Hurricane City Tries to Explain Away Cardall’s Taser Death

Posted By Ron Kramer on June 19, 2009

Tapes released by the Brian Cardall family show that the officer who tased Brian Cardall on June 9, 2009, actually shot him at least twice with his taser. According to the KSL News, Brian Cardall, a promising molecular biology student at the Northern Arizona University, was between medication doses and was in an extremely confused state when he stepped out of his car in Hurricane, Utah, removed his clothes, and pretended to direct traffic. Cardall’s wife, who was fearful for her safety, called 911 and talked with dispatchers for 13 minutes before officers from Hurricane Police Dept. arrived.

The tape, which is a recording from a microphone placed on the officer or on his patrol car, provide a chilling look into what actually went down when the police arrived.

When the officer arrived at 1:17 p.m., he orders Cardall down to the ground. Cardall does not comply and the officer is heard repeating his command. It is around 42 seconds after the officer arrives that he tases Brian Cardall, an obviously unarmed man. When Cardall tried to get up after being tased, the officer shoots him with his taser again. While it is not clear, the recording indicates that he may have been tased a third time.

Soon after, officers notice that Cardall is not breathing and that he has no pulse.

After the 911 tapes were released on June 19, 2009, Hurricane City, through their defense attorney Peter Stirba, went into damage control mode and released the following statement:

“The recordings released yesterday speak for themselves and the Hurricane City police officer that deployed his Taser was acting responsibly and was fully justified in using a non-lethal level of force to protect the safety of Mr. Cardall, himself, and other officers involved.”

At the time the statement was issued, Hurricane City was responding to the released 911 tape that it claimed “spoke for itself.” Now let’s see them spin the recording from the officer who tased Brian Cardall at least twice.

It seems to me, that if this recording really does “speak for itself” that it would be telling us that this cop tased an unarmed, naked man, who was no apparent threat to anyone. Certainly he was no threat to the officer or “other officers involved.” What the recording says is that this officer failed to deal rationally with this obviously confused man, lost his patience after only 40 seconds when the suspect refused to follow his command, pulled out his Taser, and physically forced Cardall to submit to his orders.

The recording will also tell those who listen to it that Brian Cardall was still alive after the first tasing, as the officer reported that he was moving and thought he was trying to get up. The recording then disturbingly illustrates that after the second tasing a short time later, that Cardall stopped moving and stopped breathing. What the recording seems to say in no uncertain terms is that this officer killed Brian Cardall with his taser.

It seems to me that Hurricane City has a lot to answer for. Following the release of the officer’s recording, can they really say that the officer was “fully justified” in tasing Cardall? And can they really say in this situation that the taser deployment involved “non-lethal” force. It couldn’t be any clearer that it was the Taser that took his life.

And what about the manufacturer of the Taser? It was their product that Hurricane City purchased. It was their training that the officers were expected to follow. They are also implicated and partly responsible for the outcome in this very sad case.

The opinions expressed above belong to Ron Kramer, an attorney who practices personal injury and wrongful death law in Utah.