Plaintiff: Medical examiner in Taser incident biased

During the inquest, the medical examiner, Ronald Knoblock, had not disclosed that any of his testimony was based upon information he had gotten from a Taser employee.

The inquest looked into the death of 47-year-old Keith Tucker, who died after being shocked by Las Vegas police with a Taser in 2004.

Knoblock’s revelation about his consultation with the Taser employee has lawyers representing Tucker’s father crying foul. They say the consultation, just before the inquest, tainted the key testimony of the medical examiner and undermined what was supposed to be an impartial, quasi-judicial hearing.

"With open arms, Taser is allowed to come down and speak with them (the coroner’s office) about causation (of death). It’s ridiculous," said E. Brent Bryson, the attorney representing Sanford Tucker, Keith Tucker’s father, in the multimillion dollar lawsuit against Taser and Las Vegas police. "It’s an unequal application of the fact-finding process."

It was improper for the coroner’s office to consult with Taser International about the safety of the device because the coroner’s office needs to make independent decisions free from the influence of a private company with a stake in the outcome of cases, Bryson said. He equated the incident to a gun manufacturer giving advice to the coroner’s office on the safety of firearms.

During the 2004 inquest, Knoblock told a jury that a Taser might have contributed to Tucker’s death, but he said it was "debatable and there is not a lot of information" on the topic, according to transcripts of the hearing.

When he was questioned under oath for a deposition taken last month, Knoblock said he based much of his testimony on information from an unidentified doctor employed with Taser. The doctor gave Knoblock material about the Taser and its effects on people, according to the deposition.

"They (the coroner’s office) allowed themselves to become an advocate (for Taser)," said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which is also representing Tucker’s father in the federal lawsuit. "At the very least, they have created the appearance that the agency does not operate with the kind of integrity we expect."

Taser International advertises the device is nonlethal. Opponents say the device, which is designed to incapacitate people by delivering a 50,000-volt shock, can kill.

The human rights group Amnesty International has stated that there have been 250 Taser-related deaths since 2001, 28 so far in 2007, 74 in 2006 and 66 in 2005.

The organization also reported that medical examiners determined that the Taser was the primary cause of seven deaths and a contributing factor in 16 others from 2001 to February 2006.

Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said it’s not uncommon for the coroner’s office to consult with manufacturers of devices suspected of causing a death. That is done to gather as much information as possible on a device to see what role, if any, it played in a death.

In the past, the coroner’s office consulted manufacturers of medical devices such as morphine pumps, he said. Those cases did not involve inquests, however.

Murphy said the coroner’s office always balances the information it gets from the manufacturer with other studies to counter any claims from a manufacturer.

It was unclear exactly what other studies Knoblock consulted during his inquiry.

"Just because we talk to the manufacturer of the product doesn’t mean we are influenced," Murphy said.

He said Knoblock’s determination that the Taser played a role in Tucker’s death shows that the former medical examiner wasn’t unduly influenced by the company.

Knoblock made his determination prior to the inquest and upheld it during the inquest.

"Taser has certainly not been pleased with our rulings and the fact that it’s been (ruled to be) contributory to deaths," he said.

Tom Smith, chairman and co-founder of Taser International, said his company’s representatives have provided information about the device to medical examiners from around the country. That is done, he said, to make sure doctors and others have the best and most accurate information about the Taser.

The aim is to try to ensure that doctors, police officers and others understand the Taser, not to sway them one way or the other, Smith said.

"It’s garbage to say that we’re trying to influence people. It’s about education and giving people information," he said.

Smith wouldn’t comment directly on the Tucker case because of the ongoing litigation.

Tucker’s lawsuit claims that the police violated Tucker’s civil rights and that Taser International was negligent because it never told people that the device can cause death.

The lawsuit states that Las Vegas police went to Tucker’s home on Aug. 2, 2004, after his roommate called police saying that the 47-year-old was acting erratically. When officers met with Tucker, they allegedly beat Tucker, handcuffed him and then shocked him with a Taser.

He stopped breathing and was taken to Desert Springs Hospital. He later died. Authorities found that cocaine and other drugs were in his system at the time of his death.

The coroner determined that Tucker died from cardiac arrest during "restraint procedures." The Taser was one of those "restraint procedures."

A Clark County coroner’s inquest jury later found the officers’ actions were "excusable." The more common ruling at inquests is that officers’ actions were justified.

In the deposition, Knoblock said he met with the doctor from Taser during "pre-inquest" meetings at the coroner’s office in Las Vegas. Those meetings were held by the coroner to discuss how the Tucker inquest would run and what information was important to the case.

Though he said he didn’t remember the specifics of what the doctor from Taser discussed, he said the doctor gave him information that was used to prepare for the inquest.

He also said he relied on "other literature" when he testified. He didn’t go into depth what that information was.

Knoblock said he consulted with the doctor because there wasn’t a lot of information on the effects of Tasers at the time of the inquest.

He added that he didn’t know of any other instance when representatives from companies that have products suspected of causing a death talk with the coroner’s office. He characterized the meeting as unusual.

Knoblock, who left the coroner’s office about two years ago and is in a private forensic science practice in Las Vegas, did not return calls to the Review-Journal.

The coroner’s office wouldn’t say why Knoblock left the coroner’s office because it is a personnel matter.

But assistant coroner John Fudenberg said Knoblock was very well-respected and the coroner’s office "was very sorry to see him go."