text:
Given the choice, 35% say NO THANKS
"Every member of the Arlington Heights Police Department was asked if he or she wanted to carry a Taser gun. Of the 110 employees, 71 said they would like a Taser and 39 declined" - including the Police Chief. That's a wise choice, Chief Mourning (unfortunate surname), since you'll be busy studying the mounting costs of lawsuits by civilians and officers alike."
Sheila Ahern, Chicago Daily Herald
The first batch of Taser guns will arrive to the Arlington Heights police station this week. After another week of training, they'll hit the streets attached to about 40 police officers.
"We talked about getting these before but cost has always been an issue," said Capt. Peter Kinsey, who has researched Tasers since October. "But then we started studying the cost of duty-related injuries and lost work days that happen because of those injuries."
Between 2003 and 2008, there were 63 times an officer was hurt when trying to arrest someone. A Taser gun could have prevented injuries in at least one-third of those incidents, Kinsey said.
The village board agreed to buy Taser guns for $816 each earlier this month. The money will come from the village's drug seizure account.
Every member of the Arlington Heights Police Department was asked if he or she wanted to carry a Taser gun. Of the 110 employees, 71 said they would like a Taser and 39 declined, Kinsey said. Police Chief Gerald Mourning chose not to carry one, Kinsey said.
Tasers temporarily immobilize a person by overstimulating the nervous system with electricity and causing an uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue, according to Taser International's Web site, the company providing the Tasers to Arlington Heights.
The Arlington Heights police officers who use Tasers will be "strongly encouraged" to experience being Tasered themselves during their training, Kinsey said.
"It's good experience to have that firsthand knowledge so they see the effects - which are very short term," he said.
It's hard to tell when an officer will need to use a Taser, Kinsey said, but he anticipates it could happen maybe two or three times a week.
Other municipalities that use Tasers include Palatine, Elk Grove Village and Mount Prospect. All 71 Arlington Heights police officers are expected to have their Tasers by this fall.
Labels: choice, lawsuit, police injury
To Tase or Not to Tase - Police Questioned Over Increased Taser Use After Lawsuits Mount
I received the following comment tonight from Beta_Test_Victim which echoes my sentiments exactly:
"The government has an interest in arrests being completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources," wrote Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson
"I hope [law enforcement officials] don't see this as open season to tase anyone who doesn't do exactly what they are told," says Tallahassee lawyer John Jolly
My good friggn god. What have we come to? I am scared to death at the fact this is being set as a precedent for cops to follow. What is wrong with this picture? Uuuuh, the fact that there are a whole lot of cases like this working their way through the "Legal System" makes me just sick. On top of that, the police have no reason to worry about being held accountable. What is happening to our world? Where are we going here??!!
By WARREN RICHEY, ABC NEWS
From isolated cases across the country, a debate is emerging over the use of electric stun guns as a "pain compliance" device by law enforcement.
At issue isn't whether police can use the weapon, known as a Taser, to protect themselves from dangerous suspects or to prevent a criminal from escaping. That is its designed purpose. Instead, the question is to what extent police may use a stun gun against someone who is not actively resisting arrest but who is passively refusing to obey a police command.
To some officers, such refusal is a form of resisting arrest and constitutes grounds to shoot 50,000 volts of electricity into that person's body in five-second bursts. When a person is tased, the central nervous system is overridden and the person experiences a seizure accompanied by intense pain.
Such tactics would be unconstitutional in a police interrogation room.
By contrast, during an arrest or roadside traffic stop, there are no clear standards for when police use of a stun gun for "pain compliance" might violate Fourth Amendment protections.
Officials at UCLA recently agreed to pay a student $220,000 to drop a lawsuit against the university in connection with a November 2006 incident in which the student was repeatedly tased after refusing a police order to leave the school library.
Last week, the US Supreme Court declined to take up the case of a handcuffed Florida motorist who was tased three times because he disobeyed a deputy sheriff's command to stand up and walk to a patrol car.
Given the proliferation of police stun guns, the issue is expected come up with increasing frequency across the country, according to civil libertarians.
A Controversial Alternative to Guns
Developed in the 1990s, stun guns have helped reduce injuries to both police officers and suspects by offering officers a safer alternative to a firearm or a night stick.
Today there are more than 375,000 stun guns being used at 13,400 law enforcement and military organizations in 44 countries, according to Taser International, the manufacturer of the leading brand of stun gun.
But stun guns have come under increasing scrutiny. According to Amnesty International, more than 300 individuals have died after stun gun encounters in the US in the past nine years. And even their nonlethal use has been controversial.
Los Angeles police tried to use a stun gun against Rodney King before his arrest degenerated into the now infamous police beating.
In September 2007, campus police at the University of Florida used a stun gun to neutralize a disruptive student at a John Kerry speech. The student's plea, "Don't tase me, bro," became a popular tee shirt slogan.
In the case of the Florida driver, the Supreme Court justices offered no explanation for their decision not to hear his case. The move lets stand a federal appeals court decision that found the deputy's actions reasonable and justified.
"I hope [law enforcement officials] don't see this as open season to tase anyone who doesn't do exactly what they are told," says Tallahassee lawyer John Jolly, who successfully represented the deputy in the Florida case.
"In the end it is all going to come down to a question of reasonableness under the circumstances," Mr. Jolly says. "If a reasonable person would think that use of force is going to accomplish a lawful objective and make it less likely that somebody gets hurt, they can do it."
The Tasing of Jesse Buckley
The Florida case involves a motorist named Jesse Buckley who was pulled over for speeding on a remote Florida highway in March 2004.
Mr. Buckley was issued a traffic ticket, but became distraught and refused to sign it. Washington County Deputy Sheriff Jonathan Rackard placed Buckley under arrest, cuffing his hands behind his back. As instructed, the motorist exited his car and headed toward the patrol car.
Before he reached the cruiser, Buckley collapsed to the ground. The encounter was captured on the video camera mounted on the dashboard of Mr. Rackard's cruiser. The video has been posted on the Internet.
The deputy tried to lift Buckley, but he went limp and started sobbing. Buckley was warned that if he didn't get up he would be shocked with a Taser.
"I don't care anymore," Buckley said. "Tase me."
The deputy tased him three times before backup arrived, and the two officers walked Buckley to the patrol car.
Photos of Buckley's body later revealed 16 burn marks.
Buckley filed a lawsuit against the deputy for excessive use of force by a police officer. A federal judge refused to throw out the lawsuit, but a divided panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta sided with the deputy. The suit was dismissed.
"The government has an interest in arrests being completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources," wrote Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson in the 2-to-1 decision. "Even though [the motorist] was handcuffed, he still refused repeatedly to comply with the most minimal of police instructions -- that is, to stand up and to walk to the patrol car."
In a dissent, District Judge Beverly Martin said that "no reasonable officer could have believed that the force used by [the deputy] was necessary in response to the situation at hand."
Judge Martin added: "The question in this case is whether a taser gun may be used repeatedly against a peaceful individual as a pain-compliance device -- that is, as an electric prod -- to force him to comply with an order to move."
Courts Loathe to Second-Guess Police
The appeals court decision creates a dangerous legal precedent permitting the use of tasers to force compliance with police orders, says Miami lawyer Michael Masinter, who represented Buckley.
"It isn't hard to envision police officers dealing with anti-abortion protesters or civil rights protesters -- pick your political issue," he says. "There is nothing in this decision that forbids police officers from using tasers to break that up."
Jolly views the case differently. He says police officers face an array of dangers during roadside stops and that it is wrong to second-guess split second judgments after the fact. "This guy could turn from sobbing basket-case into a raging wild man at the snap of a finger. That officer is in a surprisingly difficult situation," Jolly says.
Mr. Masinter disagrees. "Mr. Buckley was no threat to anybody," he says. "There was no active resistance here and therefore no authority to use this kind of force."
Jolly says the courts -- including the Supreme Court -- are generally reluctant to second-guess a police officer acting alone in a potentially dangerous situation. "In baseball, all ties go to the runner," he says. "In federal civil rights litigation against individual officers, all doubts go to the officer. Close calls are his."
Labels: amnesty international, jesse buckley, lawsuit, united states supreme court
'I thought I was going to die': Beating victim
CHRIS DOUCETTE, SUN MEDIA
NEWMARKET -- Two young men who had never been in trouble with the law say they were beaten and Tasered as many as 24 times by York cops after innocently ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The two found themselves in the middle of a drug raid last fall after crashing in a buddy's Richmond Hill hotel room and were asleep when police entered the penthouse suite.
"I thought I was going to die," Brandon Talon, 23, said yesterday in an interview outside Newmarket court, explaining he is now living with physical and psychological scars from that fateful night.
Talon and Jonathan Fontela, 22, say they went to a nightclub on Sept. 5, 2008, to celebrate the birthday of an old high school chum, who -- unknown to them -- was under police surveillance for trafficking drugs from a room in the Sheraton Hotel at Hwy. 7 and Leslie St.
Early the next morning, after stopping for a bite to eat, the two longtime best friends claim they went back to the hotel and fell asleep in the suite rather than risk drinking and driving.
