! Now, WHO IS INSANE!!

If you are reading this, PLEASE speak up and demand the retraction of tasars. They are DEADLY and inhumane. Demand that PROPER training be given police and security forces and demand that REAL emergency workers be on hand at Canadian International airports.

Virginia

Video of Taser death stirs outrage

PAUL PRITCHARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Robert Dziekanski is seen in this video, taken on Oct. 14, holding a small table moments before he is shot with a Taser at the Vancouver Airport. Dziekanski died minutes later. Blair stands firm

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says he still believes front-line police officers should carry Tasers despite the furor over the death of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver International Airport.

"I believe that Tasers have the capacity to save lives as long as the officers are properly trained in their use," Blair said yesterday. "(In Toronto) there's a clear policy on when they are to be used and under what circumstances and appropriate accountability in their use."

He declined to comment on the shocking video footage showing RCMP officers delivering a shock to Robert Dziekanski, 40. "I've learned it's prudent to wait for the outcome of those investigations rather than comment specifically on video."

Blair, in his capacity as president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, is recommending the Ontario government change legislation that right now restricts the use of Tasers to tactical officers and front-line supervisors.

He said the Toronto Police Service's record on Taser deployment has to date been excellent and there have been no deaths or injuries attributed to their use.

The service now has 450 Tasers, and Blair would like to see that grow to several thousand at a cost of around $8.5 million.

- Betsy Powell

Nov 16, 2007 04:30 AM

Petti Fong
Western Canada Bureau Chief

VANCOUVER–Outrage and claims that Canada has shamed itself are among reactions to the final screams of a newly arrived Polish immigrant after he was zapped with Tasers by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport.

Videotape, released Wednesday, of the confrontation and Robert Dziekanski's dying moments has now been seen by millions of people around the world, thanks to heavy rotation on the YouTube website and Canadian and international TV networks.

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED: Watch the video of Robert Dziekanski being Tasered by police.

"When I heard that scream, I screamed. I could not help it," a weeping Maria Karulis, a member of the Polish Canadian Women's Federation, said yesterday. "My friends and family in Poland, they tell me that they will never forget that scream. I know I will never forget seeing him fall to the ground and dying."

Karulis said the image of RCMP officers using 50,000-volt Tasers on the agitated and erratic, but unarmed, Pole, and his obvious agony as he crashes to the floor before falling deathly silent, is jolting viewers around the globe.

"This is the greatest shame Canada could put on herself to the whole world," she said.

Dziekanski, 40, of Pieszyce, Poland, arrived at the airport last month to start a new life with his mother, Zofia Cisowski.

The non-English speaker had been told to wait for her and he did, for hours, not realizing she couldn't get into the secure baggage area. Not seeing him emerge from that area, Cisowski had gone home to Kamloops believing her son had missed his first-ever flight.

Dziekanski, sweaty and breathing heavily, began acting erratically, at one point throwing a small table against a window. The videotape shows four RCMP officers arriving just after 1:30 a.m. Oct. 14 to confront him.

He has his hands up and cries out: "Policja, Policja, Policja!"

One of the four officers is heard saying in the video the word "Taser." Another officer says "yes."

Dziekanski is shocked at least twice by police. His screams of distress muffle what sounds like a third shot.

"The public outcry and sentiment has been unlike anything I've seen before," said Nelson Kalil, a spokesperson for the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP in Ottawa, which has launched an investigation. "It's one take, one lens, and something the RCMP is trying to make clear (is) that it should be taken with a grain of salt."

A number of other probes have been launched, including a coroner's inquest and reviews by the RCMP and airport officials.

"I was disturbed, I was shocked. It was a very sad thing to watch," Piotr Ogrodziñski, Poland's ambassador to Canada, said of the video.

"It appears that police action was not suited to this situation in which an agitated, desperate person was searching for assistance. It's heartbreaking." He has sent a diplomatic note to Canadian foreign affairs about the incident.

Yesterday, RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr cautioned that the video shows just one view of the altercation.

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal added: "I think we should wait until all the evidence is in" before altering police use of Tasers.

In Ottawa, the NDP called for a moratorium on Taser use, saying there are no clear national standards governing them.

Liberal MP Bonnie Brown, meanwhile, said it appears medical intervention was warranted. "Canadians want answers now before more lives are lost. Is it standard operating procedure for the RCMP to use Tasers when there is no obvious physical threat?" asked the Oakville MP.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he's asked for his own examination of the weapons.

"Before the Liberal call on this, I had asked for a review related to the use of Tasers," Day told the Commons.

A spokesperson for Day later downplayed that comment, saying he was referring to the RCMP and coroner's probe already underway.

Sober Diabetic Man Tasered, Accused of DUI

Sober Diabetic Man Tasered, Accused of DUI

Question: Since we see story after story after story of TASARS being used on disabled people who then get either sicker or die, one begins to WONDER - was that what they were invented and distributed to do?? I don't think it's just a question of BAD TRAINING - it was the original intent I am now questioning. And why is the public paying for these horrible weapons??


