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Irregular News for 09.18.06
Richland Township, PA -- A man who authorities say unsuccessfully tried to use a Taser to revive his brother-in-law from a fatal drug overdose is now being charged by police.
Ralph William Snyder, 36, of Perkasie is charged with possessing an offensive weapon because Tasers are not legal in Pennsylvania.
He declined to comment on the case when reached at home Friday.
Richland Township police Chief Larry Cerami said Snyder was apparently trying to help the victim.
''I presume that the defendant was trying to administer some type of medical treatment,'' he said. ''But clearly he was out of his realm of expertise when it happened.''
According to court records:
On July 15, police were called to 316 Ridge Road in the Richland Meadows Trailer Park, Richland Township, just after 11 p.m. for a report of an unresponsive man in need of medical help.
Police found Snyder there. He told police his brother-in-law, identified as John Houck, had been staying there that night when he suffered a suspected heroin overdose.
Snyder told police he was called to the scene after the overdose, where he tried several times to revive Houck with a 10,000-volt Taser. Police confiscated the Taser that night.
Cerami said police waited two months to charge Snyder for several reasons, including the need to investigate whether the Taser may have played a part in Houck's death.
There's no evidence Houck died from the Taser, Cerami said, but if there had been, more serious charges would have been filed.
While someone did call emergency responders about Houck, Cerami said it's unclear how long they waited to do so.
Dr. Dan Randall, who works in Grand View Hospital's emergency room, said no one should try to use a Taser to revive someone.
When medical professionals use defibrillators, he said, they send an electrical charge into the heart through two different points. A Taser only releases the electrical charge from one point, which he said causes it to disperse throughout the body. ''If I was in that situation, if I was that man, I would have worked harder on CPR,'' Randall said.
source
Richland Township, PA -- A man who authorities say unsuccessfully tried to use a Taser to revive his brother-in-law from a fatal drug overdose is now being charged by police.
Ralph William Snyder, 36, of Perkasie is charged with possessing an offensive weapon because Tasers are not legal in Pennsylvania.
He declined to comment on the case when reached at home Friday.
Richland Township police Chief Larry Cerami said Snyder was apparently trying to help the victim.
''I presume that the defendant was trying to administer some type of medical treatment,'' he said. ''But clearly he was out of his realm of expertise when it happened.''
According to court records:
On July 15, police were called to 316 Ridge Road in the Richland Meadows Trailer Park, Richland Township, just after 11 p.m. for a report of an unresponsive man in need of medical help.
Police found Snyder there. He told police his brother-in-law, identified as John Houck, had been staying there that night when he suffered a suspected heroin overdose.
Snyder told police he was called to the scene after the overdose, where he tried several times to revive Houck with a 10,000-volt Taser. Police confiscated the Taser that night.
Cerami said police waited two months to charge Snyder for several reasons, including the need to investigate whether the Taser may have played a part in Houck's death.
There's no evidence Houck died from the Taser, Cerami said, but if there had been, more serious charges would have been filed.
While someone did call emergency responders about Houck, Cerami said it's unclear how long they waited to do so.
Dr. Dan Randall, who works in Grand View Hospital's emergency room, said no one should try to use a Taser to revive someone.
When medical professionals use defibrillators, he said, they send an electrical charge into the heart through two different points. A Taser only releases the electrical charge from one point, which he said causes it to disperse throughout the body. ''If I was in that situation, if I was that man, I would have worked harder on CPR,'' Randall said.
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