'CAME IN LIKE THUGS'
The drug dealer, who they say they hadn't seen in several years, and his girlfriend retired to the bedroom.
But their slumber came to a crashing end around 4:30 a.m. as Talon and Fontela awoke to find themselves surrounded by eight men -- four plainclothes officers and four Emergency Response Unit officers wearing ski masks and armed with assault rifles -- who they say began pummelling them and pulling them to the floor before they even had a chance to open their eyes.
"They came in like thugs," Fontela alleged of the officers, who obtained a key card from the hotel to enter the room.
Fontela says he initially thought he was having a bad dream and it took a few moments to realize the nightmare was real. "They were beating me so bad I barely remember what was happening," said Fontela, who alleges he was Tasered 13 times.
Talon, who said he was Tasered 11 times and beaten so bad the retina in his right eye was partially severed, believed it was some sort of home invasion.
"While I was being Tasered and grabbed in a choke hold, that's when I heard them saying, 'Stop resisting,' " he said.
It was only then, he said, that he realized the men were cops.
Talon, who weighs about 150 pounds and could easily pass for a high school student, said he "passed out" after suffering two hard blows to the head and doesn't remember much else.
His mother, Barb Talon, was surprised by the injuries when she was finally able to pick her son up from a jail in Lindsay two days later.
"He didn't even look like my son, his face was a mess," she said. She has since filed a complaint to York's public complaints bureau and hired a lawyer to launch a civil action against the officers.
Talon and Fontela were charged with possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and obstruction of justice. The pair, best friends since Grade 3, have not been allowed to associate with each other for the last eight months. Until recently, they were also under a 10 p.m. curfew.
When Talon and Fontela appeared yesterday in a Newmarket court, the drug charges were dropped and they agreed to face a judge on the obstruction charge. Despite their plea of not guilty, Justice Joseph Kenkele found them both guilty but granted them an absolute discharge, meaning they will not have a criminal record.
'WRONG PLACE'
Talon's lawyer, Kingsley Graham, said the two men had just found themselves "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's pick your friends carefully," said Graham, who was also adamant the police use of force was "absolutely" out of line.
He also dispelled any speculation the two were high at the time, explaining a toxicology test showed neither had drugs in their system.
Chief Armand La Barge refused to comment on the allegations, which are still under investigation internally, but he stands by his officers.
"If (Talon and Fontela) had followed the officers' instructions ... there would have been no obstruct police (charges) and no need to resort to the use of force in this situation," he said.
Police said they found a "fairly substantial amount" of cocaine in the bedroom of the hotel suite -- 47 individually wrapped baggies with a street value of about $10,000, La Barge said.
Labels: york regional police
Police use Taser on car theft suspect
Montreal police used a stun gun to intercept a suspect early this morning in the city's east end. The incident happened around 2:15 a.m. in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.
The man is alleged to have stolen a vehicle. Police pursued him, and when they caught up with him, he took off on foot.
Officers used a Taser to stop him at the intersection of Adam Street and Sicard Street.
He was then taken to hospital, where he is in good condition, police said.
Police would not reveal what charges the man might face.
Labels: montreal
No knowing how many times Taser made contact with man, inquest told
It's like a re-run. Same old dog and pony show - the taser fan club song and dance at the coroner's inquest has become the norm. Tell me, when will we hear from Christine Hall, excited-delirium expert extraordinaire?
I suppose it would be too much to hope that the sudden "intermission" in this coroner's inquest will give this corrupt process a chance to have some oversight through the newly announced STRONGER, MORE ACCOUNTABLE CORONER SYSTEM IN ONTARIO, which promises:
The establishment of an oversight council for Ontario's death investigation system
An improved complaints system under the oversight council
The establishment of an Ontario Forensic Pathology Service
A registry of pathologists authorized to conduct coroner's autopsies in Ontario
Improved death investigation services to northern and First Nations communities.
Posted By KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine's Standard
The police Taser used in a confrontation with James Foldi was discharged 12 times, but there is no way of knowing from the device how often it made contact with his body.
A coroner's inquest was told Friday the Taser was activated over a period of three minutes and five seconds as Foldi ran from and struggled with police in a Beamsville neighbourhood.
The 39-year-old, who lived in the neighbourhood, died July 1, 2005, after a bizarre night of breaking into houses, calling for help and at one point jumping through a window.
A pathologist ruled his death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.
It will be up to a jury to make the final determination. Coroner's inquests are mandatory when someone dies in police custody.
The Foldi inquest was supposed to continue next week, but because of a scheduling problem will continue at a later, undetermined date. The last witness was giving testimony Friday when the inquest broke for the day.
Chris Lawrence from the Canadian Police Research Centre, an expert in use of force and excited delirium, prepared a report that said police actions in the Foldi case were consistent with prudent practises.
Backing away from Foldi instead of arresting him may not have been the best option for officers because he was bleeding, Lawrence said.
"Waiting may not be in his best interest. It's a very hard call to make."
Lawrence presented downloaded information from the Taser used on Foldi that morning.
He told the jury Tasers are one of the few weapons that record data, such as how long it was used and when, but it cannot determine whether it made contact.
Niagara Regional Police Sgt. Richard Ciszek testified earlier in the week that he deployed the Taser twice in the probe mode when Foldi was running. He applied the Taser, set on stun mode, five times to Foldi's calves and thighs while Foldi was struggling with officers on the ground between a garage and fence.
Ciszek, who was holding Foldi's ankles while other officers tried to handcuff him, said he also discharged the Taser in the air to see if it was working, because it didn't seem to have an effect.
The other four discharges have been unaccounted.
Lawrence said Friday that it's been well-documented that while an officer is gripping a subject with one hand and a Taser in the other, he or she can inadvertently pull the trigger without touching the person.
During the time Foldi was on the ground, the Taser was discharged over a 97-second period and was only off for 13 seconds.
Jurors heard earlier in the week from the other three officers who were involved in the struggle with Foldi on the ground. One officer heard the Taser go off once and the other two officers didn't hear it at all.
Lawrence testified that as circumstances become more intense for officers and their concern about the outcome more pertinent and focused, it's possible for them to block out information around them.
There are a number of incidents in which officers didn't hear a gun fire next to them or even hear their own gun, he said.
"One person can be on the legs, another at the waist and one officer doesn't see the other there."
Labels: canadian police research centre, chris lawrence, coroners, coroners inquest, dr. christine hall, excited delirium, james foldi, niagara regional police, ontario coroners amendment act 2009
A Stronger, More Accountable Coroners System in Ontario
TORONTO, May 28 /CNW/ - NEWS
Ontario will soon have a more responsive, more accountable death investigation system in Ontario with the passage today of the Coroners Amendment Act, 2009. Passed today by the Ontario legislature, the Coroners Amendment Act, 2009, addresses the recommended legislative amendments in the report of the Honourable Justice Stephen Goudge's Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario. When the new law comes into effect following royal assent, it will establish a framework to strengthen the death investigation system in Ontario.
Provisions of the new legislation include:
- The establishment of an oversight council for Ontario's death investigation system
- An improved complaints system under the oversight council
- The establishment of an Ontario Forensic Pathology Service
- A registry of pathologists authorized to conduct coroner's autopsies in Ontario
- Improved death investigation services to northern and First Nations communities.
"We have acted swiftly to deliver on our commitment to strengthen the province's death investigation system. The new legislation ensures we have the necessary checks and balances in place to ensure high quality death investigations that contribute to the safety of all Ontarians."
- Rick Bartolucci
(http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about_min/bio/bio.html), Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services
"This legislation gives us the framework to build on the work we've already done to strengthen the system to ensure that the people of Ontario have confidence and trust in our system."
- Dr. Andrew McCallum(www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/pub_safety/office_coroner/chief_coroner.html), Ontario's Chief Coroner
"The new law recognizes the importance of a professional forensic pathology service. We can now take the next steps towards delivering the consistent high quality service the people of Ontario deserve."
- Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's Chief Forensic Pathologist
- Ontario's coroners investigate approximately 20,000 deaths every year.
- Approximately 7,000 of those investigations require a post-mortem examination by a pathologist.
- The Coroners Act has not been significantly updated since the 1970s.
Learn more about Ontario's coroners
(http://webx.newswire.ca/click/?id=ffd15b98cfae243).
Read Justice Goudge's report and recommendations
(http://www.goudgeinquiry.ca/).
Labels: coroners, dr. james (jim) cairns, dr. michael pollanen, ministry of community safety and correctional services, ontario coroners amendment act 2009, pathology
Pepper spray had no effect on man, inquest told
This testimony is all too sickeningly familiar to me.
"I've had time to digest what happened and the time frame is clearer after talking to other officers." - Constable Ronald Traub (Good of Const. Traub to ADMIT he had help "remembering" by "talking to other officers".)
Was James Foldi "fighting and aggressive" or was he, as I suspect, thrashing around violently in the ultimate fight for his very life after being tasered at least 7 times, and reportedly closer to 12 times??
