The family of a 14-year-old Aboriginal girl, identified as Jane Doe, has filed a lawsuit against two OPP officers for tasering her in the leg while she was in her jail cell because, according to the lawsuit, she refused to stop chipping the paint off the wall. According to the lawsuit, she was at the OPP detachment following an arrest for drunk and disorderly conduct. The lawsuit claims that the incident was recorded on videotape. It also contains a statement from a doctor who reported observing twin burn marks on her thigh. In addition to damages, the family is seeking an order prohibiting the use of tasers on minors except in cases where life is at risk. According to the OPP, its professional-standards bureau conducted an investigation into the incident. It acknowledged that the girl was tasered. It also cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.
This summer,
Michael Langan, a 17-year-old Aboriginal boy was tasered and killed in Winnipeg. He was a suspect in a theft. He is the youngest person to be killed by a Taser in Canada.
These and other cases has led to a call for a moratorium on the use of tasers on teenagers. See
"Youth Moratorium" Globe and Mail (4 February 2009).
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Ont. will not ban use of Tasers on youth — Police should be able to use all tools in arsenal — Bartolucci
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What is being done to discipline the OPP officers who thought it necessary to taser a 14 year old girl confined in cell? What was the actual harm that she imposed on herself or others to justify such actions by police?
I'm disturbed by the notion that 'peeling paint off the wall' overrides a person's right to security of the person.
Ont. will not ban use of Tasers on youth — Police should be able to use all tools in arsenal — Bartolucci
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