Autistic Man Claims He Was Tasered Twice In His Bedroom By Toronto Police

George Lochner, a 43 year old autistic man, is suing Toronto police alleging that police Tasered him twice in his own bedroom during a search for the man's brother. Mr. Lochner is seeking $9 million in damages and is represented by prominent Canadian lawyer Jack Ruby. Mr. Ruby, as reported in the Toronto Star:

called the use of the Taser a blatant misuse of force, especially since he said police did not have a valid warrant to enter Lochner's home.Ruby called for a ban on Tasers, and described Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair as being “addicted” to them.

Toronto police deny the allegations.

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Autism and Tasers

Tasers can kill.

They do not always kill but they can kill. And they are painful. They are not used solely to protect police officers from serious threats. They are often used simply because a person is "non-compliant" with police officer commands. Lax standards for use of tasers has resulted in over use and placing of people at risk of serious pain and even death. Of particular concern for me, as the father of a 12 year old boy with Autism Disorder with profound developmental delays, is that tasers, in New Brunswick, as well as elsewhere, are used against persons with mental disorders including autism disorder.

Some people with autism disorders, including my son, have limited understanding of language. They can also become overwhelmed by overstimulation and excitement. All the ingredients necessary for a tasering if an autistic person is suffering from a meltdown in the presence of a police officer.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture in commenting on its periodic report of Portugal stated that Taser use constitutes a form of torture:

Portugal

Following its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Portugal ... The Committee was worried that the use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use.

(Bold highlighting added - HLD)

Young people with autism disorders have been tasered to calm them down. In November 2005 in Florida a 15 year old Autistic youth was tasered after he was already down on the ground, handcuffed, with his legs tied, with four police officers on his back. The boy , although 15 functions at the level of a 6 year old. He was 5' 8", and 225 pounds but at the point the boy was tasered it is difficult to see how he could have been an actual threat to the four attending police officers.

In a November 2007 incident in California a 15 year old Autistic youth was Tasered after being approached by police and running across a roadway causing two cars to swerve. He was then tasered and handcuffed for his safety. The boy's mother contends the boy would have complied with the police instructions if he had not felt threatened.

Autistic youths here in New Brunswick have also been subjected to Taser force by police. In Connecting the Dots New Brunswick Ombudsman and Child and Youth Advocate Bernard Richard examined the criminalization of youth with mental disabilities in New Brunswick. One of the examples he used was that of Nichlas ( a pseudonym) a youth with Aspergers:

It was very clear from an early age that Nicholas had difficulty with over-stimulation. He became quickly aggressive if too much was going on around him. He’s been known to react strongly to people talking to him and to thinking they were shouting when, in fact,they were not. He was also hypersensitive to tags on his clothes. He had a fixation about singing “O Canada” at any time of the day or night. He would memorize the phone book and license plate numbers, particularly of police cars and fire engines. He obsessed over details about machines and inventions and over certain words, like “Rubbermaid.” He was very bright in reading and writing. Specialists recommended a specific approach with Nicholas: having a predictable routine, having a quiet place to go to wind down when he felt too much stimulation (“graceful exits”), breaking up his day so he could get less stimulation and more control, and reviewing rules and expectations before moving on to a new activity, because he cannot deal well with sudden changes.

Nicholas ultimately ended up in a an FCS (Family and Community Services) group home. There he ended up being tasered, on two occasions, by police:

A series of placements in FCS group homes, at home with his parents, at the Child and
Adolescent Psychiatric Unit of the Moncton Hospital, and at NBYC (even frequent
moves within NBYC) began for Nicholas. Twice the police “tasered” him. (Police use a
taser gun to immobilize an individual. The gun releases two barbed fish hooks that shoot
thousands of volts into the body.)

Mr. Richard's report is careful to point out the challenges faced by staff in the group home. He also highlights the lack of adequate placements and help for autistic youths like Nicholas. As a result of his behavior and arrests Nicholas ended up in jail on different occasions where he was repeatedly sexually abused by a guard who later pled guilty and was sentence for those abuses.

