Taser use not "relevant factor" in tattoo artist's death

June 5, 2012

CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/06/04/edmonton-fatality-inquiry-report-trevor-grimolfson.html

The use of a Taser stun gun on Edmonton tattoo artist Trevor Grimolfson was "not a relevant factor" in his death, according to a fatality inquiry report obtained by CBC News prior to its release later this month.

The two-page report into Grimolfsen's death on Oct. 29th, 2008 also contains no recommendations, which concerns his mother Beverly."All you can get are recommendations and you don't even get one to prevent a similar death? Not even one?" she asked. "That's what my son would want. He would not want anyone else to die like that."

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died after police tried to subdue him outside his tattoo parlour at 153rd Street and Stony Plain Road. Officers were called after Grimolfson rampaged through a nearby pawnshop and assaulted the store owner.

Police used the Taser on him three times. Grimolfson lost consciousness after he was put in handcuffs and was pronounced dead by the time he arrived at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

In his report, fatality inquiry judge Frederick Day wrote that the last use of a Taser needs to be within 15 seconds of a loss of consciousness for it to be considered a factor in someone's death.

In Grimolfson's case, "a few minutes passed, not seconds, from the time of last Taser use to time of unconsciousness; therefore, the Taser use is not a relevant factor," the judge wrote.

The medical examiner found that Grimolfson died of "excited delirium" triggered by "multiple drug toxicity." He was found to have high levels of the street drugs ecstasy and ketamine in his blood.

Beverly Grimolfson plans to protest outside of future fatality inquiries with relatives of others who have died after Taser use.

During the inquiry, she recommended that researchers at the University of Alberta conduct studies on the effects of the device.

"Something has to be done to get proper testing going here and that's what I'm going to focus on," she said.

Family finds closure in fatality inquiry of man who died after being Tasered

August 26, 2011
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

The family of a man who died after being jolted by police with a stun gun during an arrest nearly three years ago walked away from a fatality inquiry Friday with a better understanding of what happened.

However, although they now know for sure Gordon Bowe was afflicted with cocaine-induced excited delirium syndrome, they say they still are not totally clear about why he died on Nov. 1, 2008, after allegedly breaking into a home on 42nd Street S.E.

“It answered a lot of questions for me,” Robert Bowe of Vancouver, the father of the deceased, said outside court. “I still have some doubts about some of the things that happened, but I don’t put any blame on the police officers or anybody else involved.

“Some of the procedures and training (of police) may be inadequate when it comes to this type of thing.”

Robert Bowe said he still believes the use of a stung gun should be a last resort and, if possible, officers should avoid trying to restrain someone in such a heightened state for as long as possible.

“Let it run it’s time out and if the person doesn’t survive, there’s even more evidence to try to help educate people,” he said. “I feel good about the outcome of this (evidence). It’s just a sad thing my son happened to be one of the very few.”

He said it was more likely his son, in the state he was in, was not trying to hurt anyone, but it was a chemical imbalance and he was fighting for his life.

It was determined after the fact that Gordon Bowe, 30, suffered from excited delirium and that the stun gun deployed by the city police officer, one of four officers trying to restrain him, did not play any role in his death.

The devastated father also warned all young people that they should never take illicit drugs even once, because they are then susceptible to excited delirium.

John Chernenkoff, the deceased’s father-on-law, said he feels a lot better after hearing the evidence at the inquiry, but said he is not happy with the discrepancies between the evidence of the police officers and the report by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.

“What happened in this incident, as far as the outcome, is still up in the air,” he said. “We will be making some recommendations. We’ve drawn up a few, but we want to finalize them before presenting them to the judge.”

Mary Erschbamer, Gordon Bowe’s stepmother, said she was happy to find “he was not a criminal, that this was an illness.”

Dr. Christine Hall of Victoria, who has done extensive research on excited delirium for the past decade, told court that it would be beneficial to better understand the rare illness. She added it would be beneficial if police agencies keeping track of all such in-custody incidents were to provide better data to herself and other researchers.

Currently, she said, they are only scratching the surface and still face great opposition from critics in the medical field.

She told Crown lawyer Jo-Ann Burgess said she wished more physicians were involved in assisting the study, but it’s a tough sell because of the level of personal criticism she faces from a skeptical portion of the medical field.

“It’s difficult to engage physicians in a controversial topic, but if we had better data and better understanding scientifically, that would be much easier,” Hall testified.

“Also, just for people to realize we’re talking about a very, very small proportion of people, as we understand at the moment. So changing things isn’t rapid, but we need to follow it. . . . This notion that it’s all a giant coverup and it’s all a big conspiracy theory, we’re really ignoring the medicine.”

Robert Bowe said he was pleased with the studies Dr. Hall is doing on the illness now and will continue in the future.

“She’ll possibly have some recommendations to have better procedures for the future to stop deaths when police encounter this situation,” he said.

Provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux invited all interested parties — the family, Calgary Police Service, Taser International, Alberta Health Services and Emergency Medical Services — to provide suggested recommendations to her by Oct. 31.

She will then file a report outlining the evidence and recommendations, if any.

'Excited delirium' very real, MD says

August 26, 2011
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

The officer who fired his Taser at a man who had allegedly broken into a southeast residence says it would have been difficult to do things any differently, given the information he and his fellow officers had.

"If at the time we knew the house was 100 per cent vacant, our tactics could have changed," Const. Stefan Van Tassell testified Thursday at a fatality inquiry.

"If there was nobody else in the house and he only could have harmed himself, we could have bought more time."

Van Tassell said it was only later determined that Gordon Bowe, 40, was in a state of excited delirium when he and other officers arrived at what they believed to be an occupied home in the 500 block of 42nd Street S.E. on Nov. 1, 2008.

The four police officers involved in subduing Bowe, including Van Tassell, were subsequently cleared of any potential wrongdoing and the investigation concluded the stun gun did not play any role in the man's death.

Dr. Christine Hall, a Victoria emergency room physician who has spent the past 10 years researching excited delirium syndrome, said Calgary police are "the gold standard" in incorporating training of the rare affliction.

"We're trying to give police agencies enough to know what to deal with," she testified. "A lot of people don't believe there is something significantly different about people who die in custody and the thinking is 'whoever touched him last must have caused his death.'

"But as a medical researcher, you look at the cases, you change the names, places and dates, and it's the same symptoms."

Hall said some doctors have never seen excited delirium and "think it's crap," but hers and other researchers' goals are to define the factors that police should be aware of when dealing with someone who has excited delirium.

