Yaniv Kubovich, Oz Rosenberg
Haaretz
August 24, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/palestinian-man-repeatedly-tasered-by-israe...


A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem complained to the Justice Ministry department that investigates police misconduct on Thursday after a police officer shocked him five times with an electric stun gun in front of his five children on Tuesday.

The Palestinian, 42-year-old Talal Siad of the A-Tur neighborhood, was shot while out with his family at a Tel Aviv water park celebrating the Id al-Fitr holiday. Siad checked himself into the hospital suffering from burns and nausea.

The incident took place after Tel Aviv police were called to Meymadion Water Park to control a brawl. Officers used pepper spray to subdue one of the participants. Siad, who was not involved in the brawl, attracted the officers' attention by telling them they were using the irritant too freely.

"I was there with my family, my five children and my wife; we went out to have fun on our holiday," he told Haaretz. "Suddenly there was a confrontation between a few security men and kids who were fighting among themselves. The officers wanted to arrest the boy who was seen naked in the closed-circuit television system. He fell down and they sprayed him in the face.

"I saw them repeat that action several times, and then got up with my 3-year-old in my arms and shouted at them to stop. I told the policeman, 'What are you doing? You're killing those kids,' and he told me to leave. I said, 'You're being unreasonable, you go away.'"

In response, Siad said, the policemen threatened him with the Taser. "I shouted, 'Do you want to shoot me?' and then he shot me in the stomach,'" Siad added.

The whole event was filmed by several of the bathers at the park. In the films, one can clearly see the policemen using the stun gun while handcuffing Siad.

The Taser is meant to aid policemen in controlling suspects until they are handcuffed, and its use is prohibited from that moment on. But the films prove that the policemen continued shocking Siad in front of the other bathers even after he was handcuffed and could not have presented any danger to them.

"Every time I tried to rise to my feet, he pulled the trigger and shocked me again, even though I was handcuffed," Siad said. "My whole body was bleeding. I vomited and then went to the hospital. I was shocked five times, and several times more outside the Meymadion area.

"[The policeman] said 'Sit.' I told him I had done nothing wrong, and then he shocked me again."

According to Siad, the complaint to the investigation department was based on testimony from witnesses he hadn't known beforehand.

Siad told Haaretz he didn't know the policeman's name, and the investigation department refused to tell it to him. The department told him it would give the officer's name only to Siad's attorney, if he chooses to be represented by one, he said.

Sa'id Kabub, 40, of Jaffa, who filmed the incident, said officers shocked Siad several times.

"I'm 40, and I began to weep. I came for a day of fun with my wife and kids, to enjoy the holiday. Then there was a brawl; it happens. They should have arrested whoever was involved. But why did they behave like that? It was shocking. One young woman saw the incident and passed out. She was later taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I see a lot of stuff in Jaffa, but I never saw anything like this."

The Tel Aviv police said the film "was edited in a manner that does not reflect the complete picture. There was a massive brawl between two families from East Jerusalem, and several of the participants were wounded and had to be evacuated to receive treatment. Police officers who arrived at the scene were forced to separate the fighting sides and confront a crowd that incited all present to riot and impede the officers' work. The man in the film attacked the policeman and interfered with him in the line of duty. A Taser was used in order to control him."




TAGS:



American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017