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharine Standard
It took four Niagara Regional Police officers to apprehend James Foldi after he went on a wild run through Beamsville in the last hour of his life, jurors at a coroner's inquest have heard.
Foldi was blasted twice with pepper spray, hit with a baton and Tasered at least seven times.
The last of the four officers who arrested 39-year-old Foldi that July 1, 2005 morning — and who were with him when he died — testified about the arrest Thursday in St. Catharines.
Jurors have heard that Foldi broke into three houses in the Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue area around 2:30 a.m. and called "help me." Residents said he appeared confused and out of touch with reality and left a trail of blood.
A pathologist testified earlier this week the cause of death was excited delirium, brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.
Const. Christopher Doyle testified Thursday he arrived at the scene outside a home and went up the driveway. He knew pepper spray had been deployed because it smelled and made him cough. He heard Const. Patrick Diver, already there with Sgt. Richard Ciszek, say, "Police, get down on the ground" and heard the firing of a Taser stun gun.
Doyle said he saw Foldi throw himself through a window into a garage. "Glass was shattering in every direction," Doyle said.
Jurors have heard officers testify that inside the garage, Foldi began punching a car. Doyle said another officer pepper sprayed Foldi again, but it had no effect. Foldi continued making incoherent comments, yelling and screaming.
Const. Ronald Traub said that at one point Foldi bent down and started to bite the car's mirror. He said officers were telling him to stop. "It was like he was looking through us, not at us," Traub said, adding Foldi was agitated and his eyes were wide open.
Foldi then jumped backwards out the broken window, Traub said.
Outside, Foldi, who was 5-foot-11 and 243 pounds, was taken down to the ground on his back by officers, who said he continued to struggle.
Doyle testified Foldi grabbed Doyle's right thigh in an attempt to pull himself up, so he used his baton to hit Foldi's left forearm. He then rolled him on his side.
"He was continuing to struggle," Doyle said. "He was thrashing around quite violently."
At one point Foldi rolled onto his stomach and Doyle said Diver was able to handcuff a hand.
Traub said while Diver was holding one hand, Doyle was attempting to get Foldi's other arm and Ciszek was trying to control the man's legs.
"It appeared to me he was trying to raise his head and bite at Const. Diver and Const. Doyle," Traub said. Traub said he put his right foot between Foldi's shoulder blades to avoid the biting but the man was still kicking.
Traub said he heard a Taser once during the struggle on the ground. Doyle said he didn't hear it at all.
But Ciszek testified on Wednesday he Tasered Foldi at least five times on the ground and twice when he was running.
Police eventually got both handcuffs on Foldi.
Traub testified Doyle tried to roll Foldi to his side and sit him up but when Foldi continued to fight and be aggressive, they put him back down on his side.
Shortly after the cuffs were on, police said Foldi stopped breathing.
Foldi's family lawyer asked Traub why he told investigators five days after the incident that Foldi was placed on his side after he went limp, not before.
Traub said he's had time to digest what happened and the time frame is clearer after talking to other officers.
Evidence in the inquest is expected to conclude today.
Labels: coroners inquest, excited delirium, james foldi, niagara regional police
Would repeated Tasering of a suspect be considered an abuse of police power?
Steve Lombardi, Attorney
InjuryBoard.com
This case may answer the question in Iowa: Once under control would repeated Tasering of a suspect be considered an abuse of police power?
The Courts define what force is legitimate police power and when the use of force becomes punishment. It is the court's that mete out punishment sanctioned by state law; whereas police enforce the laws. Police are not authorized by the Constitution to punish. It's all about the separation of powers under the United States Constitution.
This Iowa case may answer the question of whether it is justified police action or an unconstitutional abuse of police power to use multiple Tazing of a person under arrest. As you can imagine once a person is under control further Tasering is akin to torture. The police are supposed to enforce the laws, but are not authorized to act as judge and jury as far as punishment goes.
What this case may answer may also demonstrate the difficulty of proving damages in a civil case for the manner in which the Taser was used. If it's legal to Taser a person at least once, then what pain and suffering does a second, third and fourth Taser event add? If at least one Tasering is legal then you won't be allowed damages for that first event; only for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th events. But if the Taser makes your nerve pulses ineffective can a person continue to feel painful stimulus? If not how then can you suffer pain? Perhaps the experts will be able to tell us if the Tasered suspect can still feel pain but is simply unable to respond. This damage case will require medical experts on the issue of the Taser and a person's ability to feel pain after undergoing a Taser event.
I have to wonder how, if the Taser is so effective, can anyone justify multiple Tasering events?
Canadian authorities have been analyzing the use of the Taser by it's own police forces and seem more concerned than is American law enforcement.
The ACLU of Florida petitioned the SCOTUS to review a case involving multiple Taser events on the same person during an arrest. You can download the 67 page Petition for Review by following the link.
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Whether a deputy sheriff violated the Fourth Amendment by administering three separate five-second-long direct contact "drivestun" Taser shocks, over a two minute period, to a handcuffed, nonviolent misdemeanor traffic arrestee who had already collapsed to the ground sobbing, who never actively resisted arrest or attempted to flee, and who never posed any danger to himself, the officer or the public, when the sole purpose of the Taser shocks was to administer pain to prompt the arrestee to stand up.
2. Whether a reasonable police officer had fair notice in 2004 sufficient to deprive him of qualified immunity that it violated the Fourth Amendment to administer three separate fivesecond-long direct contact "drive stun" taser shocks, over a two minute period, to a handcuffed nonviolent misdemeanor traffic arrestee who had already collapsed to the ground sobbing, who never actively resisted arrest or attempted to flee, and who never posed any danger to himself, the officer or the public, when the sole purpose of the Taser shocks was to administer pain to prompt the arrestee to stand up.
PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDING
Petitioner is Jesse Daniel Buckley, plaintiff-appellee below.
Respondent is Jonathan Rackard, Deputy Sheriff of Washington County, Florida, in his individual capacity, defendant-appellant below.
Amnesty International USA covers the use of Tasers multiple shocks in a single arrest. See Canada: Inappropriate and excessive use of tasers.
2.1 Multiple or prolonged taser discharges
Amnesty International's research into deaths following taser use in the USA and Canada indicates that many of those who have died had been subjected to multiple or prolonged shocks. In Canada alone, all six of the deceased in 2005 and 2006 were shocked multiple times with a taser; in one case up to 12 times in three minutes.
Amnesty International believes that repeated shocks should be avoided unless absolutely necessary to avoid serious injury or death and prolonged shocks beyond the five-second discharge cycle should be prohibited.
The Canadian Police Research Centre noted in its 2005 Technical Report that "police officers need to be aware of the adverse effects of multiple, consecutive cycles of a CED on a subject" because "the issue related to multiple CED applications and its impact on respiration, pH levels and other associated physical effects, offers a plausible theory on the possible connection between deaths, CED use and people exhibiting symptoms of CED.(12)
In April 2005, the US Department of Defense released a report which concluded that while available data suggests that healthy adults would not be at significant risk from the taser, "if long periods of uninterrupted EMI [Electromuscular Incapacitation Device] activation did occur, the risk of unintended adverse effects such as cardiac arrhythmia, impairment of respiration or widespread metabolic muscle damage could be severe".(13)
Taser International is the main manufacturer of taser stun guns. In June 2005, in light of a number of lawsuits by relatives of those who died after being shocked by tasers, and the fact that the use of their product was being listed in autopsy reports, the company included a warning that there were potential health risks in the use of its product in a training bulletin.
Taser International on May 3, 2004 issued a Memorandum of Law concerning the Taser Conducted Energy Weapons.
The legal concerns usually raised regarding the TASER conducted energy weapon generally fall into two categories:
1. What are the legal restrictions on the use of a TASER conducted energy weapon; and
2. What is the impact of a TASER conducted energy weapon on legal liability in a use of force incident. The purpose of this Memorandum of Law is to address these issues in the context of U.S. Federal and State regulations and case law.
Is this an exercise of legitimate police power or an abuse of power?
Police Tasers: excessive force or necessary tool?
Washington - From isolated cases across the country, a debate is emerging over the use of electric stun guns as a "pain compliance" device by law enforcement.
"The government has an interest in arrests being completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources," wrote Chief Judge J.L. Edmondson in the 2-to-1 decision. "Even though [the motorist] was handcuffed, he still refused repeatedly to comply with the most minimal of police instructions – that is, to stand up and to walk to the patrol car."
Judge Martin added: "The question in this case is whether a taser gun may be used repeatedly against a peaceful individual as a pain-compliance device – that is, as an electric prod – to force him to comply with an order to move."
Courts loath to second-guess police
"It isn't hard to envision police officers dealing with anti-abortion protesters or civil rights protesters – pick your political issue," he says. "There is nothing in this decision that forbids police officers from using tasers to break that up."
Jolly views the case differently. He says police officers face an array of dangers during roadside stops and that it is wrong to second-guess split second judgments after the fact.
"This guy could turn from sobbing basket-case into a raging wild man at the snap of a finger. That officer is in a surprisingly difficult situation," Jolly says.
Jolly says the courts – including the Supreme Court – are generally reluctant to second-guess a police officer acting alone in a potentially dangerous situation. "In baseball, all ties go to the runner," he says. "In federal civil rights litigation against individual officers, all doubts go to the officer. Close calls are his."
Labels: drive stun mode, jesse buckley, lawsuit, multiple shocks, taser international, united states supreme court
RCMP Taser use draws Amnesty International's ire
An international human rights report fingers the RCMP use of Tasers, noting that the controversial stun guns are the subject of a public inquiry in Canada and that six people died last year after being stunned by police.
The Amnesty International report, assessing the state of the world's human rights in 2008, also cites Canadian foreign policy on several fronts, including a failure to protect Afghan detainees from being transferred to local authorities at a risk of torture, refusing to repatriate Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr, and declining to seek clemency for a Canadian killer on death row in Montana.
The two-page section on Canada's failures was part of a broader 387-page critique of 157 countries, which accuses the international community of relegating human rights "to the back seat" as countries focus on the economic recession and national security.
Labels: amnesty international, rcmp
James Foldi inquest continues
KARENA WALTER, ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD
Sleeping soundly in bed, James Casson and his wife were suddenly awakened at 2:30 a. m. by a crash at their Beamsville home's front door.
When it was followed by a second crash and the sound of the casing breaking on the steel door, they knew it wasn't the paper carrier, James Casson told jurors Wednesday at the coroner's inquest into the death of James Foldi .
Casson got out of bed and went to the stairs, where he discovered Foldi, a Village Park Drive neighbour.
"I said, 'You don't live here. Go home!' " Casson said he told Foldi, who seemed "out of it" and wouldn't make eye contact.
"They're after me. They're after me," Foldi said, waving his arms. "Help me! Help me!"
Residents of the Beamsville neighbourhood described for jurors Wednesday the bewildering encounters they had with the 39-year-old man in the last hour of his life on July 1, 2005.
Jurors also learned from police on the third day of the inquest that Foldi was Tasered at least seven times as they attempted to arrest him.
A pathologist ruled the death was caused by excited delirium brought on by acute cocaine poisoning.
Excited delirium is characterized by aggressive behaviour, super-human strength, high temperature, incoherence and imperviousness to pain, the jury has heard.
Niagara Regional Police were called to the neighbourhood that morning on reports of break-ins.
Casson said he called 911 after he and his wife physically pushed Foldi out their front door. They made three attempts before they were successful.
Afterwards, they found blood on both sides of the door, which Casson said had been bent "like an accordion."
Nearby on Crescent Avenue, Jeffrey Tallman was in bed and was also about to be awakened.
"I went from sound asleep to thinking I was having a strange dream to realizing someone was in our house," Tallman told jurors.
Tallman testified he heard a call for help. He followed his dog down the stairs to the front of his house where a man was standing. The man said something about a wolf and left, Tallman said.
There was a great deal of blood on the walls and Tallman said he believed Foldi had been looking for light switches.
Amanda Philbrick was in a Crescent Avenue home watching a movie downstairs with her boyfriend when they heard a noise upstairs and the word "help."
She went up and saw a man she didn't know inside the home trying to shut the front door. "He said, 'Help!' and he say, 'Help!' " she testified. "And he also said, 'Wolf.' "
She thought the wolf comment may be in reference to a husky dog lying nearby on the dining room floor.
"I was in shock. Who is this guy? What's going on? Why is he in the house?" she testified.
Philbrick told jurors Foldi rested his hands on her arms and said "Help," but she didn't feel threatened by him.
She said Foldi seemed panicked. "He seemed very scared. He didn't know what he was doing."
Police eventually confronted Foldi in a back bedroom of the bungalow, where he jumped out the window. Philbrick said he must have opened the closed window and punched out the screen to escape.
Outside the house, Tallman was on the sidewalk and saw a lot of commotion with police swarming the area. He said he heard Foldi say, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"
He also heard Taser sounds. It was the middle of the night and the action was between two buildings. "It was quite a loud electrical sound," Tallman said.
The inquest continues today.
EDITORIAL: Stunning attitude
North Shore News
AS the inquiry into the Tasering death of Robert Dziekanski enters its final stages, it is hard to imagine what more the RCMP and its supporters could do to hurt their own officers.
Over the past several weeks, the force has offered up witness after witness whose purpose appears to be to defend the institution's good name. Each has succeeded in doing the opposite.
First there was the officer who claimed Dziekanski's stapler was a threat to the public. Then there was the superintendent who said allowing the media to be misled about the number of jolts was good for the investigation. Now, in testimony this week, we have an "expert" who claims the video of the incident showed Dziekanski moving toward the police. That expert, it would seem, is a former Vancouver police officer with no formal training in photogrammetry and whose organization counts Taser International among its sponsors.
Each of these witnesses, in attempting to justify a series of grievous missteps by those involved, has succeeded only in further damaging the institution's reputation. Instead of simply accepting responsibility and vowing to do better, the force is seen to be suppressing the truth and defending the negligent in its own self-interest.
In doing so, the RCMP's management is betraying its own members. Frontline officers rely on the trust and respect of the general public to do their jobs. The institution is undermining both.
The force must stop making excuses, take its lumps and move on -- if for no other reason than to help itself.
Labels: braidwood inquiry, british columbia, editorial, rcmp, robert dziekanski
Police could have avoided inquiry -lawyer
SUN MEDIA
Robert Dziekanski's mother, the public and law enforcement could have been spared a lengthy public inquiry if RCMP officers had only admitted they made mistakes shortly after the Polish immigrant's death, a lawyer said Tuesday as the Braidwood Inquiry neared an end.
I think that the public expected a proper and heartfelt apology to the family," said lawyer Don Rosenbloom, representing the Polish government at the inquiry, which wrapped up four months of testimony Thursday.
Had they come forward and been forthright in acknowledging that they had done wrong at the time, this wouldn't have been the story that it is . . . none of us would have been here."
Dziekanski came to Canada as a landed immigrant in October 2007, but he never made it out of Vancouver International Airport. The inquiry has heard Dziekanski spent hours wandering around the immigration hall and arrivals area of the airport, never connecting with his mother, who had come to meet him. Dziekanski died after he was hit with an RCMP Taser weapon multiple times after being confronted by four officers.
The inquiry has exposed questions like why the officers' accounts of the events appear to differ in key ways from an eyewitness video; and why the RCMP a year to correct misinformation released after the event.
The many lawyers involved in the inquiry will reconvene in mid-June to make their final submissions. A final report, including any recommendations from Commissioner Thomas Braidwood, could take months.
Labels: braidwood inquiry, british columbia, rcmp, robert dziekanski
Dissecting the Evidence
Quite an interesting story from top to bottom about Dr. Nizam Peerwani, one of the highest-profile medical examiners in the United States. I recommend reading the entire report, however, I have only copied a portion of it here. Clicking on the title of this posting will take you there.
There's another area of human rights work where Peerwani is a player in a much different way. Amnesty International and other groups around the world for years have complained about the abuses of Taser electric-shock weapons by police agencies - especially in the United States and in Texas in particular.
Questions have been raised about several cases in which people died after having been tasered - in most cases, repeatedly - by Fort Worth police. Those deaths, in part, led the police department to change some of its policies on Taser use a few years ago.
In one 2005 case, Eric Hammock, a Midland architect and cocaine user, died after Fort Worth police tasered him 25 times during a nine-minute span. Peerwani's autopsy showed very little cocaine in Hammock's system for a regular user, yet he ruled the cause of death an accidental cocaine overdose.
Peerwani said there are reasons why even a small amount of cocaine can lead to death. As for the role of the shocks from the Taser, he said police told him that the computer chip in the weapon (which records how many times and for how long it is discharged) had malfunctioned, and they couldn't tell how many times it had been fired.
In fact, records eventually released to the Weekly by the police department, long after the death, showed the 25 firings just before Hammock died.
"If that case occurred today, I would look at it very differently," Peerwani said. "And if I had known he had been hit with that weapon 25 times, I would also have looked at it differently. But the whole issue with those weapons is a difficult one," he said.
It's still very difficult to determine the role a Taser charge may play in a death, but, Peerwani said, "What we can learn from history is that there are people in certain excited states who perhaps should not be shocked."
He has taken note, he said, of the actions of Taser International, the company that makes the weapons and that has a policy of suing medical examiners who find Tasers as having contributed to or caused a death.
"That can be very intimidating, of course," he said. But, he added, it doesn't affect his decisions. "We are working on a case right now where the Taser was used, and we are looking at it very closely. And if we determine that the Taser was a contributing factor, we will be clear on that."
Labels: cause of death, contributing factor, data download, dr. nizam peerwani, medical examiners, multiple shocks, national association of medical examiners, taser international
Inquest hears Taser didn't stop man's heart
From a June 18, 2008 Canadian Press report entitled Taser damage questioned: Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, says officers need to assume they may hurt someone when they use the Taser and treat all injuries seriously.
