Here is a little story about those brave Canadian Mounted Police Officers up in Canada, Frank Lasser, 82, was subdued in his hospital bed because he was not willing to relinquish a small pocket knife he was holding. This guy just came out of heart bypass surgery recently and when unable to breathe properly becomes delusional. He said he couldn’t explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived. There were three Mounties present so I can’t imagine why they had to resort to using a taser gun, talk about excessvive force.

Here is a couple of amusing quotes from the officers, “Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand,” Cpl. Scott Wilson told CBC News. “We could not deploy our … pepper spray, because we could potentially contaminate the entire hospital.” Gimmie a break!

OMG that is not right. That is a lawsuit.....

Sounds like typical police officers to me

"was subdued in his hospital bed because he was not willing to relinquish a small pocket knife he was holding"


Are you willing to risk being stabbed, likely from where they would have to come from, in the face or neck?

If a police officer cannot handle an 80 year old man he is in the wrong line of work.

Dude, he's in bed after bypass surgery and hypoxic from being short of breath. It's not like he's gonna run through entire the hospital stabbing everyone. There has to have been a less violent way of subduing him. If you're wondering, yes I work in a hospital. Being a bigger person and one of the few males on staff, especially on wekends, I am unfortunately usually the nurses first line of defense if needed since we have no no security on site.

An 80 year old can shoot a 12 gauge shotgun with ease but they can't swing a blade in the air frantically? Slashing it around in the air it matters not how skilled a police officer is for it is in frantic times that anyone can slip pass the defenses of anyone even trained to the level of our special forces.

A frantic person is not able to be calculated as to where they will attack next. I've seen very little kids flailing with parents who were simply trying to get a hold of them and the kid would hit the parent.

If you want to lean over and try to grab a knife away from a man who could suddenly slash it at you as he flails go right ahead.

This sounds so absurd, any person with a weapon can be considered dangerous granted, but under these circumstances the police appear soo foolish...

80+ year old man, just coming out of bypass surgery cannot be talked into reliquishing a pocket knife: (hmmm just how hard did they try to use logic or even distract his mind a bit) patient was said to be delusional

question bothering me is where'd the pocket knife come from? Sure he didnt have it during surgery, and am sure he was unable to get it on his own immediately after surgery. Officers knew (medical employees) must have seen patient delusional...

Many missing bits, but even if all blanks were filled - he'd better be the youngest 80+ yr old man around to make the officers fear their lives and accept this use of force as self defense. (JMO)

I've also been a paramedic in the field and dealt with some ugly situations. A 20 year old on drugs is a huge danger. An 80 year old bedridden patient is much less a threat unless he has a gun or something similar. Keep your distance and he can't hurt you! A taser is simply excessive force! JMHO

Granted anyone with a weapon is dangerous, be realistically speaking an 80+ yr old man, coming out of bypass surgery is unable to flail even if he wanted to. The sensation of the surgery itself, is enough to immobilize the patient.

Must have been some super scared officers on rounds that day/night... (jmo)

I took my daughter to the ER once when she was 2 years old. It took three orderlys and a nurse to hold her still to put an IV in. I would guess that an 80 year old man would be a little bit more difficult to hold still.

It does not say when he came out of heart bypass surgery. It says he did so recently. That does not necessarily mean it was minutes or hours. It could have been many days, maybe a week or so on. Who knows what recently means. Many individuals recover different from this surgery as well. I know people who've had 3 heart bypass surgeries. Some were quite capable after a day, some a wee bit longer.

And, who knows the health of the 80 year old besides the heart thing. I've seen 80 year olds who looked like early 70 year olds. I've seen an 82 year old guy jump in the air and do a heel kick. I can't even do that as well as he did...lol.

so you agree, tazering an 80+ yr old man, in hospital, after surgery is justified???

Doesnt matter what you've seen with other people, some are stronger and some are weaker than others, you stand by their actions? justified??? If so, ok, I just dont. I think other means should have been used, but it's only my opinion.

No, I'm saying it is quite possibly justified. We do not know every particular factor in that incident that took place. I'm just giving some fair balance as the initial post and the following was so incredibly one-sided. I was just putting in every possibility of the dangers they saw that they did not want to risk their own health and safety for that of someone else who was armed.

Agree we do not have all the particulars and complete info; I just cannot rationalize tazing a 82 yr old man.

Just makes the officers look bad in my eyes, other options should have been used rather than tazing but then again maybe they did fear for their lives, dont truly know but 3 officers - one patient, he must have been an extreme threat... sorry truly cannot rationalize - can conjure up scenarios, but they all make me think the same - unjustifiable