Use of Taser - North Yorkshire Police, April 2019

At approximately 2.20pm on 25 April 2019, an officer from North Yorkshire Police requested assistance from other officers to arrest a wanted man. The officer located the man, who had barricaded himself inside a flat. A short time later, more officers arrived. After using verbal communication, and receiving no positive response, the officers attempted to force entry to the flat.

While trying to force entry, a Taser-trained officer saw the wanted man inside with a recent injury to his wrists that he believed had been self-inflicted with a knife. The officer continued to try and gain entry to the flat and asked the man to put the knife down. The officer forced entry to the flat and the man stabbed himself. The Taser officer discharged his Taser and another officer secured the knife. The officers arrested the man, provided him with immediate first aid and requested an ambulance. The paramedics transported the man to hospital, where he received treatment before being discharged the same day.

Our investigators attended the scene and post-incident procedures, where they obtained statements from the officers involved and reviewed the body-worn camera footage. We later obtained a statement from the injured man. All officers co-operated fully with our investigation.

In our opinion the evidence indicated that the officers acted in an appropriate manner while pursuing a legal policing objective, which was to arrest the man. After unsuccessfully using verbal communication to try and obtain his compliance, they appropriately escalated use of their policing powers. We were of the view that using the Taser was both reasonable and necessary in terms of preventing further harm to the man and effecting his arrest.

In our opinion, the officers’ actions demonstrated an appropriate response to the circumstances and a concern for the man’s safety and well-being.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence.

We completed our investigation in December 2019.