Not long after the tragic and unnecessary death of Carol Ann Gotbaum another unruly traveler has died, this time of Taser inflicted injuries at Vancouver’s airport, this weekend:
The death of a middle-aged man at Vancouver airport after being stunned twice by an electric shock from a taser gun sparked new appeals yesterday for a moratorium on police use of the high-powered weapon.
The man in his 40s began behaving wildly in the international arrivals lounge of the Vancouver airport. He was sweating profusely, yelling, tipping his luggage cart over and throwing chairs about, RCMP spokesman Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre said. He grabbed a computer off a desk at an arrival gate and was pounding on windows.
While it is tempting to engage in hyperbole and argue that flying can kill you, there is reason to start wondering about the state of security procedures at airports. And yes, this incident has put the use of the Taser firmly back on the agenda.
It occurs to me that our society’s appetite for security and control has given birth to a rapidly growing industry - consisting of both public and private institutions - that is increasingly incompetent in dealing with alleged breaches of security. Giant lapses in security occur without any effective response, while innocent passengers run the risk of being violently subdued in situations where other tools of conflict resolution would undoubtedly have done the trick.
The proliferation of this security culture was well underway before 9/11 and the terror fear has further enabled an expansion of an apparatus that it seems is increasingly staffed by incompetent personnel. As the video of Gotbaum’s arrest reveals and the witnesses of events at Vancouver’s airport argue, the excessive use of force is becoming the norm. If ever there is an example of how individual freedoms are offered up in the process of ‘defending freedom’ than look no further than these incidents.
“Innocent passengers”? This guy hardly sounds like an innocent passenger. When someone in a public area refuses to calm down and, when requested to do so (or requested to leave) instead escalates their ranting and begins resisting the police, they must be arrested. We can’t allow them to simply continue hurling chairs and destroying property.
What Pat said.
I do think there’s a point to be made about how the security officers handle these situations (no doubt better training would help in some cases) and whether or not Tasers are appropriate.
But I think the bigger point of the story is, why the new trend of ‘airport rage’?
I don’t wish to see anyone being treated with excessive force, but I’m certainly not personally concerned about being ‘violently subdued’. I’ll just refrain from yelling, tipping over large objects, grabbing computers and pounding on windows, and I’m sure I’ll be fine. It seems odd to criticize the ‘incompetence’ of the security personnel without mentioning the behavior of the passenger. He (and the other woman who recently died under similar circumstances) may be innocent in terms of terrorist risk, but that’s not the point: they’re being subdued because they’re posing a direct threat to the passengers and staff in the terminal with their irrational and violent behavior.
Beware Air Travel? This is utter nonsense. You act like a threat to the public and yourself, you get treated like a threat to the public and yourself. The Taser was the correct action for security, why should they put themselves at risk to subdue a violent person who HAS BEEN WARNED?
It’s a thankless job for sure. Herding thousands of people like cattle though the narrow gates, none of whom are happy to be there.
And for the passenger, the increasing amount of passengers only increases the feeling that your just a passenger. It’ll only get worse until they decide if the backscatter type of detectors or other technologies can allow a faster, more accurate method of screening.
There seem to be a lot of adverse reactions - deaths, IOW - to this device.
While the guy, who was a legitimate threat, needed to be neutralized I’m not sure that the Taser is the tool to use.
That is the job…
There seem to be a lot of adverse reactions - deaths, IOW - to this device.
Not really, when you consider the sample population. Namely, people being violent and resisting arrest. Take this case–the guy is violent, incoherent, and sweating profusely. In an airport. Let’s pick “Drugs” for $500, Alex!
Before Tasers, it was people dying of compressive asphyxia after being dog-piled by a ton of cops and EMTs to immobilize them. Or just dying after being restrained. Or before being restrained, before anyone touched them. Better wait on the autopsy results there.
There are only so many ways to neutralize someone violent in a crowded area. Officers are indeed paid for a risky job (poorly) but not for stupid or unneccesary risks, or for risking the health and lives of the general public in the vicinity. And neutralizing a violent, incoherent person in a crowd is removing risk to others. The quicker, the better.
The point is that we’ve seen two deaths on North American airports where most people would agree that with a different approach both people could have been removed and neutralized without ending up in a morgue. That in particular goes for Gotbaum.
Talking about Tasers, remember the nut in Florida who disrupted a Kerry speech? Did he need to be tasered? What if he had died?
Again - our society is in overreaction mode.
There is BTW a very clear distinction to be made between behavior up in the air and on the airport. In the former case I am far more supportive of using any means to subdue an unruly passenger.
Pieter I agree completely.
Totally calm, suddenly totally berserk. Maybe there was bug in his ear. Too bad he could not communicate except in a foreign language. Seriously, it does sound like hypoglycemia.
