RCMP's Taser use in 2003 death slammed in report

January 31, 2012
CBC News

The RCMP in B.C. is coming under fire again for the use of stun guns and restraints in the death of a Prince George man, and for the internal investigation conducted after his death.

In 2003, Clay Willey, 33, was hog-tied and shocked with two Tasers simultaneously by officers at the Prince George detachment. He died hours later in hospital.

An autopsy later found Willey had cuts, bruises and broken ribs but ultimately died from cardiac arrest brought on by a cocaine overdose.

A report from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) released Tuesday raises questions about the way police dealt with his arrest and the investigation that followed.

Clay Willey died in July 2003 from several heart attacks following his arrest by Prince George RCMP. (Facebook)

At the time of his arrest, Willey was high on cocaine and causing a disturbance on the streets of Prince George. After he was arrested, Willey continued to struggle and that's when officers decided to pepper spray and hog-tie him.

The report found it was reasonable for the officers to hog-tie Willey in order to restrain him, even though it was no longer part of police procedure, because the officers had no other equipment on hand at the time.

"Constables Graham, Fowler and Rutten utilized an appropriate level of force when effecting the arrest of Clay Willey," said the report.

But how Willey was treated at the police detachment did raise concerns for the CPC. It found police dragged him by his feet out of the police vehicle and then face down through the detachment.

'The simultaneous use of the CEW by constables Caston and O’Donnell was unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive in the circumstances.'—Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP

"Constables Caston and O’Donnell failed to treat Mr. Willey with the level of decency to be expected from police officers when they removed him from the police vehicle and transported him to the elevator," it said.

It also found one officer's failure to secure his firearm and another officer's decision to draw her firearm during the transfer were a violation of RCMP policy.

Stunned simultaneously with Tasers

Inside the detachment, Willey continued to struggle against the arm and leg restraints so two officers then zapped him with their stun guns simultaneously in an attempt to subdue him.

The independent report found "the simultaneous use of the CEW by constables Caston and O’Donnell was unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive in the circumstances."

The report also said the RCMP officers didn't get Willey medical help quickly enough, and he died after suffering several cardiac arrests en route to the hospital in an ambulance.

The report also found several problems with the subsequent police investigation, including a failure to properly secure the scene, the cleaning of a police vehicle prior to its examination, failure to collect officers' footwear as evidence, the failure to recognize the loss of Willey's cellphone and failure to interview the officers in a timely manner.

"Neither the criminal nor conduct aspects of the police involvement in Mr. Willey’s death were adequately investigated or addressed."

The report from the CPC points out the RCMP agreed with virtually all of its findings and recommendations, but said the force took too long to respond to an interim report, which was completed 14 months ago.

RCMP accept report's findings

A previous internal RCMP code of conduct report cleared the officers of any wrongdoing, but on Tuesday top Mounties in Prince George said they agreed with the findings of the new CPC report.

Superintendents Eric Stubbs and Rod Booth said the RCMP code of conduct hearing should have been handled differently and admit the way Willey was treated wasn't up to police standards.

Booth said had he been in charge of the code of conduct hearings the officers may not have been cleared. Both said many changes have been made since Willey's death in 2003 such as ending the practice of hog-tying prisoners.

The RCMP will be meeting with Willey's family and say a civil suit is before the courts.

In 2010, a public inquiry into the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport concluded RCMP were not justified in using a Taser against the Polish immigrant and that the officers later deliberately misrepresented their actions to investigators.

An embarrassing anniversary arrives for a broken RCMP complaint system

November 21, 2011
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

An embarrassing anniversary arrives for a broken RCMP complaint system

November 23 is the second anniversary of B.C.’s Solicitor General filing a complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (“CPC”) in relation to the 2003 death of Clayton Alvin Willey. At the time of the complaint, the Solicitor General called the investigation into the details of Willey’s death a matter of “confidence in the RCMP.” Two years later, the investigation by the CPC has not been completed.

The CPC is the same organization recently asked to conduct a multi-year investigation of sexual harassment complaints by female RCMP police and civilian staff.

“Ensuring standards of performance are met on complaints is a concern for all British Columbians. It should be a concern of the RCMP as well,” said Robert Holmes, Q.C., President of the BCCLA. “It is imperative that the Solicitor General ensure that the RCMP and CPC agree to appropriate performance measures if BC is to enter into a new contract. It shouldn’t take two years to respond to complaints. If the CPC and RCMP are going to allow multi-year delays in complaint investigations, they’re effectively thumbing their noses at those they’re supposed to serve.”

Clayton Alvin Willey died shortly after being removed from the Prince George RCMP detachment by ambulance. He had been Tasered multiple times while hog tied, and had been dragged while hog tied from the back of an RCMP SUV and allowed to drop, full weight, on his head and chest, fracturing his skull and ribs. RCMP video showed Mr. Willey being dragged through the RCMP detachment and receiving multiple Taser applications. The 2003 case rose to prominence again in 2009 when the BCCLA and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs publicly released details contained on an RCMP surveillance video of the death and called for the release of the video.

“Clayton Alvin Willey’s death is a black mark on the record of service of the RCMP in BC,” noted Holmes. “We want timely investigations and prompt accountability for any who failed to live up to the standards the RCMP is supposed to live by. Instead, we are left knowing that another season’s ice is forming on the Ottawa River and that eight years after Mr. Willey died in 2003, we still have no answers from the force or the Complaints Commissioner whose job it is to uphold the public’s trust.”

Mountie wrong to taser girl, 15, watchdog says

December 12, 2009
Tu Thanh Ha, Globe and Mail

Just months before Robert Dziekanski died in a 2007 confrontation with taser-wielding RCMP officers in Vancouver, at a juvenile centre in the Northwest Territories, a Mountie tasered a 15-year-old girl while she was handcuffed and lying face down.

Yesterday, in a scathing report about the incident in Inuvik, NWT, the RCMP civilian watchdog concluded that the officer was wrong to stun the girl, and that the Mounties improperly tried to brush off a complaint from her mother and conducted a biased internal probe.

Paul Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, said that many deficiencies he found in the case "paralleled the systemic concerns" he has previously raised about the force's use of stun guns.

"This incident is a compelling case which ought to cause the RCMP itself to be concerned and take action," he said.

A steady critic of the RCMP's taser policy and its internal investigation system, Mr. Kennedy is in his last month on the job.