In the United States recently there have been two more incidents of deaths of persons shortly after they were Tasered. On March 20, 2008, a 17 year old Charlotte, North Carolina youth died after being Tasered by police at the grocery store where he worked. In Florida on March 21, 2008, a 41-year-old man, who wandered through traffic and violently resisted arrest, died after officers stunned him with a Taser.

Police officers perform vitally necessary services in society and they often face dangerous conditions in performing those services. But that in no way justifies distortion by anyone, including police, about the dangers of Taser use. The false belief that Tasers are harmless or cannot kill has resulted in overuse of Tasers. They are NOT used just to protect police officers or the public. University students being Tasered in a library, a man being Tasered for refusing to sign a speeding ticket,and a visitor to Canada being Tasered and dying shortly thereafter.

Autistic people are sometimes challenged in understanding language and even where they do can sometimes become over reactive to excitement and stimulation. They are inherently vulnerable to being Tasered for "non-compliance". In New Brunswick "Nicholas", a youth with Aspergers, was Tasered on two occasions.

I do not want to see my profoundly autistic son, now 12 and growing, shot with a Taser at any point. I can fully understand any person with a family member shot with a Taser pursuing every legal recourse against the officers in question and public decision makers who could permit this to occur, elsewhere or here in New Brunswick; including pursuing complaints to the United Nations which has already indicated that Taser use is a form of torture.

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Law Enforcement and Autism - Communication Not Tasers

In Canada controversy rages over the use of Tasers. The world has seen the Paul Pritchard video of the death by police arrest of Polish speaking Robert Dziekanski who was Tasered and physically subdued .... to death ... by a group of RCMP officers in a Vancouver airport. As was evident in the video Mr. Dziekanski did not speak English. 18 people in Canada have died after being Tasered since 2003. There are other serious issues raised by the video including why the RCMP fired Taser shots at the gentleman when he appeared to pose no threat to them.

The use of Tasers and other force to "subdue" persons with communication difficulties should be of particular concern to parents and caregivers of persons with autism. As reported in Lessons in autism planned for police " Law enforcement officials in California and Ohio who were not trained in dealing with autism used stun guns to subdue two children with autism earlier this year." The article advertises workshops planned in New Jersey by Dennis Debbaudt who has worked extensively with police forces and whose workshops will focus on "ways to successfully resolve a call involving a person with autism, Asperger's syndrome and other developmental disabilities. The primary goal is to make the community a safer place for people with developmental disabilities."

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New Brunswick Public Safety Minister John Foran Decrees Taser Use To Continue

I was disappointed to see the comments from Public Safety Minister John Foran as reported on the CBC New Brunswick web site article N.B. won't ban Tasers, but considers new guidelines. In that interview Minister Foran was reported as indicating, without any explanation, that "New Brunswick Public Safety Minister John Foran says he is not prepared to ban the use of Tasers by the province's police. Foran said his department is looking at developing new guidelines for Taser use, but he sees no need for an immediate ban."

On December 24 2006 I sent an email request to Minister Foran, Premier Graham, Health Minister Murphy and Justice Minister and Solicitor General TJ Burke requesting that the New Brunswick government "prohibit the police use of TASERS or at least suspend such use until your government has studied their safety and you personally feel comfortable with their use on New Brunswickers." My concern, beyond that of any citizen's concern, arises from the fact that I am the father of a profoundly autistic boy with limited communication ability and autistic persons and persons with developmental disabilities have been Tasered on occasion in North America because they lack communication skills and police will often use Tasers in situations where the person with whom they are speaking "fail to comply" with their communications, that is with police orders or directions. In the recent Vancouver tragedy the gentleman was unable to communicate because he did not understand English.

My letter from last Christmas Eve stated:

December 24, 2006

Hon. Shawn Graham, Premier
Hon. TJ Burke, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
Hon. John Foran, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Hon. Michael Murhphy, Minister of Health

Dear Honourable Premier and Honourable Ministers:

As the father of a 10 year old autistic boy with severe communication challenges I have long been aware that persons with autism and other disorders which impair communication skills have on occasion been TASERED by police forces in North America; in some part because police will use TASERS when dealing with "unruly" persons who do not respond to commands just as they sometimes use forceful takedowns in effecting arrests of such persons. I am concerned about the use of such dangerous weapons on New Brunswick citizens by our police forces.

