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| Natives |
Vernon Crowe
His needless death --
and another useless inquest
In yet another death involving
pepper spray, an unidentified Regina police officer has killed
a Native man. Vernon Crowe was pepper sprayed inside the ambulance!
We weren't there but somehow this does not seem right. What were
these cops thinking or were they even...?
Pepper spray not a factor:
expert
Barb Pacholik, Regina
Leader-Post, February 26, 2003
A pathologist says pepper spray
did not contribute to the death of a 32-year-old Regina man who
died in a struggle with police and paramedics.
"It was unlikely to be
the cause of (Vernon Dale Crowe's) death," Dr. Qiu Yan Li
testified Tuesday at the sixth day of an inquest.
A six-person jury is expected
to begin deliberations Thursday after hearing from the final
witness, an Alberta forensic pathologist, today. Jurors cannot
assess blame but can make recommendations to prevent similar
deaths. However, no one is bound by law to implement their suggestions.
Crowe died July 10, 2001 just
20 minutes after climbing into an ambulance to be assessed following
an epileptic seizure. Paramedics said he was initially co-operative,
but became agitated about two minutes later as they attempted
to start an intravenous line and hook him up to a heart monitor
in preparation for a trip to hospital.
Paramedics sent out three calls
for police help. Const. Dean Ross earlier testified that he pepper
sprayed Crowe -- who was still struggling despite being handcuffed
in the front -- after the officer was unintentionally bitten
and head-butted. Both Ross and the paramedics said Crowe appeared
to be suffering from a medical problem and wasn't deliberately
fighting.
After Crowe was pepper sprayed,
he continued wrestling and was injected with a sedative. At that
point, three more paramedics and four additional police officers
arrived. Crowe was placed on his stomach with his hands cuffed
behind his back and his feet bound with bandages, according to
police witnesses. Ten minutes later, paramedics discovered he
had no pulse.
Li said an exact cause of death
is elusive. However, she speculated Crowe likely died from an
irregular heart beat, impaired breathing or a combination of
the two possibly brought on by the fierce struggle in his confused
state -- "excited delirium." She said pepper spray
would have added to Crowe's excited condition. The intensity
of the struggle was apparent in the multitude of bruises covering
his 5-foot-6, 156-pound body, the inquest heard.
"His lung function was
likely compromised during the restraint," Li said.
Although excited delirium is
often linked to illicit drugs, the only drugs found in Crowe's
system were very low levels of anti-seizure medication and an
anti-depressant, the jury heard.
Crowe family lawyer Darren
Winegarden has suggested Crowe was hog-tied -- bound face-down
hand and foot with the two restraints connected -- which would
have further impaired his breathing. Police maintain he was not
hog-tied, and his feet bound by bandages, not handcuffs. But
Li agreed with Winegarden that Crowe had handcuff-like marks
on his ankles, and marks consistent with a "ligature"
-- in addition to handcuffs -- on his wrists.
Dr. Randy Radford, an emergency
room physician, testified it takes a minimum of four people to
restrain a combative patient. In hospital, a patient is restrained
face up so his breathing is monitored, he said.
The Saskatchewan Coalition
Against Racism, which is critical of the inquest process, is
planning a vigil for Crowe today.
© Copyright 2003 The
Leader-Post (Regina)
Man Dies After Cops Pepper-Spray
Him
Toronto Star 12 July 2001
REGINA (CP) - An aboriginal man in the midst of
a seizure died Tuesday after being pepper-sprayed by Regina police.
An autopsy was performed on Vernon Dale Crowe, 32, on Wednesday
morning. Results have yet to be released. "We were engaged
in a struggle with this man very shortly before he expired and
we want to know what the cause of death was,'' said Regina Police
Chief Cal Johnston. Police say paramedics were called Tuesday
to pick up a man who was suffering a seizure at the Souls Harbour
Mission. On their arrival, the man became combative, so they
called police. Police say the man assaulted the first officer
on the scene. The officer suffered minor injuries.
"Pepper spray was used
to restrain the patient in order that he could be transported
to hospital,'' said Staff Sgt. Patrick Duck. Crowe was pepper
sprayed inside the ambulance. Duck said once he was restrained,
the man's condition rapidly deteriorated. He was taken to hospital
but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was declared
dead. Regina police and the coroner's officer are investigating.
Johnston said officers involved acted professionally. "As
much as we know through our investigations, the officers' conduct
at the scene were professional and they were following good procedure.
Our investigations are not concluded so I can't say 100 per cent
definitively but everything indicates that our officers were
behaving very appropriately.''
A toxicology expert said the
dangers of the substance are often ignored. Joe Cummins, a retired
genetics professor at the University of Western Ontario, said
last year that diabetics and asthmatics are most at risk. When
an individual is in a confined space, the risk increases, he
has said. Two Montreal-area men died last July shortly after
they were sprayed by police. One of the men had asthma.
Use of pepper spray depends
on risk
By Leader-Post staff Sunday,
July 15, 2001
In the heat of the moment,
police officers are called upon to make risk assessments and
judgment calls on the use of force within the boundaries of the
law, said RCMP Sgt. Jim Lechner.
Pepper spray is one such intervention
strategy, he said.
"As part of the training
we are constantly reinforcing the proper use of o.c. -- oleoresin
capsicum -- and the risk factors associated with deploying the
pepper spray, and how to decontaminate someone who has been sprayed,"
he said.
The controversy surrounding
police use of pepper spray was resurrected this week following
the death Tuesday of 32-year-old Vernon Dale Crowe, who was involved
in a fight with a Regina city police officer in the back of an
ambulance.
Crowe was recovering from an
apparent epileptic seizure inside the Souls Harbour Mission and
was in the process of being transported to the hospital when
he became agitated and combative with Emergency Medical Service
staff in the back of the ambulance.
When a member of the Regina
Police Service tried to restrain Crowe, the man bit and head-butted
the officer, according to Police Chief Cal Johnston. The officer
then used pepper spray, Johnston said.
Attempts to revive Crowe, who
stopped breathing, were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead
on arrival at the Regina General Hospital.
The spokesman for the Saskatchewan
Coalition Against Racism (SCAR) described Crowe Thursday as a
gentle person and called the use of pepper spray inappropriate.
"I think it was an overreaction," said Bob Hughes,
who is not the same Bob Hughes who is executive editor of The
Leader-Post.
Hughes, a former mental health
worker, said physical force is seldom justified when dealing
with a combative, disturbed person. "I'd be talking to him
and holding him."
Asked if he would do that even
if the person were biting him, Hughes said yes.
He said most police officers
exercise common sense but said more training is necessary.
Lechner, the resident expert
in police defensive tactics with the RCMP, said police officers
receive four hours of training on the use of pepper-spray, which
is considered a non-lethal police weapon, and must be recertified
every three years.
The aerosol spray -- made from
an inflammatory agent found in cayenne pepper -- causes an intense
burning sensation that last up to 30 minutes, but leaves no long-lasting
injuries.
However, persons with certain
medical conditions can be adversely affected by the spray, Lechner
said, noting that certain risk factors -- such as medical conditions
-- are not visible to the eye.
"People who are obese,
asthmatic or have heart conditions may react in a bad way,''
he said, explaining officers don't know what medical conditions
they are dealing with in these situations.
An autopsy was conducted, but
no official cause of death has been released.
Meanwhile, city police are
conducting an investigation into the circumstances of Crowe's
death and will turn their findings over to the Justice Department
and the coroner's office for review.
Reprinted
under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
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Truth can never be
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