Ottawa is not reappointing him.

Yesterday's findings came three days after his report on the Dziekanski case, in which he said four Mounties used substandard policing when they tasered the Polish immigrant.

The Inuvik report also came on the day relatives of Clayton Willey were shown security-camera footage of the 2003 tasering of the 33-year-old aboriginal man from Prince George, B.C.

Mr. Willey died hours after the RCMP zapped him while he was handcuffed and face down at the local detachment.

His family has to decide whether the video will be made public.

In the Inuvik incident, Constable Noella Cockney was called to a youth facility on March 13, 2007, after a girl refused to take her prescribed antidepressant and became agitated.

She was handcuffed and three youth workers held down her arms and legs.

Constable Cockney told the girl several times to co-operate.

When she refused, the officer pressed the taser against her back and stunned her for five seconds.

Constable Cockney didn't keep proper notes and didn't mention in her report that the girl was tied and held down, Mr. Kennedy said.

His investigation concluded that the girl didn't pose a threat at the time she was tasered. Also, the constable's taser certification was expired.

The watchdog also found that detachment officers improperly tried to dispose informally of a complaint by the girl's mother.

It was only nine months later that the force acted on the complaint.

But the staff sergeant who reviewed the complaint was Constable Cockney's taser instructor, and he urged her to add more details to her notes, the report said.

Mr. Kennedy said the staff sergeant's probe was biased and speculative.

"The RCMP's approach to internal investigations is flawed and inconsistent ... those types of investigations do not engender confidence," Mr. Kennedy said.

His recommendations aren't binding on the RCMP.

"Obviously, your report identifies a number of significant failures on the part of the RCMP and members involved in this matter," RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said in a letter replying to Mr. Kennedy's findings.

He said the force has changed some of its policies dealing with public complaints and taser use.

Willey tape could become public

November 29, 2009
Rodney Venis, Prince George Citizen

The Willey family is waiting until a Dec. 11 meeting with RCMP to decide whether or not to release to the general public a video depicting the Tasering and dragging of a suspect at the Prince George detachment, their lawyer said Wednesday.

The video is currently in the middle of a string of recent developments related to the 2003 death of Clayton Willey, which includes the expansion of a police watchdog probe into allegations video evidence was tampered with and a National Post report that one of the officers involved, Corporal John Graham, had a history of violent confrontations with suspects (see related story.)

"We expect to see the video tape in total there," said Simon Wagstaffe, the Willey family's lawyer. "The family wish to see all the RCMP have before they decide on the question of general release."

In the meantime, the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP (CPC) continues to examine whether a surveillance video showing parts of the in-custody treatment of Willey was edited when it was screened for members of the media, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association after a freelance journalist submitted a freedom of information act request.

The groups claim the version they watched showed: an RCMP SUV arriving in the detachment garage; Willey being dragged down a hallway, hog-tied, with his hands bound behind his back and tethered to his feet; Willey’s head hitting the entrance to an elevator; a Taser targeting Willey’s back; Willey being dragged out of an elevator, into a booking area, where he’s Tasered at least twice more.

Willey had been arrested for causing a public disturbance at the Parkwood Place mall and died later in hospital. The coroner's inquest found he died of a cocaine overdose and officers testified Willey was in an violent, drug-induced haze.

But there was concern from David Eby of the BCCLA that there were no date or time codes on the video he was shown. Both he and Willey’s family also claimed there are missing incidents in the one screened recently, particularly a moment when Willey is dragged from the SUV by a ‘hobble’ - the rope of the hog tie - and his head hits a part of the vehicle and then the garage floor.

Eby saw a version of the tape after the FOI request this year; the Willey family viewed another version of tape before the coroner’s inquest in 2004.

The inquest jury and Crown counsel at the time also saw the so-called raw footage of the Willey incident at the time; joining that group is Solicitor General Kash Heed, whose letter to CPC chair Paul Kennedy on Nov. 20 prompted the expanded probe.
"It's incumbent upon me to let Commissioner Kennedy do his work on his investigation," said Heed. "I'm not going to comment on the video because I've asked Mr. Kennedy to look at the aspect and determine what the course of action should be."

The CPC investigation was already examining the Willey case as part of wider look at all Taser-related in-custody deaths in Canada. On Monday, it was expanded to look at the video issue and whether subsequent RCMP investigation into Willey's death was adequate and free of actual or perceived conflict of interest.

B.C. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Tim Shields, who's seen both versions of the Willey tape, said the Force welcomed an external, third-party look at the allegations of evidence tampering. "Nothing was removed from the tapes and they were not tampered with and, to insure that, full and complete disclosure was made to the coroner's inquest, Crown counsel and the Willey family."

A forensic video analyst will examine the Willey footage.

RCMP defends officer with violent history

November 29, 2009
Rodney Venis, Prince George Citizen

A Prince George officer profiled in the National Post as a "rogue cowboy Mountie" with a "propensity for violence" did not Taser a hog-tied suspect and was not present during the in-custody incident prior to the suspect's death.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Tim Shield said Corporal John Graham was with another member at Prince George Regional Hospital as Clayton Willey was being Tasered and dragged through the Prince George detachment in July 2003.

Graham's role in the arrest, which started with Willey confronting RCMP at the Parkwood Place mall in a violent, drug-induced haze and culiminated with the 33-year-old man dying of a cocaine overdose, was limited to binding Willey's feet and hands behind his back. Hogtying suspects, according to the Post, had been banned two months prior to the incident, but Cpl. Graham was reportedly unaware of the change in policy.

"Willey was kicking violently and it was the only way to restrain his legs to prevent him from continuing to kick," said Shields. "In the Willey incident there was no finding against Graham, in fact, he was not present at the time Mr. Willey was Tasered and there was no finding of wrongdoing regarding the arrest."

The policy was changed because hogtying could lead to positional asphyxia, which was potentially fatal.

According to the Post, Graham is currently a supervisor in the North District traffic services integrated road safety unit, based in Prince George.

Shields said the incidents that chequer Graham's career - which include a fatal shooting in Newfoundland, an assault conviction in 2002, the Willey arrest and an altercation with a suspect only known as JAL - must each be judged on its own.

According to the National Post, then Constable Graham's career took a troubled turn in Aug. 2000 in Little Catalina, Newfoundland when he shot and killed Norman Reid. Reid, 43, was a schizophrenic with a history of disturbing behaviour; residents reported that day Reid had threatened some local children "in a violent way", according to an inquiry report.

