Analog
Lifer
Victoria police used a high-voltage Taser gun to subdue an elderly man who went berserk at Beacon Hill Villa on Monday.
Police were called to the Superior Street care home around 5:15 p.m. when the man, a Beacon Hill Villa resident in his early 80s, began smashing furniture and other objects.
By the time police arrived, the man had broken out of a secure area in the facility and made his way into a courtyard, where he began swinging the table leg at arriving officers.
After negotiations failed, police tried to approach the man, who raised the table leg above his head in a threatening manner.
That prompted one officer to discharge her Taser, but the jolt wasn't direct enough to stop the agitated senior.
The on-duty supervisor then discharged his Taser and the man started to fall forward. Officers caught him before his head could hit the ground.
He was then handcuffed and taken to hospital in a waiting ambulance. Victoria police spokesman Const. Rick Anthony said despite the man's age, he posed a real physical threat to the officers.
"He wasn't old and frail. He was 5' 9" and about 160 pounds and he was moving around like a 24-year-old," Anthony said. "It was a very difficult decision for our guys to make, but it was the right one."
Tasers are capable of delivering a 50,000-volt electronic charge.
Anthony said other force options such as pepper spray, might have caused more damage than the Taser and been more painful for the man.
"When you're dealing with seniors you have to be concerned about respiratory problems," he said. "I'd rather be Tasered than pepper sprayed any day."
The man is being held for a psychiatric assessment, but Anthony said no criminal charges are expected.
Calls to Beacon Hill Villa were referred to Retirement Concepts, the facility's parent company in Vancouver.
Retirement Concepts president and chief operating officer Mary McDougall said the man showed no previous signs of violent behaviour.
"He had no history or violent or aggressive behaviour," she said.
However, in light of the incident, McDougall said the company plans to re-evaluate its policy on professional intervention for patients with dementia and other psychiatric problems.
http://www.vicweekendedition.com/portal...t.cgi?paper=115&cat=23&id=386269&more=
