PERTH - West Australian police have again defended their use of Tasers after a man who had doused a house in petrol caught on fire when officers used a stun gun against him.
It was the second time in six months that a man was severely burnt after being stunned
by a Taser in the state.
Police said a 44-year-old man had locked himself inside a house in the Perth suburb of Forrestfield and threatened to burn it down. They said he had spread fuel inside the house and thrown a petrol can at police, soaking a constable's shirt and pants.
The Taser was used when he walked towards the kitchen saying he was going to fetch some matches.
In July, a Warburton man caught alight after being tasered by police who were responding to reports of petrol sniffing in the remote desert community. The man, a known petrol sniffer, allegedly ran from a house at the officers carrying a container believed to contain fuel and a cigarette lighter.
Police said they asked the man to stop but he continued running toward them, before they used the Taser.
Acting metropolitan region commander Nigel White said yesterday that officers had been warned clearly about using Tasers in the vicinity of flammable liquids and fumes after the Warburton incident.
He said an investigation into the Forrestfield incident would determine whether a Taser had been justified.
"We've also got to remember that if the officers had drawn their pistols this person may not be in Royal Perth Hospital at the moment; he may not have survived," White told ABC radio. "We are certainly pushing it to our officers that they have to be very wary in the vicinity of flammable liquids and fumes."
He said three reviews had been held into Taser procedures in WA and another one was to be held shortly, overseen by a UK expert in options for non-lethal force.
- AAP
