To the cops who felt the need to deploy taser and pepper spray on an 80 year old dementia patient in a nursing home: why don’t you come to a local hospital and learn how to handle dementia and mental health patients by completely unarmed security officers, we do it every day without handcuffs, pepper spray, batons, tasers or any of the other multitude of weapons you all carry. Seriously can’t wait to hear the excuses for this travesty. Oh he had a stick with a nail in it!, seriously? —A Caring Security Officer
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2013.
So you’re essentially against feeding the elderly?
shame on you
http://politicalloudmouth.com/wp-content/u…
So you pass judgement just based on someone’s age? So every 80 year old is a small weakling? BTW police are not health care professionals and that is not their job. So where were these highly trained security guards at this nursing home? If he was that easy to handle, why didn’t the nursing home handle it themselves? It couldn’t be because he was armed scaring the hell out of people, threatening to do harm, could it?
Given the minutiae of these points seem lost, let me explain:
I think his point was that there are ways to subdue someone OTHER than to use pepper spray.
Further, I believe that he was making another point – perhaps, given he was 80 and suffering from DEMENTIA, you might consider using a less harmful tactic to subdue him.
And if that doesn’t explain it, why treat a sick old man like a criminal?
ffs, timothy, can law enforcement ever be wrong?
She was probably pissed off because she had to stand on the fucking bus.
If it was in TO, they might have pumped 9 Glock lead pills into her.
No, PG, they can’t. They are “the law”, they don’t just enforce it. How dare anyone question what is “excessive force”, we’re not cops. Only cops should be able to judge cops, cause they know best and regular people only get in the way of cops “doing their job”. Fuck you, Tim, you pussy. Can’t handle a little criticism and, an 80 year old without resorting to pepper spray and a tazer? I can just see it now, two cops helping the old guy down the stairs, smashing his head off the cop car while saying “cuffs aren’t supposed to be comfortable, now get in the car and shut up or we’ll taze you again”.
You better believe, if my grandfather was alive and some cop treated him that way…fuck the charge, I’ll be waiting for you, in the parking lot, to kick your fucking ass!!!!
Sounds like a terrible situation to be put in.. if medical personal can handle this better (as per some comments on here) where were they when they were needed? I would hope that a cop would only use the force needed.
But I am mostly commenting on the fact that a bitch such as this one is a waste of time.. unless you were there and witnessed this horrid situation I don’t feel like you can have a solid opinion on the matter as you are basing your opinion on the opinion of the people who brought you the news.
“BTW police are not health care professionals and that is not their job” – This is obvious, but you ARE Human Fucking Beings! Do you not posses any empathy? The Captain wouldn’t be able to physically go through with the act of tazering anyone, especially a senior.
I’m no police officer, and I’m definitely not a health care worker, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the situation could have been handled better. How? Because I’ve been in situations with adults who cannot control their actions. It’s scary, certainly, but acting out of fear of danger only exasperates the situation. If police are not being trained on how to handle these situations then there has been a MAJOR oversight at HRPD.
How often do you hear of a Hospital worker using a tazer their patient? That’s right, never.
So what makes an 80 year with a weapon not a threat? I wasn’t there, you weren’t there and in the aftermath, none of the medical personnel criticized the police about their actions. Do you think the doctors and nurses would have kept quiet if they thought the police were out of line? None of the professionals or the family seem to be outraged. Now exactly who do you think called the police?
Really, Tim? I guess that the son on the radio this afternoon discussing his displeasure with the whole situation doesn’t count then.
Poor Tim, always the last to know!!!
“How often do you hear of a Hospital worker using a tazer their patient? That’s right, never.”
True enough. Most have to make do with an old leather glove full of birdshot to keep the gummers in line, between Corrie St. and lights out. Another example of how criminally underfunded our health care system actually is.
Maybe there’s a competition amongst police forces (T.O. vs HFX.) to see who can get more air time on YouTube for excessive force from overblown situations.
Yeah, sure, Tim. Just like the street car in TO. Now the cop is up for 2nd degree murder, so they at least had enough to bring it to court. Most us weren’t jumping to conclusions, we were using our fucking eyes when we watched that video and read the details about the situation. Guilty or not.
How in the fuck can you justify using that kinda force on a sick, elderly man? Basically you’re saying it’s better to taser an 80 year old man who may or may not know he’s holding a stick with nails, with excessive voltage than the very slight, absolutely minute chance of a trained cop being severally hurt? Am I getting this right?
I pretty sure they put the ‘nail’ part in the news so that the cops would have even the slightest bit of pride left. I wouldn’t want to return to the station like that if I was a cop. How embarrassing. Fucking disgraceful!
