Report on tasering of diabetic suggests police consult paramedics

August 13, 2009
The Canadian Press

An internal police review of how Nova Scotia police officers used a stun gun to control a struggling diabetic says paramedics should be consulted if "the situation permits."

The medical director of Emergency Health Services said last year that paramedics were discussing a glucose injection to calm the man in the Sept. 14, 2008, incident when police from Amherst caught them off guard by jolting the patient.

The review released yesterday by Amherst Police Chief Charles Rushton says the use of the taser in the incident was "consistent with national and international standards."

But he says that as a result of his review, Amherst police will change their policy on stun gun use to ensure improved communication between officers and paramedics in similar situations.

The chief says the decision on whether to use the stun gun "must always remain with the police officer who holds the responsibility to deploy the device."

Still, the new policy will state, "where the police are called upon to assist the EHS, and the situation permits, the officer shall consult with the paramedics to ensure the Taser is the most viable alternative in controlling an aggressive patient."

The report says paramedics called officers to the home in Amherst when they were unable to keep the patient's arm and body still as he went through diabetic shock.

"At some point during this process one of the paramedics indicated that he was aware that they would have to try something different," the report says.

"When questioned on whether he [the paramedic] relayed this information to the other people present he indicated he verbally told them.

"When asked, 'Who did you tell to stop controlling the patient?' the paramedic responded, 'It was just general - OK, guys let him be, we will try something different.' When asked what was the officers' response, the paramedic responded, 'Nothing.' "

Chief Rushton writes that officers think they "heard a voice say, 'No,' or something to that effect," as they applied the device.

An officer is quoted as saying this occurred "at the exact same time I applied the touch stun and I didn't know at the time to whom the voice was speaking."

Moments after being stunned, the man rolled on his side, and the medics were able to inject the required glucose in his left arm.

Dr. Andrew Travers, the medical director of EHS, has said the paramedics would have advised against using a stun gun on the man if local police had asked.

Details of the incident emerged last fall after the man's wife said she became concerned for her husband when she couldn't wake him up, so she checked his blood sugar and found it was low.

She called 911 when the 34-year-old man started coughing and was having difficulty breathing. As he awoke, he wouldn't let the paramedics administer an intravenous, so they asked police officers who had been sent to the home to assist them.

The woman, whose name was withheld, left the room but said she ran back into it when she heard officers warning they were about to use the taser. She said she asked the officers not to use the device.
After the taser was applied, the medication was administered, the man's blood sugars rose and he calmed down, the report says.

The report's recommendations state that the paramedics, "should receive a debriefing by the Amherst Police, outlining police use of force options including the use of the Taser."

And it concludes with a recommendation that "communication should be improved between police and Emergency Health Services personnel. Paramedics and police must know each others' expectations and requirements in given situations."

Bobby Brown, director of field operations for EHS, said he'll take some time to review the findings. However, he agreed with the main recommendation that paramedics should be asked for their medical knowledge in similar situations.

Chief: Officers right to Taser diabetic

December 3, 2008
By TOM McCOAG, The Chronicle Herald

AMHERST — Amherst police officers who used a stun gun on a man suffering from hypoglycemia in September were properly following procedure, the town’s police chief says.

"I have received the investigation conducted by our Taser trainers," Chief Charles Rushton said Tuesday. "It shows the officers involved followed federal, provincial and Amherst Police Department guidelines," Chief Charles Rushton said Tuesday.

He said it would be improper to comment further because his review of the Sept. 14 incident isn’t finished.

"I have just received more information and I want to ensure the review is as thorough as it can be," Chief Rushton said. "I expect it will be ready in two to three weeks."

The completed report will then be presented to the Amherst police commission, he said.

Provincial guidelines leave the decision to use a Taser in the hands of police officers at the scene but suggest the stun gun only be discharged "where a subject exhibits behaviour consistent with aggressive or violent resistance or active threat that may cause serious injury to the police officer, the subject or the public."

The Amherst incident made headlines in September when the man’s wife demanded an inquiry. She said she couldn’t believe police would zap someone suffering from hypoglycemia.

The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the chief’s statement Tuesday because she had not heard him make it.

"I have not talked to them, so I don’t think I should say anything," she said.

In September, she told The Chronicle Herald that her children couldn’t wake up her diabetic husband, so she checked his blood sugar, found it was the lowest she’d ever seen it, and called paramedics.

