The state attorney general's office has cleared the police officers who last year shocked an unarmed Mount Joy man at least twice with Tasers and hit him with pepper spray 90 minutes before he suffered an abnormal heartbeat and died.
A spokesman for the agency said there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the officers who responded to 61-year-old Robert Neill's apartment early on the morning of Nov. 6, 2010.
"We completed our investigation, and there was no evidence of any criminal conduct," said Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the attorney general. "The investigation has been closed and the matter has been returned to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office."
But at least two important questions remain unanswered: How many times was Neill hit with charges from a device that can deliver 50,000 volts? And where on his body was he hit with the Tasers?
The answers are relevant because researchers have expressed concerns about the effect of shooting a suspect multiple times with a Taser. And the company that makes the devices has advised police for at least two years to avoid shooting suspects in the chest because doing so could pose a low risk of an "adverse cardiac event."
Frederiksen declined to answer those questions.
"That is not something we can discuss, " he said.
He said he could not comment further about the case.
Mount Joy Borough police Chief John R. O'Connell Jr. said he also did not know the answers to those questions. He did say that the attorney general's findings are a relief to him and his officers.
"It's put a lot of stress on the department." he said. "But it still doesn't change the outcome for the Neill family."
Neill's family could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman, who referred the matter to the state in March, said he was unable to say how many times Neill was hit with a Taser because the attorney general's office still has possession of the case files, which is typical when they take over an investigation.
The case is now closed.
"Absent newly discovered evidence, the criminal case has been closed by the AG's office," Stedman said. "Once a case is taken by the AG's, they have sole discretion and we take no further action."
According to statements from state police, Mount Joy Borough police officers responded to Neill's apartment in the 300 block of Marietta Avenue at 3:50 a.m. on Nov. 6 after he reported being harassed.
As officers tried to understand the complaint, Neill "became combative and aggressive," state police said in their initial report. Verbal attempts to subdue Neill "enraged" him, and he "continually ignored their commands and moved aggressively toward the officer."
The report does not state how many times Neill was shocked with Tasers, but says that officers used the device on him at least twice.
The first use came after repeated attempts to calm Neill failed, the report says. Neill, the report states, "continued to struggle and fight with officers until they were finally able to gain control of him."
Officers from Susquehanna Regional and state police responded to assist at the scene, at which point Neill again began to struggle "and was subsequently tased and maced by the officers," the report states.
Susquehanna Valley Emergency Medical Services arrived to provide treatment. Neill was placed in an ambulance, according to the report, and "his breathing became labored and his pulse became weak."
Medical personnel administered CPR during transport, the report states, but Neill "was unresponsive to their attempts to revive him."
He was pronounced dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital at 5:18 a.m.
Results of Neill's autopsy show Neill died of cardiac dysrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat.
The Lancaster County coroner, Dr. Stephen G. Diamantoni, has said his office could not determine what caused the cardiac dysrhythmia.
Toxicology screening did not turn up anything.
"There was no alcohol or illicit drugs in his system," Diamantoni said in October. "There were no medications in his system that were proarrhythmic, meaning predisposing to heart arrhythmia."
Researchers, though, have expressed concerns about the effect of shooting a suspect multiple times with a Taser. Stanford University's Criminal Justice Center, for example, found the devices are mostly safe but said there are possibilities of a fatal shock in some circumstances.
"One is the possibility that a shock could occur during the 'vulnerable period' of a heart beat cycle," the Stanford report states. "Essentially, this means that there is a section of a heart beat cycle (specifically, 3 percent of the cycle) during which an electro-shock is highly likely to cause ventricular fibrillation, 'a state in which the heart muscles spasm uncontrollably, disrupting the heart's pumping function and causing death.' "
The Stanford researchers found that multiple Taser applications can "increase the risk of cardiac arrest either by simply increasing the chances that a charge will shock the heart during the vulnerable period or by increasing the level of acid in the blood, which, in turn, decreases respiration and increases the risk of ventricular fibrillation."
In 2008, Taser International, which manufactures the weapon, lost a $6.2 million jury verdict over the death of a California man who died after police shot him multiple times with the weapon.
The jury found that the company had failed to warn police in Salinas, Calif., that prolonged exposure to electric shock from the device could cause a risk of cardiac arrest.
The amount of the monetary award was overturned but the verdict itself remained intact.
Researchers also have raised questions about the safety of shooting a suspect in the chest with a Taser.
Taser International insists that its product is safe and cites studies that show the shock is "not enough to cause the heart to beat irregularly."
In 2009, though, the company advised police to avoid shooting suspects in the chest because doing so could pose a low risk of an "adverse cardiac event."
Copyright 2011 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
