Tasered-by-Constabulary Makes High-voltage Headlines

Canadian stun gun death on video
The video shows Mr Dziekanski being pinned down by police. Credit: CBC Amateur video Video footage has been released in Canada showing the last moments of an immigrant who died after being stunned with a Taser by police.
Robert Dziekanski, 40, of Pieszyce, Poland, was restrained by police after becoming agitated at Vancouver International Airport on 14 October.
Mr Dziekanski, who spoke no English, was declared dead at the scene by an emergency medical team.
The incident is being investigated by police, the airport and the coroner.
Police spokesman Cpl Dale Carr said the video was just one piece of evidence, and urged people to wait for the results of the inquest.
Mr Dziekanski, a construction worker, was emigrating to Canada to join his mother, who lived in the western province of British Columbia.
The incident has prompted a debate about the use of Taser stun guns by police in Canada.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says up to 18 people have died after being stunned by a Taser in Canada since 2003.
Screams
The video was shot by Canadian traveller Paul Pritchard and handed over to police, and has only just been returned to him.
It starts before the police arrive, with Mr Dziekanski seen through a glass wall in a customs area. He appears agitated, sweating and breathing heavily. Airport security officials and passengers watch from the other side.
Having landed 10 hours earlier, he is seen pacing back and forth through an automatic door, standing briefly in the doorway with a small folding table, and then later with a chair.
At one point, he takes what looks like a laptop computer off a counter and throws it to the ground, and then throws the small table against the glass wall.
Four policemen then walk into view. They walk through the glass doors towards Mr Dziekanski, who turns his back on them. Witnesses say he appeared to pick up a stapler.
Seconds later, Mr Dziekanski is stunned by a Taser and falls down screaming and convulsing.
He is stunned a second time, and then the police officers restrain him on the floor. Mr Dziekanski's screams die down, and he is seen lying still.
A voice is heard saying "code red", which is code for a medical emergency.
An autopsy found no sign of drugs or alcohol in Mr Dziekanski's system, and failed to pinpoint the cause of death.
Airport mix-up
Walter Kosteckyj, the victim's family lawyer, said Mr Dziekanski's mother had seen portions of the video and had approved its release to the public.
"She had a son in distress, he was looking for help, he was frightened, and he didn't get that help," Mr Kosteckyj said.
He said he was disturbed by the video because Mr Dziekanski was not violent.
"I was expecting to see a confrontation, a discussion and things go sideways, then the tasering... That's not what you see," he said.
Mr Dziekanski, who had not flown before, had boarded a plane a day earlier in Germany, and arranged to meet his mother at the baggage carousel in the international terminal.
Neither of them knew the baggage carousel was inside a secure area, with no view of the public arrivals hall area, except for a short distance through sliding glass doors, Mr Kosteckyj said.
No airport, customs or security employees at the airport apparently tried to help either of them, he added.
Eventually Mr Dziekanski emerged into the public area, but his mother had left after six hours and Mr Dziekanski apparently panicked, the lawyer said.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7095875.stm

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Terror police 'shot' man in coma A man who had gone into a diabetic coma on a bus in Leeds was shot twice with a Taser gun by police who feared he may have been a security threat.
Nicholas Gaubert has described how the incident happened in July 2005, just a week before the fatal shooting of Brazilian man Jean Charles de Menezes.
Mr Gaubert, 34, said he was suffering severe post-traumatic stress as a result of the shooting.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating.
Mr Gaubert, who lives in Leeds, said he had now decided to speak out after the Crown Prosecution Service ruled no officers involved should be charged with any criminal offences.
The IPCC is still considering whether any disciplinary matters will be brought against the officers.
Armed police deployed
Mr Gaubert said he was on his way to meet friends when he suffered a hypoglycaemic fit on the bus which left him slumped on his seat clutching his rucksack.
Armed police were called to the bus depot in Headingley and when he failed to respond to their challenges he was shot with the Taser.
He said as this was happening, another officer was pointing a real gun at his head.
He was restrained and eventually came round in the police van.
He said it was only then that the officers realised it was a medical emergency, despite him wearing a medical tag round his neck to warn of his condition, and took him to hospital.
Mr Gaubert said he was told the police believed he looked "Egyptian".
He is completely traumatised by this - he is living with it every day Solicitor Ifti Manzoor
Mr Gaubert's solicitor Ifti Manzoor said the incident had clear parallels with the shooting of Mr Menezes at Stockwell tube station and showed there was evidence of a breakdown in communication between the police on the ground and their commanders.
Mr Gaubert said: "When I heard about that Brazilian man in London I just thought, 'oh no, that could have been me'."
Mr Manzoor added: "The evidence is there was an order that officers be deployed and contain the scene. This direct order seems to have been ignored.
"I really appreciate that under the circumstances and at that time the police had an enormously difficult job.
"But Mr Gaubert was alone in a bus depot.
"He is completely traumatised by this. He is living with it every day."
'Potential security threat'
A statement from the IPCC said: "The IPCC managed an investigation into an incident on 13 July 2005 in which West Yorkshire Police discharged a Taser at a man while he sat on a bus in Leeds.
"The man was mistakenly treated as a potential security threat when he was, in fact, in a hypoglycaemic state. The investigation report was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November 2006.
"The CPS returned its initial decision in February 2007 stating that no officers should be charged with any criminal offences.
"Consideration was then given by the CPS as to whether any offences had been committed under health and safety law.
"A decision was received recently to advise that no charges would be brought under this legislation.
"The IPCC must determine whether any disciplinary matters need to be considered against the officers involved.
"Initial recommendations regarding discipline put forward by the police forces involved have not been agreed by the IPCC and discussions are ongoing. "
West Yorkshire Police said the matter was in the hands of the IPCC.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yorkshire/7096456.stm