She acknowledged that her six-foot, 230-pound husband would not keep still for the paramedics and they asked for her permission to call police for help in restraining him. His life was in danger and they needed to get an IV into him quickly, they said.

She left the room as police arrived and didn’t hear any signs of a struggle but soon heard an officer warning her husband that he would be Tasered. By the time she got back to the room, her husband had been jolted with the stun gun and was sitting up, crying.

Paramedics were able to insert the IV but the man refused to go to the hospital. He eventually recovered. The woman maintained that the improvement in her husband’s behaviour was the result of a glucose shot, not from being Tasered.

Her husband didn’t remember the incident and wanted it forgotten, she said. But she said she wanted an independent inquiry because she couldn’t believe police would use a stun gun on a sick man.

She did not get the external review she asked for, but police did launch an internal inquiry as provincial guidelines require.

Readers sent dozens of letters to The Chronicle Herald and its website condemning police for their actions.

While the incident was the first reported case in Nova Scotia of a stun gun being used on a diabetic with hypoglycemia, the Internet is full of stories about it happening elsewhere.

In London, England, in November 2007, police stunned a man in a diabetic coma because they thought he was a suicide bomber, the Daily Mail reported. And a February 2005 story in the Sentinel, a daily newspaper in Pennsylvania, detailed how police Tasered a diabetic man who was disoriented because of low blood sugar. The article quoted Dr. Richard Hornichter, a Los Angeles expert on diabetes, saying that Taser shocks are no more dangerous to a diabetic than to anybody else.

Police chief says officers were right to taser diabetic

December 2, 2008
The Canadian Press

AMHERST, N. S. -- Police officers in Amherst, N. S., followed proper procedure when they used a Taser on a struggling, combative man who was going into diabetic shock, the town's police chief said Monday after reviewing a new report on the violent incident.

Charles Rushton said the report confirms his officers didn't break any rules.

On Sept. 14, an unidentified Amherst woman called 911 when her husband's blood sugar dropped and he started having difficulty breathing.

When paramedics arrived, they called police after the 34-year-old man became combative and refused to let them administer an intravenous tube.

The director of the province's emergency services, Dr. Andrew Travers, later said paramedics were discussing the glucose injection to calm the man when local police caught them off guard by jolting him with the stun gun.

Travers, the medical director of Emergency Health Services, said the paramedics would have advised against using a stun gun on the 220-pound man if local police had asked.

The woman said she was shocked by what happened and she later complained to police.

"I left the room because it was very crowded and I was upset," the woman said at the time. "All of a sudden, I heard the officers telling him they were going to taser him. I ran down the hall yelling to them, `He doesn't understand,' but they zapped him anyway .. I told them to get out of my house ... After that an IV was put in."

Still, Rushtown said Monday he has told the town's police commission that the review of the incident determined that the use of the Taser fell within the guidelines of the provincial, federal and Amherst police policies.

Taser report in Amherst police chief’s hands

November 3, 2008
DARRELL COLE, Amherst Daily News

AMHERST – A review of police activities during the Tasering of an Amherst man in diabetic shock, is in the hands of Amherst’s police chief. "The investigation is complete and I received the report on Monday. I’ve read through it once briefly, but I'd really like to study it to ensure that any of the comments and recommendations contained in it are valid,” chief Charles Rushton said Friday.

Rushton said it will likely be several weeks before he’s in a position to comment on its findings and recommendations, adding that one of the things he wants to do is compare the review’s findings with that of other incidents involving energy weapons. "It’s probably going to take another two to three weeks,” he said.

The chief has the option of sending the report back to the investigators for further information if there’s anything he’s not clear on. It’s also likely he will discuss the report with the town’s board of police.

The chief would not comment on the findings, but said he’d be willing to discuss it once he has completed a thorough review of the report and its recommendations.

An unidentified Amherst woman complained last month after her 34-year-old husband was shocked by a police officer. Fearing for her husband’s safety after he went into diabetic shock, she called paramedics who in turn called police when the man became combative.

At the time of the incident, Naylor said, officers warned the man before he was touch-tased. Officers, he added, only used it as a last resort when the man kept breaking free. He said the officers were afraid he could become a danger to himself, the paramedics and the officers.

