TigerBoy
October 17th, 2012, 07:08 AM
Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for sword
A police force has apologised after an officer used a Taser on a blind man whose white stick was mistaken for a sword.
The man was stunned by police following reports of a man walking through Chorley with a samurai sword on Friday.
Ch Supt Stuart Williams, of Lancashire Police, said the force "deeply regrets" and had "clearly put this man through a traumatic experience".
The man was taken to hospital for treatment and later discharged.
The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
'Extremely sorry'
Mr Williams said police had "received a number of reports that a man was walking through Chorley armed with a samurai sword".
"A description of the offender was circulated to officers and patrols were sent to look for the man," he said.
"One of the officers who arrived in Chorley believed he had located the offender.
"Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser."
Mr Williams said it "became apparent that this man was not the person we were looking for and officers attended to him straight away", taking him to Chorley Hospital.
He added that the force "deeply regrets what has happened".
"We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience and we are extremely sorry for that," he said.
"We have launched an urgent investigation to understand what lessons can be learned."
A man carrying a samurai sword was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.
Source BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184)
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I can only imagine how terrifying this experience must have been for a blind person. I'll be really interested to hear how the officer concerned justifies how he failed to tell a white stick from a sword, or even recognise a person as blind from within Taser range.
UPDATE:
Just saw an interview with sky news ...
The victim is a grey haired old guy
He is disabled after a stroke
He can only move about as fast as a crawl
He was aware only of angry shouting and didn't hear the police identify themselves or even tell him to stop
He thought he was getting mugged
When he was tased he hit his head on the pavement
He claims a policeman then landed on his knees on the blind guys back with his full weight
He was crying out "i'm blind" the whole while
He was handcuffed so roughly he still has bruises on his arms 5 days later
His walking stick / cane is a standard fully white three foot one.
A police force has apologised after an officer used a Taser on a blind man whose white stick was mistaken for a sword.
The man was stunned by police following reports of a man walking through Chorley with a samurai sword on Friday.
Ch Supt Stuart Williams, of Lancashire Police, said the force "deeply regrets" and had "clearly put this man through a traumatic experience".
The man was taken to hospital for treatment and later discharged.
The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
'Extremely sorry'
Mr Williams said police had "received a number of reports that a man was walking through Chorley armed with a samurai sword".
"A description of the offender was circulated to officers and patrols were sent to look for the man," he said.
"One of the officers who arrived in Chorley believed he had located the offender.
"Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser."
Mr Williams said it "became apparent that this man was not the person we were looking for and officers attended to him straight away", taking him to Chorley Hospital.
He added that the force "deeply regrets what has happened".
"We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience and we are extremely sorry for that," he said.
"We have launched an urgent investigation to understand what lessons can be learned."
A man carrying a samurai sword was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.
Source BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184)
------------------------------------------
I can only imagine how terrifying this experience must have been for a blind person. I'll be really interested to hear how the officer concerned justifies how he failed to tell a white stick from a sword, or even recognise a person as blind from within Taser range.
UPDATE:
Just saw an interview with sky news ...
The victim is a grey haired old guy
He is disabled after a stroke
He can only move about as fast as a crawl
He was aware only of angry shouting and didn't hear the police identify themselves or even tell him to stop
He thought he was getting mugged
When he was tased he hit his head on the pavement
He claims a policeman then landed on his knees on the blind guys back with his full weight
He was crying out "i'm blind" the whole while
He was handcuffed so roughly he still has bruises on his arms 5 days later
His walking stick / cane is a standard fully white three foot one.