RCMP Watch

TONY BLAIS, COURT BUREAU

A former soldier who was blasted with a Taser while being unlawfully arrested is suing the Attorney General of Canada and the Morinville Mountie who zapped him.

Gordon James Brown, a former Gibbons man now living in Saskatoon, who suffers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after serving two tours in Bosnia, has launched an $800,000 lawsuit naming RCMP Const. Stephen Shott.

The Mountie was given an absolute discharge in December after an Edmonton judge earlier convicted him of assault with a weapon for firing his stun gun at Brown while arresting him at his Gibbons home on Feb. 15, 2004.

The judge ruled Shott had no legal justification to arrest Brown and the use of the Taser was unnecessary force.

Court heard Shott arrested Brown for not paying a cab fare and fired his Taser at him as he stood in his kitchen with a cat in his arms.

He then handcuffed Brown and placed him in the back of his police cruiser.

When he later learned he had the wrong man and it had been a friend of Brown’s who had taken the cab from Edmonton, Shott let Brown go without charges.

According to a statement of claim filed last week, Shott’s actions were “intentional, malicious and without justification” and Brown suffered extreme pain and anguish.

As a result of being hit with the Taser in the elbow and the mid-section, Brown experienced mental distress, nervous shock, depression, anxiety and an aggravation of his PTSD symptoms, says the statement of claim.

The lawsuit states Brown served with the Canadian military in Bosnia for two six-month tours in 1994 and 1997 and was actively engaged in combat.

He is seeking $50,000 in general damages, $250,000 in exemplary damages, $250,000 in punitive charges and $250,000 in aggravated damages.

The statement of claim says the Attorney General of Canada is named in the lawsuit because it is Shott’s employer and therefore liable for his actions.

Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.