James Keller, Vancouver, B.C. (Canadian Press) – The American company that manufactures Tasers and has a long history of defending the weapons in court is challenging the findings of a B.C. public inquiry that concluded the controversial weapons can kill and should be used sparingly.
Taser International filed a scathing lawsuit Friday, demanding B.C. Supreme Court throw out all of the recommendations in Commissioner Thomas Braidwood’s report, released last month, along with any findings that call into question the safety of so-called conducted energy weapons.
Braidwood, a former judge, issued a 546-page report last month that said Tasers can kill or injure.
The weapons are used by police forces throughout the country and while Braidwood said they were a necessary tool for officers, he called for considerable restrictions on their use in British Columbia.
But Taser alleges Braidwood and his staff were biased and ignored important medical evidence presented by the company, which has long insisted the weapons are safe.
“The commission failed or neglected to consider the material or the experts Taser provided to the commission, including the vast majority of the peer-reviewed published medical research on human exposure to conducted energy weapons,” the company says its court filing.
“The medical research the commission used to make its findings was inadequate.”
A lawyer for Taser said the report’s bibliography is missing dozens of the more than 170 scientific opinions the company submitted to the commission.
David Neave said the company isn’t trying to interfere with the commission’s ability to do its job.
“I would be hopeful that . . . Canadians would say that a process, and particularly an inquiry that’s conducted in Canada, is conducted fairly and is conducted in accordance with basic principles of fundamental justice,” said Neave.
“In this case, we say that that didn’t occur.”
The inquiry was launched after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died during a confrontation with the RCMP at Vancouver’s airport.
A study commission was held last year examining Taser use in B.C., while a second phase examining Dziekanski’s death in detail is currently on hold, with hearings scheduled to resume in September.
Taser also wants to prevent Braidwood from using his findings about the risks of Tasers when he writes his report into Dziekanski’s death.
The inquiry into the Polish immigrant’s fatal confrontation with four RCMP officers has heard from several experts who said the Taser likely contributed to his death, while experts paid for by Taser said it couldn’t have.
Taser’s lawsuit also accuses Dr. Keith Chambers, a Vancouver-based epidemiologist who oversaw the medical research for the commission, and inquiry lawyer Art Vertlieb of bias.
Vertlieb said the hearings were fair and transparent, and Braidwood’s first report reflects that.
“Taser wanted to come and make presentations and he (Braidwood) was happy to hear from them,” Vertlieb, who had not yet seen the court documents, said in an interview.
“He went out of his way to be fair and impartial and unbiased, and the report will bear that out. It’s a very, very comprehensive piece of work.”
Vertlieb said he’s not sure how Taser’s lawsuit might affect the timing of the second phase of the inquiry, which has already been delayed several times.
Taser has a long history of vigorously – and successfully – defending the weapons in court.
The company has faced dozens of wrongful death lawsuits and sends legal demands to media organizations that suggest Tasers are responsible for anyone’s death.
When a state medical examiner in Ohio ruled that three men’s deaths were in part caused by the effects of Tasers, the company sued.
Taser eventually won, and in May 2008, a judge ordered the medical examiner to change the autopsy findings to delete any references that suggested the stun guns were to blame.
There are thousands of the weapons in use by police, corrections officers and other law enforcement personnel across Canada, and Braidwood’s report is already prompting governments to curtail their use.
Immediately after the report was released, the B.C. government said it would follow his recommendations and introduce stronger rules. Alberta has already announced it’s drafting its own changes and other provinces say they’re looking at doing the same.
The RCMP hasn’t said whether it will adopt Braidwood’s recommendations, but B.C. and Alberta have said they expect the Mounties to follow their updated rules while operating in those provinces.
Braidwood recommended officers be prohibited from discharging Tasers for longer than five seconds in most cases, and that medical assistance be required whenever the weapon is used in a medically high-risk situation.
He also called for officers carrying stun guns to have an automated external defibrillator available, and for all officers to complete crisis intervention training.
There have been other cases in which courts have ordered the findings of public inquiries be re-written, including one involving former prime minister Jean Chretien.
Chretien asked the Federal Court to throw out sections of the public inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal.
Justice John Gomery concluded Chretien and his chief of staff, while not directly involved, bore some political responsibility in the affair.
Last year, the court agreed that Gomery’s comments in the media indiated bias and portions of Gomery’s report were set aside.
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