The Canadian Press
LONDON, ONT. — A teenager who was Tasered by police in London, Ont., was defending himself when he was hit by the stun gun, his mother said Friday.
But police said use of the device was justified, in order to stop a fight between two 17-year-old boys as a crowd of other teens watched.
Thursday’s incident, caught on a cellphone camera and posted on YouTube, shows police approaching the altercation and a sergeant discharging a weapon.
Prongs from the Taser hit the boy in the ear and chest and he falls to the ground.
A bystander can be heard shouting that the boy had been shot without first being asked to stop fighting.
“Why would you Tase him? Why would you Tase him? You shot him in the head, you shot him in the head, you shot him in the head, bro,” the male bystander yells.
“You shot him in the head, you never even asked him, you never even asked him to stop, you never even asked him to stop, bro,” he shouts.
The sergeant was justified in deploying the Taser without giving a verbal warning, London’s chief of police said Friday.
The teen had wrapped a belt around his fist, punched the other teen and then used a lawn chair to strike the other teen about his head, Chief Brad Duncan said.
“Clearly here it was unfolding very, very quickly,” he said.
“In fact, when one views the video, it’s about a second between the use of force by this individual and then the application of the conducted energy weapon,” Duncan said.
“Clearly at the time that the device was deployed, he was the aggressor.”
The boy who was hit by the stun gun has been charged with assault with a weapon.
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