http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/08/bc-kamloops-man-
taser.html
RCMP subdue hospitalized man, 82, with Taser
Last Updated: Friday, May 9, 2008 | 1:33 AM ET
An elderly man in Kamloops, B.C., was zapped three times on the torso by a
police stun gun while lying on his hospital bed, CBC News has learned.
Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the Taser marks
on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through Saturday.
"They [police] should have known I had bypass surgery," Lasser told CBC
News.
Lasser has had heart surgery and needs to carry an apparatus to supply
oxygen at all times. He was in the Royal Inland Hospital Saturday due to
pneumonia but has since been released.
RCMP said nurses called police after Lasser became delirious and pulled a
knife out of his pocket.
Lasser told CBC News that he sometimes becomes delusional when he can't
breathe properly. He said he couldn't explain why he refused to let go of
the knife even after the Mounties arrived.
"I was laying on the bed by then and the cor****al came in, or the
sergeant,
I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got
more im****tant work to do on the street tonight,'" Lasser said.
"And then, bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser, and I tell you, I
never want that again."
Kamloops RCMP said Thursday that officers had no other option but to
deploy
the conducted energy weapon when Lasser refused to drop his knife.
"Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a
deadly weapon in their hand," Cpl. Scott Wilson told CBC News.
"We could not deploy our … pepper spray, because we could potentially
contaminate the entire hospital."
Lasser said there were three RCMP officers in his hospital room and
believes they could have easily handled him without the use of a Taser.
"They could have gone in there and taken an old man without any trouble at
all," said Lasser, who is an ex-prison guard.
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