Yup, it’s where it belongs MM, in the courts and if guilty throw the book.
I know some guys in their 70’s who could pretty well kick your ass. The age is irrelevant. The weapon, be it a stick, knife, or gun is still a weapon and can be dangerous, add to that someone with possibly a mental illness, I’ll tell you what, you stop it.
Cap’n…you don’t actually think Bro Tim is really a cop, do you? LOL c’mon man, you’re one of the smart ones.
Bro Tim, innocent until proven guilty. Couldn’t agree with you more on that one. It’s the fact that cops have the ‘authority’ to pepper-spray, taze and shoot people who are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law that ruffles my feathers.
It’s their job to be in dangerous situations and make sure that offenders are brought to justice. It is not their job to spray chemicals in peoples faces or send electric currents through their bodies unless it is an ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT. If they’re too cowardly to do their job then they should be a garbage man or a journalist for the coast or something.
It’s not up me to prove their guilt or innocence but I sure as hell have the right to speculate as a citizen of this community on what I think is acceptable conduct regarding the laws I am governed by and those who enforce them. There’s still a thin veil of democracy in this nation and I intend to continue to exploit it until the lights come up at the end of the show.
Unfortunately I have heard absolutely nothing about this particular case aside from what I’ve read on this thread, so for now I’ll reserve that speculation. However, I am well aware that it is common place for cops to abuse their power, the problem is systemic and ‘little man syndrome’ is a medical condition.
Okay folks here’s your homework. A senior is brandishing a 2×2 or similar piece of wood. They are swinging it and is being aggressive and threatening to hurt people that are in the area. They will not comply nor talk to you, and appears to have a mental illness. There are others around, all making noise. Your job, in short order, is to neutralize the situation, ensuring you, the bystanders, and the subject with the least amount of injury possible. C’mon now you have all the answers and I’m talking about real life, not a tv show.
SO THE FUCK WHAT THE OLD MAN APPEARED TO HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS??? So according to Tim aka HRP people with any mental defect shouldn’t be given the same treatment as a “NORMAL” person in the same situation.
Tim aka the Fuss:A woman walking down Barrington St. on any given Saturday evening, wearing a short skirt swinging her purse(because she’s happy) should also be tasered…oh yea…and raped.
He’s an 80 year old man with mental problems. How about one cop distract him and the other one can take the stick out of his hands. Problem solved!!!
Not in cop world. Pepper spray him and while he’s wiping his eyes, taser him, throw him on the ground, jam your knee between his shoulder blades and cuff the motherfucker!! That’s how its done folks. All that’s left is the chest bumps in the locker room. Yeeeaaaaahhhh!!!! Fuck that stupid old man, he deserved it!!!!
Its your job as a cop to put yourself in danger and use critical thinking to keep the mentally ill members of our society safe. Its becoming all too familiar that cops use their last line of defense, first. Its clear that there is a disconnect with police and people who are not responsible for their actions.
I need to add to my dislikes so:
I agree with Tim to a degree because we don’t know the exacts in the case.
We just don’t know how robust or even how agitated the man really was. Was he an immediate danger to himself and others? Was there an opportunity to back off a bit and talk him down?
And I don’t expect a cop to simply put themselves in immediate danger (aka…lucky strike with that stick!) when there are other options.
You’re scared of an 80 year old, mentally disturbed individual? HOW DO YOU THINK THEY FEEL?! They’re likely scared fucking shitless.
This is abuse of power. Power that the Hospital Staff, the Security, the Police, and other mentally healthy individuals ALL have over these people. As it turns out, some of these people don’t know how to use that power responsibly.
tasers seem to have removed cops’ inhibition to use a weapon. when it was guns VS restraining/subduing/holding, guns weren’t used unless as a last resort. but now with tasers, they seem to just jump from arrival at the scene to firing in one leap.
the taser should have the same fallout as firing the gun would. and the same reluctance to use. they were supposed to be a replacement for bullets, not a replacement for restraint.
Not only did they pepper spray him but, they didn’t even tell the hospital ar EMT’s that they did so. So the old guy laid in the hospital hospital for 4-5 hours with his eyes, face, and hands burning. Bravo to Halifaxs’ finest!!!! Would they feel that that was acceptable treatment for one of their family members? Fucking shameful!!!!!
Not everybody has to hide behind a weapon like you, Bro Tim. If cops cannot subdue an 80-year-old without weapons then they shouldn’t be cops. But most cowards and bullies go to the police academy in the hopes that wearing a badge makes them legitimate somehow.
A cop should shoot a kitten and you’d find something to defend the actions somehow. We get it; cops can do no wrong by you – even when they are wrong.