She said such people are agitated, incoherent, are often partly naked and exhibit enormous strength.

Hall said she has submitted a research paper on the subject to the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, to help identify the symptoms and how to handle someone with excited delirium.

"It's very easy after the fact to look back and have all the cards fall and say, 'How couldn't I see that?' " she told provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux, who is hearing the inquiry into Bowe's death.

"But it might not be an obvious thing while it's going on. Even though you're educated, you're not expecting that to happen. You have no idea somebody is going to die."

Court previously heard that Calgary police dealt with 37 arrests of people with excited delirium over the most recent three-year period examined.

She said it is being examined where such a suspect might be sedated from a distance, but that is difficult because of dosages and concerns the person might flee before it takes effect and either be injured or passed out somewhere unknown.

Van Tassell told Crown lawyer Jo-Ann Burgess that he and his partner arrived at the home and he used his flashlight to see the intruder through a broken window into the dark basement.

"I observed him in the baseent," Van Tassell said, alludng to Bowe.

"He was very irritated and aggressive. He was shouting, flailing his limbs about. I announced, 'Calgary police, you are under arrest,' several times. He didn't acknowledge me. I continued to issue challenges to him."

The officer said he then drew his Taser gun and deployed it through the open window and saw the man fall backwards, but he got up again fairly quickly and began moving toward him.

Van Tassell said he then went into the basement and saw Bowe running back and forth. He fired the stun gun two more times, but believed he missed the target at least once before he went down.

"I pulled the Taser, because it was the most effective means of taking him under control without injury," the officer told court.

Van Tassell said it took four officers, including himself, to finally handcuff Bowe. It was only after they got the cuffs on him that they suspected he was in an excited delirium and they summoned paramedics.

Van Tassell said he could not specifically recall if he had warned Bowe that he was intending to use his Taser if Bowe didn't comply.

The officer said the man was grunting and snorting heavily and never did give a verbal response. It was only at the point that he was handcuffed and subdued that it was suspected he might be in a state of delirium from use of illicit drugs.

"He wasn't communicating properly, just grunting, and I realized excited delirium was a possibility," Van Tassell recalled, "but I couldn't say with certainty he had excited delirium.

"He had been running around flailing, not fully clothed, but it was not until after the cuffs were on we thought it might be excited delirium."

The fatality inquiry continues today.

Police defend use of stun gun on delirious man

August 25, 2011
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

CALGARY — The city police officer who fired his stun gun at a man who had allegedly broken into a southeast residence says it would have been difficult to do anything differently, given the information he and his fellow officers had at the time.

“If at the time we knew the house was 100 per cent vacant our tactics could have changed,” Const. Stefan Van Tassell testified at a fatality inquiry.

“If there was nobody else in the house and he only could have harmed himself we could have bought more time.”

Van Tassell said it was only later determined that the man they encountered, Gordon Bowe, 40, was in a state of excited delirium when he and other officers arrived at what they believed to be an occupied home in the 500 block of 42nd Street S.E. on Nov. 1, 2008.

The four police officers involved in subduing Bowe, including Van Tassell have been cleared of any potential wrongdoing and the investigation concluded the stun gun did not cause the man’s death.

Van Tassell, now in his seventh year with Calgary police, told Crown lawyer Jo-Ann Burgess that he and his partner arrived at the home and he used his flashlight to see the intruder through a broken window into the dark basement.

“He was very irritated and aggressive,” Van Tassell said. “He was shouting, flailing his limbs about. I announced ‘Calgary police, you are under arrest,’ several times. He didn’t acknowledge me. I continued to issue challenges to him.”

The officer said he then drew his stun gun and deployed it through the open window and saw the man fall backwards, but got up again fairly quickly and began moving toward him without saying anything coherently.

Van Tassell said he then went into the basement and saw Bowe running back and forth. He fired the stun gun again twice, but believed he missed the target at least once before he went down.

“I pulled the Taser, because it was the most effective means of taking him under control without injury,” the officer told court.

Van Tassell said it took four officers, including himself, to finally handcuff the large man while he was on the basement floor.

It was only after they got the cuffs on him that they suspected he was in an excited delirium and they summoned the awaiting paramedics.

Van Tassell said he could not specifically recall if he had warned Bowe that he was intending to use his Taser if he didn’t comply, but said it was standard practice to do so.

He said once Bowe was under control and searched for any weapons, some of the officers went to clear the residence, to be certain there was nobody else inside.

The officer said the man was grunting and snorting heavily and didn’t give a verbal response. It was only at the point that he was handcuffed and subdued that it was suspected he might be in a state of delirium from use of illicit drugs.

“He wasn’t communicating properly, just grunting, and I realized excited delirium was a possibility,” Van Tassell recalled. “But I couldn’t say with certainty he had excited delirium.

“He had been running around flailing, not fully clothed, but it was not until after the cuffs were on we thought it might be excited delirium.”

Excited delirium is described as a condition that includes a combination of delirium, physical agitation and anxiety that can include hallucinations, speech disturbances and disorientation that can lead to an elevated body temperature and superhuman strength.

Court heard previously that police deal with about a dozen cases a year of excited delirium. Although they are trained how to deal with such suspects, it is not always apparent initially what they are facing.

The inquiry continues through Friday.

Cops unable to curb excited delirium custody deaths, inquiry told

August 24, 2011
Kevin Martin, Calgary Sun

Regardless of restraint method, police forces continue to have in custody deaths related to excited delirium, a senior Calgary officer told a fatality inquiry Wednesday.

Insp. Chris Butler said cops have tried various methods to limit the number of suspects who succumb to the syndrome, including Tasers.

But despite efforts to find ways to subdue out-of-control individuals, police haven’t been able to find a way to reduce such deaths.

“No matter how we change the method of restraint to try to maximize the rate of survival, we still have in-custody deaths,” Butler testified.

He said the Calgary Police Service abandoned neck restraints in the early 1990s, using pepper spray instead, when it was believed the choke holds were causing deaths.

But when fatalities continued in North America, groups such as Amnesty International called for the banning of OC spray, believing it was to blame, Butler said.

Since then, the CPS has resumed training officers to use neck restraints in some instances when trying to subdue individuals, he said.

Butler was giving evidence at a fatality inquiry into the death of Gordon Walker Bowe, who succumbed to excited delirium on Nov. 2, 2008.

Bowe was shot with a Taser gun during his arrest the previous evening, when he was found in an agitated state in an under-construction home on 42 St. S.E.

