From CBC News
http://educate-yourself.org/pnt/canadainrcmptaser82yearoldinhospitalbed09may08.shtml
May 9, 2008

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/08/bc-kamloops-man-taser.html

Original Title: RCMP subdue hospitalized man, 82, with Taser

Frank Lasser, 82, says RCMP officers could have subdued him without resorting to using a Taser gun. (CBC)

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.

Lasser has had heart surgery and needs to carry an apparatus to supply oxygen at all times. He was in the Royal Inland Hospital Saturday due to pneumonia but has since been released.

[Royal Inland Hospital, 311 Columbia Street, Kamloops, British Columbia V2C 2T1, Hospital switchboard: (250) 374-5111For those living in the Kamloops, BC area, please keep this hospital in mind when deciding on hospitilization for your elderly relatives. You'll want to be sure to pick a hospital facilty whose nursing staff is eager to call the RCMP whenever you loved one may become too "unruly" or "threatening". I'm quite sure that the safety  and comfort of the patients are uppermost in the minds of the hospital adminsitration. Thank God, we have a few remaining hospitals in British Colombia that still care about the elderly. ..Ken Adachi]

Frank Lasser shows the marks left on his body after being stunned three times by a Taser. (CBC)

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.

"I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,'" Lasser said.

"And then, bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser, and I tell you, I never want that again."

Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Scott Wilson said using pepper spray in the Lasser case could have contaminated the hospital. (CBC)

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.

---

YOUR SAY

‘This is not doing anything good for the image of our police. I think they need some training in alternative methods of handling 82 year old men with a knife. I am absolutely disgusted.’

—Heleno

Story comments

MikePawluk wrote:Posted 2008/05/09
at 11:27 AM ETThe headline should read RCMP TORTURE hospitalized man, 82, with Taser.
This is crazy. Is the Taser the ONLY method of dealing with situations to be used from here on in? This was a cowardly attack on on elderly enfeebled victim of a debilitating condition. I love the fact that it was reported that he pulled a knife out of his pocket - how big? A penknife? A plastic knife? Think about what kind of knife a bedridden 82 year-old man might be carrying around in a care facility. Come on, get real.
And even still, a police officer couldn't then subdue an 82 year-old BEDRIDDEN man in any other way? How are our tax dollars being spent? Maybe a certain "toy" company made it worth someone's while to spend the budget on fancy "toys" rather than training and techniques? And with this growing list of Police Taser abuses, is anyone form the government looking into this? Really, something behind the scenes must be going on when we hear all of these horror stories yet nothing is done and things only get worse.
I repeat my call for an immediate banning of all Taser use, and that our police forces stop acting like fascist thugs because of "policy".
WAKE UP PEOPLE, THIS IS SCARY! Any one of us could be the next victim of this type of state-sponsored terrorism. We have to stand up to this now while we still can.

 

NoPoints wrote:Posted 2008/05/09
at 4:39 AM ETGood freakin' grief! Can the RCMP become any more pathetic. In my three years slinging beer in a large Toronto tavern 35 years ago I twice had the occasion to separate a drunken hulk from his knife, both times with a small baseball bat accross the wrist / forearm. This man was 85 for Pete's sake. What have we become?

Truth be told, I rue the day the 'myth' of the 6'3" Irish cop walking his beat, knowing his neighbourhood and able to tackle all problems disappeared at roughly the same time hiring standards were lowered to include any and all graduates of some justice institute.

Read between the lines if you like. Whatever you interpret will be wrong. I like women, I like Asians, I even like 5'8 white men. I'd prefer all of them to be somewhat savvy, but I'm supposing this is no longer criteria for hiring. My 18 year-old daughter could have handled this man sans Taser, but I'm supposing she would have been sidestepping official procedure.

Questions: Who makes such policy? Do they carve it in concrete? Is there some unexplored effect that might correctly explain the dumbing down of cops when 3 work together? (3 of 'em Tasered and killed a man at Vancouver airport. 3 of 'em put 12 bullets into a pickup truck in Victoria recently, killing the driver and now 3 of 'em EACH Taser an 85 year-old in a Hospital.) One more question. Do the police ever get embarrassed by such articles?

They freakin' should. And so should we..................

 

JonDeg wrote:Posted 2008/05/09
at 2:15 AM ETWhat's next are they going to start using tasers on toddlers?

 

aaronthompson wrote:Posted 2008/05/09
at 2:24 AM ETan old man, hospital stricken with a breathing mask.... 82 yrs old!!!!

and the RCMP's only defense is to send 50,000V thru him....

These guys are beyond out of control, they are plain stupid and dangerous.

 

janice wrote:Posted 2008/05/09
They are learning these tactics from Texas state troopers. it's all part of a broader plan to integrate Canada, the US and Mexico.
we will be under one rule when all is said and done. Check out the taser stats for the US. alarming.
It's about putting us in our place.
the constitution of the united states is gone.
once the nau and the spp are in full swing you can forget about your rights as a canadian citizen as well.

Texas state trooper working illegally with RCMP
http://gnn.tv/headlines/948/Cop_wins_RCMP_settlement_after_highway_search

CBC radio also reported last year that U.S. Coast Guard ships have been entering Canadian waters in the St. Lawrence to investigate and even question Canadians, in one case simply for snapping photos. But Shiprider appears to go much further than patrolling shared waters.

The RCMP and Coast Guard "are partnering with a number of other agencies, including provincial police, the Canadian Forces, U.S. state police and immigration and border patrol agencies to also develop the capability to pursue criminals on the ground and in the air," claimed Cpl. Luc Bessette of the RCMP.

If Canada should have an emergency or heaven forbid civil unrest the u.s. army can be called in to deal with us. Thanks to Paul Martin and Stephen Harper

Bush Gets 6 Months Big Brother Dictator Powers
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2007/060807_dictator_powers.htm

get informed...
research the agreements that harper is making with bush regarding the spp and the nau and call your representatives before it's too late.
before you end up on the opposite end of a taser.

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