The RCMP public complaints commissioner has initiated his own complaint into the conduct of Mounties involved in jolting an 11-year-old B.C. boy with a Taser.
The commission investigation will examine whether the use of the Taser during the boy's arrest near Prince George, B.C., last week complies with RCMP policies, training and requirements related to the use of force. It will also look at the conduct of the officers involved and the force's response to the incident.
"The commission had been monitoring the case since the incident occurred and felt it necessary to initiate its own complaint at this time," said a statement from the commission.
The West Vancouver Police Department was asked by RCMP to investigate the incident, which occurred after Mounties received a 911 call that a 37-year-old man had been stabbed at a B.C. children's ministry facility.
The province's children's watchdog is also considering an independent probe into why the officer used the Taser on the boy, who is in government care.
"I am initiating this complaint with the full appreciation that the West Vancouver Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into this incident at the request of the RCMP. It is not my intention to prejudice that investigation," Ian McPhail, interim commissioner, said in a statement.
"However, given the ongoing expressions of public concern as they relate to this matter and to the use of CEWs (conducted energy weapons) in respect of children, I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate the circumstances surrounding this incident as well as the handling thereof."
The B.C. Children's Ministry has said the boy was the only child living with two adults supervising him 24 hours a day, and that such arrangements are made for kids with mental health issues or behavioural difficulties.
The officer who deployed the shock weapon has been put on administrative duties pending the outcome of the police investigation.
The investigation by the complaints commission will also look at whether the force's national, divisional and detachment-level policies, procedures and guidelines relating to the use of shock weapons are adequate.
The use of Tasers by police, and by RCMP in particular, became the focus of a sweeping public inquiry in B.C. after the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport in October 2007. Dziekanski died on the floor of the airport arrivals area after he was confronted by four RCMP officers and stunned within minutes.
The ensuing public outcry and the inquiry findings led to an overhaul of the RCMP's Taser use policy, announced in April 2010.
Based on evidence presented at the inquiry that the weapons had been used on suspects as young as 13, the 11-year-old is believed to the be youngest person ever shocked by an RCMP Taser.
