Police fired a 50,000-volt Taser into the head of a 45-year-old company director who later proved to be unarmed and innocent. Daniel Sylvester, the owner of an east London security firm employing 65 staff to guard council offices, pubs and nightclubs, was driving home on October 20 when he was stopped by armed police because of “firearms related intelligence”.
According to Sylvester, he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom were carrying automatic weapons. Without warning, one officer fired a Taser into the back of his head which made him drop to his knees, he said. A second shock caused him to fall on his face, breaking a front tooth. A further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road in pain while the officers and sniffer dogs searched the car and found nothing…
“Armed police jumped out and opened my car door,” he said. “I said OK, I’m coming. I asked what was going on and as soon as I stepped out of the car I felt something touch me on the back of the head and then I was on my knees. Then it happened again and I was on my face and I felt somebody pressing my head down with their foot. By the fifth time I realised officers were pinning my arms together. It was like they were trying to break my arms and I was in pain, screaming out.
“I was shocked eight times altogether and I had urinated on the floor. It was like being tortured. It went on and on and I felt they were going to kill me.”
Regardless of the value of non-lethal force – determined by statisticians in some cozy office – some coppers seem bound and determined to use Tasers as a weapon of abuse.
Once again, cops abuse their powers. I think we should just take away the Tasers and give them guns instead. Then they would have to really think about what they’re going to do.
Does anyone think it might be time to get the word out that even non-lethal force may be a tad excessive? These aren’t like firing water pistols at people. Oops. I think I just gave the police an idea, squirt gun first, then taser. I apologize in advance to whoever gets hit with that one.
that was england, dude.
that could never happen here.
Power, meet Abuse. Frak’n pigs.
There’s something wrong with this story. It implies all the officers on the scene were totally insane and I find that a little hard to believe.
No, I have no evidence other than common sense.
Sounds bad. Nevertheless, police will usually use force when someone gives them trouble. I’ve read the article in the Guardian, the poor guy says they tasered him because he is black. British officers are usually non-violent and this should be checked but I suspect there is more to this story then told….
Anyway, I wouldn’t want to go through such an ordeal myself.
Simple communication problem. He said: “OK, I’m coming.” and they heard “OK, I’m ready for my electroshock treatment now.”
So?
Hmmm…. I suspect that there is more to the story that what is told here. I’m guessing that this guy is no angel. I suspect that he has a history of violence and the cops there knew it. I’m also guessing that the guy was not as polite as the article makes him out to be.
That fact that he was unarmed doesn’t mean that the police knew that. Considering what they stopped him for, these police probably had good reason to assume he was armed and dangerous.
He wasn’t an accountant or a “respectable businessman”. He rents out goons to nightclubs, a very shady industry no matter where it is. I’m guessing that guy is a crooked as hell.
EVEN IF THEY THOUGHT HE WAS MAKING TROUBLE, WOULDN’T SHOCKS 2-8 BE A LITTLE EXCESSIVE?
Sure, they may be non-lethal, but they caused him to break a front tooth! Now he’ll have to go to the dentist, and it’ll cost money to get that tooth fixed or replaced, and it’ll be a big hassle and everything.
Even if the guy is crooked doesn’t mean that he should be tazered multiple times. Its like saying Rodney King got what he deserved because he was a crooked guy, of course not . This type of incident has recently happened in Vancouver airport whereby the guy who was tazered actually died.
I used to be a cop and I think what really happens is that most cops adrenaline is really high and some cops don’t think in these high pressure situations and just react.
#12: Rodney King was hopped up on PCP and they’d have been fucked if they let him get up. Did they do it the right way by beating the shit out of him? No. Did they really have any better tools? Not really.
And now, such tools are common issue, but are being used in the wrong instances. When a suspect is compliant, like in the story, there’s no need to escalate to that level. And, as far as the story states, the officers made no attempt at all to get him to cooperate. They just tased him into submission regardless of whether it was warranted or not.
Plus, putting the leads into his head was an asshole move by the bobby who used the taser.
council offices, pubs and nightclubs
Want to bet some of the cops got bounced by one of his employees for acting like an asshole?
And these are the British men American women prefer?
HEADSHOT!!!!
#9 i’m not sure if you’re being serious or cheeky, but your comment is very typical of a lot of readers on this list in that, no matter what anyone says, the police and government are given full and complete trust and anyone caught on the business end of their business must be a criminal.
oh, were only that true and were it only that simple!
It seems as thought these tasers have become big boy water guns.
It reminds me of an old quote… “If trees could scream would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? Maybe, if they screamed all the time for no good reason.”
fuck the met!
Give the police any power and they abuse it. Almost daily reports of police abuse and misconduct, yet when one of their own is hurt on the job, they cry a river of tears. Right.
This is the kind of thing that creates terrorists and leads to race riots
Blame if on yourselves people. Every time you go to jury duty and let a crooked cop off “because he’s a cop”, they realize that they ALWAYS have the upper hand in court, so they really prefer to shoot first and worry about the litigation later.