Justice Ministry weighing indictment against TA officer for using Taser gun

Officer used Taser gun on detainee; use of electrocuting device still suspended after violent arrest of settler last week.

By BEN HARTMAN, TOVAH LAZAROFF
Taser gun (photo credit: Reuters)
Taser gun
(photo credit: Reuters)
The Justice Ministry is considering indicting a Tel Aviv police officer for using a Taser gun in an incident that occurred two years ago, a spokeswoman said on Monday night.
An investigation and a hearing had been held on the matter and a decision regarding indictment will be made in this week or next, she said.
In the Tel Aviv incident the officer used the Taser gun on a detainee while he was in the patrol car and then later at the station, where he allegedly shocked the man in order to show other officers the effects of the device.
The report of the possible indictment comes in the backdrop of Thursday night’s highly publicized arrest of Boaz Albert in which officers delivered electric shocks to his chest as he lay on the ground.
Albert’s case has been highly publicized in the media, because the incident was caught on video. Based on the video, Albert was not resisting arrest when the Taser gun was used against him.
His attorney Yitzhak Baum has filed a complaint with the police and with the department’s investigatory unit against the actions of the Special Patrol Unit officers from Judea and Samaria.
On Sunday, Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino suspended the use of Taser guns by police pending the results of the investigation into Albert’s arrest.
On Monday, Danino’s assistant Yoav Telem responded to Baum, to explain that the Police Investigations Unit was looking into the Albert incident and that after that an investigative team appointed by Danino would examine the matter.
He explained that the police procedures with regard to Taser guns were up to date and in line with international standards.
Telem added that without any connection to the Albert case, the police did from time to time reexamine its procedures.
Albert, a father of six, was arrested on Thursday night at his home in Yitzhar for violating an administrative restraining order that banned him from the West Bank for six months.