Growing Concerns Over Tasers
| 11/21/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
On October 14th RCMP in British Columbia hit a man twice with tasers to subdue him and instead killed him. Video of the incident showed the last 10 minutes of the man’s life. The man had spent several hours in a secured area of the airport, growing increasingly agitated. Four officers arrived on the scene and within moments of approaching him tasered him twice.
The incident raises several serious questions, not the least of which is why was the man in this secured area for so long? Why did no one during the hours of his detention find a Polish speaking interpreter? The question getting the most attention is why did the officers resort to the taser so quickly rather than trying to communicate with him in his own language?
When Tasers were first introduced they were touted as a non-lethal alternative to subdue suspects that otherwise risked being shot and killed. Over the last few years police, especially police in British Columbia have increasingly used tasers to subdue even suspects that weren’t necessarily posing a threat, like during the October 14th incident.
Seems to me that as soon as someone died after being tasered, police forces across the country needed to take the use of them as seriously as the use of a service weapon. Officers needed to try other non-violent means to bring a suspect into compliance, especially when there was no clear indication of a weapon being present.
When police can use force like tasers and batons at will, then the line between enforcing the law and becoming a police state begins to ever so slowly blur.
Follow Me!