When Tasering goes wrong: UK cops use stun gun on blind man, mistook his white cane for samurai sword

Poor Colin Farmer was minding his own business last Friday when he was Tasered by a cop who mistook his white cane for a samurai sword.

In the UK, the vast majority of cops don’t carry guns. When trouble occurs, they have only their baton and powers of persuasion to deal with the situation. In recent years, however, more and more cops have been issued with Tasers.

As you probably know, a Taser is a kind of stun gun that allows a cop to administer an electric shock to a person who is out of control or refusing to co-operate. While it can be an effective tool for law enforcement agencies, use of the device can sometimes go horribly wrong – like it did last Friday in Lancashire, north-west England.

In an incident that would be amusing if it wasn’t so shocking (no pun intended), a cop messed up big-time with Colin Farmer, a 61-year-old blind man who walks with the aid of a white cane.

Somehow the cop, who apparently isn’t blind, mistook Farmer’s white cane for a samurai sword (yes, a samurai sword) and fired the Taser at his back, administering a massive electric shock in the process.

Farmer, who was taken to hospital following the incident, has – not surprisingly – made an official complaint which is now being investigated by the UK’s Police Complaints Commission.

Speaking to the Guardian about what must have been an utterly terrifying ordeal, Farmer said he’d been walking down the street Friday evening when he suddenly heard lots of shouting. He had know idea it was the police. The next moment he felt something hit his back.

“The Taser hit me in the back and it started sending all these thousands of volts through me and I was terrified,” Farmer said. “I mean I had two strokes already caused by stress. I dropped the cane involuntarily and I collapsed on the floor face down.”

He continued, “I was shaking and I thought ‘I’m going to have another stroke any second and this one is going to kill me. I’m being killed.’”

Farmer said he walks so slowly that the cops could easily have walked past him first, or driven past, to confirm that it was a white cane he was carrying and not a samurai sword.

Chief superintendent Stuart Williams of Lancashire Police managed to throw at least a little light onto what had happened, saying that prior to the incident a number of sightings of a man wandering around with a samurai sword had been reported to police.

“One of the officers believed he had located the offender,” Williams told the Guardian. “Despite asking the man to stop, he failed to do so and the officer discharged his Taser. It then became apparent this man was not the person we were looking for and officers attended to him straight away.”

He added, “Lancashire Constabulary deeply regrets what has happened. We have clearly put this man through a traumatic experience and we are extremely sorry.”

A man with a samurai sword was later arrested by police – and no, he wasn’t Tasered.

While Tasers may be a useful tool for police, it seems that some cops in the UK need better training on when to use them. Lessons on how to tell the difference between equipment that helps guide the blind and lethal weapons that can cause horrible injuries are evidently also required.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Dad builds world’s fastest baby stroller, top speed 50 mph [video]

When Brit Colin Furze tells his partner he's going to take their baby for a walk in the stroller, she most likely throws him a look that says something along the lines of "don't take it into fourth gear". You see, inventor Colin has just built the world's fastest baby stroller, with a top speed of 50 mph (80 kn/h).

When Brit Colin Furze discovered he was going to be a dad, he thought there might be days when pushing his newborn baby in a pram up hills might be too much effort. So he set out to build a motorized baby stroller for him and his baby. But what started as an idea to aid a gentle walk with his child turned into a project to build the world’s fastest stroller, with the 33-year-old plumber-cum-inventor soon succeeding in his quest.

Furze, from Stamford in England, took four weeks to build his 50 mph (80 km/h) stroller, at a cost of £450 ($720). Featuring a 125cc motorcycle engine, a platform for Furze to stand on (no, he can’t run at 50 mph), four gears, a space for shopping and a drinks holder on the side, the Brit said it travels so fast that he’s set to be officially recognized by Guinness Records as the creator of the world’s fastest baby stroller.

Furze told The Sun that up to now he’s “managed not to crash” the motorized pushchair. Oh, and before you start thinking he must be some kind of irresponsible bozo taking son Jake – now a month old – out in a souped-up speeding stroller, rest assured that he only goes very slowly when his little one’s inside.

“I’ve had lots of envious looks from mums and dads, especially when they’re pushing their babies up hills,” he said.

However, Furze explained that when he takes it to the extreme, there are certainly risks attached. “It’s really unstable when it goes at top speed and if you hit a rough bit in the road you are in danger of falling off, but so far I’ve managed not to crash.”

Furze’s high-speed pushchair isn’t his first madcap creation. According to his website, the part-time inventor has also built “mobility scooters that can break the national speed limit, a motorbike that’s longer than two buses, and a moped that has a 15ft flamethrower.” Whatever is he going to think of next?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com