Police fire Taser into head of innocent man
Non-lethal force gets closer to
lethal, every day.
Police fired a 50,000-volt Taser into the head of a
45-year-old company director who later proved to be unarmed and innocent. Daniel
Sylvester, the owner of an east London security firm employing 65 staff to guard
council offices, pubs and nightclubs, was driving home on October 20 when he was
stopped by armed police because of “firearms related
intelligence”.
According to Sylvester, he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom were carrying automatic weapons. Without warning, one officer fired a Taser into the back of his head which made him drop to his knees, he said. A second shock caused him to fall on his face, breaking a front tooth. A further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road in pain while the officers and sniffer dogs searched the car and found nothing…
“Armed police jumped out and opened my car door,” he said. “I said OK, I’m coming. I asked what was going on and as soon as I stepped out of the car I felt something touch me on the back of the head and then I was on my knees. Then it happened again and I was on my face and I felt somebody pressing my head down with their foot. By the fifth time I realised officers were pinning my arms together. It was like they were trying to break my arms and I was in pain, screaming out.
“I was shocked eight times altogether and I had urinated on the floor. It was like being tortured. It went on and on and I felt they were going to kill me.”
Regardless of the value of non-lethal force - determined by statisticians in some cozy office - some coppers seem bound and determined to use Tasers as a weapon of abuse.
According to Sylvester, he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom were carrying automatic weapons. Without warning, one officer fired a Taser into the back of his head which made him drop to his knees, he said. A second shock caused him to fall on his face, breaking a front tooth. A further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road in pain while the officers and sniffer dogs searched the car and found nothing…
“Armed police jumped out and opened my car door,” he said. “I said OK, I’m coming. I asked what was going on and as soon as I stepped out of the car I felt something touch me on the back of the head and then I was on my knees. Then it happened again and I was on my face and I felt somebody pressing my head down with their foot. By the fifth time I realised officers were pinning my arms together. It was like they were trying to break my arms and I was in pain, screaming out.
“I was shocked eight times altogether and I had urinated on the floor. It was like being tortured. It went on and on and I felt they were going to kill me.”
Regardless of the value of non-lethal force - determined by statisticians in some cozy office - some coppers seem bound and determined to use Tasers as a weapon of abuse.
Posted: Tue - December 18, 2007 at 11:09 AM