AUTOPSY FINDS POLICE TASER GUN PLAYED NO ROLE IN MAN'S DEATH

Kingston Suspect Subdued by Officers Died From a Drug Overdose,
Coroner Rules

Ontario's police watchdog called off an investigation yesterday into
the weekend death of a Kingston man after an autopsy concluded that
police use of a Taser gun played no role in his death.

The Special Investigations Unit, which automatically reviews deaths in
which police are involved, had been called in on Sunday after Samuel
Truscott, 43, died in Kingston General Hospital.

His death occurred about two hours after Kingston Police Service
officers subdued him using pepper spray and a Taser gun.

After the autopsy in Toronto yesterday morning, Ontario deputy chief
coroner James Cairns said the cause of death was a drug overdose.

"After a review of the medical record and the autopsy findings, I can
state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in
his death.

"The death was due solely to the drug overdose," Dr. Cairns
said.

He also said that the police needed to use the Taser to subdue Mr.
Truscott, who was armed with a knife and baseball bat.

"The Taser worked appropriately. Mr. Truscott walked unaided to a
police cruiser and was immediately taken to hospital, where he died
approximately two hours later despite medical care."

SIU director James Cornish said in a statement that the investigation
had been terminated because "there is no basis to believe that any
criminal act on the part of any officer caused or contributed to the
man's death."

Even though the coroner concluded that the use of a Taser did not play
a role in Mr. Truscott's death, its use remains controversial.

At least 50 people in North America have died after being shocked by
Tasers, which administer five-second shocks of up to 50,000 volts of
electricity.

The British Columbia Police Complaints Commissioner ordered an
investigation into the case of Robert Bagnell, a Vancouver man, who
died in June after being stunned by a Taser.

The SIU is investigating the death in July of Jerry Knight, a Brampton
man, after Peel Regional Police used a Taser to subdue him.

Once the SIU investigation in the Knight case is finished, Ontario
will conduct a coroner's inquest.

Dr. Cairns said that the inquiry will look at whether the use of a
Taser played a role in Mr. Knight's death and, more generally, the
issue of Taser safety.

"I don't want any confusion that I'm stating that Tasers haven't got
an issue," he said.

"I'm purely looking at the facts of this one [the Kingston case], and
the facts are easily obtained and quickly obtained and are irrefutable
in this case. . . . I did not want this one running away when you have
absolute, clear evidence that it had no role."