The Taser may have turned a Flordia student into an unwitting celebrity earlier in the year, but on the streets of London it's a serious business. As we reported a few weeks ago, the Met has recently increased Taser deployment for a trial period. Barely a fortnight in, and the IPCC are already investigating allegations that an unarmed and innocent man was shocked repeatedly with the weapon.
As part of anti-gun crime initiative Operation Neon, Daniel Sylvester was stopped in his car in east London back in October. Having been surrounded by officers, Mr Sylvester claims that one of the them fired a 50,000 volt Taser into the back of his head. That's worth repeating. A 50,000 volt Taser. Into his head.
With the victim thus incapacitated, police were able to search his vehicle, which turned up precisely nothing. Mr. Sylvester had meanwhile fallen down, smashing his teeth in the process, and he claims he was shocked a further seven times whilst prone on the ground.
A possibly innocent victim being assaulted with repeated shots to the head from weapons wielded by highly-trained police officers? Londonist can't help but feel we've heard this somewhere before.
Image from J.Star's Flickrstream
