Specialist lawyers take on case of tasered Chorley man
1:58pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News
Colin Farmer
Specialist lawyers are acting on behalf of a blind Chorley man after a police officer fired a taser at him when he mistook the man’s white stick for a samurai sword.
Colin Farmer, 61, is recovering after the incident in the town centre on Friday, October 12 during which he was shot with the 50,000 volt device, restrained on the floor and handcuffed by an officer.
Mr Farmer has instructed Sophie Khan, of McMillan Williams Solicitors, a solicitor-advocate specialising in taser-related injuries, to represent him in his civil claim for compensation against the police.
A statement from the solictors said: “The officer involved would need to be investigated for both disciplinary proceedings and criminal assault on Mr Farmer.
“The Independent Police Complaints Commission have indicated that they are conducting an investigation and McMillan Williams will be writing to the IPCC to find out what steps they are taking regarding this serious incident.”
Lancashire police have also launched an urgent inquiry into the matter.
Mr Farmer, who has suffered two strokes in recent years, was walking in Peter Street with the aid of the stick to meet friends in his local pub when the taser weapon was fired.
He said he was so traumatised by the events he feared another stroke and ‘this one would kill me’.
Officers had been dispatched following reports of a man armed with a samurai sword roaming around Chorley town centre.
The story made national healdines and was reported across the world, even making the evening news in Australia.
In the aftermath of the incident, international human rights group Amnesty International UK called for stricter guidelines to be introduced on the deployment of tasers.
