Use of Taser - Greater Manchester Police, November 2016

On 13 November 2016, two Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers attended a report of a violent disturbance inside a takeaway involving two men who were apparently drunk. When the officers arrived, the two men were not there, but appeared while officers were trying to ascertain what had happened. One of the men ran off and officers tried to arrest the other man. The accounts of the officers differ. One officer said he alone took hold of the man. The account of the Taser officer stated he also took hold of the man. The man struggled and officers let go of him. One of the officers drew his Taser and the man turned round and began to run into the road. The officer discharged the Taser for a full five-second cycle and the barbs connected with the man’s back. He fell to the floor. After a one second gap, the officer discharged another five-second cycle. The Taser officer stated that, during this one-second gap, he instructed the man to put his hands behind his back, but the man ignored this command. The other officer could not recall any communication and stated he believed the man had been unconscious for a matter of seconds. After the second Taser cycle, the man was arrested and taken to hospital for treatment for a suspected broken nose and chipped teeth. The man had no recollection of the incident.

We served the officer who deployed the Taser with a notice of investigation and interviewed him under the criminal and misconduct cautions. There was no CCTV of the arrest. The Taser used was downloaded, which showed two five-seconds deployments, with a one-second gap between the end of the first and the start of the second.

After reviewing the evidence available, and after detailed discussions with GMP, it was agreed that the Taser officer had no case to answer for misconduct for his use of force. It was also agreed that the officer would receive learning in relation to recording adequate rationale when using force (including Taser).