澳洲警察

Police Tasered mentally ill man, 84

Date :August 16, 2012 - 6:15AM


An 84-year-old man with dementia was Tasered by police. Photo: Suppied

An 84-year-old man with a history of dementia was repeatedly shot with a Taser and pepper sprayed by police in an incident that prompted a review of treatment of "elderly, infirm, immobile persons".

The Bexley man was the oldest person to be hit by a stun gun in NSW since April 2011 and a 16-year-old boy was the youngest person on whom Tasers were used, documents released under freedom of information laws show.

The information release comes months after the government refused to answer questions, put to the police minister in parliament, about Taser use.

In the Bexley case, police made a 3am (AEST) call to the 84-year-old man's home in February after his wife - fearing for her life - barricaded herself in a bedroom.

Officers arrived to find the man with a Stanley knife in hand, and deployed the stun gun for a second time when he failed to follow directions to get on the ground.

They said the man had experienced worsening dementia for 11 years.

"(His wife) locks herself in her bedroom of a night-time for her safety. She feels she can no longer control him," they wrote in their report of the incident.

The wife was taken to hospital immediately after the incident for a suspected heart attack.

The incident was examined by NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch, who found the officers' response was "reasonable".

The youngest person stunned with a Taser was a 16-year-old who had threatened his father with a wooden plank and attempted to strike police.

NSW Labor MP Walt Secord made the information request after the government refused to answer a question about Taser use in parliament.

He was told the information was not readily available, and providing it would be an "unreasonable diversion of resources from frontline policing".

Mr Secord said more information should be available about Taser use.

"I think there is a responsibility that comes with it, and the community has a right to know where they are being used, why they are being used and whom they are being used on," he said.

AAP  (Sydney Morning Herald 16/8/2012)

澳洲警察給我的印象是拔槍快，開槍快，置之死地成一快。電槍也好，手槍也好，命中率高，命喪率也高。不開則矣，一開必彈盡，中彈的人糧絕，吃了子彈的人，以後甚麼也吃不下，沒有機會再吃。上面這則新聞的事主已屬幸運，警察沒請他吃子彈，他自己的老心臟可以抵受得住電槍的電壓，得以不死，老不死。要尋死而沒有勇氣自行了斷的人，可以來澳洲找警察幫忙，拿把刀在他們面前幌幾下，必死無疑。他們既不會空手入白刃，也沒有盾牌作防衛式的應對，開槍不打要害----以外的他方，而且必定是「彈盡糧絕」，給人必死的保證。這裏警察開槍，上峯力撐，沒有見過被評為unjustified的例子。