A report from Taser International said the weapon discharged an electrical current for two to five seconds, but officers on the scene said it appeared to have no effect on Bowe.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for the U.S.-based company said his client is not looking at developing suspect-debilitating dart guns.

Inquiry Judge Heather Lamoureux had asked in June, whether “medical restraints” could be delivered through weapons.

“I raised the issue with Taser, they’re not working in that area at all,” David Neave told Lamoureux.

“It’s difficult to, from a distance, provide, or administer a drug that will calm a person down sufficiently to take them into custody,” Neave said.

The hearing, which can make recommendations to prevent similar deaths, but cannot find blame, resumes Thursday.

Four officers fought to subdue man in tragic struggle

June 15, 2011
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

CALGARY — Police had no alternative but to use physical force to subdue a man who was combative in resisting arrest, one of four officers who struggled with him at a southeast home testified at a fatality inquiry on Wednesday.

Const. Aron Johnston said it was believed that Gordon Walker Bowe, who allegedly broke into the unoccupied home on Erin Meadows Close on Nov. 1, 2008, was in a state of excited delirium.

“It was like bull wrestling ... he had incredible strength,” Johnston told lawyer Chad Babiuk, who represents Bowe’s relatives. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.

“Excited delirium has been recognized for 25 years. The best example I can use to describe it is ‘an adrenalin overdose.’ ”

Bowe, 40, was Tasered by one of the officers and died later at hospital, although it was subsequently determined by the medical examiner and the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team that the Taser played no role in his death.

Court heard earlier he had consumed cocaine prior to the incident.

Johnson said he never saw the Taser being used, but did see the stun gun laying on the floor by the door after the struggle, picked it up and put it into his pocket.

He said he and his partner were about the fourth police car to arrive at the home that night.

Johnson said he looked in through a basement window into the dark bedroom and saw what looked like an intense struggle between Bowe and other officers.

“The officers were challenging someone to stop resisting and show his hands,” Johnston told Crown lawyer Cynthia Hykaway. “They were trying to get him to co-operate and restrain him. They were almost pleading with him to stop fighting.”

The officer said he entered the home and joined the other three officers.

They soon got Bowe to his knees, but he wasn’t giving up.

“I thought the officers were losing grip on the fight, so I kicked him, jumped on top of him and held him. It was like wrestling. I held him tight.”

Johnston said the suspect continued to wriggle and kick, trying to break free, then suddenly “the movements of his body were less and less” and after 15 seconds he stopped resisting.

The constable looked up and saw fellow officers Dave Stewart and Stefan Van Tassel were pouring sweat and breathing heavily.

It was only then, he said, that the rest of the house was checked for other people and EMS personnel who had been waiting outside the home were summoned to come inside.

When asked by Babiuk why the paramedics were not called in earlier, so they would be available immediately after Bowe was subdued, Johnston said they could not come in while a struggle was ensuing and the house was not cleared to ensure no other suspects were inside.

“We would never call EMS into a scene we don’t feel is safe. It was a fast-paced situation when we have someone who has committed a break and enter to a house and we don’t know if anybody else is in there,” he answered.

“I’d find it extremely difficult to have medical personnel standing behind us when there was a struggle with Mr. Bowe. Having medical personnel in the room when there is a major struggle would be dangerous.”

The inquiry before provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureaux wraps up later today (Wednesday), the resumes on Aug. 24.

The judge in a fatality inquiry cannot find fault, but can make recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Taser CEO testifies at fatality inquiry

June 14, 2011
Kevin Martin, Calgary Sun

Startled, a Calgary judge nearly jumped from her chair Tuesday when she thought a witness had activated a Taser gun.

But Rick Smith, CEO of Taser International Inc., assured provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux the weapon he held on the witness stand was completely harmless.

Smith, using a Taser borrowed from the Calgary Police Service, was showing Lamoureux how the weapon is deployed by peace officers.

But when he clicked a disposable cartridge which contained the weapons darts and wires, Lamoureux jumped back.

“Ew, did you load it?” the judge said.

“No, because the battery is not in,” Smith said.

Smith, who founded the company which makes the law enforcement weapon, was testifying at a fatality inquiry into the death of a man in police custody.

Lamoureux is presiding over the hearing to determine what, if any measures, might be implemented to prevent deaths in the future like that of Gordon Walker Bowe’s.

Bowe’s November, 2008 death is being blamed on excited delirium syndrome, a drug-induced condition.

The 30-year-old was shot by police with a Taser when they found him in a vacant house under construction in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., although the device didn’t conduct an electrical shock.

Smith testified that while there has been significant litigation commenced over the use of Tasers in the U.S., only one case in 140 that have been settled found any fault for his company.

In that instance, the weapon was determined by a jury to be a 15% contributor in the plaintiff’s death, he told inquiry lawyer Jo-Ann Burgess.

But while his company now instructs cops to aim towards the abdomen of suspects, instead of chest areas to avoid the risk of cardiac arrhythmia, there’s no evidence linking Tasers to heart attacks.

The hearing, which can’t find blame, resumes Wednesday.

Officer says man 'appeared crazy'

June 15, 2011
By Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

A city police officer called to a break and enter at an Erin Woods home on Nov. 1, 2008, testified on Tuesday that it quickly became apparent the intruder was in a state of excited delirium.

"He appeared crazy," Const. Dave Stewart told Crown lawyer Cynthia Hykaway during the second day of a fatality inquiry into the death of Gordon Walker Bowe.

"His speech . . . I couldn't make out what he was saying. There was incredible jumping and sweating."

Stewart said he had some experience dealing with delirium in recruit training, but never dealt with a suspect before or since that day.

Bowe, 40, was Tasered by a fellow officer and died in hospital, but it was later ruled the stun gun did not play a role in his death. Rather, it was deemed to be from the delirium caused by use of cocaine.

Dr. Sam Andrews, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Bowe, earlier told co-Crown lawyer Jo-Ann Burgess there was no physical evidence that both probes from the Taser struck Bowe. He agreed that even if the Taser was properly deployed and successful in giving a deceased electrical charge, it had no prolonged effect on him.

Andrews said the state of delirium was caused by the use of cocaine, likely from a binge situation.

Rick Smith, CEO and founder of Taser International in 1993, told court there have been 170 civil litigation cases in the United States where the weapon was used and of the 130 or so completed cases, only once has Taser been deemed even partially responsible -and it was only for 15 per cent of the cause of a death.

He said most of the cases have been triggered by the victim taking toxic doses of amphetamines.

Smith, who demonstrated the use of the gun while in a safe mode without its battery, said they are now being equipped with video cameras to see what occurs for the five seconds or so they are being deployed.

