Torontoist » Taser

Newsstand: April 20, 2012

Let's be honest, it might rain today. But more importantly: Toronto police may change the way they deal with people who have a mental illness; gone are the days of tinny, hideously outdated, pre-recorded "O Canada" renditions—for Catholic school kids; a battle between comic convention companies pits Comicon against Comic Con; and Far Enough Farm may not get far enough.

Toronto police are reviewing their treatment of individuals with mental illness. At yesterday’s Toronto Police Services Board meeting, members of the public—some wearing blue hospital gowns to evoke a February incident wherein police shot dead a Toronto East General patient—got to make suggestions on how the evidently flawed system could be improved. Issues such as [...]

An Electrifying Year

Photo by roland. On January 17, 2008, Thomas Smith, chairman and co-founder of Taser International, began what amounted to a marketing pitch for his electrifying gadget before an assembly of community activists, journalists, and law enforcement at Toronto Police Services headquarters on College Street. With the previous October’s death-by-Taser tragedy at Vancouver International Airport, you’ve [...]

They Tased Him, Bro

In case you were wondering, it’s probably not a great idea to be hanging out in the entertainment district at 3:15 a.m. Especially if you’re in a luxury SUV. And especially especially if you’ve got a ponytail. In February of 2006, Toronto police officers arrested Irshad Ahmed and Omar Betty for failure to stop, failure [...]