....wow
canadians are getting meaner and meaner...was this even possible?

@carmen89:
ITs all SouthParks fault!!!!!
DAMN THEM TO HELL!!!!

around 20 years ago (in bc) a guy my sister went to school with got shot/killed by the cops for coming out of a house party (that was getting broken up by the cops) drunk and rowdy with a butter knife in his hand. seems to me this old guy got off easy...

Don't taze me youngster!

blame Canada!

As we see here, old people can be dangerous w/household tools, such as Pricing guns.

@undeadmachine: A cop pulled me and my friend once for not properly hanging up the handset in a public telephone.

One hour of constant yelling with threats of arrest and so on. But our cops don't have tasers and donust. They just get bored and hungry.

No word from the hospital staff on this story? -at all?
Just the victim and the police?

I wonder why?

@strider_mt2k: Because they don't discriminate. I would've like seeing the story another way:

'Police tases old man with knife, which in turn caused spasms in the man's arm, severely injuring all the police men. They are all in Intensive Care now.'

surely they could have easilly obtained the knife of him if he was bed bound? Unless it was a chain saw....

It's not a hard equation:

Police indicident + weapon = force used.

They can fight the guy and risk getting stabbed - and also risk breaking a number of his old, brittle bones. Marrow creeps into the blood stream and suddenly he's having a heart attack or a stroke. He's dead.

They can shoot him. He's dead.

They can pepperspray him - involving a long and costly cleanup of the scene by hazmat.

Or the can zap him. He drops the weapon and is restrained quickly. Issue solved.

This isn't Canadians becoming meaner, this is the RCMP doing their job with a minimum of impact on the perp and the environment around him. Every single RCMP cadet gets tased during training - they know what they're handing out. I'd rather have that than a broken arm or jaw.

Addy, who are you to critique the actions of police officers?... Let me get this straight. you are an expert how again? The officers with years of on the job experience combined with highly specialized training, compared to your perceived insights on anecdotal information and bare facts of the incident after the fact, coupled with your expertise of..... gadgets?!? Right. (rolls eyes....) I guess the possibility of a police officer getting stabbed or cut (no matter how small or insignificant the wound, coupled with the risk of catching a disease due to a possibility of fluid exchange...) is ok with you while trying to wrestle away a knife from a delusional ill old man (who could already CUT HIMSELF!), as long as the man brandishing the knife doesn't get hurt?... versus, just taising him and getting him to relinquish the knife that way while also avoiding any permaneant harm to all parties involved isn't ok?...

I guess it's all about perception... My dad is a retired cop, and if you had to hear half of his horror stories growing up that I did about working a beat here in So-Cal, then you probably probably would have done the same (not to say that my dad would have done the same)... My grandfather is 87 btw, and the dude is scrappy. He too carries a knife, and at 87 after surviving both Diabetes and testicular cancer, I wouldn't want to f@#k with him... Older people are still people, capable of amazing and terrible things. F.Y.I. and just incase you missed the news flash people are living to be way older and healthier nowadays. And as a result, doing things that people their age wouldn't have done years ago at the same age. Like, having lots of unprotected sex thanks to the advent of pharmaceuticals like Viagra. Want to REALLY look at Grandma in a new light, or what that 'nice' old man next to you at the bus stop that you sometimes chat up is all about? I dare you to Google venereal disease's and old people....

Still want to try to wrestle that knife from that "grandpa" looking man? Thought so... Please stick to the gadget stories...

@Ambigous Blob: Where did I say that the Mounties actions were wrong? Try reading the last sentence of my post again.

@Ambigous Blob: HEy, she can critique whoever the hell she wants, you people always have done it with this website(the apple fanboyness) I just look past that and still enjoy this site.(and no I didnt finish reading your comment, because its just ummmm, yea im going to leave now)
Now Addy, if you will please critique the police officers who shot a C.I.A agent......

@Addy Dugdale:Damn U beat me.

I read the whole article actually. It's the tone I took issue with. It's the way it's written that I didn't like. I read in between the lines, and it seemed very slanted and skewed, and just a little unfair when speaking about the officers in question in this incident. That first paragraph in fact almost seems like a indictment don't you think?...

-mike

@Simpsons-Movie-ruled: you win The Prize for somehow working in Apple Fanboys.

@ simpsons, you're right. Absolutely one hundred percent right. However, if someone doesn't agree with an article, then they are free to write and critique it in turn however they want afterwards! It's part of what makes the internet great, and the "Comments" section on site a like Gizmodo even greater! Any time you write something in/on a public forum it's open to interpretation and debate. Ultimately it's the reader who matters. Whenever you write something, you always have to keep your audience in mind! If it's not clear, or is a little open for interpretation deviating from your intended message or idea, then bad on you.

I'm just saying is all. That was the first lesson (and most important) lesson I learned in the remedial English writing class I had to take in college a few semesters ago... @ Addy keep up the good work and please don't take this personally!

@matto: YAY!!!!!
I've always wanted to do something like that.
Ok, id like to thank my parents for bribing my skoo to pass me onto the 10th grade,and all the gizmodo staff, and of course....
@Ambigous Blob: YOu too sir are correct.