The announcement by New Brunswick's Chief Coroner Dianne Kelly that she has set a date for an inquest into the death of Kevin Geldart, 34, who had been reported missing from a Moncton hospital ward on May 5, 2005 and who died after Moncton police used a Taser gun on him later that day, increases my concern as does news that the Fredericton City Council has voted to authorize the purchase of TASERS for use by Fredericton City police officers.

TASER use has raised concerns around the world and its use has preceded the deaths of approximately 50 people in North America since 2001. A TASER is a weapon which discharges a high voltage shock sometimes causing cardiac arrest, sometimes immediate and total loss of muscle control resulting in serious head injuries from unprotected collapse of the victim.

Amnesty International has called for cessation of TASER use by police forces pending further study of their safety and has stated that the use by police forces of TASER weapons as contraventions of international standards prohibiting torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as well as standards set out under the United Nations (UN) Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law Enforcement Officials.

Please be safe not sorry. You have great and necessary responsibilities to weigh on your consciences. The unnecessary death of New Brunswick citizens should not be among them. I ask that your government prohibit the police use of TASERS or at least suspend such use until your government has studied their safety and you personally feel comfortable with their use on New Brunswickers.

Respectfully,

Harold Doherty

63 Alder Avenue
Fredericton NB

I don't know if the New Brunswick government gave my expression of concern any real consideration. I do not enjoy any particular weight or influence with the government. And the police forces in New Brunswick perform a vitally important service to our society. Their officers deserve everyone's respect and appreciation. When their representatives urge our Public Safety Minister to permit the continued use of Tasers in apprehending citizens it is understandable that their wishes would be given great weight.

Still, given the numbers of deaths arising when individuals have been Tasered it is long past time that governments, including the New Brunswick government, stopped accepting without real, independent study, assertions about the safety of Taser use. A single Taser shot to a healthy police officer who knows the shot is coming is obviously not the same as the often multiple shots, true shocks, which hit people of unknown health in heightened emotional states.

Since last December there have been more Taser induced deaths in Canada and the US. The world has seen that Robert Dziekanski was Tasered, and subdued with rough physical force, when the arresting officers were not in any visible danger, and without any obvious attempt by those officers to communicate. The officers probably did not understand the Polish language being used by Mr. Dziekanski but they could have tried other means to communicate including facial expressions and hand gestures. As the father of an 11 1/2 year old boy with very limited oral communication abilities I have had to learn to communicate in every manner possible.

It is time police officers focussed more on communication, more on defusing situations, and less on firing their Tasers on people. Tasers are not safe when used on persons of unknown health in difficult circumstances. The evidence can be found in the deaths that have ensued. The false belief that Tasers are harmless have probably contributed to their occasionally unnecessary use on persons like Robert Dziekanski.

Hopefully too our political leadership will do more than simply tell us that regardless of the deaths that ensue New Brunswick citizens who lack the ability to communicate will be subject to Taser shots and possible death. Hopefully when Minister Foran says that the government is developing new guidelines for Taser use he actually means it. Hopefully those guidelines will encourage officers to use Tasers only when necessary and only when they, or other citizens are being threatened, and not simply for "non-compliance" with a verbal command. A command which may not be understood by many.

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RCMP Wilful Blindness To Taser Realities

As Canada, Poland, and the family of Robert Dziekanski still try to absorb the fact of his death while being Tasered in the Vancouver airport the RCMP continue to spin the myth that Taser's are harmless. [Admittedly the weight of the arresting officers on his head and chest area may have been factors].

It is difficult to understand as anything other than spin control the statement by RCMP BC commanding officer Gary Bass that "Withholding Tasers as a tool, and without evidence that a conducted energy weapon was responsible for Dziekanski's death, could put other people and RCMP members at risk, Bass argued." Uh, there is evidence Officer Bass. The evidence is that Mr. Dziekanski died as part of an arrest in which he was Tasered more than once. That is in fact evidence that the Taser shocks were responsible for his death, although other contrary evidence may be produced during the investigations.

