Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2006 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Glenn Bohn TASER DIDN'T KILL, INQUIRY TOLD Pathologist Testifies Cocaine-Related Heart Attack More Likely A cocaine-drugged man who died after Vancouver police shocked him with a Taser had a history of heart problems and likely died of a cocaine-triggered heart attack, a pathologist told a coroner's inquest Tuesday. The pathologist was the first of 36 scheduled witnesses to testify at the inquest into the death two years ago of Robert Wayne Bagnell, a 44-year-old amphetamine and cocaine user. Bagnell died after he locked himself in a bathroom at the Continental Hotel in downtown Vancouver and began screaming and smashing things. The first police officers sent to the hotel called in a Taser-equipped emergency response team, coroner Stephen Fonseca said during his opening statement. A Taser is a pistol-shaped device that uses compressed nitrogen to propel a pair of electrically-charged barbs. Electrodes or wires transmit as much as 50,000 volts to the target, which usually makes a human collapse but is not fatal. Pathologist Dr. Laurel Gray, who has conducted more than 9,000 post-mortem examinations, pointed to several pre-existing health problems she suggested may have contributed to Bagnell's death. She said Bagnell had an enlarged heart that weighed 480 grams, which is about one-and-a-half times the size of a normal heart. He also had undergone open-heart surgery to repair a heart valve. The pathologist pointed to toxicological tests that suggested there were "significantly high" cocaine levels in Bagnell's bloodstream, as well as methamphetamines. Gray said the heart has to beat "harder and faster" when someone uses cocaine. She said the probable cause of death was a "restraint-associated cardiac arrest due to acute cocaine intoxication." People who suffer from acute cocaine intoxication do bizarre and violent things, exhibit incredible body strength, and overheat to the point of exhaustion, she later noted. If the evidence presented at the inquest shows Bagnell struggled with police after he was hit with the Taser, Gray suggested it was unlikely that being hit was the cause of death. "If a Taser was going to (stop the heart) it would have done it immediately," she said. - - - - ROBERT BAGNELL Age: 44. Date of death: June 23, 2004, after he was Tasered by Vancouver police. Place of death: A bathroom in a Granville Street hotel. Cause of death: To be determined by a coroner's jury at the end of a 10-day inquest. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman