Ezliving_Jim

Grit wants explanation in cop Taser case

AJAY BHARDWAJ and DAVID SANDS, EDMONTON SUN


Liberal Justice Critic Bruce Miller says he needs at least an explanation of why a Crown prosecutor isn't recommending charges against a city cop who repeatedly Tasered a teen.

"I need an explanation," he said yesterday. "We deserve that much from the minister of justice."

Provincial court Judge Jack Easton halted Randy Fryingpan's prosecution for breaching bail in February this year after concluding Const. Mike Wasylyshen in October 2002 unnecessarily used his Taser to awaken the 16-year-old after he was found sleeping in a car near Abbotsfield Road.

Easton said Wasylyshen Tasered the crying youth at least five times more as he hauled him from the vehicle.

"That, in my conclusion, is abuse of force and cruel and unusual treatment," he said in his written judgment.

"If that was the opinion of the judge, why didn't the Crown prosecutor proceed?" asked Miller, adding he hopes to raise the issue in the legislature.

The file was reviewed by two senior Calgary Crown prosecutors and chief Crown Gordon Wong.

Wong announced Tuesday there would be no criminal prosecution against Wasylyshen because of inconsistencies in testimony from several witnesses and proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt would have been difficult.

"The Crown's reasons seem quite flimsy to me," said New Democrat Raj Pannu. "That's second-guessing the courts.

"I think someone else has to take a second look. The attorney general should seek an independent legal opinion. The matter must not rest where it is now," said Pannu.

Attorney General Ron Stevens said the circumstances were fully and fairly reviewed by an extraordinary number of prosecutors.

"Three separate Crown prosecutors, including the chief Crown prosecutor in Calgary, independently reviewed the file and each came up with the same recommendation.

"That was not to proceed with charges."

There is no reasonable likelihood of a conviction, Stevens said. And that doesn't change just because a judge had earlier halted prosecution of Fryingpan as a remedy for the way he was treated when arrested, he said.

Source

Neon Beach

I gotta ask Jim? What is your fascination with the issue of tasers? Are ya fer it or agin it?

Ezliving_Jim

I think the Taser is a quality product and an excellent tool when used properly. Some of the users are defective. Good law enforcement officers, and public officials agree.

I'm aggravated by so many cops that are using Tasers improperly and unnecessarily. I want to see some idiots with badges convicted for assault and battery and, in some cases, manslaughter for how they use the weapon.

Nothing will change until there is some blowback for the abuses. I am trying to stimulate awareness and debate.

mr belvedere

Taze em all and let God sort them out. Good luck.

Sherin

Generally people seem to view this weapon as a non-lethal method of control. I have several friends who are police and with the number of police deaths here involving crack and other drugs rendering the user unreasonable, I have to agree.
The incident described above sounds like unreasonable force on the part of the police, but I bet there is another side to the story.
I watch everyday the lack of respect people have for each other just trying to park in the parking lot...The sense of Entitlement by a growing number of jerks makes me side with the use of tasers as there seems to be no respect for the law. Obsesive use of force is never acceptable by anyone.

Ezliving_Jim

So, the end justifies the means?

It's no wonder that "The Shield" is such a hit!

Isn't the irresponsible use and abuse of tasers by some cops partially due to their "sense of entitlement" to the unbridaled power and authority they have? Doesn't evidence show that some cops apparently have no respect for the law when it comes to their own actions?

Tase first and ask questions later.

Sherin

Your from the '60's right? (James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams)

You seem to be up on the irresponsible use more than I...
I know there are some cops who think they are entitled, but they put their butts on the line not us, and we have to have some confidence in our police force and their training, morals, and judgement.
I never said that the end justified the means...

Ezliving_Jim

James Earl Jones was born in 1931. That puts him close to my Dad's age.

I am a little older than Kevin Costner, though.

What my age has to do with Taser Abuse is beyond me.

Sherin

It doesn't have to do with your age...It has to do with what was the commonly held opinions of the cops in the '60's. That the cops/authority were all bad.
No abuse is acceptable!
Defining abuse might be another thing.
I was surprized to find out that the kids who come in to the salon, were discussing the fact that a lot of students are routinely handcuffed! I never knew anyone in school that was...did you? In this society where people feel they are entitled to do whatever they want, inflict their music on everyone else, rage on the road with anyone that cuts them off, have no respect for anyone else, IMHO are given a break if they are Tazered instead of shot.
We recently had a man who was killed in a shootout with the police, and afterwards his mother said that he was treated unfairly, because he admittedly gets out of hand when he is doing crack?