Independent Review Needed after 11-year-old Tasered: Braidwood

Former judge Thomas Braidwood is urging B.C. to set up an independent investigator for police incidents after RCMP Tasers 11-year-old.

British Columbia is once again the focus of a debate surrounding the use of Tasers following a case last week in which an 11-year-old from Prince George, B.C., was hit with one of the weapons by the RCMP after he reportedly stabbed a 37-year-old man. Now Thomas Braidwood, the former judge who oversaw the public inquiry into the Tasering death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, is questioning the sense behind having police investigate themselves over Taser-related incidents. Few details on the 11-year-old's case, beyond reports of the stabbing, have been made public, which Braidwood said only compounds the need for an independent, arm's-length body to investigate such matters – and to help restore the province's faith in the police.