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Police fire TASER at man, 89, who fled care home

The family of an 89-year-old man shot with a Taser stun gun by police yesterday spoke of their anger at his treatment.

Officers fired the 50,000-volt weapon at the war veteran after he disappeared from his care home and threatened to cut his throat with a piece of broken glass.

He is the oldest man to have had a Taser used on him.

The report say he was shot by “specially trained officers” which suggests these were non-firearms officers.

Vernon Coaker the Home Office Minister of State for Policing, Crime & Security spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday the 28th of January 2009,on the subject of the proposed expanded deployment of TASER weapons:

With regard to Taser training, the roll out of Tasers has been widely welcomed as a good thing. The training costs will be a matter for individual forces. Clearly, the number of Tasers that a force has is not dictated centrally. It is a matter for individual chief constables, with their authorities, to determine what they should have.

I support this, it strengthens the role of Police Authorities and lets local democratic representatives influence the decision. It clearly indicates that the TASER deployment is a strategic matter and therefore falls firmly within the remit of Police Authorities.

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