Coroner says Taser use avoidable as family demands inquiry into man's death
Published Friday August 29th, 2008
MONTREAL - A Quebec coroner's criticism of police stun-gun use in the death of a Montreal man has prompted his family to push for a full and impartial inquiry.
Quilem Registre died last year, four days after Montreal police subdued him using a Taser.
In a report into Registre's death, coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier said the officers could have restrained the agitated man without using a stun gun if they had better training.
Registre, 38, was stopped by Montreal police in October 2007 for driving erratically.
Police have said he was intoxicated and aggressive during the confrontation.
They used the stun gun - which emits a 50,000-volt electrical charge - to bring him under control.
Rudel-Tessier said the stun gun cannot be blamed for Registre's death although the fact he was struck six times may have been a contributing factor.
According to the report, police zapped Registre six times in a span of 53 seconds.
Registre was transported to hospital, where his health deteriorated quickly. He later died of organ failure.
"Even if the use of the Taser by the police cannot be considered to be the medical cause of death, it is apparent that considering he was in an agitated and intoxicated state, receiving several electrical discharges possibly contributed to his death," Rudel-Tessier wrote in her report.
Meanwhile, Registre's family says the report provides fodder for an independent public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.
"All we feel is that if we have our questions answered and we have the policemen's version, we will feel a little bit better," Registre's cousin Evans Sanelus said during a news conference at the offices of the Black Coalition of Quebec, a local community organization.
"It still won't bring Quilem back. But if we have justice, then maybe we will feel a little bit better."
The family said they want to hear accounts from the police officers involved in the altercation.
The officers involved in his arrest were not made available to Rudel-Tessier when she wrote the report.
"If they would have taken the time to use better judgment, maybe the situation would have been different." Sanelus said.
"We're asking for a public inquiry to re-evaluate the entire situation."
Rudel-Tessier said electronic stun guns can be effective policing tools and should be used instead of firearms whenever possible.
But she also recommends that police review their protocols for stun gun use and ensure that proper training is provided.
"The officers should have been capable of profiting from the window of opportunity from the first discharge to bring the suspect under control," Rudel-Tessier wrote. "It's not normal that it would take six charges to subdue him."
The coroner also recommends that Quebec's Public Security Department ask officers to film stun gun interventions.
Rudel-Tessier wrote that police must be taught that stun guns can be dangerous weapons.
"I think that until we have serious studies on intoxicated or sick persons that are conclusive, the Taser should also be considered as a weapon that can lead to death."
Registre's loved ones, meanwhile, do not want his death to be in vain.
"Life goes on, he's dead but we're still alive," Sanelus said.
"We have to ask for justice. That's the only thing we can do right now and that's what Quilem would have wanted."
The Crown has said it will not lay charges in Registre's death.
The family is also weighing its options in court and their lawyer has not ruled out filing a civil suit against police.
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