Privacy Maven

In light of recent Taser deaths, most notably that of Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver, Taser International, whose company motto is “Protect Life,” is protecting its own life with aggressive legal defense.

Anyone who launches a lawsuit against Taser International Inc. or suggests a Taser electronic device was involved in a death are liable to get another shock when the company brings down the full force of its legal team.

Taser International is currently named as a defendant in at least 39 wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits where a Taser was used.

The company is aggressive in defending itself in such lawsuits and has entered into agreements to prevent its own insurance provider from settling out of court,

It has even filed a lawsuit demanding an Ohio coroner change her conclusion that a Taser was a contributing factor in the deaths of two men.

Taser also sent out legal demand letters to 60 organizations after its latest public relations black eye where a Polish man was jolted with a Taser by RCMP at the Vancouver International Airport and died minutes later.

“We are taken aback by the number of media outlets that have irresponsibly published conclusive headlines blaming the Taser device…as the cause of death before completion of the investigation,” Taser Chairman Tom Smith said in a news release.

The amateur video showed RCMP officers zapping Robert Dziekanski with a Taser while he screamed and writhed on the floor at the arrivals area in the international terminal.

The footage was seen around the world on TV and Internet and provoked an outcry against the use of the stun guns by police.

“Historically, medical science and forensic analysis has shown that these deaths are attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser,” Smith said in a news release.

The firm’s 2006 annual report said Taser assembled a team of world-class medical experts and additional legal resources to provide an efficient means of defending the company against numerous product liability claims.

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In some Taser deaths, and notably Robert Dziekanski’s, an obvious question comes to mind when viewing the tragic unfolding of events on the video: did the police resort to using the 50,000 volt Taser too quickly? Thankfully, the outraged viewer is not the only one asking that question.

The man who will head a review of the RCMP’s use of tasers following the death of a Polish visitor in the Vancouver airport says he is concerned they may be deployed too quickly and too often.

Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, said yesterday that there have been instances “where I thought it was being used inappropriately at too early a level of intervention.”

Through the review ordered this week by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, Mr. Kennedy said he wants to get a sense of whether RCMP “policy and their model in terms of recourse to force is appropriate.”

And he wants to find out whether officers “have thought about other devices. Have they been told that this is either a last resort or should be used at the higher end in terms of intervention?”

The inappropriate use of tasers is not a new concern for Mr. Kennedy. In his annual report tabled in June, he said one taser-firing incident led him to conclude that a review of the weapons was necessary.

Mr. Kennedy pointed to the case of an intoxicated woman – he didn’t name her – who was tasered by an RCMP officer and taken to the police station.

“That was okay in the first instance,” he said. But then “she is in the station and the device is used against her again. It’s a woman handcuffed in a station when there were other officers there. I said that is inappropriate in my belief. The commissioner agreed with me.”