The mother of a non-verbal 18-year-old man with autism spectrum disorder plans to file a police ethics complaint against a Mascouche police officer who used a taser on her son on the run Wednesday morning.
Marie Ismé’s son, Brandon, has run away many times in recent months from the La Myriade Rehabilitation Center for Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders, located in Mascouche. On several occasions, the police had to intervene to bring the young man back to this establishment, but each time everything went smoothly, tells the To have to Mrs Isme.
“They bar the doors from the inside, but there are always flaws, so Brandon always manages to save himself from the day center”, explains in an interview Ms. Ismé, on the sidelines of a press conference held earlier today. today in front of his home in Terrebonne.
Thus, Wednesday morning, the Police Department of the City of Mascouche was called to intervene because Brandon had managed to leave the rehabilitation center again, despite the security measures taken by it. He then began to enter certain houses near the center before being arrested by the police, who brought him back to the establishment attached to the CISSS de Lanaudière.
However, the youngster ran away again on Wednesday, again prompting the rehabilitation center to call the police. One of the two officers deployed to the scene then used a “Taser” to immobilize the individual, who was running, confirmed to the To have to the captain for standards and organizational development of the Mascouche police, Martin Saint-Pierre. The 18-year-old then stayed briefly in hospital before being taken to his home in Terrebonne.
“The gesture is unacceptable”, deplores Marie Ismé, who denounces the use of an electric pulse gun against her son, who “has never been aggressive”. “Is it because Brandon is black?” If it was a young person who is not racialized, would the police have shot him with a Taser? “Asks the mother, who plans to file a complaint with the Police Ethics Commissioner against the officer who used this intermediate weapon on Wednesday.
Although considered an intermediate weapon, the Taser can have serious consequences on people who receive electric shocks from it, notes the director general of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), Fo Niemi. ” It can be dangerous [le Taser]especially for a young person with autism,” he insists.
Brandon being a non-verbal young man, it is also difficult to assess the psychological consequences that this police intervention could have had on him, underlines Mr. Niemi.
“The police must be better trained,” insists Marie Ismé, who decided to publicize her experience so that “no one has to go through” what she went through. “I don’t want this to happen again. »
An ongoing analysis
Captain Martin Saint-Pierre, of the Mascouche police, indicates for his part that an analysis is underway internally to understand the circumstances which led to the use of a “Taser” yesterday at the place of a young man on the run, as is the case “in all cases of use of force” by the police, he says. However, the results of this analysis will not be made public.
Mr. Saint-Pierre also assures that discussions are underway with the rehabilitation center La Myriade so that the building improves its security measures, all in order to reduce runaways which involve the use of security forces. ‘order.