From a June 17, 2008 CBC News report entitled One-third of people shot by Taser need medical attention: probe: Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiologist and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, said police officers need to assume they may hurt someone when they use a Taser and treat all injuries seriously. " He conducted a study on pigs on the effects on the heart of Taser shocks and found multiple hits with a stun gun can cause heart stress. "If there is injury and illness, as a physician, I would have to say those people, even if they are accused criminals, should be taken care of," he said.
From a June 1, 2008 Toronto Star report on the inquest into the death of Jerry Knight, entitled Tasers: More questions than answers: 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 ... 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."
From a May 7, 2008 CTV British Columbia report on the Braidwood Inquiry: Canadian medical researchers are disputing the theory that stun guns do not cause irregular heart rhythms that are sometimes fatal. Tests had shown that Taser shock could cause fibrillation -- a very rapid, irregular contraction of muscles fibers -- in any muscle, except the heart. "Bottom line is we think that assumption is incorrect," said Dr. Paul Dorian, a medical researcher from the University of Toronto. "Under certain circumstances, the Taser electrical discharges can, in fact, cause the heart muscle to beat and to beat very fast." Dorian and his team shocked six pigs with stun guns looking for signs of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and other adverse heart effects. The results echo a recent Chicago study, where prolonged stun gun shocks caused VF. Two pigs died in the Chicago study. One pig died of VF in Dorian's study and the other five pigs showed cardiac disturbance. When it occurs in humans, VF can be lethal, Dorian said. "When this rapid irregular heart rhythm occurs, the heart doesn't beat effectively," Dorian told CTV News. "No blood is pumped from it, and the victim, unless they get CPR and gets an electrical shock to the heart, will die within 10 minutes." In response to the Toronto study, manufacturer Taser International said it will present results from three cardiac studies of its own later this month at the Heart Rhythm Conference in San Francisco, California. "Taser International is dismayed by attempts to present this information as something it is not," the company said in a statement. "I can understand if they're dismayed," Dorian said. "I'm dismayed as well. Dismayed that we have a technology that potentially can cause harm."
From a May 3, 2008 Globe and Mail Editorial, entitled Tasers do affect the heart: ... the CMAJ study from the University of Toronto researchers found major weaknesses in the pig studies, and clear evidence, both in a study they did on pigs and in pig studies they reviewed, that the heart could be affected when the gun's two barbs struck in such a way that the electricity passed through the heart (without the barbs actually penetrating the heart). In one study, researchers opened a pig's chest when it was zapped and observed that the heart was affected. The stun gun could cause the pigs to abruptly lose their blood pressure. Two pigs died immediately after the stun-gun discharge in the study. As for the inquests, the CMAJ makes no reference to them, but in an interview, co-author Paul Dorian said that "as a scientist, I'm sympathetic to the difficulty of ascribing cause with very limited information." His study concludes: "It is inappropriate to conclude that stun gun discharges cannot lead to adverse cardiac consequences in all real world settings."
AND TODAY, IN A REPORT FROM THE ST. CATHARINE'S STANDARD (by Karena Walter) from the inquest into the death of James Foldi, tasered TWELVE (12) times by Niagara Regional Police:
It's unlikely the jolts from a Taser to James Foldi's back, thighs or legs had a direct effect on his heart, a coroner's jury heard Tuesday.
Cardiologist Dr. Paul Dorian testified the Beamsville man would have difficulty moving after a few seconds of being hit with the stun gun if it directly affected his heart.
Jurors at the coroner's inquest into the death of the 39-year-old man heard in earlier testimony by police that Foldi continued to run after being struck twice in the back with Taser probes on July 1, 2005.
Officers said once Foldi was tackled to the ground, he was hit again with a Taser in the drive stun mode on his calves and upper thighs but continued to violently struggle and yell.
A pathologist ruled he died of excited delirium due to acute cocaine poisoning.
A Taser strike is very painful because the electricity causes a direct stimulation of nerve endings, Dorian, from St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, told the inquest. He said it can also cause muscles to contract, like a major cramp.
It would be "extraordinarily unlikely" that the Taser had effects on heart muscles if a person continued to run or move after being hit with one, Dorian said.
But he did say there are possible indirect effects on the heart when a person is Tasered. Anything which causes serious pain can cause the heart to work harder, he [Dorion] said.
Niagara Regional Police were called to the Beamsville neighbourhood of Crescent Avenue and Village Park Drive around 2:30 a.m. on that July, 2005 day after reports of a person breaking into homes and yelling for help.
Jurors have heard that Foldi was bloodied and at one point ran into a bungalow, down a hall to a bedroom and jumped out a window. He then ran beside the house, smashed through a garage window, where he pounded on a vehicle with his fists.
He was eventually tackled to the ground outside and four officers struggled to handcuff him. A short time later he stopped breathing and died at the scene.
Toxicologist Dr. Margaret Thompson testified excited or agitated delirium is characterized by aggressive behaviour, "super-human" strength, high temperature, incoherence and imperviousness to pain.
After exhibiting agitated behaviour, the person collapses and dies, and in very few cases doctors are able to revive a patient, she said.
The condition is associated with severe psychiatric illness or abuse of substances, usually cocaine.
"Mr. Foldi got to a point of no return," Thompson said. "By the time the ambulance got there and had him on a monitor, he had a flatline."
Thompson, who is also medical director of the Ontario Poison Centre, testified she believed Foldi took a large amount of cocaine a few hours before his death.
Foldi had 1.3 mg of cocaine per litre of blood in his system when he died and 8.6 mg per litre of Benzoylecgonine, which reflects the metabolic breakdown of cocaine.
Based on those amounts, Thompson estimated Foldi had 10 mg of cocaine per litre of blood two or three hours before he died.
Thompson said cocaine has a short life and it's unusual to find it in blood. When a person takes cocaine, half of the amount used is gone in 45 minutes, with most gone in about three hours.
The inquest continues today and is expected to hear testimony from other police officers and Beamsville residents.
A coroner's inquest is mandatory when a person dies in police custody.
Labels: cocaine, coroners inquest, dr. margaret thompson, dr. paul dorian, excited delirium, james foldi, niagara regional police
Questions still unanswered for Prentice Family in son's death
Sandra Stanway, Brooks Bulletin
There are so many questions the Prentice family has about their son's death including why parents Shirley and Bill did not have a chance to say goodbye.
On May 6 Brooks resident Grant Prentice, 40, died as a result of an altercation with police. A Taser was deployed but its use is under investigation.
"The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. on May 6. He passed away in hospital at 8:25 p.m," said Prentice.
"The special agents came over at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning. They came to the door and let us know that Grant had passed away," said Bill Prentice.
He added that he asked why the family was not notified earlier and they were told when there is a death like that it becomes a crime scene and it gets turned over to Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.
The parents arranged to see Grant's body at 11 a.m. that day.
"They got hold of us and said the body was already on its way to Calgary," he said.
Asking how the body was identified without the family present, Prentice was told fingerprints were used.
"It was frustrating," he said.
The family let the body go on to Calgary, though they know they could have had it returned to Brooks for a viewing.
"We chose not to. I saw him the morning before. He'd been over to the house with Shirley the night before. I just thought it best to leave it be," he said.
The family is waiting for the results of the autopsy which according to Clifford Purvis, executive director of ASIRT, is still a few weeks away.
As time goes by Bill has been reflecting on what happened. He said he's not blaming anyone.
"My only concern is I'm not too sure if the Taser was really required. Hopefully when they get the results back it'll tell me what he had in his system," Prentice said.
Labels: alberta, alberta serious incident response team, grant william prentice, rcmp
Dead man's mom asks Taser inquiry to find truth
By Cheryl Chan, Vancouver Province
The mother of a Polish immigrant who was Tasered at the Vancouver International Airport said she hopes an inquiry will uncover the truth about his death.
Zofia Cisowski, whose son Robert Dziekanski, 40, died in October 2007 after being hit five times with a Taser by an RCMP officer, said on the last day of testimony that she is "expecting to know the truth."
"I'm waiting on the Braidwood commission . . . to give me (the) chance to know the truth," Cisowski said outside the courtroom.
The second phase of the inquiry, headed by retired judge Thomas Braidwood, heard testimony from more than 80 witnesses over four months.
Notably, the inquiry heard testimony from the four RCMP officers involved in Dziekanski's Tasering, including Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson — who was the officer in charge at the time, and Const. Kwesi Millington — the Mountie who fired the five Taser shots.
The inquiry also repeatedly watched a bystander-shot video of the Tasering and Dziekanski's death on the airport floor, which contradicted testimony given by the RCMP officers and released publicly by the force after the spokesmen had watched the video.
On the last day of testimony, the inquiry heard from Duane MacInnis, an engineer and accident reconstruction specialist, who disputed another expert's findings that Dziekanski advanced toward the officers just before he was shocked with a Taser.
"There is no technical support for those findings," MacInnis said Tuesday.
On Monday, forensic video analyst Grant Fredericks said Dziekanski appeared to take three distinct steps toward the Mounties.
He confirmed his observation by measuring the pixels of Dziekanski's jacket in two frames taken from a three-minute video clip.
