Robert Pfeffer, a 64-year old man, has sued two deputies allegedly exhibiting “roid rage” during an incident where one of the deputies tasered him. Deputy John Eaton, with the Lee County Sherriff’s Office, “escorted” Pfeffer to the ground and tasered him while Pfeffer was walking away from an ambulance. The EMS ambulance was requested by Pfeffer’s wife to attend to Mr. Pfeffer’s severe chest pains after receiving an implanted heart defibrillator (”Lee deputies face lawsuit after man Tasered during arrest,” December 22).
The plaintiff, Robert J. Pfeffer, a 64-year-old Bonita Springs man, was walking with his wife in their Spanish Wells neighborhood on April 11, 2007, when he suddenly felt sharp pain in his legs and chest. Pfeffer has a heart defibrillator, and his wife called paramedics out of concern he might be having a heart attack.
Pfeffer refused treatment after being seen by EMTs, and he began to walk home. The two deputies, John Eaton and Thomas Chappell, both of whom were assigned to the Bonita Springs Community Policing Unit, arrived at Spanish Wells and confronted the man. At some point, Eaton tackled Pfeffer — or, as the arrest report states, “escorted him to the ground” — and Chappell shot Pfeffer with his Taser stun gun.
The possible use of anabolic steroids and “roid rage” that could have caused the “improper, illegal and excessive use of force” were specifically cited by Robert Pfeffer in an amended complaint alleging multiple constitutional and civil rights violations by Deputy John Eaton, his partner Deputy Thomas Chappell and their boss Lee County Sheriff Michael Joseph Scott. Read more
Sydney District Court Judge Michael Finnane rejected defense arguments that a “rampage of rape” perpetrated by James Nigel Stephens was caused by a “very, very nasty cocktail” of anabolic steroids and alcohol. Judge Finnane showed no leniency in sentencing Stephens to 20 years in prison (”Teen jailed for ‘rampage of rape’,” October 17).
“I must emphasise that I have no acceptable evidence that he drank to excess or that he consumed anabolic steroids,” the judge.
A causal role between anabolic steroids and aggression and “roid rage” has long been discussed in popular culture although not clearly supported by the scientific literature. The defendant’s attorney tried to convince the judge that factors related to anabolic steroid use were at the root of Stephens’ uncharacteristic behavior Read more
A Connecticut man was convicted and sentenced for second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful restraint. Carlos Ramos threatened the life of his girlfriend, punched and kicked her on the ground and then forced himself upon her; he did not face rape charges because she allegedly consented. He invoked the “dumbbell defense” blaming his behavior on his use of anabolic steroids (”Victim asks judge to go easy on abuser,” August 30).
“I was not like that before I did steroids,” Carlos Ramos said. “I know I hit her, but I don’t remember doing it.”
Judge Michael Sheldon, of the Litchfield Superior Court, agreed that anabolic steroids caused Ramos to beat his girlfriend.
When Robert Sepe brutally murdered his girlfriend with a baseball bat, the media immediately speculated that anabolic steroids caused him to do it. The apparent reasoning was that the crime was so horrific that only an anabolic steroid user with roid rage would be capable of such violence. The “brutality of the crime” coupled with Sepe’s ownership of a supplement company apparently prompted the Journal News to write about a possible link between steroid abuse and murder.
New information suggests that Sepe was strongly against illegal and recreational drug use and likely even anti-steroid. He even abstained from alcohol and coffeee (”Cortlandt slay suspect told cops of ’surreal’ events,” April 29).
In discussing weighlifting, he went into great detail about how various vitamins and supplements could affect the body. He said he hated drugs and never used illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana. He didn’t even drink coffee or alcohol, or eat meat, though he had once tried venison, he told them.
But he did admit to using prescription drugs Elavil and Zoloft to treat psychopathology and an undisclosed blood pressure medication.
During a five hour standoff, he started out by lying about his identify and eventually opened up and talked about some serious problems he said he was having. He told police he had been suffering from panic attacks, depression and insomnia in recent months, and that he was taking two psychotropic medications, Elavil and Zoloft, along with medicine to control high blood pressure; he mentioned he had one pill in his pocket. He claimed the various drugs were “contradicting each other” and that his psychologists and internists “didn’t know what each other was prescribing.”
Zoloft and roid rage? It doesn’t quite have the same sensationalistic impact as steroid roid rage; it is kind like prednisone roid rage. Yet there are various websites demonizing Zoloft suggesting it can cause normal invidividuals to turn into “homicidal maniacs“!
It seems that there is a natural tendency to ascribe a single cause for senseless events like suicide and murder. Anabolic steroids are the demon of choice in such events irrespective of the actual potential causes of such behavior. But if the media wants to blame steroids for the violent crime of Robert Sepe, the actual use of anabolic steroids by the perpetrator is a prerequisite for this unsubstantiated claim. This is unfortunate for the anti-steroid crusaders seeking to capitalize on the current trend of steroid hysteria in the media and popular culture.
Robert Sepe, owner of Healthy ‘N Fit supplement company, brutally murdered his girlfriend Janette Carlucci, beating her so badly with a metal baseball bat that she had to be identified through dental records (”Corlandt man charged with bludgeoning girlfriend gets new lawyer,” April 8 ).
Because of the brutality of the crime and the fact that Sepe’s company sells supplements such as Advanced Steroidal Complex, and Anabolic Muscle, observers have wondered whether steroid abuse was a factor.
The media is trying too hard to demonize anabolic steroids nowadays. Even in the absence of evidence of steroid use, the desire for a “roid rage” explanation has begun. The suggestion that the brutality of a crime likely resulted from steroid use is a reflection of the level of steroid hysteria in our society.
Never mind that there are no controlled scientific studies of “roid rage” and that the scientific evidence is mostly unsupportive of a relationship between anabolic steroids and aggression.
(Thanks to Inside Bodybuilding for story.)
