Medical Official: Taser Didn’t Lead To Man’s Death

State forensics officials say a man who died several days after a Houston County Sheriff’s deputy used a Taser on him during a traffic stop was suffering from a fatal illness related to cocaine use and didn’t die as a result of the Taser.

Nicholas G. Cody, 27, of Marianna, Fla., died on June 27, 2008, about a week after he was taken to Southeast Alabama Medical Center for treatment.

An autopsy performed by senior Alabama medical examiner Stephen Boudreau showed Cody died from excited delirium. The autopsy report, obtained by the Dothan Eagle through an open records request, showed evidence of cocaine in Cody’s body at the time of his death. Boudreau called excited delirium a side effect, and not an overdose, related to drug use. He said Cody exhibited bizarre behavior when he was brought into the hospital, and eventually had to be restrained. “The guy came in with an extremely high temperature at the hospital,” Boudreau said. “Your thermostat in your brain is broken, and it doesn’t know how hot you are anymore because of the drugs.”

A Houston County Sheriff’s deputy had stopped Cody for a seat belt violation near a gas station at the intersection of U.S. 231 South and Inez Road on June 15. Cody jumped from the passenger’s side window of the truck and ran away. The deputy used a Taser on Cody after catching up with him and feeling threatened by him.

Boudreau said many drugs can cause excited delirium, but he called cocaine the most common. “It doesn’t matter how much you took for this thing to take place. From its onset it’s probably uniformly fatal,” Boudreau said. “Some of them get a sense of impending doom, some take their clothes off in public, things that most people associate with madness.”

Cody suffered shocks from the Taser multiple times after he became combative with the deputy, according to previous Eagle reports. Sheriff Andy Hughes found that the deputy followed department policy with the Taser during the incident.

Deputies found an estimated $100 worth of cocaine in his Cody’s vehicle during the arrest, according to a previous Eagle report. Deputies had two warrants for his arrest that were not served as a result of his death, including felony unlawful possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor resisting arrest.

Boudreau said the Taser had nothing to do with Cody’s death. He said there are a couple cases of excited delirium a year within central and southeast Alabama. “The reason he got tased is because he had excited delirium. Getting tased had nothing to do with it he was going to die,” Boudreau said. “Police usually realize there was something wrong with the person, but they just can’t control them.”

Source: Dothan Eagle, AL - 9/16/2008