The pixel length decreased, said Fredericks, who concluded Dziekanski must have moved closer to the officers and further away from the camera.
MacInnis disagreed, saying that without knowing the height of the camera and without a second point of reference on Dziekanski's jacket aside from his collar, no such conclusion can be reached.
"The mathematics just aren't there," he said. "It's impossible."
MacInnis' statement was buttressed by the testimony of photogrammetrist Mark Hird-Rutter Monday that Fredericks' methodology was flawed.
Dziekanski was Tasered after he was stranded in the airport for nine hours and began throwing furniture.
He was restrained and handcuffed and died on the airport floor.
Don Rosenbloom, the Polish government's lawyer, said he is still troubled by the lingering question of why outside police investigators did not ask the four RCMP officers to reconcile their previous statements with the video footage.
"The Criminal Justice Branch, in reviewing this matter in deciding not to lay charges, did not play with a full pack of cards," he said.
Labels: braidwood inquiry, british columbia, rcmp, robert dziekanski, video
Public inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death hears from its last witness
By Sunny Dhillon, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The public inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, which heard compelling testimony from the Mounties involved in his death and airport visitors who witnessed the tragic incident, ended with a bit of a whimper Tuesday as the last witness took the stand.
Engineer Duane MacInnis testified that amateur video taken of Dziekanski moments before he was stunned with an RCMP Taser could not be used to support the force's claim that the Polish man was advancing on officers.
With that, the proceedings were adjourned until June 19 when closing arguments will be heard. A final report by commissioner Thomas Braidwood is expected in the fall.
Dziekanski died on the floor of Vancouver's airport in October 2007 after he was shocked multiple times by an RCMP Taser. He had wandered around the customs hall for hours, looking for his mother after arriving from Poland to start a new life in Canada. Police were summoned to deal with Dziekanski after he began throwing furniture in the arrivals area of the airport. He was jolted by the Taser within seconds of their arrival on the scene.
The inquiry, which heard from more than 80 witnesses and stretched beyond four months, heard conflicting views about what actually caused Dziekanski's death and about the actions of RCMP and airport officials.
The four officers each told the inquiry they tried to calm the man, but he came at them with a stapler. They repeatedly stunned him on the ground because, they said, he was fighting back.
Much of that picture was disputed by the now-infamous video and by other witnesses at the hearings, who described a man more scared than violent.
Don Rosenbloom, a lawyer for the Polish government, told reporters Tuesday there were a number of troubling moments during the inquiry, and he was left with one important question that may never be answered. "After the (four Mounties) provided their statements to the investigating authorities about what was their version of the events of that day, regrettably the RCMP's (Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) investigators never chose to go back to the officers, show them the video, and ask the officers to reconcile what is seen by all of us on the video with what they said in their statements to the IHIT investigators," he said.
"That wasn't done. What was the consequence of that to all of us?"
Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, was at the hearing Tuesday and told reporters she didn't testify before the inquiry because her doctor advised her against it due to her blood pressure.
Cisowski, visibly nervous as she spoke to the media throng, said she just wants to know what really happened the day her son died. "The Braidwood commission have given me a chance to know the truth and I'm expecting to know the truth," she said.
When asked what the best possible outcome of the inquiry could possibly be, Rosenbloom too spoke of getting at the truth. "The most positive result will obviously be that a decision-maker with the esteem of Mr. Braidwood reviews all of the evidence before this tribunal and informs the public and indeed the governmental agencies of what happened here and who was telling the truth in this room and who wasn't telling the truth," he said.
The inquiry heard allegations of a cover-up over the obvious disparity between the statements the officers involved gave to investigators and the witness video.
Public outrage seemed to grow as RCMP officials explained why their initial public statements on the death also diverged from the witness video and as experts paid by Taser International offered explanations on the cause of death.
Crown prosecutors announced last December that Cpl. Monty Robinson, Const. Bill Bentley, Const. Kwesi Millington and Const. Gerry Rundel would not be charged in Dziekanski's death, saying they used reasonable force.
All four officers took the stand at the inquiry, with Robinson, the most senior member, insisting he was ineloquent when he gave two separate statements to investigators probing the in-custody death.
Robinson conceded Dziekanski didn't swing the stapler as was originally claimed, and didn't have to be wrestled to the ground after being hit with the first shock.
The three other officers have said they gave their best recollections of a fast-paced, stressful event.
While on the stand, Bentley apologized to Cisowski for her loss. Cisowski refused to accept, saying it was far too late for apologies.
Earlier this month, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney apologized for Dziekanski's death. The force has also apologized for its inaccurate public statements in the days that followed the airport incident.
Video analyst tells public inquiry Dziekanski aggressive toward Mounties
Grant Fredericks is the owner of Forensic Video Solutions and is a lead instructor to LEVA, which is sponsored by Taser International.
VANCOUVER, B.C. — A forensic video analyst who told a public inquiry that Robert Dziekanski was acting aggressively toward Mounties before he was shocked by a Taser, conceded under repeated questioning Monday that his organization lists Taser International as a corporate sponsor.
Earlier, Grant Fredericks told the inquiry that his analysis of a witness' video of Dziekanski's death in October 2007, showed Dziekanski moving toward the officers shortly before he was jolted.
But Fredericks admitted on the stand that he has no training in photogrammetry and no more expertise in the science of making measurements by use of photographs than the average layperson.
Fredericks, a senior instructor with the Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association, was questioned about his organization's affiliation with Taser and initially said there wasn't one.
"Let me suggest to you, sir, that one of the major sponsors of that laboratory and that program under LEVA is Taser International. Do you agree?" asked Don Rosenbloom, a lawyer for the Polish government.
"No, I don't think Taser even knows it exists and I've never had any involvement with Taser International," Fredericks shot back.
But as Rosenbloom pressed on, Fredericks' answers on the affiliation changed.
"I believe I saw Taser as one of the vendors at our conference last year," Fredericks said at one point, before being handed a document that listed Taser as one of the group's corporate sponsors.
"I think they've donated a couple of dollars to whoever sponsors the webpage. Reading anything more into that would be inaccurate," he said.
Fredericks, who graduated with a degree in broadcast communications from Gonzaga University and launched Forensic Video Solutions in the 1980s, said he himself never approached Taser for funding.
Kicking off the last week of testimony at the inquiry, lawyers for the four RCMP officers involved in Dziekanski's death might well have wanted to go out on a stronger note.
But Fredericks spent hours on the stand attempting to explain why his report was accurate, despite the fact it had been discredited in two other reports entered as exhibits by Rosenbloom.
And Mark Hird-Rutter, a certified photogrammetrist who took the stand after Fredericks, said there were numerous flaws in the testimony of the RCMP witness. A photogrammetrist surveys and measures photographs.
"The first thing he's tried to do is he's tried to measure a length on Mr. Dziekanski's back and based on that length he's tried to suggest that Mr. Dziekanski has become smaller," Hird-Rutter said.
"The problem with this in terms of the size of Mr. Dziekanski is that we don't know if Mr. Dziekanski has actually shrunk down or if Mr. Dziekanski has actually become smaller. All we know is that it's been changed by three pixels."
Hird-Rutter added that it would be incorrect to say Dziekanski moved either forward or backward based on measurements he did of the scene.
The inquiry has heard from more than 80 witnesses, detailing every aspect of Dziekanski's time at the airport.
The public's focus has always been on the four RCMP officers who were called when Dziekanski started throwing furniture.
The Mounties have seen public support drop and have faced near-constant criticism since Dziekanski's death.
The force says it's learning from the incident, and is prepared to consider changes based on the inquiry's final report.
The final witnesses will testify this week, and closing arguments are set for next month.
After that, retired judge Thomas Braidwood will write his report, which could be ready by the fall.
Inquest begins into Taser death in Beamsville
See also: "How Can You Justify Using A Taser 12 Times?" which reported: "one fired an X-26 taser once ... one officer discharged his taser 11 times, using what's known as a drive stun technique, where the device is pressed against a person and fired. Mr. Foldi fell to the ground and was handcuffed. He started breathing heavily, lost consciousness and never recovered." Niagara police had been using tasers for only a week when the Foldi incident took place.
KARENA WALTER, St. Catharines The Standard
A man who went on a tear through a Beamsville neighbourhood and died after being Tasered seemed unaffected when the stun gun hit him, police officers testified Monday.
James Foldi, 39, continued to run and smash windows, even when his back was visibly sparking from the electrical jolt, a coroner's inquest jury was told.
The jury began hearing testimony Monday in St. Catharines into the July 1, 2005 death.
Niagara Regional Police had been called to the area of Village Park Drive and Crescent Avenue around 2:30 a.m. after reports of a man breaking into residences.
"It was similar to something out of a horror movie," said Const. Patrick Diver, who spotted Foldi walking through the fog on Crescent Avenue.
"I could see his face was covered in blood. His eyes were wide. He looked anxious."
Diver had been dispatched to a residence on Village Park Drive for a break in, but when he arrived was advised to go to another call on Crescent Avenue, where a resident was pointing down the street.