When RCMP responded, Reid came at Cpl. Graham with an axe, screaming "I'm going to kill you." Graham shot Reid five times.

"The shooting in Newfoundland was the subject of numerous investigations and inquests and was deemed to be a justified use of force," said Shield.

The inquiry, by Judge Donald Luther, did rule Graham behaved appropriately; nevertheless, court documents revealed he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident.

It was not the only incident from his time in Newfoundland. Robert Buckingham, a lawyer for a man in that province suing Cpl. Graham over an unrelated, allegedly wrongful arrest, called the officer a "rogue Cowboy Mountie."

Graham was transferred soon after the Reid shooting to B.C.

In 2002, a year before the death of Willey, he pled guilty to assault causing bodily harm after - according to a B.C. provincial court judgment - an altercation with "a Mr. MacDonald." Cpl. Graham admitted he "overreacted" when he kicked Mr. MacDonald in the torso and head, leaving the latter with broken bones in the face and missing teeth.

The officer was fined, received 18 months probation, was ordered to perform community work and was not disciplined by the RCMP.

"If there is an allegation of excessive force, then an internal code of conduct investigation is launched and, after the court proceeding, there was an internal disciplinary hearing where a board of three very senior officers conduct a trial and call witnesses and make a decision on the appropriate sanctions that can range up to, and including, dismissal from the RCMP," said Shields. "So in this case, this process was followed, there was an internal code of conduct investigation and, after hearing all the facts, the board decided on a sanction that did not include dismissal."

The National Post also reported that Cpl. Graham and another Prince George officer, Const. Glenn Caston, were both involved in Willey's death in 2003 and an incident involving a suspect known as JAL.

Const. Caston told the Willey inquest that he and another officer pulled the suspect by the rope that tied his feet together to get him out of the back of an SUV parked in the Prince George detachment. Willey "may" have bumped his head and shoulder on the frame of the vehicle and the floor of the concrete vehicle bay.

Later, in the detachment's cells booking area, according to the inquest report, Const. Caston and another officer, Const. Kevin O'Donnell, reported they Tasered the hog-tied Willey. The officers, according to the report, believed Willey was still combative, though it is noted nowhere how Willey could have broken free from the hogtie.

Sgt. Shields could not say whether the two officers still serve in Prince George.
In the JAL case, Cpl. Graham testified he deployed his Taser twice against the suspect during a struggle. However he did not file a Taser use report, as the RCMP requires, until more than a year later and JAL's doctor pointed out 21 marks on his body that seemed consistent with burns from a conducted energy weapon. JAL also claimed Const. Caston beat him in the P.G. detachment.

Charges that JAL assaulted RCMP officers were stayed after a videotape of JAL's in-custody treatment went missing, prompting Judge Michael Brecknell to write in his judgment, "This was not a 'simple mistake.'" Brecknell also noted concerns had been aired about Graham's "propensity for violence."

"We have requested an independent directed review to examine the RCMP handling, communication and organizational response in the Willey case and the JAL case," said Shields. "This review will be conducted by a municipal polical department from outside of B.C. The name will be released as soon as we have a formalized agreement in place."

RCMP Complaints Commission Launches Probe into Clay Willey Death

November 24, 2009
By 250 News BC

Ottawa, Ont. – Acting on a request by the Solicitor General of British Columbia, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) is expanding its Chair-initiated complaint and public interest investigation into all Taser-related in-custody deaths and to look specifically into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Clay Alvin Willey in Prince George, B.C.on July 22, 2003.

CPC Chair Paul E. Kennedy initiated a public complaint on 15 January, 2009 into all incidents where individuals in the custody of the RCMP died following the use of a conducted energy weapon (CEW), which incidents have taken place anywhere in Canada between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2009.

The arrest and subsequent death of Mr. Clay Alvin Willey in Prince George, is one of the incidents referred to in the complaint.

Mr. Willey's death was the subject of a Coroner's inquest conducted by the British Columbia Coroner's Service in October 2004. One of the pieces of evidence considered at the Coroner's inquest was a compilation of video footage from a number of security cameras located throughout the Prince George RCMP Detachment.

The Solicitor General of British Columbia has on behalf of the residents of British Columbia, raised concerns directly with the CPC regarding this incident and in particular with respect to the integrity of the video evidence relating to the arrest and detention of Mr. Willey. In correspondence to the CPC, the Solicitor General commented that members of the media have "raised concerns with the in-custody treatment of Mr. Willey and have expressed concern that the video in question has not been released to the public. Allegations have also been made in the media that further video evidence exists beyond that contained in the compilation video." Consequently, the Solicitor General requested that the CPC "review the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Willey so that British Columbians can have continued confidence in the RCMP."

The original complaint was initiated to examine:

•whether the RCMP officers involved in the aforementioned events, from the moment of initial contact with the individual until the time of each individual's death, complied with all appropriate training, policies, procedures, guidelines and statutory requirements relating to the use of force; and
•whether existing RCMP policies, procedures and guidelines applicable to such incidents are adequate.

Specific to Mr. Willey's death, the CPC will now also examine:

•whether the RCMP members involved in the investigation of Mr. Willey's arrest and subsequent death conducted an investigation that was adequate, and free of actual or perceived conflict of interest; and
•whether any other video evidence (other than the compilation video referred to above) exists and whether any RCMP member concealed, tampered with or otherwise inappropriately modified in any way, any evidence, in particular any video evidence, relating to the arrest of Mr. Willey.

The CPC has retained the services of a former chief of police from a large Ontario municipality to conduct this public interest investigation.

Taser death raises claims of a 'cowboy Mountie'

November 21, 2009
Brian Hutchinson in Vancouver, National Post

A B.C.-based RCMP officer who figures in a controversial in-custody death involving Tasers had a prior assault conviction from an incident that left his victim with broken facial bones and missing teeth, the National Post has learned.

Subsequent to those two events, Corporal John Graham was accused in B.C. provincial court of striking a Prince George man at least 21 times with a Taser. A judge in that case noted concerns had been raised about Cpl. Graham's "propensity for violence." Reference was made to still another incident, when Cpl. Graham shot and killed a mentally ill man in Newfoundland.

