A Mother's Worst Nightmare...Son Tortured by Law Enforcement

What follows, in her own words, is from Barb Talon, the mother of a young man who was asleep in the wrong place, at the worst of times and was tasered *ten!!* times by York Regional Police.

Whether or not the use of a TASER is an appropriate means of subduing an individual who is persistently incompliant and/or physically aggressive towards law enforcement officers is a debate for another time.

There is no debate, however, about the great responsibility a law officer must take when making the judgment to use such a weapon on a fellow human being. Certainly, there is no truly rational argument that can be made for the tolerance of any excessive use of these weapons on a person. It can be argued that any person who is unjustly tasered, that is they have this weapon used on them when they had not deserved it, is a victim of a crime. Any person, regardless of deserving or not, who has this weapon inflicted upon them excessively, is also a victim.

My son is the victim of both of these shameful situations.

My son followed up a full work week, against his own better judgment, for a night out in downtown Toronto to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Due to his fatigue, he decided to take it easy that night, only having a couple of drinks, followed by a late night meal. Then, he followed my long given advice and his good judgment not to drink and drive, which I learned, much to my relief, when he informed me of this decision just past 3:00 AM. He chose instead to stay over at an friend’s house, on the couch. Unbeknownst to my son was that the house had been under police surveillance.

Shortly after he fell asleep, the police came in to the sleeping area...My son has suffered deep and enduring pain at the hands of those people who are charged with the great responsibility of protecting their fellow humans, our law enforcement officials. The officials in question showed an egregious lack of sound judgment in their initial decision to use this weapon on my son; a profoundly contemptible lack of responsibility when they continued to use the weapon even after my son had been physically incapacitated; and a disturbing lack of human compassion in the continued use of this weapon on my son while he was unconscious, to the point of nearly killing him.

He had been tasered "10" times amongst other injuries...he never knew what for or who had attacked him while he slept, until hours later at the Police Station. He had been asleep for maybe 10 mins.

This is a travesty to Canadian Citizens...we are paying their salaries as Public Officials to bully and taser and yes sometimes kill Human Beings as they see fit...this madness has to stop...anyone that wishes to support honest Citizens against Police Brutality: my son will be appearing in court on May 25th...Newmarket Courthourse...I wonder what will happen on this date as they have no evidence...they know by now what they did...my question is how many others have been tasered and lost their lives and cannot speak for themselves...and my prayers are with their families.

Barb Talon
(my son was asleep and Tasered by Law Enforcement "10" times)