Officer Bass should also be aware that since Mr. Dziekanski's death 3 more deaths arising from Taser incidents have occurred in the US, in Maryland, Florida and New Mexico. Only wilful blindness could lead one to ignore the evidence that, in some cases, Taser shocks cause deaths.

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Time to Face Facts - Tasers Kill

Defenders of Tasers have some good arguments to justify their use by police authorities. A Taser is certainly a less lethal weapon than a bullet from a gun. One of the weakest and most absurd arguments though is that Tasers don't kill. When people die while, or immediately after, being Tasered it is clear on any reality based assessment that the Taser was, at the very least, the culminating factor that contributed to a death. In Canada 18 people, including Polish visitor Robert Dziekanski, have died while being Tasered or shortly thereafter since 2003. Today comes word from Maryland that 20 year old Jarrel Gray died after being Tasered by police and falling to the ground unconscious. Mr. Gray was apparently involved in a fight which police were attempting to break up when he was Tasered. Whatever prompted the Taser use, whether it was justified or not, will be examined, but one thing is clear - a 20 year old man was Tasered and fell to the ground and died.

It is time to face facts - Tasers kill.

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Tasers, Videos and The Death of Robert Dziekanski

Because of citizen Paul Pritchard and his video recording of the tragic death of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish visitor to Canada, who could not speak English, the world has seen, and is forming its opinions, about Mr. Dziekanski's death. For me it was difficult to watch this video and I can not really imagine the ordeal his mother has endured.

It is not clear to me, because of the progression of events, whether Mr Dziekanski died as a result of the multiple Taser shocks or from the application of physical force and weight to his head and neck by members of the arresting team; or from some combination of these elements. Hopefully a thorough inquiry by independent investigators will establish more certainty.

Unless though, there is evidence that by some incredible coincidence, Mr. Dziekanski was about to die anyway from some unrelated medical condition which just happened to cause his death as he was being Tasered, and officers' were applying their body weight to his head and neck area, then some combination of these arrest methods caused or contributed to his death. Common sense dictates that conclusion.

I do not believe for a second that this vulnerable man died as a result of an alleged medical condition known as "excited delirium syndrome" often relied upon by coroners and other official investigators each time a victim dies after receiving Taser shocks or physical "restraint" at the hands of arresting police authorities. Such reports trot out this as yet unrecognized "syndrome" to explain the deaths of people who die shortly after receiving Taser electric shocks, without in any way implicating the electric shocks, in some cases multiple electric shocks, in those deaths. This explanation is essentially used to exonerate arresting officers.

In one instance in 2006 involving a 21 year old autistic man in Perris California who died after being piled on by several arresting officers Sheriff's officials claimed that the young man died from "autism induced excited delirium syndrome." In explaining deaths of arrested persons following Taser shock or physical force by police authorities The Book of Unrecognized Medical "Syndromes" is invariably consulted while The Book of Common Sense is left to the side, unopened.

Without the Pritchard video the world would not have seen the horrendous final moments of the life of Robert Dziekanski. The primary information source relied upon by news agencies, and the world, to understand this tragic event would be the RCMP, the police force whose officers Tasered and physically sat upon Mr.Dziekanski as he died. This is not the first time that citizen or news video have painted a fuller picture of an arrest incident than what might otherwise be available from police sources. The Rodney King arrest is probably the most well known. I was involved as legal counsel in a much lesser known case in which videotape evidence of CBC cameraman Roger Cosman was a critical factor in my client's acquittal on an obstruction of justice charge - R v LeBlanc, 2006 NBPC 37 (CanLII).

