(Amnesty International was unable to obtain autopsy reports.)
Henry Orlando Bryant, 35, died 28 March 2008, Indianapolis Metropolitan PD, Indiana
Police used a Taser and pepper spray while they arrested him on a charge of public intoxication while in a restaurant. He stopped breathing at the scene and was pronounced dead later in hospital. The coroner’s office ruled that he died of “sudden cardiac death” during the struggle with police and that cocaine in his system and the electric shocks delivered by the Taser were contributing factors.
(http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081028/LOCAL18/810280369/1195/LOCAL18)
Nathaniel Cobbs, 24, died 8 July 2007, Newburgh Police Department, New York
Reportedly arrested during violent struggle with police where Taser and a police dog were used. He went into medical distress in the police car and died some nine hours later in hospital. According to the first autopsy report “cause of death was excited delirium ... caused by PCP, cocaine and other drugs”. A second autopsy found death due to “multi-organ shock with exsanguination”, dog bites and Taser with blunt force blows”. http://www.recordonline.com/apps//pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070907/NEWS/709070317
Maurice Cunningham, 29, died 23 July 2005, Lancaster County, South Carolina
After Cunningham, who had reportedly been hallucinating, attempted to attack two Lancaster County Jail deputies in order to escape from his cell, he was shocked repeatedly and pepper sprayed. He died at the scene.
The medical examiner reportedly ruled that he died of cardiac arrhythmia provoked by the application of six Taser cycles, one of which lasted two minutes and 49 seconds. He reportedly had no drugs or alcohol in his system. http://www.certops.com/certops/news/Sept280508.html; http://www.upi.com/Top/_News/2005/09/27
David Glowscenski 35, died 4 February 2004, Suffolk County, New York
His parents called police because of his distraught and irrational behaviour. Four officers used pepper spray and nine Taser shocks to subdue him. He stopped breathing at the scene after being shackled face-down. The first autopsy report listed his cause of death as “excited delirium” due to “acute exhaustive mania due to schizophrenia”. A second autopsy commissioned by the family reportedly found that the repeated Taser shocks, blunt force injuries and exposure to pepper spray contributed to his death, with the weight of an officer on his back also playing a role. (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332133.html)
Israel Guerrero, 29, died 10 June 2007, San Benito County, California
He was shocked, pepper sprayed and shot in the arm by police during a confrontation on a highway. The pathologist reportedly ruled that he died of excited delirium due to methamphetamine and cocaine intoxication, with a gunshot wound, Taser shocks, pepper spray and struggle with police contributing to his death. (http://www.freelancenews.com/printer/article.asp?c=218367)
Emily Mary Delafield, 56, died on 24 April 2006, Green Cove Springs, Florida
Delafield, who had severe disabilities, including a history of schizophrenia, was shocked ten times for 212 seconds by police while she was sitting in her wheel chair with a knife and hammer. She had a history of respiratory problems and used an oxygen tank. She went into cardiac arrest shortly after being shocked and died some 90 minutes later. The medical examiner reportedly found the main cause of death was hypertensive heart disease but said the Taser shocks were a contributing factor which could have impacted on her breathing. (The Florida Times-Union, 13 February 2007)
Vardan Kasilyan, 29, died 30 September 2006, Las Vegas Metropolitan PD, Nevada
Police used a Taser on him twice while trying to subdue him in his parent’s apartment. His parents later told an inquest jury that he was handcuffed at the time. The Medical examiner testified at the inquest that Kasilyan died by choking on his own vomit, and that contributing factors were his use of methamphetamine and cocaine, mental illness and use of the Taser.
Mark McCullaugh, 28, died 10 August 2006, Summit County Jail, Ohio
McCullaugh died following a struggle in his cell at the jail’s mental health unit during which he was shocked with a Taser, saturated with pepper spray and allegedly beaten while in restraints. The medical examiner ruled cause of death to be asphyxia from the combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint, with manner of death homicide. In May 2008, following a lawsuit brought by Taser International and the City of Akron, a judge ordered the cause of death findings to be changed to delete “any reference to death by ‘Asphyxia due to the combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint” as well as any reference to ‘Homicide’ due to “multiple restraint mechanisms”; the judge stated that the death was “more likely...due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia brought on by severe heart disease, his schizophrenia, the struggle” and possibly a therapeutic injection.288 However, the Summit County Medical Examiner has said she stands by the original findings and has lodged an appeal against the judge’s ruling, which was still pending at the time of writing
Willie Maye, 43, died 5 June 2008, Birmingham Police Department, Alabama
Maye was shocked with a stun gun and pepper sprayed after fleeing from officers during a traffic stop. He went into medical distress at the scene and died later in hospital. The coroner is quoted as saying that “He had a bad heart, but the adrenaline from fleeing from the police first, the scuffle, the bruises he sustained, the physical exertion, the Taser and the Mace – all the ingredients together caused his death”. (The Birmingham News, 19 July 2008)
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/121645535833670.xml&coll=2)
Baron Pikes, 21, died 17 January 2008, Winnfield City Police Department, Louisiana
Pikes was shocked nine times by a police officer during his arrest on an outstanding warrant for possessing drugs. He was shocked six times when he failed to obey a police command to get up off the ground and walk to a police car, was then “drive stunned” in the chest while in a police car and was shocked two more times as he was pulled from the car. The cause of death was reportedly given as “cardiac arrest following nine 50,000 volt electroshock applications from a conductive electrical weapon”. Manner of death was given as homicide. Pikes had no drugs in his system. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-taser_witt-web-
jul19,0,2201847.story)
Kevin Piskura, 24, died 14 April 2008, Oxford Police Department, Ohio
24-year-old Kevin Piskura became unresponsive after being struck once in the chest with a Taser when he intervened as police tried to arrest his friend outside a bar in Oxford, Ohio; a video shows him rolling on the
ground while being shocked for about ten continuous seconds. He did not regain consciousness and died after five days on a hospital life-support machine. The coroner reportedly ruled that the application of the CED device, combined with other factors (including acute alcohol intoxication and exertion) to cause his death. (http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081024/NEWS0107/810240418/-1/)
Chance Shrum, 20, died 15 May 2007, Iola Police Department, Kansas
Shrum was shocked at least twice with Tasers reportedly after police found him naked and dancing in the street in the early hours of the morning. Cause of death was given as “cardiac dysthythmia due to
myocarditis”, with the pathologist cited as stating in his report that “scene information suggests that a form of excited delirium existed and would have been a contributor. Due to the timeline given ... the additional stress from the use of the Taser should also be considered as a contributor”.
(http://www.iolaregister.com/Local%20News/Stories/No%20charges%20in%20Taser%20death%2)
Keith Tucker, 47, died 1 August 2004, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada
Police used batons and a Taser gun to subdue Tucker in an apartment complex after his room-mate called them to say that he was acting in a disturbed manner. He went into cardiac arrest at the scene and police reportedly noticed he had stopped breathing after he was handcuffed. The coroner determined that Tucker had died from cardiac arrest during restraint procedures and that the Taser was one of those “restraint
procedures”. (http://www.Ivrj.com/news/7708317).