When Brian Cardall died, the Hurricane Police Department had not received the crisis intervention training the state's mental health advocacy organization sees as critical, according to Sherri Wittwer, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Utah.

The Salt Lake City Police Department offers the training, modeled after a Memphis program.

If Hurricane police had received mental health training, the Cardall case's outcome might have been different, community activists have said.

The St. George Citizens Review Panel, which includes among its members a former Nevada corrections officer, a former Los Angeles police officer and a St. George attorney, questioned whether Hurricane police were equipped to handle the Cardall incident.

The group in late June asked Hurrican Police Chief Lynn Excell to put a "temporary moratorium on Taser use," but that request was denied, according to panel members Ronald Smith and Antonio Calderon.

-- Melinda Rogers