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Taser use questioned |

‘By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
THE HUSBAND of a local
woman says police unne-
cessarily used tasers on his
wife on three separate oc-
casions when she was ar-
rested July 27,

Manuel Sanchez’ says
his wife, who -is confined
to a wheelchair, is. still
suffering. from the painful
burns left by the electrical
device which is used to
stun people,

Elsie Robinson is

. charged with attempting to

infect police officers -with
an infectious disease by
spitting on their faces, re-
sisting an officer and caus-
ing a disturbance in con-
nection to an incident at
Hanky Panky’s nightclub.

Police were called to

the club after-receiving a
repart of a person who re-
fused to leave.

Police say Robinson
threatened the ‘officers,
was combative and refused
to leave the bar.

The woman was
shocked the first time
when she refused to get
out of a police car after

being taken to, the RCMP |

detachment.

“She was holding on to
a metal, screen! in the vehi-
cle and it wasn’l safe,”
RCMP Cpl. Kevin Schur
said, adding the taser was
used on her forearm. “It
worked — she let go and
we could get her out of the
vehicle.”

Schur says Robinson
was warned each time that
if she did not comply with
police “she would be hit
with 50,000 volts of elec-
tricity.”

He said each time the
taser was used it was in
the touch-stun mode where
the device is held directly
on the skin for a five sec-
onds while electricity

streamed from two nodes,
Police allege Robinson
was combative throughout
her arrest attempting to
bjte and spit on the mem-

bers.

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“She fought every sec-
ond of the way — the only
time she stopped was in
the middle when she was
tasered,” he says.

The device was used
two more times on Ms,
Robinson's back as offic-
ers tried to take her to a
cell,

“The other two times it
was less effective,” Cpl.
Schur said, “And it was

- used in both instances be-

cause she was fighting
with the officers.”

Husband Sanchez, says
he doesn’t believe using a
taser was necessary for a
woman confined to
wheelchair.

Though he was not with
her the night he was ar-
rested, he can’t understand
how she could have put up
a fight requiring that level
of farce,

“We think the taser was
completely unnecessary,”
Sanchez says. “They over-
powered a lady in a
wheelchair who was intox-
icated.”

Schur, one of two taser
trainers at the Terrace de-
tachment, says typical

burns left behind by the

touch stun mode resemble
a sunburn about the size of
a cigarette lighter and tend
to fade after a few days.

But more than two
weeks after her arrest,
Robinson still has open
wounds where the taser
was used.

Because of her medical
condition, wounds tend to
take much longer to heal.

There are two wounds
on Robinson’s left forearm,
where the taser was used
the first time, and four
wounds on her lower back
from the other two times
the device was used.

She says the wounds
are extremely painful,

Schur says the taser
was the best option avail-
able to him and the auxili-
ary police constable who
arrested Robinson that
night.

BURN MARKS fram an RCMP taser device, \ which’ electrically shocks neople,
are still evident on the lower back of Elsie Robinson nearly two weeks after it
was used. RCMP used the taser three times after she was arrested in a bar.

to included using a baton,
which he deemed inappro-
priate, or using pepper
spray, but that too was not
ideal, he says.

“Pepper spray. makes
you mucus up from the
nose and the eyes and that
was the opposite of what
we wanted because (of her
medical condition).”

wh ETT Tp ety Ta,

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duced here in May they’ve
been used on the touch-
stun mode roughly half a
dozen times, Schur esti-
mates.

On two occasions, of-
ficers have used a taser to
shoot electrically- charged
darts.

Schur says the most ef-
fective use of the taser is
ta” simply show people the

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University Credit courses starting in September, and there are still soaces

available in many of them.

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‘and fully transferable courses. Get a jump on your university studies at:
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‘electrical arcs connecting

the two nodes,

He says most people
voluntarily comply with
officers after it’s been pro-
duced and demonstrated.

Fifteen officers at the
Terrace detachment are
trained to use tasers and
more will be trained in the
fall.

war tne

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - A3

News In Brief

Indoor playground looted

TERRACE Crimestoppers is looking for help in
solving a break and enter and theft from Just Kid-
ding indoor playground July 18.

Police said the culprits may have gotten into the
building by using a north door and a portion of the
play area netting being cut away.

The business’s safe was opened using a key and
more than $1,000 kept inside was stolen, police
said, The thief left the key in in the safe before
making off with the cash, No other items inside the
business appeared to be disturbed, police said.

If you have any information about this. or any
other crime call Crimestoppers at 635-8477,

A new DAWN

THE PROVINCIAL human resources ministry has
signed a contract with a local agency to provide
life skills and employment training for women af-
fected by family viclence and abuse and who are
now on social assistance.

Northwest Training Ltd. last offered the 18-week
Developing Assertiveness in Women for a New
Start (DAWN) in 1998,

DAWN will take 16 women at a time for 14
weeks of training complemented by a four-week
practicum and the first class starts the end of Sep-
tember, Northwest Training official Lynn Gould
said last week,

Previous DAWN graduates are working in the
hospitality industry, in offices, in day care centres
or have returned to school, she said.

There'll be four sets of new DAWN programs
over two years. There is no fee to take the program.

The provincial government has embarked upon a
renewed effort to provide job training for people on
social assistance.

Campus work resumes

WORK HAS started again at Northwest Cormmuni-
ty College’s new Prince Rupert campus site.

Begun in 2001, just before the provincial elec-
tion, excayation-work was halted in the summer
when the new Liberal government froze all capital
spending pending a review of finances.

That resulted in a series of negotiations between -
the province and the college, leading to a slimmed
down building plan at a lower cost than first
planned. Construction resumed Aug. 5 with pile
driving for the foundation work,

A construction cost of $11,25 million has now
been increased by $200,000 by the provincial gov-
ernment. But the redesign and budget trimming did
mean the college had to cut out monies that were
to be used for equipment and other purchases.

“Tt means we'll begin fundraising for some of the
things we need,” said college bursar Diane Ready.

The general contractor is Yellowbridge Con-
struction from the lower mainland,

It has said it will use as much local labour and
as many local businesses as possible.

The college now occupies several leased loca-
tions in Prince Rupert and having its own campus
will reduce its overall-opernting costs.-_

4

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