HALIFAX, N.S. - An expert says there were "many red flags" warning that Howard Hyde was suffering from excited delirium in the hours before he died in a jail cell.
Christine Hall, an emergency room doctor based in Vancouver, is testifying at an inquiry into Hyde's tasering and subsequent death 30 hours later inside a provincial jail in the Halifax area in November 2007.
Hall, a researcher with the Canadian Police Research Centre, says the "constant and repetitive nature" of Hyde's behaviour was one strong clue that the diagnosed schizophrenic was suffering from a condition known as excited delirium.
In Hyde's case, surveillance videotapes show him constantly pacing in his cell for hours on end in an unchanging pattern.
Hall says this behaviour suggests Hyde was in a highly agitated state - a clear signal that he was suffering from excited delirium.
After Hyde's death a medical examiner concluded that the cause of death was excited delirium, a sometimes fatal condition stemming from schizophrenia.
