Tasering of B.C. boy 'outrageous'
By ERICA BULMAN, QMI Agency
VANCOUVER - Calling the stunning of an 11-year-old aboriginal boy with a Taser "outrageous", a prominent B.C. First Nations leader is calling for a public inquiry.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs,
also said he doubts the West Vancouver police will be thorough and unbiased in their investigation of the Mounties who stunned the youth.
"We can't begin to fathom what circumstances would motivate trained RCMP officers to Taser a child," Phillip said Tuesday. "To take that type of force against a child was unconscionable."
The boy, who was believed to be living at a group home, was accused of
stabbing a 37-year-old man in Prince George, about 800 km north of
Vancouver. The stabbing victim has since been released from hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The boy, also taken to hospital, remains in government care.
The stunning has raised questions about the police use of force and whether they should have used a Taser on the child.
Now, the aboriginal chief is also demanding answers.
"We're hoping and requesting that the (B.C.) representative for children and youth conduct a separate investigation," he said. "I'm not convinced that police agencies have the ability to investigate one another.
"There's a relationship and a sense of camaraderie between policing agencies that doesn't allow them to be as thorough and as they need to be."
Thomas Braidwood, the former head of B.C.'s inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death after being stunned with a Taser by police, was disappointed the government has yet to establish the independent body he had recommended to inquire into cases involving the police.
"I am guessing that was delayed by the election of the new premier," he told QMI Agency on Tuesday. "It's not what I would have hoped."
The police department in Vancouver that¹s been assigned to investigate the stunning revealed this week the Mountie who used the Taser has been on the job 18 months. He's been placed on administrative duty.
Phillip questioned whether the officer would have acted with such force had the child not been aboriginal.
"The constable probably would have thought twice about doing it if it were a non-Native child," he said.
Braidwood told QMI Agency he felt stunning a child could only be justified if there were "imminent grievous bodily harm of police, bystanders or the child."
Even then, he could only think of one instance where it might be warranted.
"If he had a revolver. Apart from that, I couldn't begin to guess," Braidwood said.
Newly appointed B.C. Minister for Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation
Mary Polak called the situation a "concern" but said at this stage there was scant evidence or information so the public shouldn't speculate.
"It's obviously something that tugs at our heart strings for sure but we
don't know the circumstances. We'll await the results of that
investigation," she said.
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