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That’s what this layman thinks. Not as stated by the expert first responder.

“It was an excellent deployment and an excellent example of how these things can save lives.”

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BRENNAN CLARKE

From Thursday’s Globe and Mail

June 26, 2008 at 5:26 AM EDT

VICTORIA — In a week when RCMP faced growing scrutiny over taser-related deaths, Nanaimo police are pointing to the recent use of a stun gun on a suicidal man outside a local motel as an example of the weapon’s life-saving potential.

The man had slashed his wrists at a Nanaimo motel.

“The suspect was losing large quantities of blood and the officers came to the conclusion he could cause either death or grievous harm to himself,” Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Gary O’Brien said. “It was an excellent deployment and an excellent example of how these things can save lives.”

The incident began around 8 a.m. on Saturday, when an RCMP officer saw an “obviously despondent” man slashing at his wrists with a knife as he walked down the street.

The officer called for backup and tried to negotiate from a safe distance with the distraught man as he walked across the street to the parking lot of the Port o’ Call motel.

“He kept saying he wanted to die and he was slashing at his wrists,” Constable O’Brien said, reading from the police report.

Police reinforcements continued “trying to have a dialogue” with the man as he retreated up the motel steps onto a second-floor balcony.

He leaned on the balcony long enough for a pool of blood to form on the concrete below, raised the knife to his throat, then began to walk away from an officer with a taser.

“The taser was deployed, the probes hit him in the back of the chest and upper thigh. We were able to recover the knife and handcuff the suspect,” Constable O’Brien said. “The suspect did not suffer any injuries except those he inflicted on himself.”

The Nanaimo incident occurred amid controversy about police use of tasers.

Last week, the chair of the RCMP public complaints commission issued a report urging the force to impose stricter guidelines and improve reporting of taser usage.

On Monday, 36-year-old Jeffrey Mark Marreel of Ontario died after police jolted him with a taser while responding to a disturbance in a small beach town along the shore of Lake Erie.

Mr. Marreel’s death is the 20th taser-related fatality in Canada since 2001, according to Amnesty International.

The man in the Nanaimo incident, an Alberta native, is battling a cocaine addiction and financial difficulties related to a failed business venture, Constable O’Brien said.

He was arrested under the provisions of B.C.’s mental health act and is undergoing treatment for addiction and mental health issues.

Special to The Globe and Mail

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