Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for sword

[LailaBaise]

:shock: :lol:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184

A police force has apologised after an officer used a Taser on a blind man whose white stick was mistaken for a sword.

Colin Farmer, 61, was stunned by police following reports of a man walking through Chorley with a samurai sword.

Ch Supt Stuart Williams, of Lancashire Police, said the force had "deep regrets" and had "clearly put this man through a traumatic experience".

Mr Farmer was taken to hospital for treatment and later discharged.

"It felt like I was grabbing an electricity pylon," he said.

Mr Farmer, who has suffered two strokes, said he thought he was being attacked by thugs.

He was walking to a pub to meet friends on Friday when the officer fired the Taser. It forced him to drop his stick and he fell to the ground, he said.

He said the experience had left him "shaking like a leaf" and scared to go outside.

The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said the incident was being investigated and the officer's Taser had been withdrawn.

 

[mynameisbob84]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Well that's not funny (and yet, the lolz, they still come )

 

[LailaBaise]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Well that's not funny (and yet, the lolz, they still come )

I know! I know! :lol:

 

[Jupiter551]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

hey, they couldn't take any chances (lol)! Seriously though he must be pretty traumatised, not like he could see what was going on, just sudden electro-whatever-feeling :/ I wonder if he said "Don't tase me guv!" heh.

Course in some countries they woulda just shot him...

 

[IsabellaSnow]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Poor blind man

 

[Red7227]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Well that's not funny (and yet, the lolz, they still come )

I know! I know! :lol:

Mr Williams (Ch Supt Stuart Williams, of Lancashire Police) 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...
"Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser."...
A man carrying a samurai sword was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.

I no longer wonder why the Brits are resistant to arming their police :shock: :? :lol: .

 

[AmyLemon]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

I kept hoping the next paragraph would include the phrase, "in a unique and unexpected turn of events the gentleman in question has fully regained his sight in what appears to be a direct result of the incident"

 

[TashaDutch]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

saw this on the news this morning! always wonder what happened to just talking to someone before tasering/shooting/beating them
like why didn't the police just ask him? its not like its a normal thing to sweep the floors with a samurai sword :lol:
i feel bad about lolling when i saw it

EDIT: so he was asked to stop? yeah i know how that works: 'stop walking please' wel duh... i wouldn't stop either if i couldn't see the person asking me...
BAM taser bitch...

 

[Red7227]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

saw this on the news this morning! always wonder what happened to just talking to someone before tasering/shooting/beating them
like why didn't the police just ask him? its not like its a normal thing to sweep the floors with a samurai sword :lol:
i feel bad about lolling when i saw it

EDIT: so he was asked to stop? yeah i know how that works: 'stop walking please' wel duh... i wouldn't stop either if i couldn't see the person asking me...
BAM taser bitch...

I've always liked the policy of a couple American police forces of tasering their own cadets so they know exactly what they are doing when they use it on someone else. Seems like a really good idea for these Brits. They might be a bit less keen to carry one if they need to be tasered to get their permits.

And yes it is wrong and innately evil to laugh at some old blind guy getting tasered, it is was fucking funny to read.

 

[TashaDutch]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

I've always liked the policy of a couple American police forces of tasering their own cadets so they know exactly what they are doing when they use it on someone else. Seems like a really good idea for these Brits. They might be a bit less keen to carry one if they need to be tasered to get their permits.

And yes it is wrong and innately evil to laugh at some old blind guy getting tasered, it is was fucking funny to read.

over here tasers are not introduced yet, they're working on it.. but i do know that every police cadet gets sprayed with pepperspray in school here..
but in holland everything is messed up as it is.. police are afraid of getting fired for using water guns to control raging crowds.. so yeah imagine tasers actually beeing introduced here..
guess there's two sides to every story... this one just sounds so strange

 

[Alice_Biscuit]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Oh wow, that's crazy! I was actually in that town like a week ago! :shock: Didn't seem like they even had any police, it was so small. Oh well, crazy shit happens I guess. *shrugs*

Still, nice hotels there. ^-^

 

[IsabellaSnow]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

saw this on the news this morning! always wonder what happened to just talking to someone before tasering/shooting/beating them
like why didn't the police just ask him? its not like its a normal thing to sweep the floors with a samurai sword :lol:
i feel bad about lolling when i saw it

EDIT: so he was asked to stop? yeah i know how that works: 'stop walking please' wel duh... i wouldn't stop either if i couldn't see the person asking me...
BAM taser bitch...

Or maybe they could have paid a little bit more attention to what he was carrying, I mean seriously! If you're close enough to someone to taser them then surely you're close enough to work out that what they're carrying is in fact a white stick and NOT a samurai sword! They're really not that similar! That policeman was far too trigger happy. Plus, if it were a samurai sword it means if he did go to attack someone they'd have enough warning to be able to taser him/use force to stop him without anyone being wounded. If it were a gun the holder who could actually shoot someone very quickly without warning then it's understandable to want to act before chance of attack.
They were probably village/small town police officers who've never really had to deal with more than catching a few 12 year olds shop lifting and talking to their parents and the occasional drunk local, so this would have been far too exciting for them.
I didn't find it funny at all, just feel really bad for the blind man .