However, he added, officers are using head cams to be able to capture not only the firing time, but what leads up to it and afterward, to give it context. That, however, was not the case in the confrontation with Bowe.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigated the actions of four Calgary police officers in the death of the Castlegar, B.C., resident, who travelled back and forth to Calgary for work, and reported there would be no charges laid against the officers.

ASIRT concluded Bowe, 30, was high on cocaine and died of excited delirium and not as a the result of a Taser or police actions.

The fatality inquiry continues today, then will be adjourned until Aug. 24 for continuation. A fatality inquiry cannot find fault, but the judge can make recommendations.

Autopsies thrown into question

Grant William Prentice, 40 - Brooks, AB - May 6, 2009 - RCMP - tasered at least 2 times - "Official" cause of death: acute cocaine toxicity and "the medical examiner also concluded the taser did not play a role in the death"

February 17, 2011
Alex Mccuaig, Medicine Hat News

A Calgary pathologist whose work is being called into question was involved in at least two investigations stemming from deaths in southeastern Alberta, the News confirmed Wednesday.

Concerns about the quality of Dr. Michael Belenky's work arose publicly after Calgary Police requested a review on Jan. 26 of one of the pathologist's reports.

Alberta Justice announced five days later that 12 cases handled by Belenky at Alberta Medical Examiners Office Calgary will be reviewed.

The News learned autopsies connected to the February 2010 alleged homicide of Morbe Buluk in Medicine Hat and the fatality of Grant Prentice, who died during an arrest in May 2009 in Brooks, were performed by Belenky.

Regarding Prentice's death, Cliff Purvis, director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) — which investigates deaths involving police — said, "he was the medical examiner."

But Purvis added, "the findings of the medical examiner's office didn't rest solely on Dr. Belenky's opinion and won't affect the outcome of our file."

Died during arrest

Prentice, 40, died after Brooks RCMP officers used a Taser and physical force to subdue the man after witnesses reported he was acting erratically. The ASIRT investigation cleared Mounties of any wrongdoing, attributing the death to acute cocaine toxicity. Purvis stated the toxicology report wasn't conducted by Belenky.

"That was done by a separate expert in the medical examiner's office," Purvis said.

ASIRT's role, regardless of the ME's report, he added, is to investigate whether police committed any criminal offence. In this case, ASIRT found, police actions were justified.

"I'm not reopening the investigation because it has little impact on our case," said Purvis.

Informed of Belenky's connection to the investigation of his son's death, Bill Prentice said he suspected the pathologist's involvement in the file when Alberta Justice announced its review of Belenky's examinations. "It makes you wonder," said Prentice. "The whole thing sounds to me like it could have been a problem." He said he never had much faith in the report into his son's death. "We could have raised a bunch of hell but guess what's going to happen? Nothing... They'll deny everything no matter what.'

Anniversary Approaches

As she prepares to mourn the one-year anniversary of her son Morbe's death on Family Day, Stela Buluk said she feels lost without her boy. Morbe Buluk was involved in a physical altercation on the evening of Feb. 17, 2010 with a 26-year-old man in Medicine Hat. Afterwards, he made his way home but began to act erratically and the family contacted police. The 18-year-old was taken into custody and was examined by paramedics, according to Medicine Hat police, but was found in medical distress a few hours later in his cell on the morning of Feb. 18. He died three days later at a Calgary hospital. A Medicine Hat man is currently facing manslaughter charges in connection with this case. Buluk's mother said she was informed three weeks ago that the her son's autopsy will be reviewed. "I hope at the end they do the right thing," said Buluk, who emigrated from Sudan with her three children and husband in 2003. "I'm struggling. I feel like I'm stuck in one place and don't know what to do. You just lose a son like that and now you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know," said Buluk. That autopsy was conducted on Feb. 24, 2010. However, questions began to surface last December when a local defence lawyer told the court he hadn't received the ME's report nine months after the autopsy was completed.

Alberta Justice spokesperson David Deer said the department cannot currently comment on specific cases but said Belenky left the ME's office prior to the announcement of the review. Deer added Belenky's departure was not connected to the investigation. "The first goal of the review is to review every criminal file this pathologist worked on regardless of whether it involved a conviction or acquittal," said Deer. "We'll take whatever time necessary to do that," Deer said Belenky had the recognized qualifications to practise forensic pathology in the province and was licenced by the College of Physicians & Surgeons. "Dr. Belenky certainly did have the credentials as well as being licenced," said Deer.

Medicine Hat defence lawyer Bill Cocks said he has never seen the work of a pathologist called into question like this in his 35 years of practicing law in Alberta. "The pathologist in some kinds of murder cases is critical," said Cocks. "We can't put the pieces together ourselves and we rely on this person's expertise." He said evidence presented by a pathologist is rarely questioned. "Who's to challenge it? Most people don't have the resources to hire their own pathologist and conduct the examination or review the report to make their own determination."

Alberta Justice has announced it will launch fatality inquires for both Morbe Buluk and Grant Prentice but dates have yet to be set.

Culture shift needed in society, system

December 9, 2010
MARILLA STEPHENSON, Chronicle Herald

In the end, who failed Howard Hyde?

Perhaps, to some degree, we all did.

There is really no way to dress up the realities of mental illness. It is not pretty, and it can be a very tough challenge to support people in crisis. The people who live closest to those who suffer from mental illnesses are victims of the illnesses, too.

There is also no way to disguise or excuse how our society has continued to respond to people who experience mental illnesses. The stigmas are clear and well understood, even by young children in our schools. The branding begins early.

Hyde is the Dartmouth man who died in custody in 2007. He suffered from schizophrenia. The police were told of his mental illness when he was taken into custody over allegations of domestic abuse. He later died after an intense struggle with prison guards.

Provincial court Judge Anne Derrick released the fatal inquiry report into Hyde’s death on Wednesday. She firmly rejected a previous finding by a pathologist that he had died due to a condition termed "excited delirium."

Derrick dismissed that finding as a "red herring" that did not exist in Hyde’s case.

She also found that while the repeated use of a Taser on Hyde during his time in police custody "worsened the situation," it was not the cause of his death. She did, however, remind justice officials that so-called stun guns are to be used as an alternative to lethal force rather than as a front-line option to subdue suspects who are emotionally disturbed.

His death was accidental, Derrick found, but it came as a direct result of his struggle with prison guards.

In the comprehensive list of 80 recommendations, Derrick tossed the ball firmly into the hands of the provincial government.