In that case Charles LeBlanc , a well known blogger here in New Brunswick, was arrested by police officers on June 9th, 2006, at an event at the Saint John Trade and Convention Center known as the “Atlantica” Conference. On that day the entrance area to the conference was disrupted by a group of more than 20 masked protesters who stormed the main entrance doors to the event knocking over tables in the admission area and physically pushing police officers in attendance. Mr. LeBlanc, who was not participating in the protest, was present taking pictures and was arrested by the police who executed a take down arrest on him with knees pressed to Mr. LeBlanc's upper body area. Mr. LeBlanc was charged with obstruction of justice but was acquitted. The most important piece of evidence in the trial was a CBC video recording by CBC cameraman Roger Cosman who was filming the protest events and caught Mr. LeBlanc's arrest on videotape. Judge William McCarroll, after noting a number of discrepancies between the evidence of arresting officer Sgt. John Parks, and the CBC videotape, acquitted Mr. LeBlanc.

In the cases of Rodney King, Robert Dziekanski and Charles LeBlanc, video tape evidence was critical, in each instance, in ensuring that the evidence of the arresting officers, who are active parties in any arrest situation, did not form the only reliable basis for assessing the evidence of what took place. It is very difficult. because of human nature, for officers to provide objective evidence once they become involved as arresting officers. In some cases an accused will not be considered as credible a witness as an arresting police officer. A videotape can provide an objective means for a defendant to meet the challenge of rebutting a police officer's testimony. In the case of Robert Dziekanski it provides a voice for someone is no longer available to speak for himself.

Hopefully the investigation of Mr. Dziekanski's death will establish more than the immediate cause of his death and will conduct a thorough, and credible, examination of the safety of Tasers generally. Hopefully too they will investigate the use by coroners, pathologists and official spokespersons of unrecognized medical conditions like "excited delirium syndrome" and "autism induced excited delirium syndrome" in explaining deaths arising during or immediately after Taser shock or the use of physical force by police. In the meantime police forces should cease Taser use in any but the most extreme cases which, by any measure, the Dziekanski situation was not.

It might also be time for police forces to be directed to videorecord their arrests and other situations with citizens where arrest is likely to occur whenever it is possible to do so safely. I realize that this will not always be possible and that police attention has to focus on the situation at hand. It does not seem unreasonable though, in this era of easy digital video recording, for police, in situations like that involving Mr. Dziekanski to have one of the several members present video recording the event. Otherwise, without the good fortune of a professional cameraman or bystander recording an event the real picture may never be known.

In Canada it is reported that Mr. Dziekanski is the 18th person in Canada since 2003 to die incident to a Taser arrest. Let us hope that in 2011 the news will not be reporting on the 36th person to die in Canada incident to a Taser arrest since 2003.

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Yet Another TASER Death

Canada.com reports in Man dies after being tasered by RCMP that a man in his 40's has died about 4 minutes after being Taser'd by RCMP stationed at the Vancouver International Airport. The man was sweating profusely and had been screaming, pounding on a desk, and grabbing a computer off a desk before being Taser'd with 50,000 volts of electricity.

Police and the company that manufactures Tasers tell us that Tasers are safe and do not cause death. Coroners who find other causes of death where people die shortly after being Taser'd have created a medical syndrome to justify their conclusions - excited delirium syndrome - which is not a diagnosis used in psychiatry. In one case involving an autistic victim who died after being Taser'd the police actually blamed it on "autism induced excited delirium syndrome"

I recognize that the use of Tasers by police is not a black and white issue. It does not seem credible though to claim that a death which ensues minutes after receiving 50,000 volts of electricity is not caused, at least in part, by that jolt. TASER company officials and police do their credibility no good in trying to peddle that affront to common sense.

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Autistic Teen Runs Through Traffic, Gets TASERed

If you are believe some of the internet rhetoric you might not think that autism is a serious disorder. People, particularly parents, who try to inform you otherwise are often shouted down by the internet crowd that wants to take ownership of autism and pretend that it is simply another variation of the human condition, not a disorder. But reality delivers some rude jolts to this internet based ideology. One such jolt occurred recently when a 15 year autistic boy ran away from an Orange Co. California social services centre and ended up running through traffic until he was TASERed by police and returned to his family. Fortunately the young man is reported to be in good condition.

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