B.C. human rights group concerned about use of stun gun on child

A human rights group says it would be hard to justify using a stun gun on a child and it’s concerned about such a case in B.C.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says there are still many unanswered questions in the case involving an 11-year-old boy in Prince George, B.C.

The RCMP say the 11-year-old boy was a suspect in the stabbing of a 37-year-old man at a home on Thursday.

They say they used a stun gun on the boy when he emerged from a home next door.

Civil liberties association executive director David Eby says he wants to know if the boy was armed at the time police confronted him.

He says it would take “pretty exceptional circumstances” to justify using a stun gun on a boy.

Incidents involving stun guns on children are extremely rare so the knowledge of how they’ll be affected by the devices is limited, Eby said.

“When you have someone with very low body mass and hearts that are still developing and these kinds of things then the concern that we have is that if you don’t know what the outcome the device is going to have, including death, then it really should be a last resort,” he said.

The case also raises questions about whether the RCMP could have avoided using force altogether, Eby said.

“I think the RCMP really needs to do a better job of training de-escalation and avoiding force options and they’re just not doing a good enough job on it.”

West Vancouver Police have been called in to conduct an independent investigation, where they will review police response and actions surrounding the use of the stun gun.

The victim of the stabbing is in good condition in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

There was no word on the condition of the 11-year-old.

It was not immediately clear what punishment the boy could face, though children under the age of 12 are not subject to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

It’s not the first time the RCMP in B.C. have been in the spotlight over the use of Tasers.

Most notably the Mounties were put under the microscope over the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish national who died in October, 2007 after he was zapped with a Taser at Vancouver’s airport.

The case triggered a public inquiry, plus an investigation by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Both were highly critical of the RCMP, saying Mounties used excessive force in the case.

Taser International, the manufacturer of Tasers, has consistently challenged any suggestion that its product is unsafe.