Autopsy Says Man Tased By Deputies Died Naturally. — So this decision took months and I guess it depends on how you define “natural.”

An autopsy says a man who died this summer was tased four times by Bertie County deputies. The report lists Clarence Smith’s death as natural. On July 9th, the 29-year-old Smith died at Bertie Memorial Hospital. He was taken to the hospital after being tased by sheriff deputies, south of Windsor.

Deputies were trying to take Smith to the hospital for an involuntary commitment after his sister said he was “acting funny.” The autopsy obtained by WITN News says Smith was tased four times by deputies. About a half hour later, Smith stopped breathing in the hospital emergency room and later was pronounced dead.

The autopsy says there were no drugs found in Smith’s system. The medical examiner listed his death as caused by cardiovascular collapse due to acute psychosis. After a review by the Chief Medical Examiner, it says Smith’s death was natural.




  1. Dallas says:

    Yes, he naturally died of being tased 4 times. It’s all in the word play.

  2. hhopper says:

    If you get tased too many times, naturally you die.

  3. TThor says:

    It is so sad! A government gone astray and law enforcement gone mad…

  4. LibertyLover says:

    I’m sorry, but if this happened to my kid, I would have to put the camo on . . .

  5. ECA says:

    I love this..
    the Coroner only lists the LAST thing that killed him. NOT the underlying CAUSE…
    WHAt caused tha Psycho Cardio??

  6. Breetai says:

    If you get hit in the head enough naturally you die.

  7. ChuckM says:

    A bullet through the head mushes your brain and spits it out the other side. It’s completely natural to die from that.

    Same with every other cause of death.

    If you have a rapid firing BB gun. And you shoot someone in the head, they’ll get injured with a very small possibility that they’ll die. If you shoot them 10 times in the head they could die, if you shoot them 1000 times in the head, they will probably die. I see no difference other than a disregard for a person’s well being and should be charged.

    We clearly know by now that a taser can kill. It’s the same a punching or kicking someone. You could kill them and if you do, you should get in trouble for it.

  8. brm says:

    Naturally, his heart stopped.

  9. ECA says:

    Its similar to HIV, when most person die of pneumonia after a cold or flu..
    coroner posts he died of pneumonia..NOT that it was made worse from HIV.

    Stub your toe, and get gangrene, infects your body and you DIED of a Infection..NOT the stubbed TOE that CAUSEd the infection.

    So, WHO looks at this information, and THINKS…WOW, before he died, he was STUNNED 4 times, and made unconscious.. Police didnt give IMMEDIATE attention to if his HEART had stopped or had GOOD RYTHEM, and didnt GIVE CPR… Ambulance drives up 20 minutes later??

  10. sargasso says:

    Premature death caused by natural events. He probably choked on his tongue and had a coronary thrombosis – while, incidentally, being electrocuted. Makes sense.

  11. Improbus says:

    Once again the cops do no wrong.

  12. amodedoma says:

    While it is understandable that a big guy having a psychotic episode is a genuine threat. Especially seeing as the police were there to make matters worse, imagine the paranoia factor. What I find difficult to understand is how this man didn’t receive emergency medical attention immediately. The ambulance should have been there, a shot of thorazine might have avoided this incident. I’d really like to know what efforts were made to revive the man and when… 29 is too young to die like this.

  13. Curmudgeon says:

    If I’m not mistaken, the same rationale & conclusion has been reported by examiners in both US & Canada in multiple taser death cases over past several year. One might ask: Who’s teaching everyone to sing the same song?

  14. deowll says:

    I seem to recall people being tazed something like 30 times without dieing.

    Tazing hurts but it doesn’t seem to be fatal unless you have a bad ticker or some such.

    If you guys know so much why don’t you come up with some nice safe and effective way to render someone wacked out of their tree gentle as a lamb so they can be taken to the hospital?

    Not only would you make a lot of money, you might save more than a few lives.

  15. brendal says:

    Doesn’t everyone want to die naturally??

  16. Special Ed says:

    How many cops does it take to push someone down the stairs? None, he fell.

