Need for Tasers shown: police chief
Incident at bar could have ended worse
He was big, aggressive and had no problem tussling with five officers.
The towering man screamed in agony when officers dropped him with a stun gun Thursday night, but Windsor’s police chief says things would have been much worse if they didn’t have that weapon.
“There was a sergeant there, so he had a Taser,” Chief Al Frederick said Friday. “Had he not been there, officers would have had no choice but to use other use-of-force options. They almost certainly would have caused injury, and probably been injured themselves.”
Police say use of a Taser to end the volatile confrontation with the man, who had been on a downtown tear, reinforces the importance of giving the weapon to front-line officers.
Police haven’t revealed the 25-year-old man’s name, but said he has a history of run-ins with the law. He was released from custody Friday.
The inebriated man, standing about six-foot-six, 320 pounds and defiantly smoking a cigarette, got into a struggle with five officers outside Dugout bar Thursday night.
The dramatic confrontation, caught on video by the Windsor Star, happened shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday.
The man walked into the bar and quickly caused a disturbance, punching buttons on the till, shaking the arcade machine and nearly getting into a fight with a customer.
He then left the bar and was immediately met by several officers in the walkway below street level. They’d been looking for him.
Police began receiving calls around 8:20 p.m. about a suspicious man in the 300 block of Ouellette Avenue. One caller said the man got into his vehicle and asked for a ride. Another person said the man was near Holiday Inn trying to sell drugs. Officers then learned the man was in a clothing store stinking of booze and “acting in a strange manner.”
Police said he also went into two bars, acting aggressively and trying to fight with customers. Officers met him coming out of the second bar. They told him to get on his knees. The man briefly dropped to his knees but quickly stood back up, with a cigarette still in his mouth. Police demanded he drop the cigarette and go with them.
“Get on your knees,” one officer said. “Drop your smoke. Nobody wants to hurt you. Do as you’re told.” He ignored them. Police told the man he was under arrest for being intoxicated, but he refused their demands. When officers tried to grab him, he struggled violently while making his way up the concrete stairs. At one point, he slipped out of his jacket and appeared ready to make a break for it when an officer yelled, “Taser! Taser!”
The sergeant with the weapon pointed at the man and fired, hitting him in the back. He immediately dropped to the ground, crying out in pain.
Frederick called it an “absolute appropriate use of force.”
“As a use-of-force tool, they also serve to de-escalate by ending volatile, violent situations,” he said. “That’s what they’re for, to help us de-escalate and get control of the situation very quickly.”
Stun guns hit the news again in August when the province gave local police forces the power to decide who uses the controversial weapon.
Before that, the use of “conducted energy weapons” was restricted to certain police teams and positions such as tactical units, hostage rescue teams, containment teams and front-line supervisors.
In Windsor, only supervisors and tactical officers carry Tasers. Between 2008 and 2012, they used the stun guns 83 times.
Thursday’s incident outside the Dugout happened the same day Toronto police board members shot down giving all frontline officers Tasers in their town.
Frederick wouldn’t comment on that decision. Windsor’s police board has yet to vote on buying more Tasers, but Frederick said he expects all of his front-line officers will soon be carrying them.
“I think last night is a great example of how effective a tool it is and that it absolutely enhances public safety and ensures public safety,” said Frederick. “That person did not receive injuries, yet he was taken under control quickly and effectively. As a tool, really, it’s a must for front-line policing.”