‘Innocent man Tasered eight times’

Police are investigating a complaint that a man who later proved to be unarmed and innocent was repeatedly shocked with a Taser gun.

Daniel Sylvester, the 45-year-old owner of an east London security firm, was driving home on October 20 when he was stopped by armed police.

Mr Sylvester told The Guardian he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom carried automatic weapons.

Without warning one officer fired a 50,000 volt Taser into the back of his head, he claimed.

He was shocked again, causing him to fall on his face and break a front tooth, and a further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road while his car was searched by officers and sniffer dogs, eventually finding nothing.

The incident was part of Operation Neon, which aims to crack down on guns in London’s streets by using number plate recognition and armed reponse teams to stop and search vehicles.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed they are supervising an investigation that is being carried out by the Met Standards Directorate.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “Just after midnight on the 20th, officers on an intelligence-led operation stopped a car in Bounces Road, N9. The driver got out of the vehicle and was subsequently Tasered. Our information is the Taser was deployed once.

“A complaint has been made to police regarding the incident and the DPS (Director of Professional Standards) are investigating.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) say in their guidelines Tasers should be deployed where officers “may have to protect the public, themselves and/or the subject(s) at incidents of violence or threats of violence of such severity that they will need to use force.”

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