THE 21-year-old Brazilian student who died after being tasered by police in Sydney was not the man who stole a packet of biscuits from a Sydney convenience store, SBS reports.

Roberto Laudisio died after he allegedly resisted arrest, with witnesses reporting he was pursued by police after taking packet of biscuits from a CBD convenience store early on Sunday morning.

But SBS Radio says a store worker told its Portuguese program, on condition of anonymity, that it was a case of mistaken identity and that someone else stole the biscuits.

"The store's worker says it was not the same person who stole the biscuits and the one who died at Pitt St," SBS Portuguese's contributor Marcos Moreira said.

New South Wales Police say they are hoping to test a new Taser capable of producing two shocks in quick succession.

The use of Tasers by frontline police is once again in the spotlight after 21-year-old Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti died after officers used a Taser on him in Sydney's CBD last weekend.

Now police have confirmed they have ordered the X2 Taser, a new version of the weapon which would allow officers to fire two consecutive electric shocks, rather than having to reload the weapon.

Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke says they are only ordering them to evaluate their usefulness.

One man who is certain of their value is George Hateley, who distributes Tasers in Australia.

He says officers do not always hit their target with the first shock.

"In some cases - and people have to understand this - these incidents are very emotional, a lot of adrenalin is pumping and sometimes an officer may miss," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-25/nsw-police-order-double-shock-taser/3911238

Constable Godfrey then described a struggle on the footpath outside the bus when trying to handcuff Mr Lindsay. ''That was proving rather difficult. As I said, he's of large stature. He was overpowering us.''

He then fired his Taser into Mr Lindsay's lower back.

''After further police arrived to assist us, Constable [Sam] Parkinson approached me and said that he'd been assaulted by Mr Lindsay. He said he was elbowed in the face.''

When Mr Lindsay's barrister, Greg Jones, asked Constable Godfrey if in fact his client had been polite and on the bus used the expressions ''please'' and ''excuse me'', he replied, ''I don't recall that.''

Constable Parkinson and Constable Christopher Gould along with four transit officers all corroborated Constable Godfrey's story that Mr Lindsay was ''loud and aggressive'', intoxicated and using ''f--- and c---'' towards officers. The court was then shown a passenger's mobile phone footage of what happened on the bus.

The footage, which will be central to Mr Lindsay's upcoming District Court case for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, assault and malicious prosecution, tells a different story.

Indeed, it shows Mr Lindsay repeatedly using the phrases ''please'' and ''excuse me'' when addressing officers. At no point does he swear. A bus passenger is heard warning him not to swear at police, while another is heard saying to the police that Mr Lindsay had apologised to the transit officer. Mr Lindsay is seen getting off the bus without any aggression towards the police.

After the footage was shown to the court, the police prosecutor, Sergeant Grant Bucknell, immediately withdrew all the charges.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tasered-for-not-showing-his-ticket-20120630-219m3.html#ixzz1zLDW1g3p

As the NSW police is trying to wiggle in court about the death of a brazilian by tasering (see article at top), as shown by this article from the UK, one can be zapped for not very much when policepersons do not wear their thinking glasses:

A 'terrified' blind man thought he was going to die when police shot him in the back with a 50,000-volt Taser gun after mistaking his white stick for a samurai sword.

Double stroke victim Colin Farmer was on his way to meet friends at a pub in Chorley, Lancashire at 5.45pm last Friday when a police officer approached him from behind, shouted for him to stop, then shot him with the Taser.

The 61-year-old thought he was being attacked by muggers and cried out “I’m blind, I’m blind” as he collapsed on the floor, but was still handcuffed by the Lancashire Police Officer.

Police had originally been called to the street after receiving reports of a man armed with a deadly martial arts weapon walking around the town centre.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/i-thought-i-was-having-another-stroke-police-mistook-blind-double-stroke-victims-white-stick-for-a-samurai-sword-and-shot-him-in-the-back-with-a-50000volt-taser-gun-8215206.html

Police misuse Tasers one in every seven times the controversial weapon is deployed, a highly critical report by the NSW Ombudsman has found.

The report says Tasers should not be used on people fleeing police or in handcuffs, unless in exceptional circumstances. It recommends that the practice of ''drive stun'' - where a Taser is held against a person without firing projectiles, to cause pain without immobilisation - never be used.

