No one to wipe their tears - Family left to grieve by themselves without support after police homicide

April 16, 2011
Susan Clairmont, Hamilton Spectator

When someone you love is the victim of a homicide, you are catapulted into a very small group of mourners. When someone you love is killed by the police, you are dropped into a hole only a handful of others in this country will ever know.

The isolation for families of those killed by police is staggering. None of the normal support systems offered in homicide cases are there because nearly all of them are offered by and through the police.

"We've been feeling alone since the get-go, " says Rob Chinnery. "We are different from any other victims."

On Feb. 2, Rob's 19-year-old son, Andreas, was fatally shot by a Hamilton police officer. The officer was called to Andreas's apartment to deal with a disturbance.

It is unclear if the officer acted properly or not by shooting and killing Andreas. At this point, 10 weeks after the homicide, the province's Special Investigations Unit has still not concluded its investigation nor released any details about what happened.

What is clear is the Chinnery family has not been offered the help other families of homicide victims are afforded.

Two SIU investigators came to Rob's door to notify him of his son's death.

The SIU investigates all police-related deaths, serious injuries and allegations of sexual assault.

Once they are called in.

The normal protocol for a death notification when there is a homicide is Hamilton officers are accompanied by one of three full-time victim services staff members.

A homicide notification is considered such a sensitive and important matter that it is policy for victim services to be involved.

And not a volunteer member - a fully trained staff member. Someone who can spend time with the family, liaise between the family and investigators, guide the family through the legal process, assist with contacting other family and friends, help with funeral arrangements and media inquiries and recommend grief counsellors.

Yet when a police officer is responsible for the homicide, the Hamilton police send no victim services staff.

"The SIU sends their victim services person, " says Sergeant Terri-Lynn Collings, media officer for the Hamilton police.

But that's not the case.

The SIU did not send a victim services expert to notify Rob. Nor do they in most cases, says the unit's spokesperson Jasbir Brar.

"The lead investigators make notification," she says, adding they have had "sensitivity training."

Underscoring the confusing and sometimes nonsensical relationship between the SIU and Ontario's police services, there is nothing to stop police from providing victim assistance to families involved with the SIU, according to Brar. Yet there are strict rules prohibiting officers from having any contact with the same families.

Brar points out that even if police reach out, a family who has just been told police killed their loved one may not want to accept the offer of support.

Which makes sense. Yet the SIU doesn't fill that gap.

The unit's entire mandate is to investigate allegations involving terrible trauma. Last year it investigated 287 cases, where there are families mourning, possibly victims suffering and sometimes witnesses affected. Yet the SIU has only one "affected persons co-ordinator" to work with victims in the entire province.

Ironically, where does that co-ordinator, Nickie Buchok, work from?

Her home in Hamilton.

So it is conceivable she could have assisted the SIU investigators in notifying Rob of his son's death. But that simply isn't the way things are done.

Since the notification, Rob has spoken with Buchok and asked for counselling. But the SIU only makes referrals.

Rob and his remaining family say they didn't even know what the SIU was before it knocked on their door. Navigating the weeks since Andreas was killed has been frustrating and emotionally exhausting. They have few answers from the SIU - except that it is still waiting on forensic test results before it can conclude its investigation. They feel as if they are in the dark.

"In this case, there's a sense of shame on the family, " says Rob. "We're on our own because this is a homicide committed by police."

Families of homicide victims feel isolated as "their circle of support gets smaller and smaller, " says Bev Wilson, a traumatic bereavement counsellor who leads Hamilton's homicide support group called Lean on Me. "If the homicide is the result of a police shooting, the isolation is instantaneous."

She says the group would welcome the Chinnerys. About 30 people have gone through Lean on Me since it began three years ago. None have lost their loved ones at the hands of police.

"These people are stigmatized, " says Wilson. "People shy away from these families. So the support system is gone. They're in a world they've never been in before."

The stigma is greater when someone is killed by police, Wilson says.

When it comes to support, nothing should matter except that these families are grieving.

"They have done nothing, " says Wilson. "Nothing."

Montgomery County coroner rules taser death a homicide

June 26, 2009
KHOU.com staff reports

MONTOMERY COUNTY -- A coroner has ruled that the death of a Montgomery County man who was tasered a homicide. Deputies tasered Robert Welch in February after responding to a call of an attempted suicide. The coroner says marks on Welch’s body indicated he’d been tasered at least nine times. The deputies involved are still on the job. The Montgomery County district attorney is referring the case to a grand jury.

Outlaw tasers

UPDATE - with regret, knowing as we do that "became unresponsive" and "deployed his taser twice to subdue him" are synonymous.

January 9, 2008
The Associated Press

MOBERLY, Mo. | A Howard County prosecutor says no criminal charges will be filed in the death of a suspected drunken driver killed after a police officer fired a Taser at him. Prosecutor Mason Gebhardt says Moberly police officer J.J. Baird was justified in using a Taser to try to arrest 23-year-old Stanley Harlan of Moberly during a traffic stop in August. Gebhardt says he reviewed reports and a video of the incident to determine Harlan was resisting arrest. Baird made the stop, suspecting Harlan was driving drunk and placed him under arrest. Police say when Harlan resisted, the officer deployed his Taser twice to subdue him. The first Taser shock lasted five seconds and the subsequent shock was only one second. Harlan became unresponsive soon thereafter. Officers started CPR until an ambulance arrived. Harlan was pronounced dead at a hospital.

















On November 19th, I posted the message below. Today I received these photos and this message: we would be honored if the families and friends of the victims on the list wanted to send a pic to our email (outlawtasers@yahoo.com) so we could post their pics on theirs, or even contact us at the email address if they wanted to see the memorial themselves and place pics or decorations themselves.

November 19, 2008

I received this message on my guestbook and I am posting it here in case anyone would like to be involved in this:

We are a group of friends & relatives helping a mother (who's son was tased by local police in front her Aug. 28, 2008). We are currently working on making 386+ crosses representing the people whom have died from being tased. (Names found on this site ) We have not set a date as when we will place these in the ground, but wish to do it before the holidays. It would be nice if we had some kind of picture of deceased, family or friend to come & place the cross, news story or anything, We would like to make it known nationally, our goal is to have the taser outlawed everywhere.

As I mentioned, my friends son was tased, he was unarmed, was not on drugs. It was another instance of police brutality here in our small town.

For more information or to send a photo, contact outlawtasers@yahoo.com

Coroner rules taser death homicide

Luntsford said he could not disclose whether the use of the Taser killed Harlan. "There’s no doubt it contributed to it," the coroner said. "In a few days, we will have exactly what killed him."

STANLEY HARLAN WAS UNARMED AND POSED NO CREDIBLE THREAT TO POLICE.

November 14, 2008
By JOE MEYER, Columbia Tribune

The Randolph County coroner has ruled that the August death of a man whom Moberly police shocked twice with a Taser during a traffic stop was a homicide.

Gerald Luntsford said he would wait until receiving the results from a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation before releasing the exact cause of death for Stanley Harlan, 23, of Moberly. Luntsford said he expects that investigation to be complete soon.

"A homicide only means that a person came to their death by the hands of another," Luntsford said today.

In a separate investigation, the highway patrol is trying to determine whether officers acted appropriately.

Luntsford said he could not disclose whether the use of the Taser killed Harlan. "There’s no doubt it contributed to it," the coroner said. "In a few days, we will have exactly what killed him."

Moberly police pulled Harlan over early Aug. 28 for driving his vehicle erratically and tried to arrest him on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Harlan resisted, and the arresting officer was able to get only one handcuff on him, police said.

An officer, whom police have not identified, deployed the Taser and forced Harlan to the ground. Police said that when Harlan refused orders to remove his arms from under his body, the officer deployed the Taser again, and Harlan complied.

A short time later, Harlan became unresponsive and the four officers on the scene requested an ambulance. Harlan stopped breathing before paramedics arrived, and he was pronounced dead at Moberly Regional Medical Center. Boone County Medical Examiner Chris Stacy conducted the autopsy.

Luntsford said the next step in the case will be to discuss it with Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Fusselman, who could decide to investigate or ask that a special prosecutor be appointed because of the connection with local police. Luntsford also said he could hold a coroner’s inquest in front of a jury.

A woman who answered the phone at Fusselman’s office today said the office was not involved in the case before hanging up. Moberly police forwarded requests for comment to the highway patrol.

The highway patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control is close to completing its investigation, Sgt. Jason Clark said. Clark did not provide a timetable for when information might be released.

"We’re investigating every aspect of this incident," Clark said, including whether the officers acted appropriately.

Commander Kevin Palmatory of the Moberly Police Department defended the officer’s action after the incident, saying the officer followed procedure and that he was unaware of any death directly attributed to Taser use, a defense often used by police departments.