How is this post in any way related to Gizmodo as a gadget blog? I mean.. aside from the fact that Tazers use electricity, this is a completely irrelevant story for Gizmodo. Tazers have been around for more than a decade now, so what makes this relevant?? Between this kind of story, and all the NSFW stories about nude Wii playing and your recent editorial fascination with sex toys, and that BS stunt you guys pulled at CES with turning off the TV's ([gizmodo.com]), I think Gizmodo's editorial judgment has seriously deteriorated over the past couple of months. A sense of humor is fine... childish pranks, poor quality control, and bad editorial judgment is not.

@ Simpsons, waitaminute, who said I was a Applefanboy!?!?!!?!?!....

How dare you.......

.....reveal my dirty little secret!!!!.... Who squealed? Heads will role!

So what, he got tazed. Beats getting shot. You're not supposed to carry knives into hospitals anyway. I don't see what the deal is.

@jrlittlejr:
Your panties are still in a bunch over CES? -REALLY?
That was a tempest in a teapot!
Wow.
Even I'M over my anger at Gizmodo whoring themselves out to the iPhone, and I swore off of this place for about 2 weeks because of it.
Dude, learn to forgive and move on.
Life is too short!

Even "legitimate" "news" sources are scraping the bottom of the barrel nowadays.
What standard are you holding the gadget blogs to?

Why did he still have pants? Why was it less dangerous to reach in and touch his torso 3 times than to grab his arm, or God forbid just bide your time and talk him down? Did he have a record of violence? Was he issuing threats? Why three tasings? Surely they could have disarmed him shortly after the first. I'm normally pretty pro law enforcement, but there are a lot of questions here.

Good post, Addie. We'd go nuts if we had nothing to read but cell phone specs.

Ambigous Blob you are an idiot. plane and simple and im sure your father was a shitty cop. for the readers that do not live in canada, our police officers have been going alittle crazy with their tasers as of late. alot of canadian cities have banned them due to how dangerous they are including here in regina. Last year a man in an airport was killed by a police officer by use of a taser because he was panicking. He was from Poland and just finished flying half way around the world and was separated from his english speaking mother. Since he was panicking and stressed out, the police killed him by use of taser. That is fact. Was in intentional probably not but that is what happend. Now they are at it again. The man was 82!!! and in a hospital bed!!! They knew he had problems!!!! So 3 trained young men tased him(bro). Yes gizmodo is a gadget site but that doesnt mean they cant point out when something is wrong!

I'm not condoning the use of Tasers in situations like this, but I hate it when people blame the Taser. Banning Tasers will not help. The alternatives to a Taser are a baton or gun.
Batons are much worse than Tasers, as are guns, obviously. People don't understand that with Tasers, it hurts for only as long as the current is going through you. Afterwards you are perfectly fine, if a bit (pardon the pun) shocked. This is why police may have to use it several times and then the public gets all up-in-arms. If you are beaten with a baton, it hurts during, and your bruises/broken bones will hurt afterwards. My dad, who is an RCMP officer, said he'd personally rather be Tasered than the alternatives, and he has been, as have a lot of police officers. Sure, some people are killed by Tasers, but they are usually people who otherwise would have hurt themselves or others or who would have been shot and killed anyway.

Funny, I live in Kamloops. I didn't read the jump (because I already read it in the local paper), but the old man who got tased did indicate to the officers that a patient who was sleeping nearby was dead, and the cops didn't know at the time if the old man was the one who killed him. I would have tased his ass too. In any case, the man is fine and isn't being treated for anything other than his craziness.

@The Sword Master: well, no, there is plenty of evidence that cops are using Tasers in situations where guns or batons would not be used, specifically because they're less harmful. Lower consequences lead to greater risk of misuse.

Tasers do have potential as non-lethal tools for cops, but they have to come with a LOT more training and more procedural requirements for appropriate use.

@ Jad, cool, dude! Your opinion is one among many, that doesn't necessarily make yours any more valid than mine.

Intelligent response by the way, though I don't think I'll resort to name calling. Instead, I'll give you some facts. My father, by the way, was a great cop and just recently retired with over 30 years of service to the community and police station as a Watch Commander. More recently he attained his Master's Degree in Social Work at the age of 55 (with my mom at the same time, who is currently also working as a full time social worker in her county by handling both adoptions and foster care), and is still serving the community by helping the homeless in our community as a advocate with a local police department, where he does extensive one on one work with the homeless. At times he's even given them rides in his car (their county doesn't have it in their budget to afford county cars for social workers, and something I would never do!) for appointments (that they may not have been able to attend due to a lack of transportation!) and even given them money to help fill prescriptions! All said and done, I think that I can objectionably state that he's as close to a saint as you can get these days. Did I mention that he's not my biological father either, but instead adopted my brother and I at the age of 10 and 12 (respectively)?....

