Mounties taser bed-ridden octagenarian The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have once again demonstrated their enthusiasm for the Taser by zapping an 82-year-old hospital patient, CBC News reports. Frank Lasser, of Kamloops, British Columbia, was in his local Royal Inland Hospital on 3 May suffering from pneumonia following heart bypass surgery which obliges him to …
This must be the real reason hospital gowns in the USA don't have pockets ... so we can't hide weapons in them.
Patients get delirious, often combative and delirious, but for heaven's sake, why aren't hospital staff taught how to persuade the guy to drop the knife.
As the people defending the mounties haven't even done the most basic of checking, I looked up the article on news websites. The knife in question had a 8cm blade. Now, bearing that in mind, we're looking at a penknife or similar. Might be sharp, but not exactly a special forces killing knife. Also, as he pulled this from his trousers, it rather questions the competence of the staff in not spotting the knife. He had been in theatre!!
Now, to tackle anonymous coward and his fantasies.
The oxygen pipe is not likely to be an issue. Firstly, they only let out a trickle of oxygen, not a gushing torrent, so the oxygen levels in the room would be unaffected even after several hours. Stragely enough, any oxygen he doesn't breathe in escapes into the room anyway!! So, no fire hazard outside the very immediate area. These things are also designed to come off easily and with no damage in the event of being caught. So, no risk to the man either. Your first point is total rubbish. Additionally, once subdued, they would simply reattach the oxygen. Clearly any time he is without it, is not good, but the time involved would be short.
Whilst I appreciate all the loony lefties etc. try to claim there is no such thing as an accident and are under the delusional idea that life can be risk free, in reality they are wrong. Life is full of risks and if you become a police officer, it stands to reason you accept these risks just the same as if you joined the military. If a police officer is this scared of risks, he should resign and take up knitting. He's clearly not up to the job.
The police have tools specifically designed for tackling people with knifes, not including a taser. Side arm batons are one such weapon. Police officers are supposed to be trained to amongst other things use discretion. That means to pick the appropriate tools and actions for the situation and not simply use the standard stock answer which is rapidly becoming the taser.
The taser has a place and should be used in certain instances, but all evidence shows that police use it constantly for the most mundane arrests and actions. This is not good and should not be tolerated. Because it's seen as so safe, it's use will continue to rise, but there is an increasing body of evidence that whilst safe for many, it can be dangerous and can easily kill.
Anyone who thinks this action by the mounties was correct should roll themselves in bubble wrap, never interact with anyone else and stay inside their homes. To be honest, I'd prefer they did and leave the rest of the world to people who actually understand reasonable force.
P.S.
Before anyone asks. I most definately understand what I'm talking about and don't need that rubbish thrown at me.
...defending the mounties, do any of you understand the notion of heart surgery? as in cracking someone's chest open and stitching it back together. consider what kind of force one would have in one's arm with a cracked sternum while lying down under the influence of various drugs. morons -.-'
Why didn't they think of this first? Obviously the old guy would've passed out, so they would remove the knife from the guy. Easier, and you avoid a potential heart attack, dude!
That said, somebody with a knife IS a threat, especially if he's delusional. If you think old people don't have the strength, I refer you to that voicemail recording of a dude narrating the events concerning a car crash, one idiot guy, and 4 old women...
The vulture got tasered by the plod.
If you read canadian websites for their comments, I think you'll find most canadians think this was wrong and are, quite frankly, pretty embarrassed by it.
Most of them agree that if 3 police officers can't disarm an 82-year old man, with a heart condition and a penknife, they really shouldn't be in the job.
God help them if they meet a serious criminal.
I think one mistake we may all be making (yes, gasp, that includes me) is that we are relying on information supplied by reporters. Yes, those people we often make fun of for their inability to get a simple technology story straight.
That way lies speculation based on partial (and probably mis-) information. Any assumption that we have enough accurate information to form a reasonable judgement is probably the equivalent of madness. Fun, but still madness.
Only the un-erring eye-witness accounts reported by our highly esteemed Reg journalists can form a reasonable basis for judgement.
Having said that... who are these drooling paranoid idiots whose kneejerk response to the word 'police' is etc. etc.