Review of taser use on diabetic continues

October 3, 2008
The Amherst Citizen

AMHERST – Amherst Police are continuing their review into an incident in which a 34-year-old man was tasered while receiving treatment for diabetic shock.

Deputy Chief Ian Naylor is unsure how long the review will take or whether its findings will be publicized, but suggested the results of the review — which takes place every time a Taser is used — will be thorough and will look at how it was used in this instance.

An unidentified woman spoke out against the use of Tasers after her husband was shocked by a police officer on Sept. 14.

Minister not part of taser review

September 26, 2008
Metro Halifax

AMHERST Justice Minister Cecil Clarke is not going to intervene in a review of Taser use being conducted by the Amherst Police Department following their use on a patient in medical distress.

“Everything I’m aware of is it (fell) within the standards and the department is doing its followup and due diligence on the matter,” Clarke said.

The minister’s comments come a few days after Amherst Police confirmed officers used a Taser on a man in diabetic shock who was resisting treatment by paramedics.

Editorial: Don’t taser the patients

September 25, 2008
The Chronicle Herald

IN JULY, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said this province was "poised to be a world leader in the safe and prudent use" of Tasers by law enforcement officers.

On Tuesday, Mr. Clarke said he had no problem with the recent, controversial actions of Amherst police, who Tasered a local diabetic – disoriented and combative due to extremely low blood sugar – after being called to assist with an emergency medical situation at the man’s home.

It’s likely safe to say the world will not be looking to Nova Scotia for leadership on this issue anytime soon.

Mr. Clarke might have been more "prudent," to use his earlier language, if he had awaited the results of an internal Amherst police review of the Sept. 14 incident before exonerating the officers.

It might also have been wise for Mr. Clarke to consider that spokespeople for Emergency Health Services – who had asked for assistance in dealing with an unco-operative patient – have said they would never advise Tasering a diabetic in that situation. In fact, EHS spokesman Paul Maynard said police never asked paramedics at the scene whether using the Taser would be helpful. He said once paramedics realized police intended to use the Taser, the officers ignored their verbal attempts to prevent the weapon from being fired. All of this took place in a matter of seconds, Mr. Maynard said.

The justice minister’s July comments came as he accepted all the recommendations of a ministerial review on Taser use in Nova Scotia, a review which said an absence of usage data made it impossible to say if the weapon was being used in an appropriate way. At that time, Mr. Clarke outlined strict rules for police Taser use, although he, as did the review, rejected calls for a moratorium.

We believed then, and maintain now, that was a mistake. Given public lack of confidence in police Taser use, after a series of highly publicized misuses of the stun gun across the country – including the deaths of some of those Tasered – and the lack of clear standards in Nova Scotia, the prudent course would have been to holster the weapon for the time being.

It’s frankly appalling that Amherst police, called to assist in a medical emergency, not at a crime scene, would consider firing a weapon at the person whose health is in distress.

Diabetics whose blood sugar reaches dangerously low levels often become disoriented and combative. To argue, as some who defend the police have, that the man could not be controlled by several officers and therefore posed a danger to himself and others is to suggest medical staff don’t have alternate ways to deal with such unco-operative patients. On the contrary. Paramedics, nurses and other health professionals have handled similar situations for years. And none, to our knowledge, has ever had to reach for a Taser.

Which is what happened. After realizing setting up an IV wouldn’t be possible in the circumstances, the paramedics gave the patient an injection of glucose, which calmed the man almost immediately.

EHS officials rightly say they plan to set up a protocol with police forces concerning Taser use in medical calls. How about "don’t Taser the patients"?

In the meantime, police who are called to help in medical situations should look to the trained health care experts on the scene to lead on how best they can be of assistance.

Doctor questions use of taser on man in insulin shock

September 25, 2008
THE AMHERST DAILY NEWS

An Amherst physician is questioning police’s use of energy weapons following an incident in which a man in insulin shock was Tasered. “For the life of me, I can’t understand the rationale behind using this weapon in this situation,” said Dr. Brian Ferguson. “You have a man with a dangerously low blood sugar and two paramedics and two or three police officers couldn’t control him?”

Amherst police officers used the Taser on a 34-year-old diabetic man who wouldn’t stay still while paramedics tried to put in an intravenous line.