Robert Buckingham, a lawyer for a man in Newfoundland who is suing Cpl. Graham over an unrelated, allegedly wrongful arrest, calls the stocky officer a "rogue cowboy Mountie who is moved from place to place and [who] thinks he can do whatever he wants."

In-custody deaths and the use of Tasers are a particularly sensitive topic in B.C., where Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died following a confrontation with the RCMP in 2007. He was jolted by a Taser five times.

New concerns -- including suggestions of a police cover-up -- arising from an earlier case were raised this week at a news conference convened by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and a former chief medical examiner for two provinces.

Cpl. Graham was one of the officers who wrestled with a deranged Clayton Alvin Willey prior to his arrest in Prince George in July 2003, the civil rights group explained. Cpl. Graham bound Mr. Willey's feet and hands behind his back in a "hog-tie," a restraint position that contravened RCMP policy.

Mr. Willey was dragged on his stomach into an RCMP detachment where he was Tasered multiple times by two other officers. He went into cardiac arrest while being transported to hospital, where he died the next morning. His cause of death was determined to be cocaine overdose.

One question raised this week is whether police disclosed a complete set of videotapes showing Mr. Willey in custody at the Prince George detachment.

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, claims the tapes were "edited into a narrative" that was helpful to police at a 2004 coroner's inquest into Mr. Willey's death.

"The most important piece [of video] is missing," he said in an interview. Members of Mr. Willey's family claim to have seen video that shows his head smacking the ground as RCMP officers pulled him from a police vehicle inside the Prince George detachment garage.

Sergeant Tim Shields, the RCMP's head of strategic communications in B.C., said this week that as far as he knows, "not one second of the video recorded to tape was withheld" from the Willey inquest. "In order to confirm that total and complete disclosure has been made, the original videotape is presently being examined by a forensic video analyst," he added yesterday.

The video footage might be made public next month, said Sgt. Shields, once Mr. Willey's family has had an opportunity to review it.

RCMP Constable Glenn Caston, one of the arresting officers, testified at the 2004 coroner's inquest that he and another officer "pulled Mr. Willey from the vehicle through the side rear seat door by the rope that had been used to tie Mr. Willey's feet together."

RCMP may release 2003 Tasering tape

November 18, 2009
Canwest News Service

The RCMP is considering publicly releasing a police video showing a Metis man, Clayton Alvin Willey, being stunned by a Taser in 2003, hours before he died of a heart attack in a Prince George jail.

Critics of the RCMP's handling of Willey say disclosure of the video could provoke the kind of public outrage that followed release of a video of the Taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski.

"It [the video] is very disturbing, very brutal and very ugly," said Grand Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who has seen a version of the tape.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said Tuesday the force is willing to discuss the release of the video with Willey's family later this month. The RCMP wants to show the family the video and other information about the case before a decision is made, he said.

"A decision hasn't been made yet [on release of the video] but we want to ensure that the family is aware of all privacy concerns involving this video," Shields said.

The RCMP statement followed a public call for the release of the video Monday by Philip and BC Civil Liberties Association executive director David Eby.

Police used a Taser on Willey while he was tied and dragged face down from a police vehicle into the Prince George detachment.

Phillip and Eby believe the version of the video they and family members saw was edited. The RCMP has insisted that there was no editing. "This is the full and complete version," Shields said.

Video of man who died after Tasering may be released

November 18, 2009
By Katie Mercer, Vancouver Province

VANCOUVER — The video footage of an aboriginal man who died in custody after being Tasered while hog-tied is one step closer to being released.

Clayton Alvin Willey died shortly after being arrested in July 2003 for creating a disturbance at a strip mall in Prince George, B.C.

The RCMP security footage shows Willey being Tasered repeatedly while hog-tied, falling headfirst out of a police cruiser and dragged facedown through the Prince George detachment.

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said Tuesday that the RCMP will be meeting with the family on Nov. 30 to discuss the full video’s release.

“I got a phone call from the family’s lawyer saying that he talked to the RCMP and that . . . they would discuss the full contents of the investigative file, as well as all the video they have, and if the family agreed, they would release the videotape,” said Eby.

Willey’s sister, Bryna Willey, said she was unaware of the particulars surrounding the release and forwarded all questions to her lawyer, Simon Wagstaffe. He could not be reached for comment.

The family had previously provided the RCMP with a notarized release supporting a freedom of information request to release the video. The request was denied, with Mounties citing privacy concerns.

Grand Chief Stewart Philip, of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who viewed what he called the “sickening” video himself, said the family has turned down an offer to view the video solely in private.

“What the family is saying is they want a complete publication of the video in its entirety,” said Phillip. “They want full disclosure.”

Eby said he believes the release of the video will put pressure on politicians to reform police investigations.

“It’s an embarrassing video, it’s a deeply disturbing video and I think it’s one that will really compromise the image of the RCMP in the eyes of the public,” said Eby. “I think it’s something they don’t need right now, and I don’t blame them for not wanting to release it, but its their legal obligation to.”

Provincial Solicitor-General Kash Heed told reporters he was confident the RCMP will respect the family’s wishes to release the footage.

RCMP urged to release arrest tape of man who died

November 17, 2009
Mark Hume, Globe and Mail

Clayton Alvin Willey died of a heart attack several hours after police knocked him to the ground, hog-tied him, kicked him in the chest, pepper sprayed him and used a taser on him repeatedly.

Although the incident took place in 2003 and the arresting officers were cleared of any wrongdoing, an aboriginal leader and civil rights critics called yesterday for the release of an RCMP video they say shows police used excessive force.

“I had an opportunity to see an edited version of the video and I can tell you it was sickening, it was very, very difficult to watch and it stirred a deep anger within myself,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said at a news conference.

Mr. Phillip said the video shows Mr. Willey, a Métis, with his hands cuffed behind his back and tied to his feet, being dragged into the police station while RCMP officers repeatedly taser him.

“I was very disturbed, very emotional … in many ways it was worse than watching the Dziekanski tape,” he said, referring to a video shot at Vancouver International Airport in 2007, when RCMP officers used a taser on Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who died while being arrested after making a disturbance in the arrivals area.

The Dziekanski video generated worldwide media coverage and led to a public inquiry that recommended police adopt tougher rules on the use of tasers.

“The point of this press conference is to draw public attention to this horrific incident,” said Mr. Phillip, who hopes to trigger an “outcry across this country similar to the Dziekanski case.”

