Cops taser first suspect

(CNS): Just four days after rolling out their new piece of equipment, officers from the RCIPS have tasered their first suspect. Police reportedly used the stun-gun on a suspected burglar who had escaped from police custody in Bodden Town last week after his arrest. Police have confirmed that the first use of the taser, which sends a 50,000 volt shock through wires and probes fired at a victim, was used on 44-year-old Jeff Pandohie. Police said Pandohie was armed with a large knife when an officer from the Uniform Support Group fired the taser at him near to Manse Road in Bodden Town at around 2:30pm on Thursday when he refused to put down the weapon and ran towards unarmed officers.

Pandohie was re-arrested after he was immobilized by the taser this afternoon and police said that enquiries into how he escaped in the first place are on-going.

Describing the first use of the new weapon by the police, an RCIPS spokesperson said that shortly after 2:30pm this afternoon officers from Bodden Town, the Uniform Support Group and the RCIPS K9 Unit were involved in extensive searches for Pandohie. The USG and K9 officers were on Bodden Town beach, near to Manse Road, when they were confronted by the suspect, who emerged from a bush area armed with a large knife.

“Pandohie refused to comply with officers’ instructions to put down his weapon. He then ran, still armed with the knife, towards unarmed officers. As a result, an officer from the USG, who was armed with both his conventional firearm and Taser, discharged the Taser at the suspect bringing him immediately to the ground,” the spokesperson stated.

Officers quickly subdued the suspect, disarmed him, removed the probes and administered first aid. The new police tasers are all fitted with taser-cam and the whole event will have been filmed. As a result, the agreed post-incident investigative protocols for the use of Taser have now been implemented and a report on the incident is being compiled.

The Bodden Town resident is suspected by police of a burglary in the Savannah area on 11 January and he was arrested in connection with that crime on 21 January. He escaped while being processed at the district station and since then the officers have been engaged in “concerted efforts” to track him down.

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