She begins by calling for the establishment of a long-promised, but still absent, mental health strategy. It is clearly not by accident that this basic framework is at the top of the list as a necessary building block from which other improvements would naturally evolve.

The judge also calls on the province to increase funding for mental health, but not to do it by reallocating funds from within the existing envelope of health-care funding. This reflects the fact that mental health issues have for too long languished on the list of health-care priorities.

We are left with a fractured, often inaccessible mental health system where vanishing waiting lists are proudly waved around by government as proof of treatment for patients. Improvements are being made, and Derrick’s report makes note of policy changes that have already occurred in the justice system in the wake of Hyde’s death.

But it is hard to comprehend that none of the guards involved in the struggle with Hyde minutes before he died had any training to help them deal with prisoners who suffer from mental illness.

One seemingly innocuous recommendation, No. 49 on Derrick’s list, speaks volumes. Directed at justice system staff and other front-line officials who are in contact with prisoners who suffer from mental illness, it is brief and to the point:

"Training should have, as its overarching purpose, the development of a culture of respect and empathy for persons with mental illness in the justice system."

This is a statement that reaches beyond the justice system and into our society as a whole. While mountains have been moved in reducing the acceptance of stereotypes linked to mental illnesses, many of the most basic government services — justice and health among them — are still handcuffed by systemic ignorance.

The judge called for alternatives for people with mental illness who come in conflict with the law, and says the responsibility reaches well beyond the justice system.

"As the evidence before the inquiry has vividly illustrated, grasping this nettle is not just the responsibility of the justice system; creativity and commitment to change are required of the health system and the community, too."

The principles of respect and empathy provide a good place from which to start.

Major recommendations from inquiry report into death of Howard Hyde

December 8, 2010
Charlottetown Guardian

HALIFAX - Major recommendations contained in the Nova Scotia fatality inquiry report into the death of Howard Hyde:

Stun guns should not be applied to people in a state of agitation due to an emotional or psychological disturbance except as a last resort once it has been determined that crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques have not worked.

The province's Justice Department should overhaul the manual it uses for stun gun training to significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the reliance on Taser International resource materials.

Crisis intervention training should be provided to all correctional officers at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.

Video surveillance cameras should be installed in health care segregation cells to ensure that correctional officers are able to more readily identify that a prisoner is in crisis.

Training should improve for front-line police officers, correctional officers and physicians on a variety of fronts, from note-taking to the preparation of health information transfer forms.

The province's justice minister should conduct an annual review on the implementation of these recommendations.

Taser-inquiry judge rejects excited delirium as cause of Nova Scotia man’s death

December 8, 2010
Globe and Mail

A Nova Scotia judge probing the death of a paranoid schizophrenic man who was tasered during violent struggles in custody rejected an official finding of excited delirium, calling the diagnosis “riddled with issues.”

Provincial Court Justice Anne Derrick noted in a massive report into the death of Howard Hyde that excited delirium is not recognized in the psychiatric lexicon and can be a convenient way to explain otherwise mysterious fatalities.

“The use of excited delirium to explain sudden deaths with no anatomic findings implies that the person had something wrong with them that caused their inexplicable death,” she wrote. “Manner of death may then be classified as ‘natural’ rather than ‘accidental.’ I ... do not accept that this would have been appropriate in Mr. Hyde’s case or in similar cases.”

Her finding contradicts that of the province’s chief medical officer, who determined that Mr. Hyde’s death in November of 2007 was due to “excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.”

Judge Derrick concluded that Mr. Hyde’s death was accidental, resulting from the struggles to restrain him.

Mr. Hyde, a 45-year-old musician who was off his medication, was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. His booking spiralled out of control and he was tasered repeatedly and physically restrained as he tried to flee police headquarters.

He was revived by police and kept until morning in hospital, where he was given anti-psychotic medication. A psychiatric assessment was recommended but police said he had to be brought before a judge. The day after his arrest Mr. Hyde was transferred to a local jail. The assessment had not been done and he had no medication.

Mr. Hyde collapsed and died the next day after struggles with guards at the jail.

Judge Derrick concluded that both police and jail guards used reasonable and proportionate force. She found that the taser did not cause the Dartmouth man’s death and ruled out a ban on the weapons. But she determined that its deployment in this case, although within existing police guidelines, was “ill-advised.”

“In Mr. Hyde’s case it subjected an acutely anxious man to excruciating pain,” she wrote. “I have found on the evidence that the use of the [conducted-energy weapon] on Mr. Hyde worsened the situation.”

She concluded that Mr. Hyde did not assault any of the police officers and that physical contact he made with them was related to his “terrified attempts to get away .. or ward off the CEW.”

Judge Derrick recommended that police use these weapons on agitated people only as a last resort and that the Department of Justice should “reduce if not eliminate” reliance on resource materials from Taser International.

Lawyers and family members involved with the inquiry received their copies of the report at the same time as it was made public Wednesday and are not expected to comment until later in the day.

Judge Derrick began the fatality inquiry 11 months ago; it is the longest in the province’s history.

Surveillance video viewed during the inquiry showed part of the lead-up to the fracas at police headquarters. Other parts happened off camera but were audible.

The audio recording from the surveillance video indicated that tension escalated quickly in the fingerprint room, an area just off the booking room. Police testified that Mr. Hyde looked “scared” and tried to back away as police went to cut the knotted drawstring on his shorts.

Audio from the surveillance recording includes a passage that sounds like “we're just going to cut one of those balls off.” This, police said, was a reference to the drawstring.

Judge Derrick called the choice of words “unfortunate” but added that the officer couldn’t have known the effect they would have on Mr. Hyde.

Voices were raised and then someone – the three officers present testified under oath that it was not them – is heard making an expletive-laden statement resembling “you're going to be doing the dance next.”

Judge Derrick accepted that the officers had not said this. She wrote that the words had likely come from Mr. Hyde, “reflecting his perception” that police were going to harm him.

Seconds later, Mr. Hyde apparently tried to make a run for it. He was tackled behind the booking counter of police headquarters and tasered. He broke free, leapt over the counter and was tasered again in a nearby hallway. He stopped breathing there and had to be revived.

From there, Mr. Hyde was brought to hospital and then jail. He was convinced there were “demons” in the jail and struggled with guards. He collapsed and died in jail, 30 hours after his arrest.

“Mr. Hyde died because of physiological changes in his body brought on by an intense struggle involving restraint,” Judge Derrick concluded. “The manner of Mr. Hyde’s death was accidental.”

