[url]http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090930/ARTICLE/909301039[url]

Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 8:46 p.m.
MANATEE COUNTY - When a Bradenton police officer pulled over bicycle rider Derrick Humbert for not having a light, Humbert ran and a Taser was used as he tried to climb a fence.


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Derrick Humbert died Monday after a Taser was used. Humbert's cause of death has yet to be determined. But what normally causes only superficial skin wounds and discomfort this time preceded something else: the 38-year-old Bradenton man's death on Monday.

The officer could not have known that Humbert had the brain disorder epilepsy when he shot probes that sent an electric shock into Humbert's body and disrupted messages between his muscles and brain.

It is still unclear if the Taser shock caused or contributed to Humbert's death; his autopsy is not complete.

Bradenton Police officials say the officer's use of the Taser on Humbert followed departmental rules that basically say the stun guns can be used when a suspect fights or flees.

But Humbert's death Monday has highlighted arguments for more thorough research of the Taser's effects and for less liberal use of the stun guns.

State law allows the use of a stun gun if there is physical resistance or an attempt to escape.

But critics say the severity of the original offense and other circumstances should be considered before officers deploy stun guns.

The policies of the Bradenton Police Department and the Manatee and Sarasota sheriff's offices each require training to carry and operate the stun guns, and say Taser use should be based on the level of resistance by a suspect.

The Taser should only be used when a suspect "makes physically evasive movements to defeat an officer's attempt at control," according to Bradenton's policy.

Those maneuvers include punching, kicking, obstructing or opposing an officer, threats of physical force and fleeing from an officer, according to all three agencies' policies.

However, officers are told to avoid using the devices on pregnant women, children younger than 12 or suspects who are in elevated areas or water.

In Humbert's case, paramedics arrived at the 700 block of 27th Street East after the 12:20 a.m. Monday bike stop to find an "alert and oriented, but somewhat combative" Humbert sitting in the police cruiser, said Capt. Larry Leinhauser, spokesman for the Manatee County Department of Public Safety.

Humbert was stunned once after ditching his bicycle when approached by Officer Del Shiflett - who remains on active duty, Bradenton Deputy Chief J.J. Lewis said.

Paramedics conducted routine medical tests -- such as an EKG, which tests the electrical activity of the heartbeat -- as they took Humbert to Manatee Memorial Hospital for medical clearance before jail.

In transit, Humbert suffered respiratory arrest and died shortly after at the hospital, Leinhauser said.

According to a 2008 Amnesty International report, more than 330 deaths followed the use of a stun gun between June 2001 and Aug. 31, 2008.

In most cases, drugs or alcohol or an altered mental state, called "excited delirium," are factors in the deaths.

But the study indicates that 90 percent of those deaths were people who were unarmed and did not pose a serious threat.

One case involved a doctor who suffered an epileptic seizure and died after multiple shocks from the stun gun, the study said. About five other deaths were people with underlying medical conditions.

Taser International warns that permanent vision loss, lacerations, seizures and injuries related to muscle contraction are among the most serious health risks.

The stun gun manufacturer has faced more than 70 wrongful death or injury lawsuits - all won or dismissed.

The American Medical Association in July called for more research to be conducted to demonstrate how Tasers interact with suspects who have medical or psychiatric conditions.

Amnesty International believes law enforcement agencies should only use the stun guns in life-threatening situations.

Tasers used in a broader sense, however, have been shown to reduce injuries to officers and suspects in most agencies, said Lorie Fridell, a graduate director in University of South Florida's criminology department.

Stun guns allow officers to gain control at a safe distance using non-lethal force, and the majority of people who are shocked do not experience serious complications, she said.

Fridell thinks the deaths that follow stunning would have occurred with any level of force in many situations.

"Some large but unknown proportion of those deaths would have occurred if the officer would have selected a baton, wrestling to the ground or pepper spray," she said. "There is a balance analysis that needs to take place."

Every time the Taser is deployed by area law enforcement agencies, a form documenting the incident is completed by the officer, reviewed by a supervisor and forwarded up the chain of command.

Bradenton Police officers have deployed Tasers 26 times from Jan. 1, 2009, to Tuesday; the department has used the stun guns since 2005.

"We haven't experienced any situations where there's been adverse reactions," Lewis said.

The Manatee Sheriff's deputies have deployed their Tasers 75 times so far this year, said spokesman Dave Bristow.

The Sarasota Sheriff's Office said its deputies deployed their Tasers 149 times in 2006 and 46 times in 2007. Figures for 2008 and 2009 were not immediately available.

The Police Executive Research Forum, a group dedicated to progressive police initiatives, says a suspect fleeing should not be the sole justification to deploy a Taser.

The severity of the original offense and the possibility of injuring the suspect should be weighed, the forum states.

Earlier this month, Manatee deputies zapped a combative man four times after he tried to flee from his car. A woman had jumped out of the moving car moments before and claimed the driver, Michael A. Cooper, had been beating her.

"Discretion is something a law enforcement officer uses daily, hourly," Bristow said. "Every call you go out on, there is always discretion."