The sister of a man with mental health issues who died after being Tasered three times by police has warned that more vulnerable people could die unless training for officers is overhauled after a coroner’s report called for repeated Tasering to be reviewed.
Marc Cole, 30, died after a police officer Tasered him for more than 40 seconds on a street in Falmouth, Cornwall, in 2017 after excessive cocaine use led him to behave in a paranoid and erratic manner. He was holding a knife and was said to have accidentally caused a minor superficial injury to a neighbour, and had self-harmed.
In a preventing future deaths report published on Tuesday, the assistant coroner for Cornwall, Geraint Williams, called on the Home Office and the College of Policing to institute “a wholesale review of the effects of multiple Taser activations”.
He said this would allow for more comprehensive advice, guidance and training to be given to officers who carry Tasers.
However, the crime and policing minister, Kit Malthouse, said he was satisfied that current safeguards and training were adequate, while the College of Policing said medical evidence about the use of Tasers was overlooked during the inquest.
Cole’s sister, Lisa Cole, who has been campaigning for reform of the laws governing the use of Taser, said she feared inaction could lead to other people suffering mental health crises being Tasered to death by police.
“It is our very real concern that more vulnerable people will die unless the training is overhauled and officers have new research-based guidelines around safe durations for Taser activations against those with mental ill-health,” she said.
“Marc died a completely unnecessary and preventable death because rank-and-file officers did not have adequate training around the effects of Taser electrocution on vulnerable people.
“I hoped they would listen but it seems our concerns are falling on deaf ears and not being taken seriously.”
An inquest jury earlier this year concluded the use of the Taser stun gun by police played a part in the father-of-two’s death after cardiac arrest. The officer who discharged the Taser argued that he had feared for his own safety.
Use of Tasering rose by 39% last year as growing numbers of police officers were equipped with them, while stun guns were drawn, aimed or fired at mental health patients 96 times during 2017-18 at hospitals and other mental healthcare facilities.
Williams said there was particularly limited data on the effects of Tasering upon vulnerable individuals and that evidence presented during Cole’s inquest showed there was “no understanding about the potential for incremental risk with multiple Taser activations and no training provided as to the maximum number of activations nor of their duration which is appropriate or safe”.
He added: “It was clear from the evidence of Dr Soar that a Taser does carry a risk – despite, he said, the claims of the manufacturers – but the extent of that risk is far from clear. I am concerned, based upon the evidence that was led before the jury, that there is insufficient independent data as to the lethality of Taser use and that, therefore the advice and training provided to police officers may be deficient or incomplete.”
Deborah Coles, the director of the charity Inquest, said: “The evidence at this inquest exposed a shocking vacuum of data and research on the dangers of tasers, resulting in a lack of understanding and insufficient training for the police armed with them.
“It is critical that this recommendation for a review is implemented with urgency. Too often, recommendations from coroners disappear into the ether only to be repeated again following more preventable loss of life.”