After he spotted Foldi, Diver said Foldi ran into a nearby bungalow and people inside started screaming.
Foldi ran into a bedroom in the house and the residents, who didn't know who he was, let Diver and Sgt. Richard Ciszek inside.
The two officers went down a hall, where Diver said Foldi was yelling nonsensically.
"I kept saying to him, 'We're trying to help you. Get down on the ground, do what we're telling you to do,' " Diver said.
"At that point, he jumped out the window of the bedroom."
As Foldi went through the window, Ciszek testified he pointed a Taser in the probe mode and hit Foldi in the back.
Ciszek said Foldi's two arms went up at the elbows and there were sparks on his back, but he continued running beside the house.
Police went out the front door and met Foldi at the side of the house, who was trying to climb a gate.
Ciszek said he pepper-sprayed Foldi but the man turned around and started running. "I could see the whites of his eyes and there wasn't even a blink," Ciszek testified.
Ciszek discharged the Taser a second time, again hitting Foldi in the back. He said Foldi ran and jumped through a glass window in the garage.
"Mr. Foldi was wildly beating on the vehicle parked in the garage with his fists," Ciszek told the inquest.
Foldi ran out of the garage as officers came in. They ended up getting him to the ground outside and Ciszek said it was a violent struggle.
Ciszek said he fired the Taser in stun mode at Foldi's calves and upper thighs.
"Mr. Foldi continued to yell and scream. There was no change in behaviour at all," he said.
Ciszek held Foldi's legs and ankles while Diver and two other officers tried to handcuff him.
Ciszek said soon after Foldi was handcuffed, he stopped struggling. When police discovered he wasn't breathing, Ciszek preformed chest compressions.
Pathologist Dr. John Fernandes testified he found the cause of death was excited delirium, a consequence of acute cocaine poisoning.
The inquest is scheduled for two weeks and is expected to hear testimony today by police officers, a cardiologist, medical toxicologist and members of the Beamsville neighbourhood.
Dziekanski moved toward Mounties, video expert tells B.C. inquiry
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun
An expert forensic video analyst, who testified Monday at an inquiry probing the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport, said the Polish immigrant took steps toward four RCMP officers before he was hit with the first of five Taser shots.
"He appeared to be moving away from the camera," Grant Fredericks told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired judge, about the three-second clip before Dziekanski was Tasered.
Fredericks, a former television reporter before he became a Vancouver police constable in 1988, said he stabilized an amateur video taken of the 2007 incident at the airport and measured the computer pixels between Dziekanski and fixed objects such as an overhead sign and an airport counter.
He explained each video image is 640 pixels across and 480 pixels top-to-bottom.
"It showed a move forward from the hip and shoulder area," Fredericks testified. "He's shifting his weight and turning his shoulders slightly."
He concluded that Dziekanski was advancing toward the officers with a stapler in his hand, which he had grabbed off a counter at the airport.
The four officers testified earlier that when Dziekanski grabbed the stapler, they feared for their safety, justifying the force used.
Don Rosenbloom, the lawyer representing the Government of Poland at the inquiry, objected to Fredericks's testimony, saying the witness is not an expert in biomechanics.
Braidwood allowed the witness to continue, saying Rosenbloom will be able to cross-examine Fredericks.
The witness became the Vancouver police co-ordinator of the forensic video unit in 1997 and left the force in 2000. He now works in the private sector in Spokane, Wash., and teaches forensic video analysis in the context of law enforcement.
Fredericks was contacted by David Butcher, the lawyer representing one of the Mounties at the inquiry. There are two other experts, contacted by Polish government, waiting to testify.
These two experts are expected to say Fredericks's report is flawed and has three critical errors.
Dziekanski, 40, had left his home in Poland 24 hours before he arrived in Canada to live with his mother in Kamloops, B.C. He grew frustrated waiting for his mother inside the international arrivals section that was not accessible to the public. After nine hours Dziekanski, who spoke no English, eventually became agitated and began throwing around furniture. Seconds after the four Mounties arrived on the scene, Dziekanski was zapped with the electronic weapon. He died minutes later after the officers struggled to handcuff Dziekanski's hands behind his back.
Police testified they thought the man was resisting arrest and didn't realize that Const. Kwesi Millington was continuing to Taser the man four more times. Millington testified he had never fired a Taser before.
Mounties call video analyst to support claim Dziekanski was aggressive
The RCMP have called a surprise witness to defend their version of events at the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski.
Commissioner Thomas Braidwood is heading the public inquiry into the death of Dziekanski in October 2007 after he was shocked with an RCMP stun gun at Vancouver's airport.
On Monday, the inquiry will hear from Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst the RCMP have called in at the last minute to testify in support of claims that Dziekanski was violent when police arrived, and brought the first Taser jolt on himself by trying to attack them.
The four officers involved in the incident each told the inquiry they tried to calm the man, but he came at them with a stapler. They repeatedly stunned him on the ground because, they said, he was fighting back.
Much of that account was apparently contradicted by video recorded by an onlooker and made public, as well as by other witnesses at the hearings, who described a man more scared than violent.
But Fredericks will testify Monday that Dziekanski took three steps toward the Mounties in the moments before they incapacitated him with a Taser.
Fredericks's testimony comes following a series of medical experts who have called into question the Mounties' official theory of why Robert Dziekanski died.
Independent experts have suggested the Taser likely played a role in stopping Dziekanski's heart, adding to the man's stress and triggering a fatal heart arrhythmia.
Experts paid by the weapon's manufacturer, however, insist there's no way the weapon could have played any part in the man's death.
The police said he died of a bad heart because he was an alcoholic, but experts have argued that he died because of what the Mounties did to him — shocking him repeatedly with a Taser while they pinned him to the ground.
CAJ Award winners announced
VANCOUVER, May 23 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists, Canada's only national professional organization for reporters, editors, producers and photographers, announced the winners of the annual CAJ Awards for journalism tonight at the association's Awards gala dinner held in conjunction with its annual national conference. The CAJ's top award for investigative journalism in Canada, the Don McGillivray Award for Investigative Journalism was presented to Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator for his entry A Pig's Tale. The CAJ awards are Canada's only recognition for the best in investigative journalism across the country.
The winners in the OPEN TELEVISION (greater than 5 minutes) category are:
Frédéric Zalac, Alex Shprintsen, Kris Fleerackers, Georges Laszuk, Sandra Bartlett, Susanne Reber
The Taser Test
Labels: canadian association of journalists, cbc, taser testing
Braidwood Inquiry
Scheduled Witnesses (Subject To Change)
Note: Today's hearing commences at 9:30 am
Grant Fredericks (Forensic Video Analyst)
Duane MacInnes (Professional Engineer)
Mark Hird-Rutter (Certified Photogrammetrist)
(continued, if necessary)
Oregon man dies after he is tasered
KTVZ
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Salem man died after police officers deployed stun guns and hit him with batons during his arrest.
Salem Police Lt. Dave Okada says 37-year-old Gregory Rold resisted officers who had been called to an apartment Saturday night on a trespassing complaint. Police placed Rold into handcuffs after using the weapons to subdue him.
Okada says Rold lost consciousness while restrained and was taken to Salem Hospital, where he died about two hours after the confrontation. A cause of death has not been released.
The police involved in the arrest have been identified as Jacob Pratt, Eric Brown, Adam Waite and Corporal Darron Mumey. All were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in such cases.
The Oregon State Police is investigating.
Psychologist says RCMP's black gloves meant to bully the public
By Terri Theodore, Canadian Press
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Inside a cathartic letter to the mother of the man who died on the floor of Vancouver's airport is a symbol of what the author says is the failing relationship between the RCMP and the public.
All four officers who confronted Robert Dziekanski the night he died were wearing black leather gloves - what Mounties call slash gloves.
They're supposed to protect officers from having their hands pricked or cut by sharp objects, but Mike Webster, a police psychologist for three decades, explained in the letter to Zofia Cisowski that the gloves are worn by some to intimidate.
Webster testified recently at the inquiry into Dziekanski's death.
Bystander video released after Dziekanski died shows the officers wearing the gloves and leaping over an airport railing. Within seconds one officer shocked the Polish immigrant with a Taser and Dziekanski fell to the floor screaming in pain.
In an interview, Webster said the gloves have become much more than protection from sharp objects.
"They've become another tool now, by the looks of things, in the members' armoury. But they (RCMP members) don't think very much about the effect they have on the public."
Webster said police often fail to recognize how intimidating the gloves, or just their presence, can be for a member of the public.
"The first time you speak to a general-duty police person who's got body armour on outside their shirt, it can take people's breath away."
While he said he understands the use for body armour, he doesn't believe the gloves are necessary. "I think that the idea behind using the gloves for a psychological effect is misplaced and just not part of good policing."
Webster knows officers who wouldn't walk through a bar without putting on the slash gloves because of the psychological effect it has on patrons and he has been told by other officers that they use the gloves to intimidate.
The gloves have a very thin layer of Kevlar under the leather, and RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said they're meant to prevent needle pricks or knife slashes. "In front-line, uniform policing we encounter many, many people who, as we search them, we find they had sharp objects that could have cut our hands," he said. "It's just an officer safety thing."
