Personal Injury Law

Taser Gun Death Lawsuit Filed

By Eddie Farah

We've had a rash of them lately. 

Law enforcement is fast to turn to Taser Guns or stun guns. The problem is the jolt delivers around 50,000 volts that penetrates the skin and shocks the heart and has been known to sometimes turn fatal.

That is what's alleged to have happened to 56-year-old Emily Delafield.

In 2006, her family alleges she was having a mental health crisis. Delafield, a schizophrenic, called police to her home saying that relatives were out to harm her.  She was found sitting in her wheelchair in the street holding a hammer and kitchen knives.

Two officers from Green Cove Springs, Florida, southwest of Jacksonville, decided to take out the Taser to bring the situation under control.  They applied the shocks for a total of 121 seconds, enough time, her family says, to contribute to her death, which had been ruled a homicide.  Delafield also suffered from obesity, an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.

The officers were not trained well enough to handle a mental health crisis and did so with unnecessary excessive force, her nephew says in his federal suit against the city and the two police officers.

Delafield's civil rights were violated, Ryan Delafield says of his aunt who he says was a church going person who liked to write poetry and had a kind heart.  

Tasers are known to be dangerous especially to children or someone with a weak heart or compromised health. 50 deaths have been attributed to Taser Guns since 2001.

Even though they are generally labeled "Non Lethal", tasers are known to penetrate the skin.

Some say the voltage is not significant, especially because it has to pass through clothing, but too many cases of cardiac arrest have followed the application of tasers to deny the link especially to children and someone with a weak heart.

Defibrillators use about 160 volts so it's ridiculous to think that the tasers are not going to interrupt even a healthy heart beat. Canada does not allow Taser Guns to be used by civilians as we do in the U.S.

Whether this case will set precedent is unclear. It has a difficult road ahead in that the State Attorney's office ruled the officers actions were justified because the woman was carrying deadly weapons. # 

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on May 01, 2008 (boomark / email).