Transit Police stand by Taser use during arrest of woman in crisis

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Warning: Video could also be disturbing to some viewers

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Warning: Video could also be disturbing to some viewers 

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The Transit Police have come beneath scrutiny after an arrest caught on video reveals two officers deploying a Taser on a lady in misery on the Granville SkyTrain Station.

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Footage surfaced on-line Thursday, prompting requires elevated accountability over the weapon’s use. Metro Vancouver Transit Police preserve that their officers’ use-of-force was warranted.

“Officers used bodily drive, together with a Taser, to cease her from hurting herself and others,” Transit Police advised Postmedia Information in an e-mail Friday.

Const. Amanda Steed mentioned the lady was affected by a mental-health disaster and had been threatening different SkyTrain passengers.

“A number of callers reported the lady was chasing different passengers, screaming incoherently and eradicating her clothes,” Steed mentioned.

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Eyewitness Rakesh Dutt thinks the officers’ conduct warrants an exterior investigation. The Vancouver resident was on his method dwelling when he got here throughout the lady, who seemed to be taking shelter within the SkyTrain station.

When police arrived shortly after 4:30 p.m., Dutt mentioned his first intuition was to tug out his cellphone and start recording.

“Though she was unarmed, the feminine cop Tased her inside most likely a minute of arriving,” recalled Dutt. “The girl had been strolling round and speaking loudly to herself, however she wasn’t screaming or utilizing expletives.”

His TikTok livestream of the incident reveals a pair of Transit Cops at first telling the lady, who’s shirtless, to get “on the bottom.” As soon as the lady — whose arms are held by police — is dropped at the bottom, one of many officers tells her to “cease resisting” earlier than he kneels on her again. The opposite follows go well with.

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“I’m not resisting!” the lady screams.

Each officers attempt to drive her arms behind her again. They inform her once more to cease resisting arrest.

“Please, let me put my shirt again on,” the lady says whereas laying along with her arms at her aspect. “Please don’t do that to me. I’m not hitting you, please.”

One of many officers is seen deploying a Taser to the lady’s bottom whereas the opposite pushes her in opposition to a wall. He drives his knee into her again 4 occasions.

Steed mentioned each the Taser and knee-drive are strategies “authorized for cops in sure circumstances the place a suspect is actively resisting and displaying assaultive behaviour.”

One of many officers alleged the lady “tried to seize the officers’ weapons as she fought with them” and that they tried to defuse the state of affairs verbally “utilizing a number of de-escalation strategies,” however none have been efficient.

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Dutt maintains the lady was backing away from police as they arrived and didn’t attain for his or her weapons. In his video, the Taser the officer deployed is heard rattling for round 10 seconds.

“You’re being recorded, you’re utilizing an excessive amount of drive!” Dutt shouts.

“Launch the Taser,” a second bystander screams on the Transit Cops.

A refrain of others watching the interplay unfold chime in and shout phrases together with, “hey!” and “no!”

Close to the tip of the footage, a 3rd officer enters the body, kneeling down beside the lady as she continues to scream. The officer says: “Miss, we’re taking you to the hospital.”

Joel Johnston, a former Vancouver police officer who at present consults with courts on police use-of-force, mentioned there’s extra to every case than what “might be gleaned from a partial video.”

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“There’s rather more to any case, together with this one, than the temporary snippets of video which are out there or are prone to be exhibited to the general public, together with partially knowledgeable opinions and inflammatory remarks made by third events,” he mentioned.

Ben Perrin, a regulation professor on the College of B.C., mentioned though not all circumstances concerning the incident are identified, from what was captured on video an impartial investigation is warranted.

“The police use-of-force mannequin is fatally flawed relating to folks with mental-health challenges,” he mentioned. “The vast majority of folks killed throughout police interactions have been experiencing mental-health and/or substance-use points.”

Transit Police mentioned the lady suffered no bodily accidents throughout her arrest, and that she’s being handled in hospital beneath the Psychological Well being Act.

sgrochowski@postmedia.com

twitter.com/sarahgrochowski


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