A Canadian police officer is the focus of an inquiry after a citizen filmed him shooting a Taser in the face of a teenager involved in a street brawl. While the 17-year-old is recovering, he took a surgery to remove the prong from his ear.
There is no warning audible on the tape before the teenager is shot in the face. Witnesses insist that the officer made no attempt to speak with the teenagers. Obviously, the taser could have caused eye damage or even permanent damage to the face.
The video below shows no evidence of a warning or even hesitation as witnesses object to the officer’s conduct:
The controversy follows another case in Toronto where police tasered a man on a balcony and caused him to fall to the concrete below. The police had been called in response to a domestic incident. The tape below does show the man was not on the edge of the balcony, but it would still seem pretty unwise to use the taser on a balcony.
We have seen equally unwise use of tasers in such circumstances in the United States (here and here and here).
Source: Daily Mail
wow. that’s just overkill…
Via FARK:
Police report: “defendant turned and charged at the officer, officer defended himself by striking defendant in the face.” Oh, wait, there’s video?
http://www.freep.com/article/20110926/NEWS01/110926049/MGM-Grand-Detroit-customer-sues-city-alleged-assault-by-police?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Poisson says in his lawsuit that he complied with the officer’s request to leave, but that as he walked out, Dudal got in his face and threw a roundhouse right-hand punch, striking his nose, and followed with a left hook to the head, knocking him to the ground. As he lay on the ground in the fetal position, he says, Dudal slugged him again, fracturing two ribs.
Two days later, a warrant was issued for Poisson’s arrest, seeking to charge him with assault and battery on a police officer – saying he threw the first punch – and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for touching the waitress.
Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office, said that the sexual conduct and resisting arrest charges were both dropped.
“The female victim appeared at the preliminary examination and was placed under oath. She informed the judge … that she did not want to prosecute the case,” Miller said. “The case was adjourned for the prosecution to review the videotape of the incident. After a review of the tape it was determined that we did not have sufficient evidence to proceed and the case was dismissed.”
They also dropped the remaining charges after reviewing MGM security video of the incident, records show.
Poisson, meanwhile, is suing the city and two officers for, among other things, malicious prosecution, extreme humiliation and embarrassment.
Poisson’s lawyer Wolfgang Mueller, who called the incident a “blatant” and “egregious” attack on his client, said the casino’s security video bolsters his claim.
“Anybody who looks at it will see the officer sucker punch my client. He broke his nose,” said Mueller.
What especially irks Mueller, he said, is that the police had his client arrested when they were the wrongdoers.
“The police flat-out lied to cover up what happened,” Mueller said.
“They charged my guy with assault on a police officer because the officer hurt his hand when he was punching my client? That’s pretty much how egregious it is.”
gene h
if the tea party were conducting the wall street walk we would be watching it on a 24 hr newsfeed.
i guess they have better paid publicity agents.
No wonder these law enforcement types hate being video-taped!
Daylight — one of nature’s great disinfectants. Keep this video recorders handy.
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ Here is the protester’s website. It was sent to me a very progressive young woman. Do you think the tea party is going to join the protest? Fat chance.
Meanwhile back in the States . . .
MSNBC is reporting that cops are using unprovoked force on Wall St. protesters.
Molly, I can tell you what they are. the cop in this video is a real true Fascist Pig. he is an example of the Fascist Police State mentality that has been prevalent among our police and all other police forces worldwide. Give them the power to hurt someone and a cop will find areason to use it. usually to deny someone their rights or just to publicly humiliate them.
Power corrupts. The power to kill or maim or belittle turns cops into brownshirts.
Gene H.,
You’re absolutely right… Police in this country are participating in some wicked, ugly sh&*&*t… (Not all of them, to be sure, but too many.. from my point of view…)
molly asks: “Oh they arent peace keepers? Well…what are they?”
I submit that they have ceased to be Guardians of the Law and Keepers of the Peace. As police here and elsewhere have become more militarized they have instead become Guards in a Prison Without Walls. Oppressing the people instead of serving the people. In many jurisdictions the only distinction between cop and criminal is the badge. It’s a problem that is only going to get worse as income disparity increases and – for America – the legal systems become increasingly stratified in holding one set of laws for the people and another for the “elites”.
http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/
Last item of today’s “misconduct newsfeed”:
“Before I go we tracked this interesting report out of Honolulu Hawaii that, while not necessarily misconduct, is something we want to keep our eye on for what it might portend. Honolulu police are being criticized by the ACLU for buying $700k in “less-than lethal” ammunition and equipment that includes 25,000 pepperball rounds, 18,000 beanbag rounds and thousands of taser cartridges in preparation for an upcoming APEC summit. It’s surprising that they expect that many protesters, let alone that they would think they might have to fire that many rounds at them. ”
http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2011/09/26/12961-honolulu-police-load-up-on-taser-ammo-pepper-spray-bean-bags-for-apec/
I’m interested to know. How often are police handed new control pieces and how often to we see a surge of brutality with them? Seems to me…we are accepting people far too sick to be peace keepers. Oh they arent peace keepers? Well…what are they?
If the police officer did not warn the two fighting, he should be disciplined. Did the officer know that this person was the aggressor or started the fight? I am suprised that he wasn’t injured further when he went down because he went down like a ton of bricks. As to the balcony incident, the officer had to be nuts. Just look at the way the teenager fell and you know you shouldn’t taze someone on a balcony. Get rid of the tazers.
For “unwise” read “criminal”.
Charge them with abuse under color of authority.
Put these bastards in jail.
Don’t describe their deadly force weapons as toys.
More Canadian Cops Behaving Badly . . .
Actor D.J. Qualls Tweets: Beaten By Vancouver Police For No Reason
If you’ve ever seen this guy, there is no way he was intimidating anyone let alone deserving of a beating for reporting an assault he witnessed outside a cafe.
Take away their toys until they learn how to use them.
Those Canadian police are sure out of control, good thing stuff like that never happens in the US.
Sad…sad…sad…..
But don’t go to a cowboys game….the fans will taser you too….
Cowboys fan uses Taser gun on Jets crowd at MetLife Stadium despite security on 9/11 anniversary….
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-09-12/sports/30170659_1_stun-gun-jets-fans-taser-gun