[nfbwatlk] FW: You just never know

[Kaye Kipp]

Oh ouch.  What a nasty experience.

Kaye
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 9:12 AM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] FW: You just never know


>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Altman, Jeff
> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 8:14 AM
> To: NCBVI Everyone
> Subject: You just never know
>
> Police use Taser on blind man, thinking his cane was samurai sword
>
> A blind man carrying a white cane received a 50,000-volt Taser shock from 
> British police who thought his walking stick was a samurai sword.
>
> "It felt like I was grabbing an electricity pylon," 61-year-old Colin 
> Farmer told the BBC 
> <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184 
> <blocked::http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-19979184> > .
>
> Lancashire police officer Stuart Williams said authorities had received 
> several calls describing a man walking through the streets carrying a 
> samurai sword.
>
> "One of the officers who arrived in Chorley believed he had located the 
> offender," Williams said. "Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do 
> so and the officer discharged his Taser."
>
> However, even in offering an explanation, Williams said the police had 
> "deep regrets" over the incident and says the Independent Police 
> Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into the matter.
>
> "We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience, and we are 
> extremely sorry for that," Williams said.
>
> In fact, Farmer says he thought the police were criminals attempting to 
> mug him 
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/17/police-taser-blind-man-stick?CMP=twt_gu 
> <blocked::http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/17/police-taser-blind-man-stick?CMP=twt_gu> 
>  > when the assault took place. He said that once police approached him, he 
> became "absolutely terrified," and repeatedly attempted to inform them 
> that he was blind.
>
> "I walk at a snail's pace. They could have walked past me, driven past me 
> in a van or said: 'Drop your weapon,'" he said.
>
> However, as far-fetched as it may sound, the samurai sword angle did not 
> come out of nowhere. But the reality of the situation was far more mundane 
> as opposed to resembling the plot line of the 1989 Rutger Hauer action 
> film, "Blind Fury." After Williams was taken to a nearby hospital, police 
> later arrested a 27-year-old man who was carrying a samurai sword and was 
> suspected of being drunk and disorderly.
>
> Williams said the police stayed with Farmer at the hospital until he was 
> released and escorted him to a meeting with friends afterward, at his 
> request.
>
> Tom Brennan KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
> web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html 
> <blocked::http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html>
>
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