Mother calls out police in Mascouche, Que., for using stun gun on non-verbal son with autism
CBC
When Marie Ismé gets a call from police about her son, she tries to stay calm.
He's an 18-year-old with autism who is also non-verbal. On several occasions, he has run away from the rehabilitation centre he goes to north of Montreal.
But Ismé received a call on Wednesday that left her floored.
Her son had run away again, but this time instead of being told he was found safe and brought back to the day centre, police in Mascouche, Que., told her they had to use a stun gun to neutralize him.
"I was devastated. I couldn't even talk," Ismé told reporters near her home on Thursday while holding back tears.
Brandon-Lee Paris was taken to hospital but did not suffer any serious injuries.
His mother is speaking out because she's worried about what police would do if they have another run-in with either her son or another person with a developmental disability.
"What if one day it's not the Taser gun?..." she said. "[What if] they take the first weapon that's under their hand and shoot him, you know? It's really scary."
Ismé said she can't imagine why the stun gun was necessary, since police have dealt with her son before and are aware that he is on the autism spectrum and non-verbal.
She plans to file a complaint with the police ethics commission.
"Yes, that's for sure. This is unacceptable," she said. "I told them, 'You know Brandon, he's never been aggressive to you guys, he always co-operates with you guys, so I don't know why you had the need to use the Taser gun.'"
She also wonders if the situation would have unfolded differently if her son wasn't Black.
According to police, the teenager twice ran away from La Myriade, a government-run centre for people with developmental disabilities. In both cases, police say Paris entered other people's homes while officers were trying to catch up to him.
The Taser was used during the second police intervention.
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