[Peace-discuss] FW: [police oversight] San Jose CA - City to pay $70, 000 to settle Taser death & Ontario Orders Review of Police Tasers

[LAURIE SOLOMON]

I thought that the two articles might be of interest and something for the record should the issue of Tasers become a front burner issue again in this community.  The first is an instance of a community's settlement of a Taser related death (one of three legal actions and one of five deaths related to the use of Tasers in that community) along with that communities search for an alternative to Tasers.  The second item deals with the Province of Ontario's reviewing of police Tasers to make sure that they are functioning properly after reports of some Tasers emitting higher than expected charges.

-----Original Message  #1   -----

From: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com [mailto:policeoversight at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Attard, Barbara
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:23 PM
To: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [police oversight] San Jose CA - City to pay $70,000 to settle Taser death

San Jose to pay $70,000 to settle Taser death

By John WoolfolK  Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM PST


San Jose officials Tuesday agreed to pay $70,000 to the wife and child of a man who died in 2005 after police jolted him with Tasers, marking the city's first settlement over a fatality linked to the stun guns.

The settlement over the death of Jose Angel Rios, which the City Council approved unanimously, comes as mounting fatalities prompt questions about the safety of the devices, which police have rushed to adopt as a less-deadly alternative to handguns. 

Five people have died in the city after being shocked by police Tasers since San Jose issued the electrical weapons to all officers in 2004. Two other lawsuits over deaths that followed police Taser shocks are pending, while another was thrown out of court. The Rios case was among two in which the coroner cited the stun gun as a contributing cause of death.

"We're seeing more fatalities following their use, and it raises questions about whether they are as safe as the manufacturer claims," said Peter Bibring, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California.

In June, a San Jose federal jury found Arizona-based manufacturer TASER International partly responsible for the February 2005 death of Robert C. Heston, whom Salinas police jolted repeatedly during an arrest. According to California Lawyer magazine, the verdict was the company's first courtroom loss after 70 dismissals and settlements. The jury's original $5.2 million in punitive damages were overturned, leaving $153,150 in net compensatory damages. 

TASER officials stand by the safety of the devices, arguing they save countless lives, but would not comment on the Rios case because the company was not involved in it.

On Nov. 18, 2005, Rios and his family were visiting a relative at an apartment on Stokes Street when he and his wife, Christine, got into a heated argument in the parking lot.

An off-duty San Jose police officer, Ian Cooley, heard screaming, went to investigate and saw the 330-pound, 6-foot-tall Rios reaching inside the couple's vehicle.

Cooley and a bystander tried to intervene, with the officer using pepper spray in an attempt to subdue Rios, 38. Other officers quickly arrived, beating Rios with batons and jolting him repeatedly with Tasers as they tried to subdue him. Police said Rios continued to fight back until he was ultimately brought to the ground and handcuffed. 

Rios' family alleged officers continued beating him and stunning him despite his pleas to stop. Moments later, Rios went limp. Paramedics rushed him to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The coroner listed the cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest following a violent struggle with police in an individual with acute cocaine intoxication" but called "Tasering" a contributory cause.

Rios' wife and son filed suit in November 2006, alleging civil rights violations and wrongful death in a federal complaint that named Cooley and fellow officers Steve Guggiana, Paul Castillo, Shane Leuddeke and Kirk Niemeyer.

Shortly before the case was set to go to trial in late October, city officials offered to settle. 

Jaime Leaños, who represented Rios' family, said the man's wife and son have since moved out of state.

"These cases against police are very difficult," Leaños said. "She just kind of wanted to put this behind her."

Two other San Jose Taser-related fatality cases are pending. One involves the Jan. 25, 2006, death of Jorge Trujillo, who died after police subdued him with Tasers, not knowing he was the victim of a beating they had been called to investigate. The coroner listed the stun guns as a contributing factor. 

The other case involves the March 25, 2007, death of Steve Salinas, 47, a Mongol motorcycle club member zapped in a drug-fueled struggle with police. The coroner cited the Taser as a "significant condition" but did not say it contributed to Salinas' death.

Contact John Woolfolk at jwoolfolk at mercurynews.com or (408) 975-9346.

-----Original Message  #2   -----

From:	policeoversight at yahoogroups.com on behalf of Charles Reynolds [reynolds.charles at comcast.net]
Sent:	Thursday, December 18, 2008 7:29 AM
To:	policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
Subject:	[police oversight] Ontario Orders Review of Police Tasers

 
Ontario Orders Review of Police Tasers 
Posted: December 17th, 2008 11:36 AM EDT

TORONTO - The Ontario government has ordered a new review of some Tasers used by police to make sure they are functioning properly.

Concerns arose after CBC reported that one Taser model, the X26, used by police forces sent out higher voltage than specified by the manufacturer.

A government spokesman says police in Ontario have been asked to test and provide an inventory of X26 models manufactured before 2006.

Tony Brown of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services says there are about 2,000 conducted-energy weapons used by police in Ontario, excluding those used by the RCMP.

The province started its own review of the use of Tasers earlier this year, which Brown says should be concluded early in the new year.

But police don't have to report back to the ministry with the results from the Taser tests.

(The Canadian Press)