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Plan to test Taser on pigs shocks dead man's sister

Ethan Baron
The Province; with a file from Associated Press

Thursday, May 05, 2005

A plan to get pigs high on cocaine and zap them with Tasers is misguided and cruel, says the sister of a man who died after Vancouver police subdued him with a Taser.

Robert Bagnell died in June when police found him trashing a shared bathroom in a Granville Street rooming house. Bagnell had what police said was a "lethal level" of cocaine in his blood.

There have been four Taser-related deaths in B.C. in three years. Now a Wisconsin professor wants to test his theory that Tasers don't kill people, but those who are hit with a 50,000-volt Taser shock may die because of drug use or medical problems.

Bagnell's sister slammed the proposed University of Wisconsin study in a letter to the school and in an interview with The Province.

"I just don't see how it can possibly replicate what actually happens in a human situation," said Patti Gillman, 43, of Trenton, Ont. "The pigs aren't scared, they're not running, they're not pumped up, they have no previous life experience dealing with police."

Emeritus professor of biomedical engineering John Webster plans to use 70-kilogram pigs because swine have hearts similar to those of people.

He'll separate about 30 pigs into three groups. One group will just get cocaine, one group will just get shocks and one group will get the drug and the shock. Some pigs will receive blasts from Webster's "SuperTaser," which carries up to 30 times the power of police models.

All the animals will be anesthetized, and all will be killed when the study's done. "I think this is an outstanding example of one of those questions that can only be answered using animals," said Eric Sandgren, head of the animal research committee at the Madison, Wis., university.

A better approach would be to study humans who survived Taser shocks and autopsies from those who didn't, said Laura Yanne, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

"Tasers are being used on humans, and that's where you're going to get the relevant data," Yanne said.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is conducting an investigation into Bagnell's death. A coroner's inquiry has been delayed pending lab results. Police initially told Bagnell's family he died from cocaine-induced heart failure but a month later admitted they'd Tasered him.