Police shot diabetic in coma with Taser-Daily Mail

[titurel]

Police shot diabetic in coma with Taser

The Daily Mail
Updated: 15th November 2007

By CHRIS BROOKE

A diabetic in a coma and in need of urgent medical attention was shot with a stun gun by police who feared he was a suicide bomber.

Nicholas Gaubert's bizarre ordeal happened just six days after the July 7 bombings with the country in a state of high alert.
But apart from wearing a rucksack and being on a bus, he is bewildered as to how he could be mistaken for a terrorist.

Last night he accused police of using him for "target practice".

The 34-year-old bistro owner and son of a magistrate has been dependent on insulin for 20 years.

He was on his way to meet friends for a drink after work when he fell into a diabetic coma on the top deck of a bus in his home town of Leeds. He says he was the only passenger on board.

He does not remember any more until he woke up in the back of a police van in handcuffs, initially fearing he had been kidnapped.

It appears armed police had been called to the bus and shot him twice with a Taser gun after he failed to respond to their orders.

Full story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494199&in_page_id=1770

Nicholas Gaubert went on to comment:

"Senior officers also told me after the incident that the policemen who came on the bus had been told not to use weapons on me if I did not respond... I think they just saw it as an opportunity to try out their toys."

[smariot]

Is it just me, or is using a taser on someone you suspect to be strapped with explosives a stupid thing to do?

[uchiha]

Is it just me, or is using a taser on someone you suspect to be strapped with explosives a stupid thing to do?

lol. you hit the nail on the head there.... and yah i laughed
Dont ever underestimate the stupidity of people (In power)

[titurel]

Tasers are cattle prods for sheeple who get out of line.

[whitenight639]

Is it just me, or is using a taser on someone you suspect to be strapped with explosives a stupid thing to do?

yer i hope some trigger happy cops tazer a real suicide bomber that would be funny.

[titurel]

Taser-happy cops floor suicidal six-year-old -

Electric justice, US style

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/15/taser_kids_zapped/

The Register
15th November 2004

By John Oates

Miami-Dade police have announced a review of policy after two kids were zapped with Tasers within a couple of weeks of each other. Tasers fire wire probes which hit suspects with a debilitating electric shock.

The first incident involved a six-year old boy who was Tasered at his elementary school. He had broken a picture and was threatening to cut his leg with the glass. Police defended the decision saying they were happy to talk about use of the Taser rather than talking about injuries the child could have done to himself. The boy's mother told CNN: "If there's three officers, it's nothing to tell a 6-year-old holding a glass, if you feel threatened, 'Hey, here's a piece of candy, hey, here's a toy. Let the glass go."

The second incident involved a 12-year old girl who was skipping school. Police officer William Nelson found her drinking and smoking at a swimming pool on 5 November. The officer told her he was taking her to school but on the way to the police car she ran away. Nelson told CNN that she "continued running even to the point of starting to run into lanes of traffic". So he zapped her with 50,000 volts of electricity. Miami-Dade policy only forbids the use of Tasers on pregnant women.

In presumably unrelated news, Taser Inc shares rose five per cent on news that South Korean police have decided to extend field tests on the guns.

[titurel]

Chicago Cops Taser 82-Yr Old Mentally Challenged Grandma

"As shocking as it is that a Chicago Police officer Tasered an 82-year-old grandmother during a "wellness" check, it's even more disheartening that so many of our readers believe the police action was appropriate."

You couldn't make it up, even if you tried!

Read here for the full story:

Cops burst into 82-year-old woman's home and Taser her (http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/638188,CST-NWS-mitch07.article)

After the Tasering, Fletcher, who suffers from dementia and schizophrenia, was hospitalized for five days and may have to undergo surgery for fluid on the brain.

Instead of condemning the police action, many of the people who shot me an e-mail blamed the elderly woman's family for the fiasco.

"What about the family that left their mother home alone knowing she had all these issues," said Dave M. "Put the blame where it really belongs: on the family. Why don't you stop by and visit good old granny and when she starts swinging a hammer at you just take your beating and give her a hug."

Well, Dave M., I did visit Fletcher at her home on Monday night, and she didn't pull out a hammer. You know why? I didn't push my way into her home. I rang the doorbell. When she ushered me into her kitchen and invited me to sit, I sat. And when our chat was over, I put on my coat, said "Good night" and made sure she locked her door behind me.

In other words, I respected her space -- something police didn't do.

...

Fletcher, who can be belligerent, told a caseworker to go away. But instead of leaving, the worker called the police, and officers treated Fletcher like she was a criminal.

Joyce Gallagher, the city's commissioner for the Department of Aging, declined to discuss Fletcher's case because it is under investigation. She did say that last year, her department answered 591 calls without incident.

Still, Fletcher was within her rights to deny city employees access to her home. Although she has mental problems, she wasn't threatening anyone, nor was she living in squalor.

And despite what the cold-hearted among us have said, police officers showed poor judgment in their handling of this woman.

It shouldn't take a front-page story or a lawsuit to make the city acknowledge that much.

[malvern]

that's just sick... so much for there first aid training and duty of care....as stated i also feel that it was a case of trying out there new toy....
the police are out of control and forgotten why we the people have employed them..so much for winning the hearts and minds, they want to shocked your heart into stopping or blowing your mind out all over the floor....


freedom is for the grandchildren .. we are just the caretakers :)

[chris]

These tazers are getting a really bad rap, I heard of someone in the Netherlands who got killed by one the other day...

On BBC radio a few weeks ago this fucking whore commentator spent all day justifying them and everyone phoned in was against them but she was a really good spinster and made them all sound like nutters...Still, I'm sure they can't carry on with these tazers being this powerful because so many people are dying from them.