Wittwer said that from the information she has been given, the Hurricane Police Department has not taken part in the crisis intervention training.

Police officers have the extremely difficult job of identifying the difference between someone having a mental health crisis and someone who has taken drugs, she said.

"But this training really does help officers to identify the behaviors connected with mental illness and to adapt their approach with those people," Wittwer said.

A Washington County woman, who asked to remain anonymous, witnessed part of the incident with Cardall as she drove by Tuesday. The woman told KSL, "You could tell something was wrong with him."

She said he had taken off his clothes and was waving his hands as if he was directing traffic in front of two officers. The woman said she saw the incident for about a minute and during that time didn't see Cardall acting aggressively.

"I don't think he should have been Tasered," the woman told KSL. "It was obvious he had no weapon; no weapon was in his hand."

Wittwer said she did not want to speculate on what happened with Cardall, or if a mental illness made someone more susceptible to injury or death when being Tasered.

During the past two years, the National Institute of Justice has conducted a study of in-custody deaths, which have occurred following the use of conducted energy devices, or Tasers. On the first page of the interim report, released last summer, the report says studies undertaken by law enforcement agencies using CEDs shows that there are reduced injuries to officers and suspects resulting from use-of-force encounters and reduced use of deadly force.

"However, a significant number of individuals have died after exposure to a (Taser)," the report says. "Some were normal healthy adults; others were chemically dependent or had heart disease or mental illness."

An autopsy was conducted on Cardall on Wednesday but Washington County Undersheriff Jake Adams said the results of that autopsy most likely won't be available for a couple of weeks.

E-MAIL: ethomas@desnews.com