[Pyramid_Head]

A tense standoff involving Toronto police ended with a man apparently being shocked by a Taser before plummeting from a balcony to the concrete below. The man was rushed to hospital in critical condition just after 5 a.m. Monday, September 19th, after falling an estimated nine metres. The man descended from the balcony to the third floor as he tried to evade officers.

The incident began about 1 a.m., when police from 12 Division were dispatched to arrest a suspect on the fourth floor of 1735 Weston Rd. near Lawrence Avenue. The Emergency Task Force, which serves as the tactical unit of the Toronto police, was called in to assist. A negotiation team spent four hours trying to persuade him to give himself up for arrest.



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[MeMyselfandI]

wtf did the guy on the floor above him drop onto his back? looked like his shirt started to catch fire

[Faline]

[kellyhound]

A Toronto man who fell from a balcony on the third storey of an apartment building after an altercation with police involving a Taser has been charged with assault and failing to comply with probation.

Daniel Wright, 42, faces four charges and remains in hospital in stable condition.

Police were responding to a domestic dispute call early Monday morning in the northwest end of the city.

They were called to arrest a man on the fourth floor of 1735 Weston Rd. near Lawrence Avenue around 1 a.m. The man descended to the third floor as he tried to elude police.

A four-hour attempt to convince the man to give himself up and leave the balcony was unsuccessful and an officer from the Emergency Task Force, the tactical unit of the Toronto Police Service, fired a Taser at the man.

The man then fell off the balcony and was taken to hospital.

Although video footage taken from the scene appears to show that the man was shocked, the Special Investigations Unit, which looks into police actions that lead to injury or death, has not confirmed whether the man was struck by the Taser.

210 incidents with Taser last year
The incident has lead some to question whether the police were justified in using the weapon.

"Why'd they use the Taser? I don't understand," John Sewell from the citizen group Toronto Police Accountability Coalition said Monday. "Why didn't they continue to use negotiation and relax and bring him down?"

The Toronto police say there were 210 incidents last year involving Tasers, a drop of 25 per cent from 2009. However, the majority of those involved police simply pointing the weapon at a suspect.

According to provincial guidelines, officers can use a Taser when there's an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death — including threatening or attempting suicide. A suspect's behaviour can range from passive resistance to being physically dangerous.

Officers are also supposed to consider whether using the weapon could cause secondary injury.

The SIU is examining the incident and will determine whether officers were justified in using the Taser.

[BryanXavier]

Originally Posted by Shutch512 ↗

wtf did the guy on the floor above him drop onto his back? looked like his shirt started to catch fire

I saw the red laser, heard the taser clicking, and the sparks. Leads me to believe the taser did not make good contact and fell/bounced off and hit a grill on a balcony (or something metal). He didn't become immobilized so the taser did not work.

[Sharon]

Dear me