International Law

Unbelievable

This has gone too far.

An elderly man in Kamloops, B.C., was zapped three times on the torso by a police stun gun while lying on his hospital bed, CBC News has learned.

Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the Taser marks on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through Saturday.

“They [police] should have known I had bypass surgery,” Lasser told CBC News.

…

RCMP said nurses called police after Lasser became delirious and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Lasser told CBC News that he sometimes becomes delusional when he can’t breathe properly. He said he couldn’t explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived.

…

Kamloops RCMP said Thursday that officers had no other option but to deploy the conducted energy weapon when Lasser refused to drop his knife.

“Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand,” Cpl. Scott Wilson told CBC News.

“We could not deploy our ? pepper spray, because we could potentially contaminate the entire hospital.”

Lasser said there were three RCMP officers in his hospital room and believes they could have easily handled him without the use of a Taser.

“They could have gone in there and taken an old man without any trouble at all,” said Lasser, who is an ex-prison guard.

If the police cannot use these things properly then they should be taken away.

Full post as published by Criminal Review on May 09, 2008 (boomark / email).