Hyde report to be released today

December 8, 2010
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

Three years after Howard Hyde died in a Halifax-area jail cell, a provincial court judge will release an inquiry report today that is expected to recommend far-reaching changes to the way police, corrections and health authorities deal with the mentally ill.

The 11-month probe, led by Judge Anne Derrick, was the longest fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia’s history.

"I’m looking forward to her recommendations," said Dan MacRury, the inquiry’s lead council. "I’m very hopeful they will be a catalyst for positive change in the system . . . There is change coming."

During the hearings, which wrapped up last June, Derrick learned Hyde was a 45-year-old musician from Dartmouth who had long taken medications to cope with schizophrenia.

But on the night of Nov. 21, 2007, something went terribly wrong.

Hyde’s common-law wife, Karen Ellet, called a crisis hotline to complain he had assaulted her while in a psychotic state.

Police were dispatched and Hyde was arrested, but not before Ellet told them her husband had not been taking his medication and required psychiatric help.

Despite her plea, Hyde was never given the help he needed. The inquiry heard from multiple witnesses who testified that a psychiatric assessment would have helped the man, but a series of snafus, misunderstandings and overlapping jurisdictions got in the way.

In his final submission to the inquiry, MacRury said: "The system has to ensure that if someone like Mr. Hyde comes into contact with the justice system and the health system in need of psychiatric care, they receive it in a timely manner."

Police officers testified they had to bring Hyde before a judge because he was facing allegations of domestic abuse. But the booking process quickly spiralled out of control inside the Halifax police station.

A surveillance camera captured the moment when an officer told Hyde a utility knife would be used to remove a knot from the drawstring in Hyde’s shorts, saying: "I just have to cut off one of those balls there."

At that point, Hyde sprinted toward the booking counter, where he was tackled and Tasered.

The officers involved in the scuffle testified that Hyde displayed incredible strength as he fought them off, eventually vaulting over the counter and running toward a hallway, where he was again Tasered as officers struggle to control him.

Police testified that Hyde went limp and his heart had stopped after the Tasering. But paramedics revived the man and took him to hospital, where he received anti-psychotic medication and a recommendation for a psychiatric assessment.

But there was confusion over who would handle the assessment, given that police were saying Hyde had to be brought before a judge.

Hyde was released from hospital in the morning with a doctor’s note scrawled on a health information transfer form, saying he should be returned to the emergency department if the court failed to provide him with an assessment.

Again, there was confusion as to how those instructions would be carried out.

Police testified they didn’t have the jurisdiction to detain Hyde, and the sheriff’s deputies at the court said they weren’t allowed to disclose health documents to the Crown and defence lawyers.

In the end, Hyde was transferred from the court to the province’s largest jail — without medications and without an assessment.

The inquiry heard that early on Nov. 22, 2007, Hyde tried to escape from a correctional worker because he believed there were "demons" at the end of a long, windowless hallway. Two struggles ensued. Hyde died in a holding cell amid a tangle of guards.

A medical examiner concluded the cause of death was excited delirium with three contributing factors: the restraint technique used by guards and Hyde’s obesity and heart disease.

Excited delirium is a condition characterized by increased strength, paranoia and suddenly violent behaviour marked by profuse sweating and an elevated heart rate.

Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer representing Hyde’s sister, Joanna, told Derrick that the cause of death was likely a guard’s restraint method, which he said left Hyde on his stomach, struggling to breathe.

MacDonald recommended Derrick call for a ban on the use of Tasers and an overhaul of police restraint techniques.

"We want to hear from the judge as to her views on what happened to Mr. Hyde," MacDonald said. "That is part of her mandate: determining cause of death and the circumstances leading to his death."

Report in Hyde fatality inquiry expected Wednesday

December 3, 2010
By Greg Bennett, The Coast Guard

A report from the fatality inquiry into the death of the former Shelburne man, who died 30 hours after being tasered by Halifax Regional Police in November 2007, will be released this Wednesday.

Justice Anne Derrick will release the fatality inquiry report into the death of Howard Hyde, which will examine the circumstances under which he died, the cause of death and the manner of death. Justice Derrick may make recommendations about any matters arising from the inquiry.

The inquiry opened on Feb. 18 at Halifax Provincial Court and heard submissions mainly over the summer

Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner, Dr. Matthew Bowes, concluded in 2008 that Hyde died of “excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia.”

Coronary artery disease, obesity and restraint during a struggle were also contributing factors, according to the findings released on Sept. 17, 2008.

Dr. Bowes didn’t uncover evidence that the taser, used on Hyde by Halifax Regional Police, caused his death.

Hyde, who was living in Dartmouth at the time of his death, had a history of paranoid schizophrenia.

Excited delirium is a controversial disorder characterized by extreme agitation, violent and bizarre behavior, and insensitivity to pain, elevated body temperature, and superhuman strength.

Mother overcome by autopsy pictures

November 25, 2010
Andrea Sands, Edmonton Journal

Beverly Grimolfson began sobbing then gasping for air during a fatality inquiry after she saw autopsy pictures of her son, who died two years ago after he was repeatedly Tasered by police.

Two security officers were called in as a precaution when Grimolfson became increasingly agitated while looking through binders of inquiry material during the lunch break Thursday afternoon.

"I have to try to calm down," she said, sobbing, after seeing autopsy photos of Trevor Grimolfson, who died after violent struggle with police.

"I've just never looked at these before."

She was led out of the room in Provincial Court, where she could still be heard yelling and sobbing outside as two court security officers came in.

She returned to her seat at the front of the courtroom, where she continued crying.

"I want to ask the judge how he thought I could come here and do this ... Why didn't he let me have a lawyer? A lawyer could have helped me. That's my kid in there. I never got to see him. I don't understand the cruelty of it all."

Hands shaking violently, gasping for breath, Grimolfson was given a plastic bag to breath into, and court officials urged her to calm down before she was led out of the courtroom a second time.

Grimolfson has been representing herself during the fatality inquiry that began Monday.

Family members of those who have died are allowed to speak and ask questions at an inquiry, but provincial legislation does not provide funding for their legal representation. Beverly Grimolfson was unsuccessful in her request for funding to hire a lawyer.

Inquiry counsel Glenn Epp asked that the inquiry be adjourned until Friday morning to give Grimolfson time to recover.

She told Judge Fred Day she is convinced police used excessive force on her son.

"My son is dead and I have the right to get to the bottom of this," he said. "I truly believe that excessive force was used here."

Det. Lee Scott painted a different picture in his testimony Thursday morning.

