[Peace] Another Taser death (article)

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Hey, all.

This article details the death of a man with mental illness in Minneapolis.
He couldn't' be subdued so police shot him with a Taser and he died from a
heart attack.  More money for police training, I say, not Tasers.

Kimberlie
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Man stunned by police Taser dies

Howie Padilla, Star Tribune
 
Published February 13, 2004

A Minneapolis man died Thursday morning, seven days after suffering a heart
attack shortly after police subdued him with a Taser stun gun.

Raymond L. Siegler, 40, had been in critical condition since the Feb. 6
incident.

Police were called to the Andrew Residence on the 1200 block of S. 9th
Street at about 5:45 p.m. after Siegler reportedly threatened fellow
residents at the group home for adults with mental illness.

Members of the Police Department's crisis intervention team, who are trained
to deal with people suffering from mental illness, were the first to arrive.

They called for backup, but when they were unable to subdue Siegler, they
used the Taser. Siegler suffered cardiac arrest shortly after he was
shocked.

He had existing medical conditions before the weapon was used on him, and
authorities say they don't think the Taser caused the cardiac arrest.

The Hennepin County medical examiner's office has not yet determined the
cause of Siegler's death.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident. The
officers involved, David Mathes and Timothy Savior, were placed on a
three-day administrative leave, which is standard policy. They were expected
to return to work this week, police spokesman Ron Reier said Thursday.

After hearing of the news, Mark Anderson, executive director of the Friends
of Barbara Schneider, said that the sheriff's investigation may not be
enough to determine how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"We all want to know what went wrong," he said. "But we need to look at the
entire system of working with the mentally ill."

Anderson used the analogy of a plane crash, where an agency dissects the
entire incident, from beginning to end, to determine the cause.

"They're not placing blame on anyone," he said. "They're just trying to
figure out what happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening
again.

It's not just the investigation of what happened after police arrived that
needs to be looked at, but also the things that led up to Siegler's threats,
Anderson said.

Howie Padilla is at

hpadilla at startribune.com

Man stunned by police Taser dies

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