What have you and your father done btw? If the two of you combined did half of what my father has managed to accomplish in service of your community in all your lives up to this point, then I'd be mightily impressed. So, pardon me If I'm instead content to just sit here and laugh my ass at your silly arguments! Please leave my family out of your pitiful attempts to bring me down to your juvenile level btw. Please work on your critical reading skills too. I think that if you re-read my initial post you'll see that I stated (in parenthesis), "not to say that my dad would have done the same"... In the mean time flame on dude if it makes you happy! :)

@hooked-on-tronics: I read the article, and MUCH was omitted. This is just a plea for sympathy by an old man.

The cops here in Canada are pretty taser-happy, as Jad35 pointed out. They are supposed to be used in place of a gun when possible, and this situation hardly warrants the use of a firearm.

Why not just back out of the room a bit, and try to talk the old guy down? Or just punch him in the face?

Ambigous Blob is an idiot.

BTW, the "idiot" reference is for the paragraph that starts: "Addy, who are you to critique the actions of police officers..."

The rest of your posts are all right.

@carmen89: they're just learning from you americans.

@photophile: hey, at least our cops use tasers NOT guns to shoot people.

@ Hooked-on-tronics
That's the impression that I got. It felt like a bit of the critical information about the story was left out, however I wasn't able to confirm it with out reading the reference. TBH I didn't bother hitting the link to the original source, Though i wish I had before I posted. :/ I hate going off half cocked, though thankfully I didn't this one time...

@ photophile, thanks, I think... I don't know if i should feel offended or flattered. Don't really care either way.

In case anyone is interested, here's the story from someone other than a delerious old man: [www.bclocalnews.com]

@ Ambigous Blob

Look, none of us were there. However, I feel fairly confident that there is no good reason to taser an 82 year old man while he is lying on his back in a hospital bed. Before typing this I actually consulted two police officer friends - both agreed with me on the fact that three officers should be able to nonviolently remove a knife from a delusional 82 year old bed ridden man without anyone getting hurt. The officers over reacted, and put that mans life at risk by doing so. Someone in their 20's can take a taser shot like a champ. Someone in their 80's? That could be fatal.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but let's base those opinions in fact. The facts here are that three trained police officers all chose to taser an 82 year old man in his hospital bed. He wasn't lunging at them with the knife, or threatening anyone - from what it sounds like, he was disoriented.... and probably not in peak physical condition if he was in a hospital bed. My opinion based on those facts? The mounties need to calm down a little bit, and learn to use nonviolent methods when applicable.

Tasers - another prime example of the pnssification of the world.

Mounties used to actually subdue people with their barehands. Now they taze indiscriminately - cause pain and sometimes death. In one case, in Vancouver airport - it was taze first ask questions later - which didn't work out so well when the guy they tazed died.

My tax dollars at work..

@ What The Geek.
True Dat and fair enough.
However, when you only get a one sided emotional account of event that has been reported on more reputable sources with all of the facts surrounding the incident presented in a fair, balanced, and objectionable manor; then you have to question is your news source. I know this is just a gadget blog, however when did the standards become so low in journalism that you could report in this manor and totally twist a story so far and one sided that the facts of the full case become negligible at best, by the author? I'm sorry Addy, I was trying to avoid doing this in a public forum like this, but I think that it was this that really upset me initially, and prompted me to react the way I did (sorry). Ultimately I was trying to avoid addressing this, however the more and more I think about it and the more I respond the madder I get. I mean I know this isn't as sinister or grand as photo-shopping an OJ Simpson photo for a Time cover or anything like that, however if you're going to write articles then do so responsibly and factually. That's mainly why I think these types of articles should stay off of Gizmodo! It's a gadget site, and not a news site! There needs to be some sort of division between these types of articles, or else all it is that you're publishing is tantamount to libel, and nobody wants that, least of all Gizmodo. I think BLam and his crew need to get together and refocus, or at the very least instate some sort of accountability for it's contributers. This is not OK, acceptable, and definitely not something you ignore. For the life of me I don't know how more of you, like myself and hooked-on-tronics, aren't more upset by this? More importantly, when did Gizmodo become a rag like the Enquire?...

This was completely unnecessary, come on people, (esp. ambiguous Bob), what if they had tased your Dad under identical circumstances? AB I am sure that your father is a good guy, but that does not make you an expert either. Ask him what HE would have done and let us know.

I used to work at maximum security penitentiaries here in Canada, and the guards would subdue unruly inmates all the time - and can you believe it!!! Without a taser. They would just wade in, it just takes some guts and some training.

I heard and interview with the old man, he was sick and not getting enough oxegen, he was out of it.

They could have just stepped back and talked to this guy. Or they could have taken the other patient out and just closed the door. Jesus they have bullet proof vests and you can be sure that these were big guys. And that line about "contaminating the whole hospital" with pepper spray is ridiculous nonsense, it's impossible. It's fucking pepper spray, not WMD. They had no need to pepper spray him either.

This was cowardly, this was wrong, and based on the bad press they are getting it was stupid, and only tarnished a force that used to have a lot of respect before they started terminating Polish immigrants at the airport.

Where's your heart guys? This guy was law abiding citizen all his life. This was not a crack head in an alley.

Oh, I'm sure he probably wouldn't have done it. He probably would have bear slapped the guy or something. Now would have I? Probably, but does that make me a bad guy?.... I'm not a cop, so it's hard to say.