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, and John Butt, a forensic pathologist, echoed Mr. Phillip's views, and said there will be public anger if people get to see the video.

The video was entered in evidence in an October, 2004, coroner's inquest, which did not find fault with the police officers. The video was brought to the attention of Mr. Phillip recently by Leonard Cler-Cunningham, a writer researching aboriginal deaths in custody.

Mr. Cler-Cunningham said Mr. Willey's family has signed an authorization asking the RCMP to release the video, but the police have declined to do so.

“The reason the RCMP in Ottawa refused to release it is because it would be a violation of Clay Willey's right to personal privacy. I've encountered this in every single aboriginal death in custody under investigation. It's insulting. It's disgusting. Do not use an individual's right to personal privacy to shield yourself from investigation,” he said, directing his comments to police.

Mr. Cler-Cunningham said Mr. Willey was treated brutally.

“I believe it meets the standard of torture,” he said. “Do you need to taser a man who is handcuffed and hog-tied, seemingly immobile and prone?”

RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said the video is not being released because of privacy concerns, but he said police are “more than happy to share all file details with the family and first nations leaders.” The RCMP could not be reached later for comment on Mr. Cler-Cunningham's remarks.

The findings of the coroner's inquest state that several people made 911 calls to the RCMP in Prince George in July, 2003, after frightening encounters with Mr. Willey, who was reportedly armed with a knife.

The coroner's report states that when police confronted Mr. Willey, he refused to lie on the ground and, with blood and foam coming from his mouth, advanced on a female officer.

One officer drew his handgun, but put it away when he saw Mr. Willey was not armed. Police tackled Mr. Willey and one officer kicked him “in an attempt to gain ‘pain compliance.'”

Police testified they also used pepper spray and that even after he was hog-tied, Mr. Willey “continued to thrash around and attempt to free himself.”

Police said they used tasers at the cellblock in an attempt to subdue Mr. Willey.

A pathologist's report found evidence of two apparent taser burns, numerous abrasions, contusions, six broken ribs and brain swelling from a head injury.

The pathologist, D.J. McNaughton, testified that Mr. Willey died of a heart attack brought on by a cocaine overdose and said that “in his opinion the use of the taser did not contribute to Mr. Willey's death.”

Mr. Willey was arrested at about 5:15 p.m. Police called an ambulance at 5:36, after he was “touch stunned” by a taser at the jail cell. He had a heart attack in the ambulance, and was pronounced dead the next morning at 9:05.

Police taser video 'worse than Dziekanski' says chief

These images were borrowed from a Facebook site set up by Clay Willey's family in his honour - see the Facebook Group "PLEASE HELP THE WILLEY FAMILY PUT A STOP TO TAZER DEATHS IN OUR COUNTRY".

November 16, 2009
By Colleen Kimmett, The Tyee

Aboriginal and civil rights groups are demanding RCMP release a video of man who died after being tasered in a police holding cell in 2003.

The video reportedly shows Clay Willey, an aboriginal man, being tasered while hog-tied on the floor of the cell at a Prince George RCMP detachment. The officers involved in the incident have not been identified.

At a press conference this morning, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said the four-minute long clip was "sickening" and "very, very difficult to watch."

"Clearly, they were trying to shut him up by using a taser."

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said he hopes media attention will pressure RCMP to release the video. "We believe it will cause an outcry," Eby said.

Writer Leonard Cler-Cunningham, who uncovered the video during the course of a five-year investigation on aboriginal deaths in custody, brought it to the attention of Eby and Phillip about six months ago. He thanked the RCMP for making the video available to him, but said police refuse to release to the public in order to protect Willey's privacy.

"They're using the right to privacy to protect themselves," he said.

A coroner's inquest into Willey’s death conducted in October of 2004 determined that he died of a cocaine overdose. According to the report, Willey had been acting erratically in the parking lot of a Prince George mall when police picked him up. He was handcuffed and taken to the local detachment, where police said they "touch stunned" him with a Taser after he continued to struggle and kick. Less than 45 minutes passed between the time he was picked up at the mall and the time an ambulance arrived at the detachment. Willey died en route to the hospital.

Dr. John C. Butt, a specialist in forensic pathology, noted that touch stun is a less debilitating mode on the Taser gun and said it wasn't clear how many times it was deployed. He questioned why police would taser a man who was already tied up and face down, and called it a "cruel and unnecessary act."

A media relations officer for the Prince George RCMP detachment said he was not aware of any internal investigation into the officers' actions.

Community demands release of videotape of in-custody death

Union of BC Indian Chiefs and BC Civil Liberties Association

Nov 16, 2009 14:32 ET

Attention: Assignment Editor, News Editor, World News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor

VANCOUVER, BC, PRESS RELEASE--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2009) - Representatives of a leading aboriginal and civil society group, along with a forensic pathologist and a journalist gathered yesterday to demand the release of security footage taken in an RCMP lockup that shows the Taser-related death of Clayton Alvin Willie, an aboriginal man.

Willie was arrested in 2003 for creating a public disturbance in Prince George, British Columbia, and died that same day following his interaction with police with a head injury and multiple broken ribs. RCMP officials acknowledge he was repeatedly Tasered while hog tied at the Prince George RCMP detachment.

Security camera footage from the jail of the incident was edited by the RCMP, and the RCMP retains a copy of the edited footage. Representatives of the UBCIC and BCCLA, along with Dr. John Butt and Leonard Cler-Cunningham, the independent journalist who uncovered the existence of the video, have viewed the edited footage.

"Even the edited footage shows Mr. Willie hog tied and being dragged around the Prince George RCMP detachment and being Tasered while lying helpless on his stomach," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of Union of BC Indian Chiefs. "If you treated any animal the way Mr. Willie was treated, there is little doubt that you would be facing criminal cruelty charges. Astonishingly, the officers involved here are still on active duty."

The original footage may be lost, or may be in the custody of the RCMP or Coroner's Office. Both offices have refused to release the edited or the full video to the public citing privacy concerns, despite receiving a notarized release from Clayton Willie's family.

"This video must get out to the public, in the same way that the Dziekanski video was released, so that there can be some justice for Clayton Alvin Willie," said David Eby, Executive Director of the BCCLA.

