Suicidal man threatens police

Kelowna Daily Courier Staff 2009-07-07

RCMP zapped a suicidal man with a Taser after he threatened to fight two officers, police said Monday. The 44-year-old man was standing in a small kitchen holding a steak knife in a home on Cactus Road early Saturday afternoon. The two officers convinced him to put down the knife, but he yelled and came toward them, said Sgt. Ann Brinnen. An officer shot pepper spray at the man, but he wiped the liquid from his eyes and continued to be combative, she said. “He was coming toward the officers. He told the officers he refused to go to hospital with them, and that he‘d fight them all the way.” The officers warned him they‘d use the Taser after they “exhausted their verbal-intervention techniques,” Brinnen said. One of the officers, certified to deploy the energy weapon, fired it once at the man and he fell to the floor. They handcuffed him and took him to Kelowna General Hospital, she said.The man‘s mother had called police saying her son was threatening suicide and she was “at her wits‘ end,” Brinnen said.

Officers intended to talk him out of the kitchen and the home, but he refused to leave. The officers saw a butcher knife on the counter. He did not threaten to use it, but the confined quarters of the kitchen (about five by seven feet) made the situation risky, Brinnen said. “The kitchen is one of the most dangerous rooms for police officers to be in, based on the number of weapons and tools in that room and the dimension. … A lot can happen.” The man is medically OK, but Brinnen couldn‘t comment Monday on his mental state. Officers will complete an administrative review of the incident, which is mandatory whenever a Taser is used. Police use the weapon infrequently in the Central Okanagan, Brinnen said. “We believe it‘s important for our media and for the public to know it‘s successfully being used and is a tool we have access to.”

RCMP‘s use of Tasers generated a public inquiry after the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver‘s airport in 2007. Officers fired the weapon several times at the distraught man less than a minute after confronting him. He died minutes later. In Saturday‘s incident, the officers spent at least 10 minutes in the home before they used the Taser, Brinnen said. No charges will be laid.