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RCMP subdue hospitalized man, 82, with Taser

An elderly man in Kamloops, B.C., was zapped three times on the torso by a police stun gun while lying on his hospital bed, CBC News has learned. Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the Taser marks on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through Saturday.

“They [police] should have known I had bypass surgery,” Lasser told CBC News.

Lasser has had heart surgery and needs to carry an apparatus to supply oxygen at all times. He was in the Royal Inland Hospital Saturday due to pneumonia but has since been released. RCMP said nurses called police after Lasser became delirious and pulled a knife out of his pocket. Lasser told CBC News that he sometimes becomes delusional when he can’t breathe properly. He said he couldn’t explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived. “I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, ‘OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,'” Lasser said.

“And then, bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser, and I tell you, I never want that again.” Kamloops RCMP said Thursday that officers had no other option but to deploy the conducted energy weapon when Lasser refused to drop his knife. “Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand,” Cpl. Scott Wilson told CBC News. “We could not deploy our … pepper spray, because we could potentially contaminate the entire hospital.” Lasser said there were three RCMP officers in his hospital room and believes they could have easily handled him without the use of a Taser.

“They could have gone in there and taken an old man without any trouble at all,” said Lasser, who is an ex-prison guard.

Thank God police are there to protect us from psychopaths like this.




  1. Saskboy says:

    “The police acted appropriately here. If they stood around and “waited for him to calm down” what could have happened? He could have hurt himself, others,”

    Give us a break Michael. Not everything the police do is with public safety in mind. There’s nothing in the story to say other people were in danger, and that they couldn’t contain the man, and wait things out. They were impatient, and acted improperly. It’s their JOB to resolve the situation with the least harm, not to get done quickly so they can maybe help someone better somewhere else.

  2. Lou says:

    The RCMP seems to hit new lows every couple of weeks.
    What’s next, tasering granny in a walker.
    If you can’t disarm a 82 year old man. It’s time to hand in your badge.

  3. noname says:

    It amazes me, for some people, police can do no wrong. With documented cases of steroid raging cops, it’s not an irrational leap to conclude, that police are like trained monkeys, Monkey see, Monkey do.

    Most cops watch the TV show COPs and wish they could star in one episode. They do what they see. They do what the courts encourage them to do.

    What do you expect. It’s nothing more then monkey see monkey do. IMHO

  4. Michael says:

    noname –

    I stand proud with those in the public who are willing to give the police and military the benefit of the doubt in *all* circumstances. That’s not to say they get a free pass for all actions; however, if anyone is willing to risk their life in the service of all us dipsh*ts who spend our free time commenting on a blog site, they deserve the utmost respect.

  5. noname says:

    # 36 Michael,

    Good for you.

  6. RBG says:

    “Canadian Police Taser 82 Year Old Heart Bypass Patient in Hospital Bed”

    Oh, and he was carrying a knife.

    Oh, and threatening people with it.

    Oh, and he was a former prison guard.

    Oh, and he was delusional.

    Oh, and panicked due to lack of oxygen.

    Oh, and the “weak” old man needed 3 Taser jolts.
    (How many do you think you would need?)

    And oh, nobody ended up hurt.

    RBG

  7. RBG says:

    You could jump the guy flailing with the knife, like they do in the movies, or better still shoot it out of his hand. /s

    RBG

  8. RBG says:

    31 JCD Have you actually ever seen a cop in a donut shop or was that from The Simpsons? I’m waiting to hear your tone on your next 911 call. Think second coming of Christ.

    RBG

  9. Mister Mustard says:

    >>JCD Have you actually ever seen a cop
    >>in a donut shop

    Not sure what the San Fran cops do for fun, but if you’re ever on the East Coast, stop into a Dunkin Donuts sometime. You’ll have to stand in line behind the cops waiting for their complimentary jelly-fill snack.

  10. pat says:

    #24 “Tough talk. 82 and oxygen starved doesn’t mean much if he’s hopped up on adrenaline. Octogenarians routinely cut up their morning grapefruit and their evening steaks just as easily as they can cut up your face. It doesn’t take much effort to penetrate your eyeball.”

    Hey, I can’t help it if you are so physically inept as to be afraid of someone like this.

  11. Mr. Gawd Almighty says:

    Has anyone considered using a baton to disarm him? Or maybe throwing a blanket over him?

    I have to go with the concepts that the cops were just too impatient to “serve and protect”. There was no report that he was threatening or being belligerent.

  12. pat says:

    #43 – The blanket/sheet thing was my 1st thought (see earlier post). But, maybe IQ is a factor in problem solving…

  13. RBG says:

    And now that you can’t see where the knife is, what could the likelihood be of a lucky lunge through “kevlar-like” sheet & cop heart? I see what you mean about problem-solving. But then, maybe they practice the sheet-thing at cop school.

    RBG

  14. Mr. Gawd Almighty says:

    #45, RBG,

    So the next time the police show up to arrest someone they may shoot first if the guy has a sharpened pencil in his pocket. He could stab some poor cop in the eye, causing the end of a promising career. Or tattoo the guy’s neck with a nasty hole.

    Idiot.

  15. Peter iNova says:

    All together now:

    To Self-Protect
    And
    To Self-Serve

  16. RBG says:

    46. Mr. G. No worries because only in your world might a sharpened pencil in pocket = flailing knife.

    RBG

  17. RBG says:

    All along the East Coast, eh? There’s help for your pathological lying rhetoric right where I receive treatment for obsessive-compulsiveness.

    41 Mister Mustard
    >>JCD Have you actually ever seen a cop
    >>in a donut shop -RBG

    “Not sure what the San Fran cops do for fun, but if you’re ever on the East Coast, stop into a Dunkin Donuts sometime. You’ll have to stand in line behind the cops waiting for their complimentary jelly-fill snack.”

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