Ferguson is not blaming the officers for using the weapon, but feels those who use it have to understand the risks associated with using it on someone with a medical or mental condition. “If you’re on certain medications that affect heartbeat or have a genetic connection to that, an electric shock can kill you,” Ferguson said.

New protocol was followed - Minister won't intervene in taser case

September 25, 2008
DARRELL COLE, The Amherst Daily News

AMHERST - Justice Minister Cecil Clarke is not going to intervene in a review of Taser use being conducted by the Amherst Police Department following the recent shocking of a patient in medical distress.

"The local department has its own review process and my understanding from talking to the chief of police there is that the new governance standards were followed," Clarke said. "Everything I'm aware of is it falled within the standards and the department is doing its followup and due diligence on the matter."

The minister's comments come a few days after Amherst Police confirmed its officers used a Taser on a man in diabetic shock who was resisting treatment by EHS paramedics.

The man's wife, who spoke on the condition of withholding her identity, is calling for an inquiry into Taser use so no one else will have to go through what her husband did.

Clarke suggested giving the department time to conduct its review and said the man who was tased by police and his family have the right to complain to the police complaints commission.

The minister also took exception to comments made by Liberal justice critic Michel Samson, who called on him to clearly define appropriate protocol for using the device.

"There is a protocol in place and the changes we have put in place are based on the two reviews we completed. Nova Scotia has completed one of the most comprehensive reviews in Canada," the minister said. "Mr. Samson is wrong and is misinformed about the fact the standards have changed. There is a strict criteria with regards to the imminent threat to members of the public or law enforcement officials and others and it was followed."

In July, the province completed the second part of a ministerial review of the policies and use of conductive energy devices. The 36-page review contained 16 recommendations from an advisory panel that looked at policies and procedures governing the use of Tasers.

Diabetic man zapped by police as he resisted paramedics’ treatment

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said the officer’s decision to use the stun gun was in compliance with Canadian standards. And WHAT CANADIAN STANDARDS would those be?! There ARE NO Canadian standards!

One of the people who commented on this news item said - and I can only agree: "Unbelieveable. So now what we are seeing is a God given right for police to exert a dangerous level of control over individuals who not only present combative behaviour but for medically induced combative behaviour as well. What has this world come to?"

September 24, 2008
By TOM McCOAG, The Chronicle Herald

AMHERST — An Amherst woman wants an inquiry into why police Tasered her diabetic husband as paramedics treated him.

"I just can’t believe they’d Taser an obviously sick man," the woman said Tuesday. She agreed to an interview but asked that neither she nor her husband be named.

The incident began shortly before 2 p.m. on Sept. 14 after the man’s children couldn’t wake him. "I checked his blood sugars. It measured 1.4 on the scale and it should read around eight," the distraught woman said, her voice trembling. "I’d never seen it that low before."

She attempted to boost her husband’s blood-sugar level by giving him some maple sugar, but he began making strange noises that scared her. "I called 911. They came really quick."

She admitted that her husband, who is six feet tall and 230 pounds, wasn’t keeping still for paramedics. They asked her if it was all right to call the Amherst Police Department because they needed to get an IV into him quickly. She agreed.

Four officers arrived and went into the bedroom. She left because the small room was becoming crowded. "I didn’t hear any sounds of a struggle when I heard an officer scream, ‘I’m going to Taser you. I’m going to Taser you,’ " the woman said. "I ran down the hall screaming ‘No’ when I heard the zap. When I got into the room, he was sitting up holding his side, crying."

After a few minutes, she said her husband calmed down enough to be given an IV. But she said the change in her husband’s disposition was the result of a glucose shot, not the result of being zapped with a stun gun. Paramedics offered to take him to the hospital, but he refused. "He doesn’t remember anything about the incident, is feeling fine now and is back at work," the woman said. "He really wants the whole thing dropped and we aren’t planning on suing anyone."

But she doesn’t understand why officers Tasered her husband, who has been a diabetic for 12 years.

Paul Maynard, spokesman for Emergency Health Services, said Tuesday that paramedics were trying to give the man an IV for a life-threatening diabetic condition when police were called because of the man’s combative nature. "It’s not unusual for someone to become combative when blood sugars are low," Mr. Maynard said. But he said this is the first time that he knew of where an officer has Tasered a man after paramedics were on the scene.