 

[schlmoe]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

I've always liked the policy of a couple American police forces of tasering their own cadets so they know exactly what they are doing when they use it on someone else. Seems like a really good idea for these Brits. They might be a bit less keen to carry one if they need to be tasered to get their permits.

Most police forces in the states expose the police cadets to tasering, mace, tear gas, etc. during their time at the academy. And it is a good idea

 

[Zoomer]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

If you're close enough to someone to taser them then surely you're close enough to work out that what they're carrying is in fact a white stick and NOT a samurai sword!

Clearly the officers had seen Blind Fury... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096945/

They were probably village/small town police officers who've never really had to deal with more than catching a few 12 year olds shop lifting and talking to their parents and the occasional drunk local, so this would have been far too exciting for them.

In the UK the officer must be specially trained (probably implying they're told which end to point and what the "trigger" is) before being allowed to use a Taser. So sorry, they're not "small town" officers with nothing better to do or overly excited. They're just thick as pig shit

 

[Jupiter551]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

They could have just yelled "OI! You don't tap a katana's blade on the ground, did your master teach you nothing?!"

 

[LadyLuna]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Next thing you know, they're going to start having to make the sticks light up in the dark or something...

"Hey, what have you there? Oh, never mind, I see the reflective tape now."

 

[southsamurai]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Plus, if it were a samurai sword it means if he did go to attack someone they'd have enough warning to be able to taser him/use force to stop him without anyone being wounded.

off the topic really, and just for clarification on the weapon itself, not the dumb, over eager cops in the real situation, but if i were armed with a sword (ok, armed with a sword before my back and knees fell apart anyway) i could close taser distance in two or three steps and take the guy's hand off before he could pull the trigger. assuming of course that he wasn't already doing so. i once did this little trick with a boken against pepper spray for a bet. if a sword is already drawn and ready you would be very shocked to see how fast it an be deployed.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Plus, if it were a samurai sword it means if he did go to attack someone they'd have enough warning to be able to taser him/use force to stop him without anyone being wounded.

off the topic really, and just for clarification on the weapon itself, not the dumb, over eager cops in the real situation, but if i were armed with a sword (ok, armed with a sword before my back and knees fell apart anyway) i could close taser distance in two or three steps and take the guy's hand off before he could pull the trigger. assuming of course that he wasn't already doing so. i once did this little trick with a boken against pepper spray for a bet. if a sword is already drawn and ready you would be very shocked to see how fast it an be deployed.

Since the police were looking for a guy with a Samurai sword, and you clearly have a least one. Were you snooping around Lancashire a couple of nights ago?
If so don't you feel awful that cops tasered and old blind guy. :mrgreen:

 

[SoTxBob]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Maybe its just me but I'd make the idiots get their eyes checked..... a blind mans cane rarely looks anything like a katana.... 'Blind Fury' excepted ofc. :-D

 

[bud9752]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

I refreshed my memory of Blind Fury and as I remember it, his "sword" was more of a walking stick than a cane.
:twocents-02cents:

 

[SweepTheLeg]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

I kept hoping the next paragraph would include the phrase, "in a unique and unexpected turn of events the gentleman in question has fully regained his sight in what appears to be a direct result of the incident"

I was thinking the exact same thing, and then I scrolled down. This is what happens when I disappear for a week.

 

[IsabellaSnow]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Plus, if it were a samurai sword it means if he did go to attack someone they'd have enough warning to be able to taser him/use force to stop him without anyone being wounded.

off the topic really, and just for clarification on the weapon itself, not the dumb, over eager cops in the real situation, but if i were armed with a sword (ok, armed with a sword before my back and knees fell apart anyway) i could close taser distance in two or three steps and take the guy's hand off before he could pull the trigger. assuming of course that he wasn't already doing so. i once did this little trick with a boken against pepper spray for a bet. if a sword is already drawn and ready you would be very shocked to see how fast it an be deployed.

yes but they said a drunk man with a samurai sword, they didn't have to be at taser distance to recognise that this was a blind man with a white stick and not someone with a sword! You don't have to be at point blank range to recognise someone's carrying a stick, not a sword. Also police officers are trained to have fast reactions, so maybe the average person with a taser might not have even pulled the trigger, but if they'd recognised it was a sword then they would have been prepared to pull those triggers as soon as they came into range.

 

[Jupiter551]

Re: Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for s

Next thing you know, they're going to start having to make the sticks light up in the dark or something...

"Hey, what have you there? Oh, never mind, I see the reflective tape now."

"Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for lightsaber"