Man injured after being Tasered - West Yorkshire Police, November 2017

In November 2017, West Yorkshire Police received a telephone call from a man in Bradford City Centre. The man told police he was drunk and feeling suicidal. He also asked for an ambulance and said he would be aggressive and would harm any police officers who tried to approach him without an ambulance being there.

Several officers, some of whom had Tasers, found the man nearby and said he was threatening to harm himself and any other people he could. He had a broken bottle in his hand and at one point began to use it to cut himself. One of the officers was so concerned that he may seriously harm himself that he used the Taser, to prevent him causing any more damage. After the man was Tasered, he fell to the ground and injured his head.

We investigated the circumstances of this incident. Our investigators took statements from the officers involved, listened to the radio transmissions between the officers and the control room, watched footage from the body-worn cameras that the officers had been wearing and also looked at CCTV footage from Bradford City Council. Our investigators also reviewed the policy that covers police use of Taser. They spoke to the man who was injured, but he didn’t have any memory of the incident.

The investigation found the use of Taser was in line with policy and procedure and there were no performance issues to address.

After reviewing our report, West Yorkshire Police agreed with our findings.