Tests: Taser gun not factor
in death ofhomeless man
By VICKY AGNEW
STAFF WRITER

The Broward County Medical Examiner's Office said a shot from a
Taser gun did not contribute
to the death of a homeless
man who died in late January
after struggling with Hollywood police. Tests revealed
Vinnie Del'Ostia had cocaine
in his system, but the medical
examiner would not release
the cause of death Tuesday.
Hollywood police spokesman Tony Rode said the department has always felt Tasers are safe and that officials
are satisfied with the medical
examiner's findings. The department has used Tasers for
HOLLYWOOD·

Vinnie
Del'Ostia,
31, died
Jan. 27
after
Hollywood
police
tried to
subdue
him.
more than a year and has experienced no problems, he
said.
Del'Ostia, 31, a diagnosed
schizophrenic with a h.istory
of drug abuse, stumbled into
the Entrada Motel on Federal
Highway in Hollywood on
Jan. 27, behaving erratically
and damaging property. He

refused to comply with police
demands to lie on the ground,
so an officer shot him with a
50,000-volt M-26 Taser.
Officers on the scene said
Del'Ostia ripped the probes
.from his chest after being hit
and continued to behave irrationally.
After wrestling him to the
ground, officers said they noticed he was having trouble
breathing and called for paramedics. Del'Ostia was dead
before he could be taken to a
hospital, Hollywood fire officialssaid.
Toxicology tests revealed
Del'Ostia had cocaine in his
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Taser gun cleared in man's death
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system and died from causes
unrelated to the Taser, said an
employee with the Medical Examiner's Office.
The Taser, also known as a
stun gun, fires two projectile
darts, connected to the weapon
by wires, that reach a subject
up to 21 feet away. The charge
causes muscle contractions but
not heart contractions, said Dr.
Richard Luceri, director of the
Arrhythmia Center at Holy
Cross Hospital in Fort lauderdale.
Luceri is an expert in arrhythmia and sudden death
and is not affiliated with the
Medical Examiner's Office.

A 1991 study by·the Univer- . heart significantly. Their senssity of Southern California said es are heightened by the drug,
it found at least one death from and they may not be aware
the original Taser device, they're having palpitations, so
whose technology is the basis they just keep on doing what
for the Taser International gun they're doing and that's what
used by Hollywood police and gets them into trouble electriabout 1,100 other police de- cally," Luceri said. "Forget the
partments around the country. Taser, the circumstances are
Taser International is only 8 just plain old ripe to have cardiyears old, and no deaths have acarrest.
been linked to its product, a
"Then comes law enforcement, and the person may pu't
company spokesman has said.
For a Taser to be deadly, it up a fight, which increases the
would have to expose a subject adrenaline even more ... I
to certain amounts of voltage think the Taser is just another
and current long enough to do stimulant and is not causing
damage, said Luceri. He added cardiac arrest or the death."
someone who has certain
Law enforcement agencies
drugs in his system is more vul- are not obligated to keep renerable to cardiac problems.
cords of deaths from Taser-re"Heroin an,d cocaine are ma- lated incidents, and medical evjor stimulants that race the idence on the subject.is murky.

That's what bothers civilliberties groups like Amnesty international, who argue that not
enough research has been
done on stun guns.
"These things have no place
in policing, especially if-they
have no accountability structured around them," said Derreck Kayongo, an Amnesty International spokesman. "We'
think Tasers should be the last
resort if they are a resort at all.
The police have had various
mechanisms to subdue suspects before Tasers came
along."
Vicl~y Agnew can

be reached

at vagnew@sun-sentinel.com

or 954-385- 7922.