Tasers emit a burst of 50,000 volts that temporarily immobilizes the target. The Columbia Police Department and Boone County Sheriff’s Department have used Tasers for years. Columbia police used federal grant money to nearly double the number of weapons for its officers, a decision that has been criticized by local citizen groups.

State rules Taser death homicide

February 13, 2007
By DANA TREEN, The Times-Union

Ten shocks from a police Taser were enough to kill a wheelchair-bound Green Cove Springs woman whose death in a confrontation with two officers in April has been ruled a homicide but, according to prosecutors, justified.

Emily Marie Delafield, 56, was in poor physical and mental health but would not have died if she had not been shocked for a total of 121 seconds by two Green Cove Springs officers, according to the autopsy included in a State Attorney's Office report released Friday. Delafield called police to her house then confronted them with knives and a hammer.

Associate Medical Examiner Valerie Rao, who performed the autopsy in Jacksonville last year, said the Taser shocks were a "very small factor" in the death of Delafield, who was obese and had an enlarged heart and was confined to a wheelchair. But the Tasers were a contributing factor, she said.

"You can't ignore it," Rao said Monday.

In July, Rao listed homicide as the manner of death, according to the State Attorney's report. She described Delafield as a woman who was on a "precipice" health-wise and said Taser shocks could have impacted Delafield's breathing.

But the State Attorney's Office report said officers James Acres and Barbara Luedtke were justified in using the Tasers on Delafield after she threatened the officers in the street in front of her home on Harrison Street.

Though the report said the two officers were using what are considered non-lethal weapons in the face of knives and a hammer, the actions raise questions about whether the reaction was proper considering Delafield's physical condition, said a nephew, Ryan Delafield.

"She was a dead woman walking," he said Monday. "There was no way she was going to survive that."

On the day after the incident, Emily Delafield's brother, Arnett Chase, said he and other family members believed police acted properly and it was the least-dangerous way to stop her from hurting herself or others.

Until last week, Ryan Delafield said, he believed his aunt had been shocked about three times and is baffled at the police handling of the case. He said his aunt had a limited range of motion, was restricted to a motorized wheelchair and that police should have used other means to calm her.

"There are some questions," he said. "Why is the Taser used at all? The second question, 'Why so much?' "

Tasers deliver 50,000-volt jolts at low currents - generally considered safe but enough to disrupt the nervous system and disable a person temporarily.

Police knew Emily Delafield and had been at her house 28 times in the past, according to the state attorney's report. They knew of her mental health issues and had talked that day with family members who were concerned that she was not taking her medication for schizophrenia. Emily Delafield called police to say she believed her life was in danger and that her sister was trying to kill her, an accusation that was later ruled unsubstantiated, the report said.

Luedtke and Acres arrived at the house and decided not to use police batons or pepper spray on Delafield, who was on oxygen due to her medical condition. The officers discussed using Tasers with the family, including some who agreed with their use, authorities said. After a 13-minute standoff, Luedtke fired her Taser when Delafield raised the knife as if to throw it. When the shock did not appear to have an effect, Luedtke told investigators she recycled her Taser up to four times. Acres shocked Delafield two minutes later after Luedtke's shocks appeared not to be having an effect.

Later examination of the two weapons shows Luedtke's Taser was fired nine times and Acres' once for a total of 121 seconds.

Delafield collapsed several minutes after being shocked and died after she was taken to Orange Park Medical Center.

Ryan Delafield, who was not there when his aunt was shocked, said he questions why police supervisors were not called or why other tactics were not used. The police station is about three minutes from his aunt's house, he said. Delafield, who was teaching high school in Georgia at the time, said he talked to his aunt and his mother less than three hours before police were called to the house.

"They both answered me, 'Everything was OK,' " he said.

Delafield, 35, who is the executor of his aunt's estate, said he became frustrated after waiting three months for a death certificate and has hired Jacksonville attorney Rick Alexander to investigate the case. Alexander said no suit has been filed and that his office is beginning an investigation.

In a similar finding released Friday, the State Attorney's Office said the death of John David Johnson III, who died Sept. 30 after he was tased by Clay County Deputy Chris Faircloth, was an accident.

Johnson, 27, was acting irrationally in the street of a South Hampton subdivision off College Avenue when Faircloth was called. Johnson started striking Faircloth in the face and was shot by a Taser. Johnson was taken to Orange Park Medical Center, where he died about an hour later.