m***@googlemail.com
2007-12-18 16:44:18 UTC
They pulled over a black man (suspected of having a gun), he became
lippy, so they tasered him. Now the Guardian and his local black MP
are outraged.
Police accused of firing Taser into head of innocent man
Robert Booth
Tuesday December 18, 2007
The Guardian
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.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has started an
investigation and David Lammy, Sylvester's MP in Tottenham, north
London, has written to Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police
commissioner, to say he is "deeply concerned".
The incident was part of Operation Neon, a crackdown on guns on
London's streets by using armed response units to stop and search
cars. Sylvester said the incident had left him traumatised and he now
suffered from short-term memory loss. He doubts the police would have
stopped him had he not been black. A spokesman for the Met said: "Just
after midnight, officers on an intelligence-led operation stopped a
car in Bounces Road, N9. The driver got out of the vehicle and was
subsequently Tasered. Our information is the Taser was deployed once."
Sylvester had been followed by police cars for about three miles
through Tottenham before they boxed him in.
"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."
According to guidelines set by the Home Office and the Association of
Chief Police Officers, Tasers should be deployed "where officers are
facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they
would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the
subject(s) of their action". Tasers have been used 47 times in London
this year, with black people accounting for almost two-thirds of those
stunned.
The government extended the right to use Tasers for all firearms
officers in England and Wales this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2229041,00.html
lippy, so they tasered him. Now the Guardian and his local black MP
are outraged.
Police accused of firing Taser into head of innocent man
Robert Booth
Tuesday December 18, 2007
The Guardian
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.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has started an
investigation and David Lammy, Sylvester's MP in Tottenham, north
London, has written to Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police
commissioner, to say he is "deeply concerned".
The incident was part of Operation Neon, a crackdown on guns on
London's streets by using armed response units to stop and search
cars. Sylvester said the incident had left him traumatised and he now
suffered from short-term memory loss. He doubts the police would have
stopped him had he not been black. A spokesman for the Met said: "Just
after midnight, officers on an intelligence-led operation stopped a
car in Bounces Road, N9. The driver got out of the vehicle and was
subsequently Tasered. Our information is the Taser was deployed once."
Sylvester had been followed by police cars for about three miles
through Tottenham before they boxed him in.
"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."
According to guidelines set by the Home Office and the Association of
Chief Police Officers, Tasers should be deployed "where officers are
facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they
would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the
subject(s) of their action". Tasers have been used 47 times in London
this year, with black people accounting for almost two-thirds of those
stunned.
The government extended the right to use Tasers for all firearms
officers in England and Wales this summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2229041,00.html