"I don’t know why they would have Tasered him," Mr. Maynard said. "That is a question you will have to ask the police. But it is not something that would have been recommended by the paramedics."

Deputy Police Chief Ian Naylor said the department is conducting an internal review, as required under provincial guidelines, adopted in July, involving Taser use.

On the afternoon of the incident, paramedics called police "to assist them with a combative 34-year-old man who required immediate medical assistance," Deputy Chief Naylor said. Officers attempted to restrain the man, with one officer holding each of the man’s arms and a third holding his legs, the deputy chief said. The man continued to struggle, sat up, lifted the officer holding his legs into the air and attempted to bite an officer holding an arm, he said.

"The officers were unable to control the man due to his size and strength. The officers were concerned that if he did break free, he would be a danger to himself, the . . . paramedics and the officers."

The struggle lasted about five minutes before the man was warned that the stun gun would be used if he did not calm down, the deputy chief said. He said the man kept struggling, so "a touch stun was applied to the man’s left side for approximately one second. Shortly after, the man’s resistance decreased and paramedics were able to treat" him.

Deputy Chief Naylor said the review is still underway so he could not say if the Taser caused the man to stop struggling. "All I know at this stage is that shortly after the Taser was applied, the paramedics were able to give him the medication he needed."

Deputy Chief Naylor said the public needs to know that the officers were told by paramedics that the man was facing a life-threatening situation and needed to be subdued quickly for medical treatment.

The officer who Tasered the man was trained to use the stun gun last summer. Officers must undergo Taser training every 36 months.

Provincial guidelines leave the decision to use a Taser in the hands of officers at the scene but indicate it can only be discharged "where a subject exhibits behaviour consistent with aggressive or violent resistance or active threat that may cause serious injury to the police officer, the subject or the public."

"If the province decides that (the incident) should be reviewed by an outside agency, we will co-operate," the deputy chief said.

Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said he has no problem with the actions of the Amherst officers. "It’s my understanding that all of the appropriate governance criteria have been met with regards to that case," Mr. Clarke said. He said the officer’s decision to use the stun gun was in compliance with Canadian standards. Police must determine the potential for threat on a case-by-case basis, he said.

New Democrat justice critic Bill Estabrooks would like to see better guidelines for Taser use. Mr. Estabrooks said he isn’t questioning the officer’s judgment, "but what I am questioning is the use of Tasers again in an inappropriate manner basically to sedate a patient. Maybe it would have been a situation where if he’d been allowed to calm down or if his blood-sugar level was that low, I would assume that he would have basically passed out or gone to sleep or whatever."

Liberal critic Michel Samson is not impressed that a 911 call regarding a man in medical distress ended up with that man Tasered. "Due to the lack of protocol from the minister of justice and the government on the use of Tasers, our law enforcement officials are left at a disadvantage, having to make a determination on their own as to when these Tasers are to be used."

With Dan Arsenault, crime reporter

Review held on use of stun gun during NS medical emergency

September 24, 2008
The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Paramedics were discussing a glucose injection to calm a struggling diabetic when police in Amherst, N.S., caught them off guard by jolting their patient with a stun gun, the director of the province's emergency services said Tuesday.

Dr. Andrew Travers, the medical director of Emergency Health Services, said the paramedics would have advised against using a stun gun on the man if local police had asked. "The paramedics would come back and say there's other ways we can approach this," he said in an interview.

Details of the incident on Sept. 14 emerged Tuesday after the man's wife told the Amherst Daily News that she grew concerned for her husband when she couldn't wake him up, so she checked his blood sugar and found it was low. She called 911 when the 34-year-old man started coughing and was having difficulty breathing. As he awoke, he wouldn't let the paramedics administer an intravenous, so they asked police officers who had been sent to the home to help.

"I left the room because it was very crowded and I was upset," the woman, whose name was withheld, told the Amherst Daily News. "All of a sudden I heard the officers telling him they were going to Tase him. I ran down the hall yelling to them, 'He doesn't understand,' but they zapped him anyway. "I told them to get out of my house. They stood in the hallway for a while and then left. After that an IV was put in."

Travers said that the two paramedics called the emergency medical centre in Halifax to indicate the 220-pound man was difficult to approach. The centre sent a team of three officers to assist.

