Blind stroke victim to sue police after being ‘tasered’

A blind stroke victim who was shot in the back with a 50,000-volt Taser stun gun by a police officer who mistook his white stick for a samurai sword is launching a compensation bid.

Colin Farmer, 62, collapsed to the ground in shock and believed he might be dying from another stroke.

The blunder happened after reports were received of a man walking through the town centre of Chorley, Lancashire, in north-west England, with a martial arts weapon.

Mr Farmer, who has suffered two strokes and walks at a “snail’s pace”, was on his way to a pub to meet friends for a drink and did not realise anything was afoot until the police officer tasered him.

Last night his solicitors confirmed Mr Farmer was planning to launch a civil claim against Lancashire police. In a statement, they said Farmer, from Chorley, had instructed McMillan Williams Solicitors to represent him “in his civil claim for compensation against Lancashire Constabulary”.

The statement said: “Mr Farmer, who is registered blind/partially sighted and has suffered two strokes in the past, was tasered by Chorley police officers on Friday, Oct 12, whilst he was out walking in the late afternoon.

“The officers mistook Mr Farmer’s white walking stick for a samurai sword and as a result tasered Mr Farmer in the back.

“The officer involved has yet to be suspended from carrying a Taser despite the fact that the officer involved would need to be investigated for both disciplinary proceedings and criminal assault on Mr Farmer.”

Mr Farmer said he heard shouting on the street but did not know what it was about and thought he was going to be attacked by “some hooligans’.

He was then struck by the Taser and fell to the ground in Peter St, dropping his white stick, before a policeman handcuffed him.

When the mistake was realised, he was taken to hospital for treatment and was later released.

“The Taser hit me in the back and it started sending all these thousands of volts through me and I was terrified.

“I mean, I had two strokes already caused by stress.

“When these volts were going through me I dropped the stick involuntarily and I collapsed on the floor face down.

Mr Farmer added “I was shaking and I thought ‘I’m going to have another stroke any second and this one is going to kill me. I’m being killed. I’m being killed’.”

He said he wanted the officer involved to be charged with assault.

A police spokesman said the officer in question is no longer carrying a Taser, adding that “his authority was rescinded on the day of the incident”.