Hyde fatality inquiry to be webcast

An article posted today on CBCnews.ca:

The inquiry into the death of Howard Hyde [pictured], the Dartmouth man who died in a Nova Scotia jail 30 hours after he was shocked with a Taser, will be broadcast live on the internet.

It will be the first time a fatality inquiry in Nova Scotia will be visible to people outside the hearing room.

Lawyers agreed to the webcast on Tuesday.

Kevin MacDonald, who represents Hyde's sister, said it would give Hyde's father a chance to follow the proceedings from his home in the U.S., and also provide Nova Scotians with a front-row seat.

"The public are interested," said MacDonald. "The inquiry's going to be held in Halifax. But for the webcast it really would be closed off to many members of the public, even in rural Nova Scotia."

Halifax Regional Police used a Taser to subdue Hyde, 45, after responding to a domestic abuse complaint on Nov. 21, 2007. He was taken to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, where he died 30 hours later after struggling twice with corrections officers.

Last fall, Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner ruled that Hyde died of excited delirium due to paranoid schizophrenia, and declared his death accidental.

MacDonald said Hyde's relatives have many questions.

"The family wants to know what those people did and why they did it, or why they didn't do what they didn't do?" said MacDonald.

There are also issues about mental-health crisis intervention, said Blair Mitchell, the lawyer acting for the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia.

"Everyone's concerned about the Taser. Everyone is concerned about the use of force and the use of restraint, particularly in the case of a person in a situation of distress," said Mitchell.

Lawyers and court officials will meet again in June to discuss procedural issues, though Judge Anne Derrick won't hear from witnesses until early July.

Derrick can make recommendations relating to any matter that arises during the inquiry.

Also see:

From CBC News: Nova Scotia at Six:

In the fall of 2007, Howard Hyde died 30 hours after he was tasered by Halifax police. Now an inquiry into his death is about to begin. Jim Nunn speaks with Dan MacRury, the lawyer for the inquiry. (To view, please click here; runs 3:14, requires RealPlayer.)

Hyde inquiry online

Inquiry into death of man Tasered in police custody to be streamed on web

Jury awards $3M in death involving excessive force

From the March 2nd edition of the Houston Chronicle:

By Peggy O’Hare

A Harris County jury on Monday awarded $3 million to the Houston mother of a man [living with schizophrenia] who was shocked, hogtied and later died as Precinct 1 constable’s deputies took him into custody on a mental health warrant four years ago.

After a three-week trial, the jury concluded by a 10-2 vote that three of the four deputies named in Shirley Nagel’s lawsuit used unreasonable and excessive force as the deputies detained Nagel’s son, Joel Don Casey [pictured], on Feb. 18, 2005.

Casey’s death was ruled a homicide. An autopsy found the 52-year-old man died of psychotic delirium with physical restraint associated with heart disease.

He also suffered fractures to his seventh cervical vertebrae and the left horn of his thyroid cartilage, believed to have occurred when one deputy dropped a knee on Casey’s neck and pulled Casey’s head back, said the dead man’s attorney, Kent Spence.

After 4½ hours of deliberations that began Friday and continued Monday, the jury awarded $2.4 million to Nagel and $600,000 to her son’s estate, which she represents.

I edited the above to remove the word "schizophrenic".

To read the entire article, click here.