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Man’s Death By Taser at Vancouver Airport Ignites Debate on Taser Use in Canada
By Privacy Maven | October 16, 2007
The Globe and Mail reports that the taser death of a man at Vancouver International Airport on Sunday, October 14, has become the impetus for an examination of the use of tasers by police in Canada:
Another taser-related death in Canada has set off a call for national standards on when and how the weapons are used.
Emile Therien, past president of the Canada Safety Council, says no one knows how many times a day officers in Canada use the conducted energy weapons.
Mr. Therien, who took part in a RCMP-National Research Council review of tasers, says police now simply accept the manufacturer’s recommendations but there are no Canadian standards.
He says every time an officer brings out a gun it must be reported, but there’s no such requirement for tasers.
[…]
In the latest death Sunday, RCMP at the Vancouver International Airport tried to subdue a man who police said had been acting erratically, yelling, pounding on windows and throwing computer equipment.
Mr. Therien says as many as 16 people have died in the last four and a half years after they were tasered by police officers.
This news report discusses these safety issues and concerns regarding taser use in Canada.
In a separate article, The Globe and Mail interviewed a woman who witnessed the taser death at Vancouver Airport:
A witness to the death of a man tasered by police at the Vancouver airport after acting erratically says she is full of pity for the stranger because he appeared unable to communicate with anyone during the melee that led to his death.
“I put myself in his shoes,” said Sima Ashrafina, who was at the airport to pick up her husband. “I can’t speak English. I am arrived in the wrong country, or for some reason I am so drunk, I am so medicated, or I am so drugged.
“For any reason, I lose my mind and then I start shouting and that’s what happens. It was a lack of communication.”
[…]
Ms. Ashrafina, who recorded images of the incident on her cellphone camera, also disputes key aspects of the RCMP account, such as the number of officers on the scene and the number of times the unidentified man was tasered.
RCMP spokesman Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre said three officers were on the scene and that the man was pulsed twice. Ms. Ashrafina said she saw five officers and heard four pulses. “Four of them. I am pretty sure,” she said.
Sgt. Lemaitre yesterday said he was confident in his account of the situation, but that he was waiting for an update on the case from investigators.
The rest of the article details these conflicting accounts of what took place.
Topics: Physical Safety, Privacy and Personal Safety |