June 12, 2009

Brian Cardall's Dad Says, 'Taser Should Have Never Been Used'


Brian Cardall, recently diagnosed with bipolar disease, was driving home from a family wedding in Salt Lake City with his wife when he became disoriented. He stopped the car and got out. His wife called 911 to request medical assistance.

According to a witness, Cardall removed his clothing and stood on the side of the road, as if directing traffic.
The woman says Cardall was calm; he'd taken off his clothes and was waving his hands as if he were directing traffic next to the officers on the side of the road.

"As I looked back, he was still standing there. The kids looked back. He was still standing there. He was not running at all the whole time I was driving," the woman said.

She was able to view the scene for about a minute and didn't see Cardall behaving aggressively toward police.

The police arrived on the scene and killed Cardall with 50,000 volts of electricity from their taser gun.

As the Cardall family continues to grieve for the promising scientist with a second child on the way, they are left with more questions than answers as to why police chose to use a Taser to subdue Brian as he walked near a highway in a confused state.

One thing that they know for sure is that their son didn't deserve to die on that road. Duane Cardall, Brian's father, is certain a Taser should not have been used on his son.

"Absolutely, unequivocally a Taser should have never been used in this instance," Cardall said. He said, to his knowledge, his son died within moments of being hit with the Taser.

Brian Cardall is the 21st person in America to die from taser-related shooting this year. Torture isn't limited to Dick Cheney. Taser-torture is occuring all over our nation. Isn't it time for you to join us in our call for congressional hearings on taser torture?

10 comments:

NotAMormon said...

The title of your blog article is misleading as the opinion of a person not at the scene of an event is irrelevant to determining whether or not something should or should not have happened.

Additionally, your comment re: 50,000 volts is also misleading and outright incorrect as you cannot be killed by voltage; rather it is Amperage across your heart that kills you.

I'm not even going to touch the asinine "taser torture" bit. You'd think that now that your Great Obamanation is in Office, you'd move on from the whole Emperor Cheney / Darth Bush villainization; but that's the only play in the Liberal book.

Unknown said...

NotAMormon - The purpose of a well-written blog post title is to attract readers. I guess that my title was successful as this is the first time that we've had the pleasure of your village voice. In any case, your points are well-taken. I understand that the 911 tape of the victim's wife has been released. It should be interesting to hear what she had to say...

GC said...

The act is that a young promising father was killed in an overzealous action. NotAMormom chooses to take a family's grief and trivialize it. Following your logic, your comments are as well "irrelevant" since you were not at the scene. I knew Brian. I know his family... Your extremism is the cancer that is killing this nation.

Unknown said...

G - I cannot imagine the anquish experienced by friends and family of Mr. Cardall. Rarely does the public get to hear the actual sounds of a taser-related death. We did this time with the 911 recordings and the police audio clips ... and it was a chilling experience. Brian Cardall didn't have to be killed that day. He needed help ... not 50,000 volts of taser.

Unknown said...

I can't be bothered to put up with this type of stupidity, and I won't dignify this article with proper editing, or even take out the debating from some of my prepared rebuttal:

Civil Rights (Taser as an instrument of torture)
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, any weapon could potentially become an instrument of torture if used, or shall I say, misused in the right way. Batons, a must for the police force, can be used to whack the subject, guns can fired many times into a victim to inflict pain, pepper sprays can be used to blind a criminal. Even pillows can be used to smother the unfortunate. So what makes Taser such a good torture device? It inflicts pain: any police officer’s weapons inflict pain, anything can inflict pain. I don’t see my pet turtle being banned just because it could crawl off an apartment, fall 50 storeys down and hit someone one the head, and “inflicts pain”

Civil Rights (Taser kills)
What is amusing is that more people have died in high speed chases with the police than taser-induced deaths. Does that mean that we should ban the police from getting behind the wheel and pressing the gas? Don’t worry; we’ll give officers really good running shoes and a nice bike. How about a tank? A tank can’t get to a high speed. So instead of high speed chases, we’ll have low speed chases. That’ll ensure the safety of drug smuggling criminals, won’t it? What’s more important, though, is that all taser induced deaths have been an improper uses of taser. To remedy this, we propose a police training program on the proper use of this weapon, as my first speaker have outlined. Officers currently use the weapon multiple times, from 20 shots to 5. That’ll account for 40% of the deaths. The other 60% can be attributed to the criminal themselves. In most of the cases, the criminals were on drug highs, and electricity triggered what the drugs have started: cardiovascular arrest. Tasers do not kill people under normal circumstances, it is the extraordinary circumstances that the opposition is focusing on about, and that amounts to nothing.

Unknown said...

50,000 volts of tasers. The amps are 0.00021, and the amps is what counts. High amps, low voltage, and you will still kill a person. Don't post misleading information in this blog

Unknown said...

Eddie - I appreciate you taking time to share your perspective. I don't have an issue with tasers in general. I have an issue with the poor use of the taser by police as evidenced by the continuing trend of dead people as a result of police taser action. Something is wrong. Training? I'm not sure ... but, Brian Cardall didn't have to die on that lonely country road, did he?

HealthAngel said...

Linda: Brian Cardall's father is
"right on." A taser, let alone two,
should never have been used on his
son. We have been through this, with
our family, and I will work tirelessly to bring this to the public's attention. A taser can be
a deadly weapon, and as such should
only be used in suspect's who are
threats. Brian was not. Listen to both 911 tapes to hear what went on.
I am a complete stranger to the Cardall family, and yet feel I know them through Paul's website.
Forgive, for that is necessary,
but do not let this go. PLEASE. This has nothing to do with politics! Only to do with justice.
And to prevent others from dying
needlessly.

Unknown said...

Linda - First, my prayers are with those in your family impacted by taser gun activity in the past. Second, you mention "Paul's Website" in your message. What is the URL for his website?

Unknown said...

All - The Cardall family won a judgement from a Utah court that will allow them to move forward on their case against the police officials that electrocuted their son to death. Read more...