Although the Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, did not comment on the case of the Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, who died in Sydney on March 18 after police discharged their Tasers on him nine times, his recommendations address contentious practices raised in a coronial inquiry into his death.

The coronial inquiry heard that police used Tasers to ''drive stun'' Mr Curti and also Tasered him while he was both fleeing police and in handcuffs.

Mr Barbour's report was based on findings of a detailed review of how police used Tasers in 556 cases between June 1 and November 30, 2010. It found 27 cases of inappropriate use in which a Taser was fired.

An extra 53 cases of inappropriate use involved a Taser being armed and drawn but not fired.

Mr Barbour said a police review process failed to identify most of the 80 cases of misuse. He made 46 recommendations to tighten guidelines for Tasers.

His report found that police suspected about a third of the people they had hit with Tasers had been suffering or had suffered from mental illness and more than half had been affected by alcohol or drugs at the time. In three-quarters of cases, the people were not carrying a weapon.

Mr Barbour said that while his report identified a small number of incidents of misuse, it was ''unacceptable to see situations where Taser use failed to comply with police procedures and was unreasonable''.

He said his investigation showed existing procedures for Taser use were unclear, confusing or silent on some important areas. ''The rules need to be clearer and stronger,'' he said.

''In my view, police must be at risk of serious actual bodily harm to justify discharging a Taser. Clear and unambiguous guidance on appropriate and inappropriate Taser use benefits the community, as well as police officers.

''Police must be certain that when they use their Tasers they are doing so lawfully and in line with procedure.''

The Ombudsman recommended a Taser should never be applied to a person for more than 15 seconds in total and should never be used to force compliance. Officers should be in danger of serious bodily harm before they discharged one.

The Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, defended police use of Tasers, saying it was appropriate in most cases.

He said police had used them in incidents where people had threatened to harm themselves.

The Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, said police would respond to the 46 recommendations in the report, How are Taser weapons used by the NSW Police Force?

The police response would include consideration of the recommendations from a coronial inquiry, expected on November 14, into the death of Mr Curti.

Mr Gallacher said he would continue to support the use of Tasers in the NSW police and said they were effective as a ''de-escalator'' of violence. The NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said it was ''remarkable'' that the Ombudsman had released his Taser review without considering the ''disturbing evidence and compelling submissions'' from the Roberto Curti coronial inquiry.

Mr Barbour said his report dealt with more than 2000 incidents up to last November and had been given to the coroner.

''The very tragic death of Mr Curti took place in March this year and was not considered as part of the review.''

A former NSW detective and head of the University of Western Sydney bachelor of policing program, Michael Kennedy, said Tasers should not be a substitute for "good policing and good dialogue and being tolerant and being patient … [Police] need to de-escalate things using non-violent means".

The president of the NSW Police Association, Scott Weber, said Tasers were an important and effective tool in protecting people and controlling violent and dangerous situations.

Ombudsman Slams Police For Needless Use Of Tasers

A woman has been blinded after being tasered by a police officer who was a highly experienced Taser trainer.

Sheila Oakley, 36, was tasered in the eye by the officer at her home on Jacaranda Avenue at Woodridge, south of Brisbane, around 1:00pm (AEST) yesterday.

Her family says Ms Oakley became upset after a visit by social workers.

"I don't think there's a chance for me to get my vision back on my left-hand side," Ms Oakley.

Ms Oakley was intoxicated and admits she held a stick when police arrived.

"I put the stick down and as I was going in to get my bag, he pointed the Taser at me and got me," she said.

Her sister, who did not want to be named, says a steel prong carrying a high voltage electrical current hit Ms Oakley's eye.

"When she went to grab her handbag he tasered her and then the Taser went straight into her eye," she said.

She says with the Taser still lodged in her eye, the officers continued to arrest her.

"Four police officers then got her, threw her to the ground, turned her onto her stomach, put their knees into her back, and then put handcuffs on," she said.

She says Ms Oakley was held at the house for more than 30 minutes before ambulance officers took her to the hospital.

Her sister says after it happened, the officer apologised to Ms Oakley.

"The police officer came to the ambulance to speak to Sheila and said to Sheila, 'I know you don't want to speak to me right now, but I am sorry'," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-07/queensland-police-taser-woman-in-eye/5244490

See toon at top...