  17. BillM says:

    John, John, John…..
    Give the Medical Examiner a break. It was a simple error in punctuation. His report should have read “The man was tasered four times and died, naturally.”

  18. JimD says:

    The TASER WAS THE MURDER WEAPON !!! This TORTURE DEVICE CAUSES CARDIAC ARREST !!! It should be BANNED !!! The TASER Company PAYS OFF CORONORS TO SHOW THE CAUSE OF DEATH AS ***OTHER THAN TASER INDUCED*** !!! MORE CORPORATE CORRUPTION !!!

  19. amodedoma says:

    #15
    I’ve seen plenty of natural deaths, all too often it’s a slow and painful process of drowning in your own fluids. On the other hand almost everyone wants to live as long as possible, so most try to avoid violent death. Given to choose I’d like to go like that couple in africa, screwin each others brains out on the tracks till the train came. Now if only I can find a woman that’s got the same idea.

  20. Stars & Bars says:

    Are we going to stand for this?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLD3Z6sJWA

  21. Bob says:

    Google “Excited Delirium”.

  22. Balbas says:

    Charles Manson DOES NOT have acute psychosis, else he would’ve dropped dead years ago.

    I say we let ol’ Charlie go free.

  23. Lou says:

    All in a days fun in a police state.

  24. Paddy-O says:

    Looks like no one noticed the worst offense here.
    Legally, cops can come, arrest you, tase you, and haul you to jail even if there is no criminal act suspected…

  25. Li says:

    I googled “cardiovascular collapse due to acute psychosis” and only got three hits, all related to this story.

    They seem to have made up a new COD just for this case, how novel. But I wonder how they can justify that COD without any sort of precedent or research to stand on.

    Oh, yeah, they’re cops, they don’t need no stinkin’ facts!

  26. Dr. Dumbo says:

    Acute psychosis? Sounds like an extreme case of medical mumbo jumbo as found in this case as well

    http://justiceforej.com

  27. Special Ed says:

    I’m not suffering from mental illness, I enjoy it!

  28. Mr. Fusion says:

    OK, quick show of hands. How many of you bothered to read the coroner’s report? Ummm, let see, … oh, none of you. Well, how many can give another, reasonable cause of death. Alright, let see with a show of hands, … oopps, nobody again.

    Yes, it is always so much easier to shoot your mouth instead of actually doing anything. Just because you don’t like the findings, does not mean they are incorrect. The tazering did NOT cause any immediate injury. He was in the hospital for at least half an hour after the last dose before he went into cardiac arrest.

    &

    #25, Cow-Paddy,

    Looks like no one noticed the worst offense here.
    Legally, cops can come, arrest you, tase you, and haul you to jail even if there is no criminal act suspected…

    Not to worry, you really stuck your foot in your mouth again. The police had a warrant to take him to a hospital for an involuntary commitment.

    *

    Yes it is always easy to second guess the police. In this case though what else could they do? Maybe some type of net would have helped immobilize him, or maybe not. The cops did their job the best they could, hurting the kid as little as they could. Using rubber bullets, night sticks, or even pepper spray would more likely have caused even more injury.

    This is one of those times when I don’t think the police or tazer are to blame. And no, I am not on drugs. This is just because I bothered to read a little about the case before making some rash judgment.

  29. Glenn E. says:

    If the results of this wasn’t so tragic, I’d say it sounded more like an Abbot and Costello routine. ‘Autopsy Says Man Tased Four Times by Deputies Died …. Naturally’. Yeah, “naturally” he died. I think the missing “of natural causes” term, was the problem. Hopefully the coroner got this right.

    Because the victim didn’t die on the spot. But sometime later. This gets the cops off the hook. This taser technology hasn’t been tested enough to prove whether or not it contributes to any health problems later. But then neither has mace or clubbing. Law enforcement methods seem to have gotten an exemption on that. Along with brutal interrogations. Whereas there’s more concern about the effects of second hand smoke, than how much tazering someone’s heart can stand. And who decided that a Tazer’s voltage was the right level, but not too strong to be used repeatably? The friggin AMA?!


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