>"Whilst I appreciate all the loony lefties etc. try to claim there is no such thing as an accident and are under the delusional idea that life can be risk free, in reality they are wrong. Life is full of risks and if you become a police officer, it stands to reason you accept these risks just the same as if you joined the military. If a police officer is this scared of risks, he should resign and take up knitting. He's clearly not up to the job."
Chip on your shoulder much? AFAICS the lefties are the ones arguing that the coppers should have grown a pair and taken the risks like men, and the law'n'order wing-nuts are the ones who argue that anyone who steps out of line for a second is fair game for massively disproportionate punishment because we should all be obedient to our superiors in society.
What kind of little old man was it?
If it was a small white haired asian guy they were right to be careful - he could have been a retired ninja master. The mounties should be given predator drones with hellfire missiles to safely cope with ninja octogenarians .
Rule one = "Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!"
"Chip on your shoulder much? AFAICS the lefties are the ones arguing that the coppers should have grown a pair and taken the risks like men, and the law'n'order wing-nuts are the ones who argue that anyone who steps out of line for a second is fair game for massively disproportionate punishment because we should all be obedient to our superiors in society."
Nope. The loony lefties are the ones that introduce all the stupid health and safety rules that prohibit doing anything more risky than cutting your toe nails. Therefore, they're the ones causing the stupid rules than may well have been a contributory factor here.
Posted by the man not hiding behind 'Anonymous Coward' and not posting from a bunker.
Paris because she's got more balls than the mounties or some people posting.
Of course having fired one taser and stopped the guys heart you need the other two as defibrillators.
I hope this does not become standard medical practice; when you enter hospital you are fitted with taser contacts just in case you become agitated.
Where did this guy get a knife and what sort was it anyway? Unless he had his outdoor clothes with him perhaps it was the knife he used at lunch. You can do a lot of damage with a thing like that.
If the mounties were not allowed to use a Tazer then they would have had to open fire with sub machine guns, riddling the crazed knifeman with bullets and possibly spreading infected blood all up the walls. I am sure the other people on the ward are very glad this man was tazered.
Heart because of his heart op.
and had to deal with with violent behaviour from individuals ranging from 15-90 yrs over a number of years. I have been involved in countless restraints. Once we had a twenty stone steroid monster of a man, and we had to get the police in to help us restrain him safely, that's the only time I saw the police being brought in to a hospital to manage a psychotic patient. So I'm not some naive bleeding heart liberal commie pinko bedwetter,
I've got a better idea than most about the reality of this kind of situation, and it's with the benefit of my extensive hands on experience, training and hours of personal reflection that I say - what a sad and pathetic pair of excuses for men these mounties are, zapping an 80 year old crazy guy, three times. Seriously, it's the most pathetic thing I've heard in a long time. You don't punish people because they're too crazy to do what they've told.
Maybe the mounties are just sick of dealing with knife weilding loonies....
The old bloke was off his rocker.... I am sure it was not his fault but he did have a knife in his pocket.... come to think of it whats a bloke recovering from a triple bypass doing with a knife in his pocket...
I think if any of us had deal with crap like this every day we too would be reaching for our tasers at the first notice, cmon how many users would you like to taser every day.....
It certainly seemed that someone got out of the wrong side of bed (or was trying to) that morning. Initial thoughts: blah blah common sense, blah bah sledgehammer v. nut, blah blah oops - overlooked the 02 angle, blah blah surely not... those nice Canadians?
So... decided to enquire further at the RCMP website. Answer:
"In response to your comment posted on the RCMP website involving the 82 year old male in Kamloops, British Columbia.
We respect that there continues to be questions raised around our response to the armed patient at Royal Inlands Hospital on May 3, 2008. The R.C.M.P continues to review the incident, including 9-1-1 calls, and witness accounts. Some of the family members have been in contact with the Kamloops R.C.M.P and we remain available for further discussions. The Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints (C.P.C.) against the R.C.M.P. has ordered an investigation into the matter, and the R.C.M.P. will be cooperating fully with that investigation.
We are always accountable for our actions, and are confident that the review by the C.P.C. will deal with the concerns.
[Redacted - popular word at the moment*]
Kamloops City R.C.M.P."
So, all a bit sub judice/media relations it seems...
*I've got "qua" qua "I'll get my coat qua anorak" lined up for another post... oops!
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