=================

Backgrounder

Who was involved in this incident?
In January, 2009, two of the RCMP officers involved in the Willie case were found by Provincial Court Judge Micheal Brecknell to have taken deliberate steps to ensure the loss of Prince George detachment videotape of another Taser abuse allegation. RCMP will not confirm whether those officers are still on active duty, but media reports indicate that investigative action was taken by the RCMP into that finding.

What is the content of the video?
* There are no date or time codes in the edited videotape.
* The video shows an RCMP SUV arriving at the Prince George Detachment garage.
* The video cuts away before RCMP say Clayton is pulled, hog tied, from the back seat of the SUV and allowed to drop, full weight, on his chest and possibly on his face.
* Clayton is then dragged down a hallway, with his hands bound behind his back and tethered to his feet, into an elevator. His head hits the doorway on his way into the elevator and he does not register any response.
* In the elevator, an RCMP officer can be seen targeting his Taser on Clayton's back and kneeling down and applying the device to Clayton's back.
* Clayton is then dragged out of the elevator into the booking area of the detachment. A number of RCMP officers, including senior officers are seen observing while the two male officers handling Mr. Willie Taser him at least twice more.
* Mr. Willie appears to lose consciousness, and an ambulance attends the scene.
* The RCMP advise that ambulance attendants ask the officers present to loosen Mr. Willie's handcuffs because his hands are "black". The video shows officers loosening his handcuffs.
* Still hog tied, Mr. Willie is loaded onto the stretcher, wrapped in blankets, and taken to the local hospital.
* He has a massive heart attack en route to the hospital and dies, which is not shown on the video.

What is the video?
The video reviewed by the representatives at the press conference is an edited compilation of the surveillance videotape taken at the RCMP Prince George detachment. It, and possibly the full, unedited footage, is in the possession of the RCMP and the B.C. Coroners Service.

What were the consequences of these actions?
The RCMP investigation found that all interactions with Mr. Willie were "routine" and there was no discipline as a result.

=================

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC).
Grand Chief Phillip has been married for twenty-two years to his wife Joan. They have four grown sons, two daughters, four granddaughters and four grandsons. Grand Chief Phillip was elected to a fourth consecutive term as Chief of the Penticton Indian Band and is Chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance.
Office: (604) 684-0231
Cell: (250) 490-5314
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/

David Eby, Executive Director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA)
David Eby is the 33-year-old Executive Director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. An adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, David is also the President of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Phone:778.865.7997
Email: david@bccla.org
Website: http://www.bccla.org/

Dr. John C. Butt is a highly-qualified specialist in forensic medicine and pathology, having served as Chief Medical Examiner for the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Nova Scotia, and also as president of the National Association of Medical Examiners in the United States.
Office: 604.738.0878
Email: pathfinderforum@gmail.com
Website: www.pathfinderforum.com

Leonard Cler-Cunningham is a writer. He lives with his daughter Hailey in Vancouver BC. His book and documentary on Aboriginal deaths in custody is due out next year.
Phone: 604.298.7585
Email: lencler@gmail.com

/For further information: Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the UBCIC - (250) 490-5314; David Eby, Executive Director of the BCCLA – (778) 865-7997; Dr. John C. Butt, Forensic Pathologist – (604) 738-0878; Leonard Cler-Cunningham, writer - (604) 298-7585/

The faces of death

I have never seen, nor would I want to, any of the series of movies called "Faces of Death." But, I know of them and, as I watched the video of Robert Dziekanski dying before my very eyes, the thought of those movies flashed through my mind.

What has haunted me since then is that, had the world been witness earlier to others dying in much the same way as Robert did, he might be alive today. Had Canadians, in particular, been witness to the circumstances of the other 19 people who have died in Canada, perhaps we would have been repulsed into meaningful action. And perhaps some of those who have died would still be alive today.

What would we learn if we could see video of the last minutes of the lives of Terry Hanna, Clayton Willey, Clark Whitehouse, Ronald Perry, Roman Andreichikov, Peter Lamonday, Robert Bagnell, Jerry Knight, Samuel Truscott, Kevin Geldart, Gurmeet Sandhu, James Foldi, Paul Saulnier, Alesandro Fiacco, Jason Doan, Claudio Castagnetta, Quilem Registre, Howard Hyde and Robert Knipstrom?

Would we agree that taser use was justified during Clayton Willey's "altercation" at the mall? Were three taser jolts justified when Clark Whitehouse tried to flee from police on foot? What about when police arrived, tasers already drawn, to find Roman Andreichikov sitting on the couch, rocking back and forth mumbling to himself? Was it ok to shock Peter Lamonday several times when he was already on the ground? How about Alesandro Fiacco who "refused to cooperate with police?" These are only a few Canadian examples.

I know that if we could see the events leading to many of these deaths, we would finally learn precisely what happened - which may or may not jive with police accounts of the incidents. While I could not watch video of my brother's death, I do wish that others could. I know that most thinking Canadians would concur that the use of tasers was not only unjustified the night Bob died, but was likely unjustified in the majority of cases.

But seeing is believing and no one will ever get to see, for example, my brother on his back on a bathroom floor, unarmed and weighing 136 pounds - "resisting" police attempts to drag him out by holding onto inanimate objects for dear life. This while 11 trained police officers stood by as witnesses as two of their brothers in blue subdued Bob to death.

They say that after he was tasered, Bob continued to "resist." I contend that the "resistance" police often describe following taser shocks and which could be seen in the footage of Robert Dziekanski's death, is just the human body's way of resisting what it knows to be the final throes of death.

(I would not be surprised if, given the wide availability of the footage of Robert's death, it eventually ends up on a future installment of Faces of Death. I do hope that the lawyer for Robert's family pursues copyright protections on the video to prevent that from happening.)

CANADA - Inappropriate and Excessive Use of Tasers

May 23, 2007
Amnesty International

Canada - Excessive and lethal force?

November 30, 2004
Amnesty International

Métis man's death due to drugs, not Taser: doctor

October 19, 2004
CBC News

A coroner's inquest in British Columbia looking into the death of man after he was shot with a Taser gun has been told the man probably died of a cocaine overdose.
Clayton Willey died 16 hours after he was subdued by a Taser gun in July 2003.

The RCMP were called to deal with Willey after reports of an altercation with security staff at a mall in Prince George.

Willey was restrained, handcuffed and then shot with a Taser at least twice. The Taser delivers a 50,000-volt zap and causes temporary loss of muscle control.