Pieter, I agree that the Gotbaum arrest might, perhaps, have been handled better at some point in the process (including, of course, her decision to stop for a drink on the way to rehab). However, I’m not sure your basis for claiming a general consensus that this other case you’re talking about could have been handled better. Just going by your description of the man’s actions, he sounds violently out of control and in need of being subdued rapidly.
As Tully points out, there are dangers inherent in just about any method of subduing a violent, out of control individual. You’re making comparative claims (that police are overreacting more these days and that Tasers are more dangerous than other alternatives) without actually looking at any numbers.
The U.S. DOJ has just published a report [pdf] on deaths of any person who was “in the process of arrest”. Studying data from about 40 million arrests during the period 2003-2005, the DOJ found that 2,002 people died during the process of being arrested, 622 in 2003, 677 in 2004, and 703 in 2005. Of those 2,002 deaths, only 36 involved a Taser or similar device in any way. While the number of deaths involving Tasers increased during that period (from 3 in 2003 to 24 in 2005), that is to be expected given the increased use of the devices. VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE that those figures include all deaths occurring during an arrest in which a Taser was used at some point. It is NOT a count of deaths caused by Tasers.
Independent researchers have recently released a new study at conference of Emergency Room Physicians. According to reports, the study found no substantial risks associated with Taser use. Medical researchers reviewed over 1,000 cases in which a Taser was used on an individual by law enforcement or security officers. Of those studied, 99.7% resulted in either no injury or only minor scrapes and bruising. Only 3 subjects (0.3%) required any hospitalization, two from head injuries sustained when they fell after the Taser shock. The third was admitted to the hospital 2 days after the Taser, and the relationship between the Taser and his injuries was unclear. Two subjects in the study died, but autopsy results showed that the death was not related to the Taser shock.
So. The statistics show no big trend upward in number of deaths during the arrest process, and no significant risk of injury posed by the use of the Taser in real-world conditions. Anecdotes data.
[...] Pieter Dorsman wrote a fantastic post today on “Beware Air Travel”Here’s ONLY a quick extractNot long after the tragic and unnecessary death of Carol Ann Gotbaum another unruly traveler has died, this time of Taser inflicted injuries at Vancouver’s airport, this weekend: The death of a middle-aged man at Vancouver airport after … [...]
Medical crisis often manifest as violence and combativeness. The rolling of the eyes, where the whites only were showing, and the sweating profusely, sounds to me as if this man was going into seizures..for one physical reason or another. Cardiac symptoms, diabetes, epilepsy, post traumatic shock, panic attack. There are a number of medical causes that look like violence and resistance. I’m not saying this does not present a danger, but tasering only exacerbates the situation. I had witnessed a violent epilectic seizure of a classmate, handled superbly by the teacher. Perhaps we just need more training in first aid, beyond tourniquets. Not that I’d know how to handle a medical emergency manifesting itself as combativeness and violence.
I admire your point,
“It occurs to me that our society’s appetite for security and control has given birth to a rapidly growing industry - consisting of both public and private institutions - that is increasingly incompetent in dealing with alleged breaches of security. Giant lapses in security occur without any effective response, while innocent passengers run the risk of being violently subdued in situations where other tools of conflict resolution would undoubtedly have done the trick.”
It is good to know that people around the world are taking notice of the excessive force being used more frequently in situations that could otherwise have alternate and non-violent resolutions.
I am working on research now that is showing that funds allocated by the U.S. government for security measures also results in an increase in deaths - in other words, the increase in funds is linked proportionally to the increase in deaths while in police custody or that of other government agents based on geographic allocation.
Thanks for the post and keep up the good work!
fundamentalfreedom.wordpress.com
It appears that the victim was very upset, but it appears even more to me that the RCMP police overreacted and used too much force. Have a look at these 2 news articles. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071017/taser_airport_071017/20071017?hub=TopStories and http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/15/taser-death.html?ref=rss . Note that the victim had been traveling (between bus, plane & waiting) for just under 24 hours, and was traveling to see his mom for the first time in 10 years. He was probably very frustrated and tired. Why would 5 able bodied & armed police officers need to taser a 40 year old unarmed man 4 times, when it was obvious that the man was not speaking English (in fact, his mother says he knows no English) and appeared badly disoriented. Disoriented, bewildered and overwhelmed foreigners are a common sight at international airports; a little help & patience would have diffused this situation. A little tolerance on the part of the police would not be an unreasonable request. Yes, he hurled chairs and damaged property (which they could have billed him for), but he actually had hurt no one, and it’s not unreasonable to assume that 5 trained and armed police officers should be able to professionally subdue a tired 40 year old foreigner, without killing him.
Note how the police are quick to imply / speculate that his reaction and later death could have been caused by “drugs”, or a condition called “excited delirium”, or a “prevailing medical condition”, and are quick to say that his death is not necessarily caused by taser. Note that the autopsy has found no evidence of drugs or mental illness or prevailing medical problems! Let’s play Devil’s Advocate and assume they are right. Even so, if the man is sick, then that’s even more reason to treat him compassionately. These officers are highly trained, and should be able to arrest a tired 40 year old without killing him! His mother waited & saved 10 years to see him; now she sees him dead.
