Police reviewing Taser rules after death

19 Oct 2012, 7:13 pm   -   Source: AAP

The NSW Police Force is reviewing rules on Taser use following the death of a Brazilian student in a struggle with officers in Sydney's CBD.

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The NSW Police Force is reviewing rules on Taser use following the death of a Brazilian student in a struggle with officers in Sydney's CBD.

An inquest into the death of Roberto Laudisio Curti, who died on Pitt Street following a police chase in the early hours in March 18, has been told the use of Tasers in "drive stun" mode is particularly at issue.

Mr Curti struggled with 11 officers who discharged their Tasers up to 14 times and used capsicum spray, handcuffs and a baton.

He was suffering a bad reaction to a small amount of LSD he had taken with mates the night before to celebrate St Patrick's Day and, in a psychotic state, had jumped a convenience store counter and taken two packets of biscuits, the inquest has heard.

In response to submissions that the police use of Tasers on Mr Curti was excessive, a barrister representing the NSW Police Force said the force was reviewing Taser training and procedures.

Bruce Hodgkinson said guidelines concerning the use of "drive stun" mode, which refers to a Taser discharged directly against the body, were under the spotlight.

"It's an important matter that my client is working on as we speak," he said. Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly, SC, told Glebe Coroners Court on Friday he could not identify Mr Curti's precise cause of death as Taser use, crush or "restraint asphyxia".

"On the evidence, Roberto's death did have a complex multi-factorial basis to which all of these individual items may have contributed," Mr Gormly said. But at least some of the Taser discharges at Mr Curti were unnecessary, and operating procedures needed revising to block Taser use except to protect "life and limb".

"To Taser somebody who is on the ground, who was surrounded by other officers ... was a thuggish act," he said.

Peter Hamill, SC, representing Mr Curti's family, told the court the cause of death should be recorded as "misadventure with precise medical cause unknown at the hands of members of the NSW Police Force".

He spoke of systemic failures in the NSW Police Force that allowed officers to view Tasers as an "easier" tool in making an arrest and led officers wrongly to believe Mr Curti was armed.

Mr Hamill accused the NSW Police Force of negligence because of what he described as its failure to have stricter protocols and the "sheer brutality" of members of the force.

"There was an inappropriate and over-reliance on Taser," he said. Submissions to the inquest continue on Friday afternoon before NSW State Coroner Mary Jerram.

Taser , Roberto Laudisio Curti

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