An autopsy determined the 33-year-old man had potentially lethal amounts of cocaine in his system when he died.

The first witness in the inquest, Dr. James McNaughton, said high cocaine abuse contributed to Willey's death and not anything the police did. The pathologist noted Willey suffered a severe heart attack 20 minutes after he was hit with a Taser on the day he died. McNaughton says a shorter interval of time between the two incidents would be needed to make a connection.

An RCMP probe has already cleared officers of any wrongdoing, but the dead man's sister still has many questions.

Bryna Willey says her brother had marks all over his body, a bruised head, missing teeth and internal bleeding after the altercation with security guards and police.

Most of all, she wants to know why police used the Taser to subdue her brother, when he was already wearing handcuffs.

"I think it's a hand-held electric chair," she said. "It's a death sentence."

The inquest will hear testimony in Prince George both this week and next.

Complaints about the way police use the subduing tactic have been on the increase. Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan is on the record as saying more research should be done about the effect Tasers can have on people.

On the worldwide stage, the human rights group Amnesty International wants police forces to suspend the use of Taser guns.

Several inquiries into the use of Tasers are about to begin across Canada. Willey's case is the first one.

Dirk Ryneveld, B.C.'s police complaints commissioner, has recommended standardized province-wide Taser training for police officers likely to use them in the line of duty.

Ryneveld made the recommendation after the death of Vancouver resident Robert Bagnell this July. Bagnell also had high amounts of cocaine in his system when he died.

Dead in Custody

June 21, 2004
Dee Hon, TheTyee

TYEE SPECIAL REPORT Did Vancouver police fail to save Roman Andreichikov's life? Or did they have a hand in killing him? The mystery may centre on a factor called 'excited delirium'.

"I can't breathe."

Those, says a friend who watched in horror, were Roman Andreichikov's last words as he lay pinned to the floor of his Granville Street apartment.

Three Vancouver police officers had piled themselves atop his body while another one stood by his side. One officer pushed Andreichikov's head down against the floor. Two officers bent Andreichikov's legs at the knees while they used their body weight to drive his ankles into his back.

"If you're mumbling, you're still breathing," was one officer's reply, reportedly. Moments earlier, one of the officers holding Andreichikov's legs had shot him with a Taser - an electric stun gun that overwhelmed his nervous system with 50,000 volts of electricity. With his body in convulsions, the officers took hold of Andreichikov and bound his hands with cuffs. Then thirty seconds after Andreichikov gasped his final words, he drew his last breath.

Roman Andreichikov died May 1, 2004 at the age of 25. Nobody yet knows for sure what caused Andreichikov's death. But the fact that he was a brawny personal trainer, that he was Tasered, and that he was incoherently high on drugs places him at the centre of a complex controversy over how police should apply force to make arrests.

Taser use by Canadian police forces has been decried by Amnesty International. Also, the positioning and restraint imposed by the officers just before Andreichikov's death is coming under concerned scrutiny across North America, with some researchers seeing links to a pattern of deaths in custody.

Was it the cocaine in his body that killed Andreichikov? He had been using crack cocaine for several days and his irrational behaviour led his friend to call for an ambulance. Or did the police play a part in ending Andreichikov's life?

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Finding the answer becomes especially pressing in Vancouver where many mentally ill people reside, and where the population of crack and methamphetamine users is growing, causing police to resort more and more often to the techniques used to subdue Andreichikov, the Taser and aggressive physical restraint.

Andreichikov's grief-stricken mother Diana is desperate to know why her son died. "He wasn't a criminal," she says. "Roman never hurt anyone in his life."

The Vancouver Police Department isn't talking about the case while its major crime unit investigates what happened. The coroner's office automatically reviews every in-custody death, but it may take more than a year to complete its findings. Andreichikov's autopsy and toxicology reports have yet to hit the coroner's desk. Nor would the department answer more general requests.

The Tyee asked for the VPD's written protocols for using Tasers and for dealing with mentally disturbed people, as well as related coursework required of officers. The department's spokesperson said the VDP was unable "at this time" to provide such information to The Tyee.

Taser concerns

Every year in B.C., a handful of people die in police custody. Some years the number is a dozen. Some years it's less. Of those unfortunate few, perhaps two or three of them per year would have died much like Andreichikov did -- shortly after struggling with police and being put in restraints. Sometimes the deceased were high on cocaine, methamphetamines, or some other stimulant when they died. Sometimes they were psychotic due to a mental disorder like schizophrenia. In other cases, they die stone sober.

Two British Columbians -- Terry Hanna and Clayton Willey -- died in separate incidents last year after being Tasered and subdued by RCMP officers. Their cases are still under review but have added fuel to a growing firestorm over police use of Tasers. Amnesty International called on the Canadian government and others to suspend police use of Tasers until further review. Several police forces in the United States have already holstered their Tasers after public outrage sparked by a number of in-custody deaths. The manufacturer, Taser International, says the total number of deaths after Taser use now approaches 50. The company points out, however, that every autopsy report to date has listed a cause of death other than the Taser. None of the reports have found the weapon to be a contributing factor. Taser spokesperson Steve Tuttle says the weapons don't have nearly the power required to damage someone's heart.

Hospital defibrillators generate 150 to 400 Joules of energy per pulse. The Taser generates a maximum of 1.76 Joules per pulse."You do the math," Tuttle says. "We are nowhere near the threshold that would cause cardiac tissue to be affected." Even if Tasers contributed to in-custody deaths, the numbers wouldn't account for all the people who have died in restraints or shortly thereafter - a total estimated to be in the thousands.

'In-custody death syndrome'

Deaths of people after restraint have been documented beyond B.C.'s borders: Ontario, The United States, Great Britain, Iraq. And people aren't just dying in police restraints. Children and teenagers have died after being pinned down by caregivers in group homes. Seniors have died in care homes after being restrained to furniture. Whether the deaths occur on the street, in jail cells, in group homes, seniors' facilities or in mental institutions, the death toll keeps mounting.

A study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimates that between 50 to 150 people die in American health facilities each year shortly after being restrained. That's 500 to 1500 in the past decade. Other researchers estimate a similar number of people die after police restraint.