Ryan: exactly my point. Thanks.
Ryan, you are ignoring the risks inherent in using other methods, besides Tasering, to subdue him. As I pointed out upthread, the most recent, comprehensive study of Taser usage shows that the risk of serious injury from being Tasered during the process of arrest is exceedingly small. As Tully has pointed out in many places, the risk of injury to himself and to others by subduing him through more violent, forcible means is significant. Broken bones can easily result when 4 or 5 strong officers combine their body weight and strength to subdue one individual who is violently resisting their efforts to calm him. Once he’s actually on the ground, straddling him to cuff him and keep him under control can present a significant risk of restricting his breathing because of the weight on his chest. Those are just two of the serious risks inherent in subduing him by physical force.
To make the claim you are making, you need to go find some data which compares the risk of death from being subdued by physical violence with the risk of death from being Tasered. If this had happened 10 years ago (and I would wager quite a bit similar incidents have occurred in the past), and the man had died when police overpowered him, you would be demanding that the police find new technologies to allow them to subdue such individuals quickly and easily, without the risk of harm associated from being tackled, basically, by 4 or 5 burly cops.
Not having been there, I don’t know exactly how this man was acting. Delusional, ranting people, pose a danger not just to others but to themselves. Suppose that this man, who was obviously not in his right mind, had suddenly grabbed a letter opener from behind the counter and stabbed himself. Then the cops would be criticized for not taking him down sooner, before he could hurt himself.
We can’t make these decisions based on emotional anecdotes, however tragic. This incident turned tragic after a Taser was used. Another incident could turn tragic after physical force is used to restrain a similar person. And the next incident after that could turn tragic when the man is allowed to continue his violent outburst without intervention.
Hadn’t hurt anyone….. yet.
And Pat’s right, 4 or 5 Police, using Professional means do take down an individual hard and fast. I wish we knew how they teach on the risks with the Taser. If for the most part they’re taught and trained that the Taser is quick, easy and safer for the Officer, the Individual and other’s in the area. Than that is what they will try to use first rather than risking more serious injury using physical force.
I would need to see more studies on the effects of multiple tasers at the same time, from several police officers, repeatedly, as well as the heart and blood pressure and fear factored i to the equation. We aren’t robots. Everyone reacts differently to shock.
criticalthinker, while I haven’t actually found a copy of the emergency medicine research report I cited earlier, the news articles about it explain that it researched actual Taser usage in the real world, not merely tests on volunteers. Thus, it would cover the heart rate, blood pressure, and fear factors you mention. As I noted earlier, that study looked at a random sample comprised of almost 600 individuals. That’s a pretty good survey to identify the real level of risk. Some people may indeed be more susceptible to damage from being shocked than others, but other people are unusually susceptible to broken bones and other injuries which could be caused by being physically restrained.
As for multiple Taser shocks in a short time frame, I don’t know whether the research covered that or not. Of course, we don’t yet know for certain whether the individual in the latest incident received 2 shocks or 4, as the one witness claims. My recollection is that Taser units keep a record of each time the trigger is pulled and a shock is administered. If so, then we should eventually have a definitive answer to that question.
You can’t be serious wiht this article? Video showing exessive use of force on Gotbaum? What flavor of pansy are you, or were you watching a different video? Considering the way she was acting, I think the officers were quite reserved.
Gotbaum, was screaming wildly and was incoherent, so she was placed and shackled in a holding cell to allow her to cool off. Either she died of a medical emergency (likley induced by her over-excited state) or she killed herself (we find out 2 hours later from her husband that she is suicidal, there’s a tidbit of info that might have been helpful hours before, and may have saved her life). If she had all these problems, I think her husband needs to be ARRESTED as by allowing her to travel unaccompanied, he potentially endangered EVERY ONE THE PLANE,
And Tasers aren’t a high-powered weapon. Have you ever been hit by one? I have, in a demonstration. The first one will teach you a lesson, and no one (in their right mind) would want to be hit a second time. This dude obviously had some issues. In the US, lawsuits levied against Taser have been failing repeatedly.
As one who logs over 100,000 miles a year on commercial flights, I understand the frustration, but I also understand that I can only push things so far without invoking police action. People need to get out of the “it’s all about me” attitude and learn to deal with alterations to their plans.
As for Gotbaum, perhaps she should not have been back to drinking in the bar…
[...] regular passenger travel is an unleashed beast that knows no bounds. Quite recently I pointed to some disturbing incidents, but now it appears the entire information structure built around stepping on a flight is to [...]
[...] 15, 2007 by Pieter Dorsman Remember my original post Beware Air Travel? Here is one of the comments it yielded: It seems odd to criticize the ‘incompetence’ of the [...]