RCMP training does include the use of the gloves "where appropriate," Shields said. He said there have been dozens and dozens of incidents where police officers have been cut or pricked by a needle, including some where the needle contained HIV-positive body fluid.
Shields said it's just wise and prudent if a police officer expects to put their hands on someone that they put the gloves on first.
It's an argument Webster doesn't buy, and in his business it's called "catastroph-izing" an event. Contrary to what others believe, he said, policing isn't one of the most dangerous jobs in the community. He said most organizations that gather such statistics rank policing around 15th, well behind taxi drivers, construction workers, fishermen and loggers.
Instead, he said in his open letter, the gloves are a symbol of the RCMP executives' relationship with the public. "So in a perverse way we can understand the climate in which the Taser was so warmly embraced by the RCMP decision makers and is so enthusiastically deployed by its loyal members," his letter states.
Shields said RCMP officers aren't trained to see the gloves as intimidating, but added if they prevent violence then that's a victory. "Because our goal is to save lives, it's to prevent violence. There are many times we have to arrest somebody," he said. "If we can do that without resorting to violence through having a greater show of force, then that's a win-win for everybody."
Webster said up until Dziekanski's death, he and many in the RCMP were asleep to the failing relationship between the force and the public.
"I think the RCMP is at a crossroads in its history," he said. "It's time for somebody to say something and see if we can't salvage this relationship between a Canadian icon and its public."
Labels: braidwood inquiry, dr. michael webster, rcmp, robert dziekanski
Some facts about the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Some facts about the Braidwood inquiry examining the death of Robert Dziekanski:
Commissioner: Retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge Thomas Braidwood.
Focus: To provide a complete public record of what happened to Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport on Oct. 14, 2007, and to make recommendations to prevent a similar death in the future.
Length: Started on Jan. 19, 2009, and finishes hearing testimony this week.
Lawyers: 19 representing the inquiry, the government of Canada, the Polish government, the four RCMP officers, Dziekanski's mother and the airport, among others.
Number of witnesses so far: 81, with as many as three more expected to testify in the inquiry's final week.
What's next: Lawyers will make closing submissions in mid-June. Braidwood will then write his final report, which could be ready by the fall.
First phase: Braidwood oversaw another inquiry last year, a study commission broadly examining Taser use. A report from that phase is due by the end of June.
Quote: "As a parent, I can imagine nothing more terrible than losing a son or daughter. Please be assured that I ... will make every effort to provide you with a complete record of what happened that night in the hope that it will assist you in finding some closure and peace." - Retired judge Thomas Braidwood addressing Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Ciswoski, on the inquiry's opening day.
Inquiry draws to a close but Dziekanski's death still stirring debate
By James Keller – 13 hours ago
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Four years before he came to Canada from Poland, Robert Dziekanski received a photograph in the mail from his mother.
Zofia Cisowski was posing with members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on horseback, as she celebrated her new citizenship.
"I was so happy, smiling," says Cisowski from her home in Kamloops, B.C.
"He knows about Canada, even small things, especially about RCMP, about the government."
Dziekanski, 40, encountered this iconic symbol of Canada soon after he landed at Vancouver's airport, but the contrast couldn't have been more stark: a fatal confrontation on Oct. 14, 2007, that has tarnished the image of the RCMP and led the public to question their national police force.
A lengthy public inquiry finishes hearing testimony this week, with closing arguments in June, but Canadians already know the tragic ending, caught on an amateur video that has become a staple of suppertime newscasts.
A table thrown against a window.
The arrival of four Mounties.
The crack of the Taser.
His chilling screams.
A struggle, and more jolts of electricity.
And then Dziekanski lying lifeless on the floor, his hands cuffed behind his back.
The second phase of a public inquiry - another last year broadly examined Taser use - has heard from more than 80 witnesses during the past four months touching on every agency that had contact with Dziekanski as he arrived to start a new life in Canada.
But it is the RCMP and their use of the Taser that have been under the most scrutiny in the wake of Dziekanski's death.
The Mounties have tried to paint Dziekanski as a distraught recovering alcoholic who was violent when police arrived, bringing the first Taser jolt on himself by trying to attack them.
The four officers each told the inquiry they tried to calm down the man, but he came at them with a stapler. They repeatedly stunned him on the ground because, they said, he was fighting back.
Much of that picture was disputed by the infamous video and again by other witnesses at the hearings, who described a man more scared than violent.
And perhaps most troubling for Canadians is the force's repeated insistence that the officers did nothing wrong and their steadfast defence of the controversial weapon at the centre of it all.
Cisowski has long demanded an apology, but now she is asking for more: she wants prosecutors to reconsider their decision not to charge the officers and says the Mounties need to get rid of their Tasers.
"I'm sick of hearing anymore about police Tasering somebody," says Cisowski, who has travelled between Kamloops and Vancouver to watch much of the inquiry.
"The Taser is not a safe weapon at all."
For its part, the RCMP has apologized for Dziekanski's death, saying more emphasis must be placed on calming down distraught people, and it readily acknowledges the profound challenges ahead to rebuild public trust.
A steady stream of letters to the editor still fills editorial pages and comments below online news stories continue to stretch on for pages.
A poll for The Canadian Press in March found nearly two-thirds of respondents felt the officers used excessive force, and more than a third said it decreased their confidence in the Mounties.
"The more they tried to stick to their party line, the more they tried to obfuscate, the worse it got," says Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
"It's a situation where you've gone so far down the road now, it's tougher and tougher to get out of this, and it will not go away."
While the assessment of the officers' actions will be the most anticipated finding of retired judge Thomas Braidwood's final report, his focus will be much broader.
Braidwood will write about the Canada Border Services Agency and its officers, who failed to notice Dziekanski waiting for hours in a secure customs hall and never called a translator when he finally surfaced. Everyone who dealt with him knew he didn't speak any English.
He will write about Dziekanski's mother, in a public waiting area, frantically trying to find information about her son.
There are the airport staff who told Cisowski that privacy laws prevented them from telling her anything about her son, a refrain repeated by the immigration officer who sent her driving back to Kamloops.
The airport supervisors who broke protocol by not calling the facility's own firefighters or fetch an automatic defibrillator that was just a short walk away.
Braidwood must assess whether the officers or anyone else was monitoring Dziekanski's medical condition after the Taser was used. Several witnesses disagreed over how much this happened, if at all.
He will also have to sort through widely varying medical opinions about what killed Dziekanski.
Independent experts have suggested the Taser likely played a role in stopping Dziekanski's heart, adding to the man's stress and triggering a fatal heart arrhythmia. Experts paid by the weapon's manufacturer, however, insists there's no way the weapon could have played any part in the man's death.
Even when the report is public - one of the inquiry's lawyers says Braidwood wants to finish the report by the fall - Dziekanski's story won't be over.
Other investigations are still to come, including a review by the complaints commissioner for the RCMP.
And the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother has suggested a lawsuit could follow.
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Stocks in Actions- Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) , Ingram Micro (NYSE:IM), Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN), B/E Aerospace (NASDAQ:BEAV)
How to find protests in your city when you don't know where to start
by Lucy Ryan
Rio Tinto plc (ADR) (NYSE:RIO) (Full FREE Analysis of RIO And Be Sure To Notice The Intermediate Period) reported that its transformation into a more streamlined, accountable business is meeting momentum, by means of a assure for sustainable cash returns to be delivered to shareholders coming year. Whereas, shares of Rio Tinto plc (ADR) (NYSE:RIO) traded fell -1.75% to finished at USD46.60 with market capitalization of 99.53 billion. Separately, a research note to investors, 3 analysts rate it at "strong buy" and 1 rate it a "Buy."
Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM) (Read Latest Free Analytic Facts on IM and Be Updated) reported that it has made a binding propose for the purchase of ANOVO, a Paris, France based, provider of reverse logistics as well as repair services for high-tech products for example smartphones and set-top boxes across Europe as well as Latin America. Ingram Micro stated that upon completion of the purchase, which is anticipated in early 2015, ANOVO is anticipated to contribute in excess of $300 million in annual revenue and be modestly accretive to Ingram Micro's non-GAAP earnings per share. Share price of Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM) climbed 0.51% to closed at $27.43 with the traded volume of 617,162.00 shares as compared to the average volume of 1.55 million in last session. The 1 analysts rate its stocks at "Hold," 6 analysts rate it at "strong buy" and 3 rate it a "Buy," according to a recent a pool of analysts rating.
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B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV) (What Market Forces Produce Volatility in BEAV Share? Find Free Report Here) released that in connection by means of its previously released spin-off of KLX Inc., NASDAQ has informed the firm around certain key dates relating to trading in common stock of KLX and B/E Aerospace in connection with the spin-off. B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV) stock fell -0.10% to closed at $77.87 with the total traded volume of 1.52 million shares. The consensus average revenue estimates are $1.11B for latest quarter, at the same time as 7 experts predict $1.18B revenues for the next three months of 2014.
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