What's killing these people - and may have killed Andreichikov - is known by names like in-custody death syndrome or police custody death syndrome. Most commonly, it's called either positional asphyxia, or agitated/excited delirium. Sometimes autopsies reveal the victims died from hypoxia - a lack of oxygen to the brain. Whatever force or restraints they experienced before they died kept them from being able to breathe. Hog-tie restraints, prone restraints and body-pressure to the back, chest, neck or abdomen have all proven potentially fatal. An Iraqi prisoner in the custody of U.S. navy commandos died last April from positional asphyxia.

'Excited delirium' a factor?

When a person is killed by positional asphyxia, it's usually clear who did it. But when a person's heart stops beating before he or she stops breathing, they call it excited delirium and the blame game becomes more complex. Do police or caregivers contribute to such deaths when they restrain the victims, do they merely fail to stop the fatal effects of psychosis?

Anthany Dawson died August 1999, after a violent struggle with Victoria police. Prior to his arrest, he had been seen lying on his back in the middle of a road screaming and hitting the pavement with his fists. He was mentally ill and psychotic. Five police fought to gain control of Dawson. Afterwards, they strapped him face-down to an ambulance stretcher where he struggled against the straps. He soon lapsed into a coma and died two days later in hospital.

The police complaint commissioner's report on the Dawson case cited the work of San Francisco assistant medical examiner Steve Karch.

In Karch's opinion, people who die from excited delirium are doomed regardless of what police do. The victims are delirious, adrenaline jacks up their heart rate, their hearts fail and they die. Such people are merely the victims of their own drug use. "If death occurs while the officers are trying to restrain the victim, the police will be assumed to be responsible," Karch says.

But other researchers note that every excited delirium death is preceded by a forceful struggle with police. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal examined the deaths of 21 people due to excited delirium in Ontario. In all 21 cases, the deceased were forcefully restrained in a prone position, sometimes with pressure placed on the neck. Twelve of them (57 percent of the total) had a psychiatric disorder. Only a minority of them - eight out of 21 (38 percent) - had cocaine in their system.

In other words, while other factors may vary, the use of forceful takedowns remains a constant element in excited delirium deaths. Larger American studies have corroborated these findings.

Coroner: potentially lethal combo

Vancouver coroner Sandy Barabe believes stimulant drugs and forceful restraint can combine for lethal effect. You panic automatically when you're squeezed so you can't breathe. Catecholamines - your body's fight or flight hormones - kick in to help you battle for air. Thatadrenaline surge spikes your heart and makes it race. "When someone is restrained or fighting - that's a well-known, documented phenomenon that causes cardiac arrest," Barabe says.

Psychotic episodes due to illness or stimulant drugs like cocaine raise the heart rate too - and for a prolonged period of time. Experts believe the combined stresses of psychosis and fighting asphyxiation can overwhelm the heart's ability to function."It's because you crank the system," Barabe explains. "It's like being in the maximum stress state and prolonging it."

Cocaine and methamphetamine use is rising. Mental institution closures throughout North America have put far more mentally ill people back into the community. Even rising diabetes rates mean more people acting strangely because of missed insulin shots.

"Police officers are more than ever being called on to deal with these situations," says the Justice Institute of B.C.'s www.jibc.bc.ca/ deputy director of police training, Mike Trump.

But police officers aren't mental health professionals. "We are not training police officers to be psychologists," Trump says. Police are taught to handle the situations as best they can.

Taking control of the delirious

So what's a police officer to do when taking a delirious person into custody? Use-of-force expert Sgt. Kelly Keith says a forceful takedown is never the primary option, regardless of a suspect's mental state. Keith trains police recruits at the Justice Institute. He says effective communication - an officer's command of "mental judo" - is always the first weapon of choice.

But Keith says while police are trained to be aware of excited delirium, the issue only becomes of concern after the officers have used taken measures - forceful or otherwise -to gain control of the person.

"You're not going to say, 'he may suffer from excited delirium, so we're going to use this force option because of this,'" Keith says. "That isn't going to happen. Control of the suspect has to be our first concern. "Police are trained to make sure their detainees can breathe and to watch for warning signs after they've been restrained. But is that too late a time to be worrying about the person's health?

Lawyer Phil Rankin is representing the Andreichikovs to help the family search for answers. He feels Vancouver police showed no concern for Roman's health and blames them for his death.

"They killed him. It's that simple," Rankin says. "They didn't come there to kill him. But they came like stupid cops always do to everything. They always use force where brains would work."

'Great guy' with big muscles

Rahim Hadani watched his best friend die in the hands of police that day. He was the one who made the fateful call to 911. Hadani remembers Roman as a fun-loving, easy-going guy with big muscles and an even bigger heart. The two of them saw each other almost every day whenever Hadani wasn't out of town on business. They loved to work out at the gym, ride motorcycles together and go out for spicy Thai lunches. "He was a great guy," Hadani looks back fondly, "a really great guy."

But Andreichikov was not himself the day he died. Hadani returned from a trip to Toronto to find his friend pacing through the apartment picking his skin and mumbling incoherently. Hadani knew his friend recently started smoking crack again after quitting two years before. Hadani didn't share his friend's habit, but he wasn't concerned it was a problem."It didn't bother me as long he kept his life in control," Hadani says. If Andreichikov got high one day, he never let it keep him from getting up the next morning to go to work."He wanted to get off it again, but he didn't get that far," Hadani says sadly.

Hadani tried to calm his friend down for an hour and tried to get him to go to bed. After Andreichikov threatened to jump from the fourth-floor balcony a couple of times, Hadani called for an ambulance. By the time someone buzzed the apartment, Hadani had Andreichikov seated on the couch where he sat holding the couch's arm and rocking. Hadani answered the door, but it was the police, and not the paramedics. They told Hadani it was standard procedure.

Andreichikov's last minutes

Four officers entered the apartment single file behind another officer who targeted Andreichikov with the Taser's aiming laser. After a short conversation during which police questioned Andreichikov about his last name and date of birth, the officers asked Andreichikov to scoot off the couch and lie face-down on the floor. He did as he was told.

Andreichikov was a big man. As he laid face-down on the ground, his own body weight may have pushed against his torso making it hard for him to breathe. Researchers say this can be common for heavier people. For whatever reason, Andreichikov flipped over on his back after ten seconds lying prone.

Hadani says his friend was incoherent but calm during time the police where there. "If the cops gave me the cuffs, I would have done it," Hadani recalls. But when Andreichikov flipped himself over the police reacted, firing the Taser probes into his leg. With that, Andreichikov began the final moments of his life.