Lancashire Police: Review the manual.

[theoldwolf]

An innocent blind man with a white stick has been shot in the back by police with a 50,000-volt Taser after officers mistook it for a samurai sword.

Colin Farmer, 61, was hit following reports of a man walking through Chorley, Lancashire, early on Friday evening, with a sword. He said that he initially thought he was being attacked by hooligans when he was struck by the Taser.

The matter is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) after Farmer, who has said he intends to take legal action, made a complaint to the force.

Full article at The Guardian.

Comments

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

No warning even? The attacker must have seen too many movies where a samurai moves super fast.

[ffcj.livejournal.com]

He was asked to stop, seemingly from behind and possibly some distance away.

"I was just walking along and I heard some men shouting really angrily and thought I'm going to get mugged. I didn't know any police were here."

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Possible explanation here

http://jordan179.livejournal.com/149586.html

[thefoxaroo.livejournal.com]

Heard about this on the radio.

Having seen many blind people in my city walking with dogs and walking sticks, and also having had a girlfriend who was blind, I can state without any shadow of doubt that blind people do NOT walk quickly. How the police could have mistook a slow-walking blind person with a white stick for a psychotic with a samauri sword I do not know.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

The stick was an aluminium folding segmented type which would probably had a bloody great white ball at the bottom of it - they are mobility aids not suited to leaning on.
At the range a taser can be used it should be clear that it wasn't an edged weapon - but the liklihood is that by the time the officer tasered his victim he was past the suspicious object stage and in full on "I'll teach you to f***ing stop when I f****ing well tell you to" mode.
When his victim was on the floor and screaming "I'm blind! I'm blind!" that would be when he started thinking relatively rationally again.

When it comes to the reputation of the police, one word suffices.... Hillsborough.

No wonder they are peddling the paedophile angle and the Jimmy Saville thing for all it's worth.... it diverts attention!