EDMONTON — Alberta Justice says a man who was Tasered by Edmonton police in October died from a condition called excited delirium — not from the effects of being hit by the electronic stun gun.
Trevor Grimolfson, 38, died on Oct. 29 after going on a rampage in a pawn shop.
“Excited delirium is a state of extreme excitation that can be fatal — it can lead to a state of exhaustion where the heart stops,” said Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear.
Dear said Alberta’s Fatality Review Board will review this case to determine whether to hold a fatality inquiry.
The provincial medical examiner said the cause of death was excited delirium brought on by multiple drug toxicity.
Dear could not say which narcotics Grimolfson had taken before becoming erratic.
Before police brought him under control, Grimolfson had been rampaging through his west-end pawn shop and even attacked a man, witnesses said.
Officers on the scene said Grimolfson could not be controlled after just one Taser use, so a second electronic jolt was needed.
Multiple witnesses said police reacted appropriately when they used the weapon.
More than 25 people have died in Canada after being stunned by Tasers.
The U.S. company that makes the devices points out that they have never been directly proven to have caused a death in Canada.