Posted: June 14, 2012
Everette Howard Jr 18 years old is dead . I say for no good reason. The Cincinnati Enquirer led with this headline Deters: Taser Death No Crime. The article had a bunch of conclusory statements , but no real investigation.
So now its left to the civil side of justice championed by personal injury lawyers, in this case Alphonse Gerhardstein, to answer the question was the death of Everette Howard negligently/recklessly caused by the police and/or was the taser manufacturer at fault.
I don't know the answers given the sketchy information. But by gut tells me this boy should still be alive if it had not been for the taser. It was described that Police officer Richard Haas responded back on August 6th, 2011 after a fight was reported. Mr Howard and another person came towards the police officer and the one person dropped to the ground on orders of the police officer, but Howard continued towards the police officer with balled fists and was hit with the Taser. Howard then went into cardiac arrest.
Last week Coroner Sammarco found Howard's death undetermined. My, my. Maybe the coroner should have read the recent article on the recent study published by the American Heart Association which concluded:
Conclusions—ECD stimulation can cause cardiac electrical capture and provoke cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation. After prolonged ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation without resuscitation, asystole develops.
Something smells about this whole incident. Why did it take 8 months not to find the cause of death. As Bob Dylan said, "You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing." Certainly if this man had not been tased he would still be alive. Just my opinion.
By Cincinnati personal injury lawyer Anthony Castelli
