Braidwood Inquiry : Taser slams "junk science"

A lawyer for Taser Int. told the Braidwood Inquiry yesterday that medical testimony linking the death of Robert Dziekanski to his being tasered five times is "junk science". Or, as amusingly reported twice by the Winnipeg Sun in their version of the story before they fixed it : "jump science".

"... there was no evidence that "the Taser device caused or contributed to his death."

"We say it is time this uninformed speculation about the role the Taser device may have had in this case be dispelled and the attack on Taser’s reputation ended."

Taser Int. filed an application in B.C. Supreme Court in August to quash all 19 of Justice Braidwood's recommendations in his report Restoring Public Confidence: Restricting the Use of Conducted Energy Weapons in British Columbia despite Braidwood's advocacy for the weapon. Taser Int. prefers to lay all the blame on the mysterious "sudden death during restraint" due to "delirium".

You know, Taser, I think a simple test here would help clear up all this "uninformed speculation".

The problem is that we see people being tasered and then dropping dead - in that order. The RCMP has hundreds of recorded examples of drawing their TASER™ device and then not using it. If, as you contend, people die of delirium during restraint and not from being tasered, then all you have to do is produce the RCMP body of evidence that just as many delirious people drop dead before they are tasered as after.

Jump science. Hope this helps.