Deputy chief Ian Naylor of the Amherst police force said when the officers arrived, the man wouldn't allow the paramedics to apply the IV, so two officers held his arms and a third sat on his legs. When he struggled, one of the officers fired the stun gun for one second into the man's abdomen, said Naylor.

The police decision to use the device came moments after the paramedics said they were giving up on the IV, said Travers. "They couldn't put an intravenous in because he was moving around too much. So the paramedics said, 'Can we give this alternative therapy?' and as they were saying this the police made the decision to Taser the patient," Travers said.

They decided to use a needle to treat the man instead, he added. "When they realized that an IV wasn't going to work, the paramedics had realized that an injection by a small needle might reverse the process." After the needle was administered, the man's blood sugars rose, and he calmed down, said Travers.

The paramedics then provided the man with several tablets to raise his blood sugar levels and they stayed with him for about an hour. He decided not to go to the hospital.

Naylor said a full internal review will be completed on the incident and the statements by the paramedics will be taken into account. "I'm not aware of that specific information, but part of our internal review of the process would be to obtain information from the Emergency Medical Service they might have," he said.

Naylor said officers only applied the stun gun when they felt he was a danger to himself or others. "The officers did apply physical restraint. That included three police officers. There was one officer at each shoulder and one on the legs," he said. "Because of the man size and strength they couldn't control him. The third officer on the officer's legs was literally picked up in the air."

Naylor said the officers considered other options, and decided the one-second "touch stun" would be the most effective. Naylor said every incident involving a stun gun is reviewed.

Meanwhile, the man's wife said her husband bit off part of his tongue during the incident and couldn't walk for three days. "I am very upset and feel he was Tasered for no reason. It was cruel for them to do that considering the state he was in," she said. The woman said her husband is a big man but is not a risk to anyone. "The scream that came out of my husband when he was Tasered was the worst thing I have heard in my life."

Dr. Mark Kroll, the head of the medical advisory committee at Taser corporation, said the use of the device by the police may have been the best choice. "If somebody has significantly low blood sugar, and its so low they're not functioning, they need to be taken under control so their life can be saved," he said in a telephone interview.

Kroll noted that using a Taser wouldn't have any impact on the diabetes itself.

"The alternatives are clubbing, pepper spraying and wrestling. ... It would appear to me that the electronic control device would be the safer approach because it resolves the conflict most quickly."

Nova Scotia woman wants stun gun review after sick husband zapped during medical emergency

September 23, 2008
The Canadian Press

AMHERST — A Nova Scotia woman wants the Amherst police department to review its use of stun guns after a recent incident that saw her husband zapped by one of the conductive energy weapons during a medical emergency.

The Amherst woman, who asked that her identity be withheld, said she grew concerned for her husband last Sunday when she could not wake him up. She checked his blood sugar and found his level was only 1.4, normal blood sugar is between four and six.

When the 34-year-old man started coughing and having difficulty breathing, she called 911 and paramedics were quick to respond. However, as he was waking up he was not letting the parmedics administer an IV, and they asked for police help.

"I left the room because it was very crowded and I was upset," the woman told the Amherst Daily News. "All of a sudden I heard the officers telling him they were going to tase him. I ran down the hall yelling to them, `he doesn't understand,' but they zapped him anyway. I told them to get out of my house. They stood in the hallway for a while and then left. After that an IV was put in."

Amherst deputy police chief Ian Naylor said officers only applied the stun gun when they felt he was a danger to himself or others. "He struggled with the officers and attempted to break free. He was able to sit up and kick his legs even though he was being restrained. He was also trying to bite one of the officers," Naylor said.

"The officers were unable to control him because of his size and strength and the officers were concerned that if he did break free he would be a danger to himself, the officers and . . . paramedics."

Naylor said the man was warned before the stun gun was applied, adding that he was only touched by the device for one second. "The Taser was used as a last resort when other use-of-force options available to officers were ineffective," he said.

Naylor said every incident involving a stun gun is reviewed.

Meanwhile, the woman said her husband bit off part of his tongue during the incident and couldn't walk for three days. She believes the stun gun had something to do with it. "I am very upset and feel he was tasered for no reason. It was cruel for them to do that considering the state he was in," she said, adding she realizes her husband is a big man but is no risk to anyone and didn't deserve to be treated that way.

"He needed their help and was treated cruelly. The scream that came out of my husband when he was tasered was the worst thing I have heard in my life."