TASER DIDN'T KILL MAN: CORONER

THE SPECIAL Investigations Unit has backed out of a probe into the
death of a Kingston man hit with a police Taser bolt. An autopsy
showed Samuel Truscott, 43, died Sunday of a cocaine overdose.

"I can state categorically that the Taser did not play any role
whatsoever in his death," Deputy Ontario Coroner Dr. Jim Cairns said.
"His death was due solely to a drug overdose."

Kingston Police said Truscott died after going into a seizure at
Kingston General Hospital about two hours after he was arrested.

Truscott, armed with a large knife and a baseball bat, was involved in
a standoff with police. He had barricaded himself in a bedroom,
threatening to harm himself. Pepper spray didn't end the standoff so
an officer used the Taser.

Cairns said Truscott was able to walk unaided after being jolted and
heart tests at the hospital showed nothing unusual.

"Certainly, in this particular case, (the Taser) did everything it was
meant to do," he said.

Without the Taser, Cairns said, police likely would have had to resort
to deadly force.

Pending the outcome of an inquest into the July 17 death of Jerry
Knight, 29, during a confrontation with Taser-armed Peel police, there
have been no deaths which have been linked to the Taser to date,
Cairns said.