Alabama

Man having a diabetic attack faces DUI charges even though he had no alcohol in his system.

Police in Ozark, Alabama on Tuesday used a taser on a sober man who was having a diabetic seizure. A trio of police cruisers were called to the scene of a black Nissan truck and trailer pulled over on the side of the road near the intersection of Highway 231 and Marley Mill Road at around 4pm. James Bludsworth, 54, a man with no criminal record, was was slumped over behind the wheel. Because of his condition he was not responsive to police commands.

Police then fired tasers at the sick man three times. A police officer now says that he smelled alcohol on Bludsworth, even though later testing showed no trace of alcohol in his system. Ozark Police Chief Myron Williams also claims the sick man was "combative." Instead of taking Bludsworth to medical care he was booked at Dale County Jail and charged with resisting arrest and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Bludsworth has no recollection of the incident and is free on $1000 bond.

Police later dropped a charge against Bludsworth relating to an alleged towing infraction.

Source: Criminal charges remain against driver found unconscious (Dothan Eagle (AL), 11/9/2007)

Some tasar questions

Request: How many training sessions does each Officer trained to use a Tasar gun receive, and how long is each session?

How many Officers are trained to use tasar guns?

How often do Officers trained to use tasar guns receive refresher courses, and how long are these sessions?

How many training sessions does each Officer trained to use a Firearm receive, and how long is each session?

How many Officers are trained to use Firearms?

How often do Officers trained to use Firearms receive refresher courses, and how long are these sessions?

What sort of Psychological or Psychiatric Tests are given to Officers before they use either Tasar guns or Firearms, in order to check they are mentally fit to use such weapons?

How many are licensed to use them? Is anyone ever denied the right to use them if on a police force or in the military? How many are declared unfit .. anyone at all?

Officer on leave over stun gun 1:41

A Warren, Ohio, police officer is on administrative leave after being accused of using a stun gun on a woman.

Video at link (couldn't be embedded)

TASERING: SADISM ON CAMPUS, SADISM COMING EVERYWHERE

Leftist Blogs Defend Police Brutality In Student Tazering
Partisan bickering obscures heart of the issue as Fox News, MSNBC set up phony debate by making Kerry's behavior focus of story, not oppressive actions of thug cops

Prison Planet | September 18, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

Media coverage of a University of Florida student being tazered by cops for asking a question didn't spark a debate about ongoing police brutality and political persecution, but instead prompted partisan bickering and mindless ninnying about John Kerry's behavior during the incident, while leftist blogs defended the actions of the police.

Andrew Meyer was grabbed by cops yesterday after he asked the former presidential candidate why he didn't challenge the rigged election of 2004 and about his membership of the skull and bones secret society. Meyer asked police what he was being arrested for as they dragged him to the back of the University Auditorium before manhandling him to the ground.

As the photo above shows, two female officers, one with some kind of gangland tattoo on her arm, seem to be smiling with pleasure as they move in to seize Meyer.Only when Meyer was immobile and had five officers on top of him did the police decide to send 50,000 volts of electricity coursing through his prostrate body, seemingly waiting until Meyer begged them not to do it so as to enjoy the maximum power trip from administrating the torture.

Watch the video.

Fox News, MSNBC and others relentlessly replayed the video yesterday - not as a shocking indictment of the police's actions during the incident, but to discuss John Kerry's behavior and the fact that he continued taking questions while Meyer was being brutalized.

This prompted leftist blogs like News Hounds to slam Fox for endlessly showing the footage as Democrat websites closed ranks and either ignored what was a savage act of police brutality and political persecution or simply claimed Fox News were hyping the story.

They even defended the actions of the police in stating the cops were right to tazer Meyer as he lay on the floor. Imagine if this had happened during a town hall meeting with Bush - liberals would have screamed bloody murder and rightly so - but in this instance they applaud the police for their act of torture simply because Meyer dared question their idol John Kerry.

Another detail left out of press reports is Meyer's political affiliation - he is not a Neo-Con who was attempting to put John Kerry on the spot as Fox News has tried to portray - he was a 9/11 truther. Meyer links to the 9/11 Mysteries documentary from the home page of his website.

Beyond the mindless partisan ninnying, the heart of the issue is that this was another act of wanton police brutality and torture by means of tazering.

The police are now trained that "pain compliance," a euphemism for torture, is acceptable in apprehending anyone even if that person poses no physical danger.

In many cases, cops will tazer someone even if they offer no resistance whatsoever, simply for the sick enjoyment of the power trip as the victim begs and pleads not to be tortured. They also seem to get a kick out of tazering young children and even toddlers.

Take the case of UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad (video above) , who was stunned over and over again for refusing to show his ID at a campus library.

Tabatabainejad agreed to leave and was on his way out of the building before cops tazered him and then proceeded to order him to get back on his feet just so they could shock him over and over again as he cried and moaned for them to stop.

The bottom line is that Taser use is being abused by police all over the country as cops are trained that torture is a perfectly acceptable response to somebody who asks the wrong question or refuses to show their papers.