Trevor Grimolfson struggled violently against police and seemed oblivious to repeated jolts from their Tasers, said Scott, who was a constable at the time he fought with Grimolfson during the man's drug-fuelled rampage through a pawnshop.

The inquest heard testimony this week from Alberta's chief medical examiner that Grimolfson, 38, died of excited delirium caused by high levels of the drugs ecstasy and ketamine, an animal tranquillizer. The levels of each drug in Grimolfson's body were high enough to have been fatal, Dr. Graeme Dowling said.

Scott told the fatality inquiry Thursday he thought his Taser wasn't working when he fired the device at Grimolfson on Oct. 29, 2008, while trying to subdue him in the pawnshop on Stony Plain Road.

Scott said when he entered the pawnshop the smell of bear spray hung in the air.

He said Grimolfson's skin was yellow and he was sweating profusely and flailing his arms. Scott said he fired the Taser repeatedly at Grimolfson, who was heading toward another officer at the end of a long glass counter.

"I could hear it (working), absolutely, but it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do ... He should have been on the ground. He should have been incapacitated, but he wasn't," Scott said.

"I knew I wasn't going to let him leave the pawnshop. I knew there were people outside. I knew he was going to try to kill someone. I knew he was going to try to kill Matt (the other police constable)."

Grimolfson didn't react to the Taser and didn't obey police orders to get down on the floor, said Scott.

Police wrestled Grimolfson to the floor on his stomach, where he continued to twist and fight as Scott handcuffed him.

Scott Tasered Grimolfson again. "I did that on top of his back and he didn't even flinch."

Grimolfson was spitting and chanting "OK, OK" as Scott told him to stop fighting. He didn't seem to tire despite the intense struggle, Scott said.

"He was not calming down," Scott said.

"I'd never seen anything like this before.

Police immediately called emergency medical crews and superior officers, as is policy when a Taser is deployed, Scott said.

Roughly five minutes after police got the handcuffs on him, Grimolfson lost consciousness and stopped breathing, he said.

Scott started CPR but was later told Grimolfson had died.

Taser had no effect, fatality inquiry told

November 25, 2010
CBC News

The Edmonton police officer who deployed a Taser on Trevor Grimolfson moments before he died told a fatality inquiry Thursday that the stun gun appeared to have no effect.

"We're not using this anymore," Det. Lee Scott said he told his police colleagues during the daytime altercation with Grimolfson in a west Edmonton pawn shop two years ago. "It's not working."

Grimolfson, 38, died on Oct. 29, 2008, not long after police stunned him three times with the Taser. A fatality inquiry looking into Grimolfson's death is underway this week in Edmonton.

Scott, then an Edmonton police constable, testified he first met Grimolfson earlier that day when he responded to a call about a fight. Grimolfson seemed rational when Scott spoke to him in a back alley. He was released without charges.

About 40 minutes later, Scott raced to a call at a pawn shop in the same area. When he arrived, he heard yelling and the sound of glass breaking. A man Scott believed was the son of the pawn shop owner ran up to the police cruiser.

"He's going to kill my dad," he reportedly told Scott. "You've got to do something,"

When Scott entered the shop, he saw the man he had seen earlier in the alley — Grimolfson — covered in sweat and wildly flailing his hands around.

Grimolfson was standing on the other side of the counter and started walking toward police, Scott said.

Grimolfson refused to heed police instructions to get down on the ground.

Scott said he used his Taser once, but with no effect. Another officer deployed his Taser, but again, Grimolfson was not subdued.

'He could feel nothing'
Scott told the inquiry he struck Grimolfson twice in the jaw. Scott deployed a stun gun on Grimolfson a third time.

"Nothing was working," Scott said. "He could feel nothing."

Grimolfson was frothing, spitting and continued to fight. "Still chanting. Just not normal," Scott said.

Police were able to handcuff Grimolfson and put a spit mask on him, but then Grimolfson stopped struggling and ceased breathing.

Scott took off the handcuffs and Grimolfson's tongue flopped out as he removed the spit mask.

Scott could only detect a faint pulse and started doing chest compressions. Paramedics rushed Grimolfson to hospital where he was declared dead.

The medical examiner later ruled the cause of death as "excited delirium due to the consequences of multiple drug toxicity." Ketamine, ecstasy and cocaine were found in Grimolfson's blood.

Earlier this week, a man told the inquiry that when he arrived to do demolition work at Grimolfson's tattoo parlour, he was attacked.

Minutes later, Grimolfson went into the pawn shop. The owner told the inquiry Tuesday that Grimolfson broke a window on the front door of his store and threw a glass of water that hit him in the head.

Two pictures of Trevor Grimolfson emerge at inquiry

November 24, 2010
Alexandra Zabjek, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — Two portraits of Trevor Grimolfson emerged during a fatality inquiry into his death in provincial court on Tuesday.

A close friend described Grimolfson as a generous and popular man, who loved his children fiercely and was never violent.

A worker who encountered Grimolfson on the day he was Tasered several times by police said he met an agitated man who appeared high on drugs and couldn’t be reasoned with.

Melinda Parasynchuk told the fatality inquiry she had known Grimolfson for nine years. They had once dated and remained close friends at the time of the Oct. 29, 2008, incident, when Grimolfson was Tasered by police in a pawnshop on Stony Plain Road.

“He was very giving, he was like a year-round Santa Claus,” Parasynchuk said, noting Grimolfson especially liked to spoil children at Christmas.

She said Grimolfson’s own children were “his everything.”

Grimolfson, 38, was a talented tattoo artist and a well-known wrestling commentator who was “very, very funny,” said Parasynchuk, who broke down in tears at several points in her testimony.

“Trevor was someone easy to reason with, easy to talk to. I can’t imagine Trevor being violent.”

But Patrick Saunders told the fatality inquiry Grimolfson assaulted him in his tattoo shop that day, leaving him with a fractured cheek bone, three broken teeth, and bruises on his body.

Saunders said he had met Grimolfson the day before the incident, when Grimolfson offered him demolition work at his tattoo shop on Stony Plain Road. Grimolfson seemed like a normal, trustworthy person, he testified.

When Saunders arrived the next morning, he said Grimolfson was sweating profusely, jumping around, and that he uttered the nonsensical phrase, “Bruce Lee’s revenge, bullets are flying.”

When Saunders tried to leave the shop, he said Grimolfson struck him. Saunders fought back, but was hit repeatedly before he was able to leave.

He said he saw Grimolfson approach a group on Stony Plain Road before he entered a nearby pawnshop, breaking a glass door.

