Taser writes investigators, medical examiner, in death of Thetford man

[Silent_Bob]

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120910/NEWS02/309100004

The day following Macadam Mason's death, Vermont State Police held a news conference and said, in part, that the Thetford man died after being shot in the chest by a Trooper's Taser.

Less than four hours after the conference, a Taser International spokesman e-mailed State Police suggestions on how to conduct its investigation and asked the agency to forward information to the medical examiners conducting an autopsy on Mason's body.

"The attending medical examiners should urgently know that the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank is available with cutting edge research center that can determine drug abuse and look for excited delirium markers," spokesman Steve Tuttle wrote in the e-mail. "This is one critical act that many MEs miss out on because of delays. It's imperative to get this info to the ME as the brain tissues must be collected ASAP."

In response to an e-mail seeking comment, New Hampshire's Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Jennie Duval said recently that the Taser International written material forwarded to her office did not in any way influence the autopsy she conducted on Mason's body.

Mason, 39, died June 20 after Vermont State Senior Trooper David Shaffer fired his Taser at Mason's chest. Mason's partner, Theresa Davidonis, sued Shaffer and Vermont State Police late last month, accusing the trooper of using excessive force.

Vermont State police and the Vermont Attorney General's Office have declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The autopsy

Duval conducted the autopsy because Mason was transported to and pronounced dead at a New Hampshire hospital.

The deputy medical examiner said in her e-mailed response that while she did contact the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank regarding Mason's autopsy, she had done so "before receiving any correspondence from Taser."

Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said recently that typically the law enforcement agency investigating an arrest-related death involving a Taser contacts the manufacturer for suggestions on how to proceed. Tuttle said in Mason's death, however, he reached out to Vermont State Police.

"I've been handling every crisis for the past 19 years," Tuttle said. "It's the standard procedure whenever I get any type of alert," specifically a Google or Yahoo alert referencing an online story that includes the word "Taser."

The literature sent to Duval's office also included two reports written by Taser's Medical Director Jeffrey Ho, and several other doctors. The reports summarized studies that compared the physiological shock caused by a Taser to the ways people exert themselves while resisting arrest.

Asked whether it is unusual for an outside party to send her office literature regarding a specific autopsy, Duval responded, "yes, but not unheard of."

In answering the e-mailed questions, Duval said, "Because this death is still being actively investigated by this office, I will not be releasing any additional information at this time."
Records requests

The Office of New Hampshire's Attorney General, on behalf of the state's chief medical examiner, released a copy of the Taser International's e-mail to Vermont State Police and several attachments in response to a public records request filed by The Burlington Free Press.

The Vermont Department of Public Safety said it is processing a similar request, which asked for documents related to correspondence among Taser International, Vermont State Police, the Office of New Hampshire's Attorney General and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New Hampshire, since Mason's death.

The 36-pages of documents released two weeks ago by New Hampshire state officials also included a public records request submitted by Taser International to the New Hampshire Department of Justice on Aug. 13, seeking the complete autopsy file and other documents related to Mason's death.

"We of course want to know what the results are in any arrest-related death," Tuttle, the Taser spokesman, said.

New Hampshire Associate Attorney General Jane Young responded on Aug. 20 to Taser's request, saying, "We will not be able to respond to your request because the incident in question occurred in Vermont. Therefore, your request should be directed to the office of the Vermont Attorney General."

Similarly, New Hampshire state officials have repeatedly deferred The Burlington Free Press' questions regarding Mason's autopsy to Vermont State Police.

Vermont State Police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro has said, in turn, that police will not comment on the autopsy before the agency receives a complete file from New Hampshire.

When the state police completes its investigation, Dasaro said, it will forward a report to Orange County's State's Attorney Office and to Vermont's attorney general.

Dasaro wrote in an e-mail last week that "there is no timeline" for when State Police would receive an autopsy report from the medical examiner's office.

Tuttle said, "I've had these (autopsies) take months, especially when you have one that's controversial."
Deaths and Tasers

The number of arrest-related deaths involving Tasers varies month-to-month, according to Tuttle.

"We had nine in one month and one this month," Tuttle said. "I've had three in one day and haven't had one for a month or two."

Tuttle said he has to regularly correct media headlines that mistakenly blame a Taser for a person's death. He provided the example, "Man killed by cocaine in Taser death."

"Well, why is that a 'Taser death' if it's an overdose of cocaine?" Tuttle said.

The manufacturer estimates that during the past 19 years, law enforcement officers in the field fired Tasers 1.7 million times, according to Tuttle. He said that Taser International determined that during that same period of time, its devices were listed as the cause or a contributing factor of 40-50 deaths, internationally.

Comparatively, Amnesty International reported in February that 500 people in the United States had died since 2001 after being shocked by a Taser during their arrest or while in jail.

The New York-based organization elaborates, saying "most of the deaths have been attributed to other cases."

"However, medical examiners have listed Tasers as a cause or contributing factor in more than 60 deaths," according to Amnesty's report. "And in a number of other cases the exact cause of death is unknown."

In his June 21 e-mail to Vermont State Police, Tuttle specifically addressed the agency's 15 Taser certified instructors. He attached a "critical events checklist" on what to do immediately following an "arrest-related death" involving a Taser and sample news releases, noting he always suggests "that agencies provide the media information that doesn't compromise any ongoing investigation so that the media doesn't operate in a vacuum."

The documents released by the Office of New Hampshire's Attorney General included the checklist, but not the sample news releases. State Police sent out multiple news releases about Mason's death and held a news conference before receiving the e-mail from Taser.

Taser's two-page "critical events checklist" instructs investigators and medical examiners to, among other things, photograph the wounds caused by the Taser's probes, document the time elapsed between the deployment of the Taser and the pronouncement of death and measure the decedent's body core temperature at time of death.

"They are things that come up that are really important," Tuttle said.

The checklist, he said, is particularly helpful to agencies who are not trained to use Tasers, and who are investigating the use of a Taser by another agency.
Mason's death

Four troopers responded to Mason's Thetford home on June 20 after Mason called a nearby hospital and threatened to kill himself and others, authorities have said. State police say the unarmed Mason refused to lie on the ground and instead yelled "aggressively," made a fist and moved toward Trooper Shaffer.

Davidonis and her son, who also witnessed the incident, contend Mason did not behave aggressively or clench his hand. Mason had epilepsy and had suffered a seizure the day before he died, they said. Davidonis said she told police at the scene about Mason's condition.

State police policy generally advises troopers against firing Tasers at someone with a cognitive impairment. The Taser manufacturer advises people firing the devices to refrain "when possible" from targeting the chest.

Shaffer spent three days on paid administrative leave before returning to duty.

[Raineyrocks]

Wow, 3 days paid leave!   What a disgrace!