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Chief constable zapped by Taser North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom has been zapped with a Taser electronic stun gun.
Mr Brunstrom, 53, offered himself as a target to feel the effects of being shot with 50,000 volts, and was hit for less than two seconds.
Footage on the force's website shows him swearing as he is floored. He warns people who disobey Taser-armed officers they will "not enjoy the consequences".
North Wales Police is expanding the use of Tasers to rural areas.
'Strangulated yell'
Under a heading marked "An interesting experience!", Mr Brunstrom's blog described the force's use of the stun gun since 2003 as "a great success".
"We're prepared to use this on members of the public when we have to. It's right and proper that the head of the organisation tries it out for himself," he says.
Video footage shows him being supported by two officers as he is zapped with a Taser by a third officer.
He makes what he described as a "strangulated yell" as he is zapped for 1.5 seconds, and tells his officers: "That was long enough, thanks".
Speaking to camera afterwards, Mr Brunstrom - who recently passed his force's fitness test - said: "What was it like? Not pleasant, is the answer."
He added: "I was completely incapable of movement. I would have fallen if I hadn't been supported by my colleagues.
"I very strongly advise you, if faced by an officer and a Taser, that you follow the instructions of the nice police officer, because you will not enjoy the consequences of disobedience."
Mr Brunstrom's blog said the trial involving the 28 officers in rural areas began last Saturday and the effects of the deployment would be measured "over the next year or so".
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/6980867.stm

Jail term cut for 'feral' killers

Two Cheshire teenagers who terrorized a vulnerable man before beating him to death and throwing his body in a river, have had their life sentences cut.
Craig Dodd, aged 17, will now serve a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison and Ryan Palin, 15, three years.
The pair were dubbed as "feral" when they were jailed for life for the manslaughter of Raymond Atherton, 40, in Warrington.
They beat and urinated on Mr Atherton before dumping him in the River Mersey.
These are two very dangerous young men whose future progress will have to be very carefully considered Judge Justice Rix sitting at the Court of Appeal
Despite the severity of their crime, Lord Justice Rix overturned the life terms and replaced them with sentences of detention for public protection, giving each a minimum tariff to serve before parole can be considered.
Lord Justice Rix decided the sentencing judge at Warrington Crown Court had not been right to impose life sentences for the killing.
He said: "We think it was an error of principle to say that a discretionary sentence of detention for life should be imposed."
"These are two very dangerous young men whose future progress will have to be very carefully considered."
The court heard Palin, of Grasmere Avenue, Orford, and Dodd, of Lisguard Close, Runcorn spent months systematically abusing the victim, who had severe learning difficulties, in a process they nicknamed 'terroring'.
They regularly broke into his council flat on St Katherine's Way, Howley, where they wrote graffiti on the walls, burnt his hair and daubed his face with paint.
On the night of his death in May 2006, the boys were seen by neighbours beating him with planks of wood until he bled.
Days later his body was discovered floating in the River Mersey in Westy, Warrington.
The judge in the original trial described the killers as "feral, wild and untamed".
After Mr Atherton's killing it was revealed that he had been rehoused in a different part of the town by Warrington Borough Council when Palin and Dodd started their "terror campaign" against him.
They were arrested by police after boasting of what they had done to friends.
Judge Rix added: "Mr Atherton's life had been made a misery by the loutish behaviour of those who attacked him.
"They had not sought to kill, but this was a savage, cruel, brutal and vicious attack."