When the pawnshop owner and his father asked Grimolfson to leave, Saunders said the man appeared, “lost, dazed, and confused.”

He said Grimolfson threw a cup at the older man’s head and the situation worsened from there.

“You could have said a million things to calm him down, it wouldn’t have worked,” he said.

Saunders told the inquiry Grimolfson was in a “rage” when police arrived and that he charged at one of the officers.

At one point, when questioned by Beverly Grimolfson, who is acting as her own lawyer at her son’s fatality inquiry, Saunders said: “I’m really sorry for what happened with Trevor that day.”

A medical examiner has testified Grimolfson’s death was caused by excited delirium, brought on by multiple drug toxicity. Fatal levels of ecstasy and ketamine were found in his body after his death.

Beverly Grimolfson has said she believes her son would still be alive if police hadn’t deployed a Taser.

The inquiry continues.

Two moms whose sons died after being Tasered by police lobby against stun guns

November 22, 2010
John Cotter, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON - The mothers of two men who died after being Tasered by police say they are forming a national group that will work to ban the use of electronic stun guns.

Zofia Cisowski, mother of Robert Dziekanski, made the pledge Monday outside a fatality inquiry into the death of an Edmonton man who was zapped with police Tasers a year after her own son died in Vancouver at the hands of RCMP.

Cisowski said it was painful to sit beside Bev Grimolfson at the inquiry as she asked questions about her son Trevor's death.

"I just want to support Bev because my son was Tasered at Vancouver International Airport," Cisowski said as she stood beside Grimolfson outside court.

"I am very frustrated because it reminded me of my son's death, struggling on the floor with his life."

Grimolfson said she is grateful for Cisowski's help. Together, they say they hope to make police more accountable in such deaths.

"I feel that there are a lot of questions that need to be asked," Grimolfson said.

"I was not allowed any funding for a lawyer so I had to come and stick up for my son by myself. I intend to get to the bottom of this."

Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died after Edmonton police shot him with a Taser several times on Oct. 29, 2008. A government investigation determined that Grimolfson was so violently out of control as he smashed up a pawn shop that officers were justified in firing at least three Taser darts into him, jolting his chest with numbing electric shocks.

When he finally fell to the ground, police handcuffed him and placed a spit mask over his face. Another officer also zapped him in the neck with a hand-held Taser.

After a few minutes, Grimolfson lapsed into unconsciousness until paramedics arrived. The former resident of Selkirk, Man., was pronounced dead soon after arrival in hospital.

The medical examiner said Grimolfson suffered from a heart condition and was extremely high on potentially lethal doses of ketamine and ecstasy. Cause of death was listed as excited delirium, a controversial term that has been linked to people who have died after being zapped by stun guns.

Last year, Alberta government investigators announced that no police officers would face criminal charges in Grimolfson's death.

Dr. Graeme Dowling, Alberta's chief medical examiner, reiterated his findings Monday as he testified at the inquiry.

When it was Grimolfson's turn to ask questions, she barraged Dowling: "Was he was aware that torturers use electrical devices in dictatorships? Did he know that Tasers have been used to subdue women and children in other countries?"

Judge Fred Day ruled that some of her questions were beyond the scope of the inquiry, which cannot find blame but works to glean information to prevent future deaths.

But he gave her latitude as she questioned Dowling on the public health risks associated with police use of Tasers.

"I found no evidence in this case that it was the cause of death," he replied. "I see no evidence of that."

More than 25 people have died in Canada after being stunned by Tasers.

The U.S. company that makes the devices points out that they have never directly been proven to have caused a death in Canada.

Cisowski said she will continue attending the fatality inquiry this week to give moral support to Grimolfson. She knows firsthand that such fact-finding takes time. She is still waiting for British Columbia to decide whether the four Mounties involved in the death of her son will be charged.

"We will work together to make something better for mothers like Bev and me and other mothers," she said.

Mother represents son at Taser inquiry

November 22, 2010
CBC News

A mother is pressing for answers in the death of her son after Edmonton police used a stun gun while arresting him in 2008 during a drug-fuelled rampage.

The five-day inquiry into the death of Trevor Grimolfson begins in an Edmonton courtroom on Monday.

"This is the only chance I have to get some sort of justice," said Bev Grimolfson, 58.

Grimolfson is representing herself, because she can't afford a lawyer and a provincial court judge turned down her application for funding.

She said that without legal representation, it will be hard to ask the right questions.

"I don't know courtroom etiquette. I don't speak legalese, but I will do my best."

Her son, 38, died on Oct. 29, 2008, after police tried to subdue him with a stun gun.

He was high on drugs, smashing his way through a pawnshop in the west end. He died later in hospital. The cause of death was ruled “excited delirium due to the consequences of multiple drug toxicity.”

Grimolfson’s mother will be joined in the courtroom by the mother of Robert Dziekanski, whose son died after being shocked numerous times by police in the Vancouver airport.

“We are grieving mothers,” Zofia Cisowski wrote in a statement Sunday. “Many good people supported me. I am here to support her.”

Grimolfson said police misled her about the investigation into her son’s death.

“They have never told me anything,” she said. “I feel that I have been lied to right from the beginning; lied about what kind of Tasers they were; lied about how many times he was Tasered; where he was Tasered.

“It's just been a nightmare. And now this is the only chance I have to get some sort of justice.”

Alberta Justice won't comment on a pending inquiry, but a spokesperson said the process is designed to ensure an objective hearing.

Last year, the Alberta Serious Incident Repsonse Team, which investigates any death involving police, cleared the officers of any wrongdoing during Grimolfson's arrest.

The judge may make recommendations on how to prevent similar deaths.

Mothers united by Tasers & death

November 22, 2010
iNews 880

The mother of a city man, who died after he was Tasered by Edmonton police two years ago, will be joined at his fatality inquiry this week by the mother of the man Tasered at Vancouver International Airport.

Zofia Cisowski says she'll be at the inquiry into the death of Trevor Grimolfson to support his mother, Bev, because: "We are grieving mothers. Many good people supported me. I am here to support her."

Cisowski slams the refusal to provide legal aid to Grimolfson' mother and adds "because I had a lawyer, I was able to fight for the truth and get some justice for my son Robert (Dziekanski)." She goes on to say: "The police tried to blame my son for his death. They were wrong. We cannot put blind trust in the authorities."

Trevor Grimolfson died after he was Tasered by police during a drug-fueled rampage at a pawn shop on Stony Plain Road in late October, 2008. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has ruled officers were justified in their actions.

The fatality inquiry is automatic because Grimolfson died in police custody.