Coroner Rules Cocaine, Not Taser, Killed Prisoner

NY Times ^ | August 27, 2005 | KAREEM FAHIM

[Pharmboy]

Terrence L. Thomas was shocked
with a stun gun, but cocaine killed
him, the medical examiner says.

A man who died in police custody last month soon after officers shocked him with a Taser stun gun died of a cocaine overdose, not from the shock, the city medical examiner said yesterday.

Investigators had said that the man, Terrence L. Thomas, 35, might have swallowed crack cocaine before detectives arrested him early on the morning of July 27.

After his arrest, in a holding cell at the 105th Precinct station house, Mr. Thomas became unruly and refused medical attention, the police said, prompting officers to shock him with the Taser. Less than an hour later, he was pronounced dead at Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica.

A spokeswoman for the medical examiner said that the Taser did not cause or contribute to Mr. Thomas's death, which was ruled an accident.

Mr. Thomas's mother, Dorothy Thomas, reached at her home in Hempstead Village, referred questions about the findings to her lawyer.

More than 110 people have died nationwide after being shocked with the Taser, raising safety concerns about the weapon, which incapacitates subjects by firing an electrified barb, then delivering a 50,000-volt shock.

Critics of the weapon, including Amnesty International, have called for a moratorium on its use until independent research is concluded on its effects, especially on people who have heart conditions, use drugs or are in states of excited delirium.

The Police Department had said that the use of the Taser on Mr. Thomas was justified, citing guidelines that allow officers to use the weapon to subdue people under the influence of drugs or alcohol who might harm themselves or other people.

[Pharmboy]

I remember that there was a fair amount of discussion about people dying from Tasers on previous posts. This story might help get a better idea of the real risk.

[DefiantZERO]

Maybe *shock* people shouldn't do things that would cause them to be shot by a Taser?

[the invisib1e hand]

Maybe *shock* people shouldn't do things that would cause them to be shot by a Taser?

yeah, especially 4th graders and stuff. Like the taser didn't do it....? Coroner for hire!

Star Trek was not real life. It would be more effective to toss those goofball tasers and use real guns. The deterrent factor is higher and there's less doubt about what kills those who don't get it. Theoretically, no shot would be fired unless the suspect presented a threat of serious violence (in theory, at least). But someone can be taserd for having a muscle spasm because the perception is that they're harmless. Clearly, they are not.

[Gay State Conservative]

And the family will hire a John Edwards-like lawyer who will, in turn,hire some Henry Lee-like pathologist who will claim that he died because of the taser.

And a Brooklyn or Queens jury will award the family $10.2 million (because he was such a fine young man)...and the lawyer will walk away a third of it.

Ain't justice wonderful?

[Pharmboy]

You are prolly right.

[Rockingham]

Cocaine places severe stress upon the heart through mechanisms that are well-recognized in the medical literature. Add in alcohol and other drugs, perhaps, and the added burden of flight from the police, and cocaine users on the run become unusually susceptible to having a fatal heart attack from a tasering. The best remedy is not to restrict taser use -- which is often the alternative to heavy clubbing or a shooting -- but to have black community leaders do educational campaigns to get cocaine users not to run from the po-lice. But, for most black leaders, what is rationality and saving lives against the far greater benefits that accrue to them from race-baiting?

[elli1]

After his arrest, in a holding cell at the 105th Precinct station house, Mr. Thomas became unruly and refused medical attention, the police said, prompting officers to shock him with the Taser.

Don't see the point of tasering him since he was in a cell. So what if he's banging his head on the wall? Run the tape & let him go at it.

[Pharmboy]

A few points likely at work here: first, if he was doing damage to himself or speaking incoherently, the cops would have been obligated to get medical attention for him, and liable if they did not. Second, they may have been preparing to move him so they would have needed to have him under control. Admittedly, we do not have all the details.

[WoofDog123]

"The best remedy is not to restrict taser use -- which is often the alternative to heavy clubbing or a shooting -"

Like the case where a guy was tasered in the hospital to compel him to immediately provide urine for a drug test, or the (pregnant) lady who was tasered for refusing to get out of her car after she refused to sign for a traffic ticket?

[freeangel]

Another multi million dollar suit snatched from the hand of a "disenfranchised" family? What a shame.:)

[LexBaird]

So, you are saying you would prefer the pregnant lady to have been shot or beaten for non-compliance? Don't blame the tool for its inappropriate use.

[WoofDog123]

"So, you are saying you would prefer the pregnant lady to have been shot or beaten for non-compliance? Don't blame the tool for its inappropriate use."

No, my post was sarcasm, illustrating examples where physical violence would most likely NOT have been used. I am not sure how they would have extracted an 8-month pregnant woman from a car (cannot imagine any sane cop willfully risking a murder rap by beating her), but the other case (person wont give urine sample in a timely fashion, obviously he is going to at some point...) is usually not a basis for physically beating or shooting someone.

Tasering someone for refusing to promptly provide bodily fluids for inspection is eerily orwellian, IMHO. Do you feel it is appropriate?

[LexBaird]

You ask if I think tasering is appropriate for obtaining a urine sample? No. Is it appropriate for subduing a belligerent drunk swinging fists? Yes.

You pick examples at one end of a floating scale: no force - mild force (come along holds) - sublethal force - lethal force. Your examples are of using sublethal where mild would have done.

But what about the times when lethal force will be used for lack of an effective sublethal option? If you eliminate tasers as a tool, the next available option that does not endanger the LEO might be his pistol.