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National study by the D.O.J. examines TASER deaths

By Deborah Knapp
San Antonio Express

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. — The U.S. Department of Justice is launching an investigation into deadly Taser incidents. This news comes on the heels of a deadly incident involving a Taser in San Antonio.

When Tasered with 50,000 volts of electricity, most people are out flat with the first jolt.

However, there are a few — like 35-year-old Sergio Galvan — who seem immune. Galvan was Tasered three times by San Antonio police officers in March, but didn’t stop fighting until he dropped dead.

Across the United States, nearly 200 people have died after being Tasered.

“That’s why you’re playing Russian roulette when you use the Taser,” attorney Tim Maloney said.

Maloney is representing Galvan’s family in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the city. He believes Tasers are deadly, but Taser manufacturers claim their devices do not kill. Until now, there have been no independent studies.

The National Institute of Justice is launching a comprehensive examination of Taser deaths. In the vast majority of cases, medical examiners have ruled that Tasers were not to blame.

That held true for Galvan’s case. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office recently ruled Galvan was high on cocaine and attributed his death to excited delirium, which is an overdose of adrenaline that stops the heart.

“The heart is being overstimulated by the nervous system,” said Vincent DiMiao, former Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner.

DiMiao is a consultant for the company that makes Tasers and has written a book on excited delirium called “Excited Delirium Syndrome: Cause of Death and Prevention.”

DiMiao said most of the people who die while restrained in police custody die of excited delirium brought on by drug use. It doesn’t matter if police hogtie the suspect, use pepper spray or Tasers to bring them under control.

“In the past five years we had 24 other cases where there was no use of a Taser, and they presented the same picture and they died the same way,” DiMiao said.

Of those, 22 deaths were in San Antonio police custody and all were caused by excited delirium.

The San Antonio Police Department does not require it, but many police get shocked themselves before they carry a Taser. There have been no reported deaths from this training, but some argue it’s the multiple jolts from the Taser that are deadly.

“If I only shock you once, it’s the same as shocking you 20 times? I mean, that just defies common sense,” Maloney said.

“It doesn’t work that way. With electricity, you either get the effect or you don’t. There’s no cumulative effect,” DiMiao said.

That is one of many issues the national study will address as more and more police departments arm themselves with Tasers.

Copyright 2007 San Antonio Express

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