All Points Bulletin 7 Tasers

R.C.M.P.

"We would just like the world to know Jason was not the person the RCMP tried to portray."

(Excerpts from the Jason Doan Taser inquiry)

Jason Doan, of Red Deer, Alberta, was acting in a bizarre manner on August, 10, 2006. he was shouting profanities and damaging vehicles, prompting people to make complaints to the RCMP. Doan was punched, kicked, and struck with a baton before he was Tasered three times by police officers. He was then handcuffed and went into cardiac arrest. He died in hospital three weeks later.

Doan's family had hoped for recommendations around training, saying the Taser was deployed before the situation had been assessed.

"We feel that training would have prevented this from happening," Macleod said." In the old days, the RCMP used their skills to talk to people who were upset or emotionally out of control. We feel the Taser was used too quickly."

But they also want the public to know that Doan was not on drugs, had not been drinking and was not "crazy."

"We do know who Jason was," Macleod said.

"We would just like the world to know Jason was not the person the RCMP tried to portray."

STATS...

Nearly one third of the people the RCMP has zapped with Tasers needed medical treatment afterward, prompting new questions about a potent weapon police consider a safer alternative to conventional guns.

A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC-Radio-Canada of more than 3,200 incidents in which Mounties fired the powerful electronic devices reveals more than 28% were later examined by medical personnel.

Of 3,226 people the RCMP hit with a Taser from 2002 through 2007, 910 were examined in a hospital or other medical facility.

The data also show the Mounties zapped people with Tasers more than once in almost half the cases despite an internal policy that warns repeated stuns may be hazardous.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Jim Bronskill and Sue Bailey published by the Canadian Press.

The Mounties announced some time ago that they had changed their Taser policy to reflect a "risk of death" to agitated individuals. The weapon is to be used only "where it is necessary to do so in circumstances of threats to officer or public safety." "Threats of safety" is, like "resistant" and "combative," a term that means everything and nothing, although the word "necessary" suggests a high hurdle.

The Globe and Mail

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