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Date: Sun Jul 27 2008 - 08:49:52 PDT

Teen youngest Taser-related death in CanadaMichael Langan died after being Tasered Tuesday by Winnipeg policeWinnipeg Free PressPublished: Thursday, July 24, 2008WINNIPEG - The father of a 17-year-old who died after being shot with a Taser by Winnipeg police this week - reportedly the youngest person to die in a Taser-related incident in Canada - says his son was an "innocent child" who died senselessly.
"My son's dead," Brian Minchin said Thursday, sobbing. "I only have one child. And he's taken away by neighbours and police officers. They shot an innocent child for nothing. For breaking into a fricking car. Did he have a gun?
"No, he had a small little knife."

 Winnipeg police cordon off the scene where Michael Langan, 17, died Tuesday.Boris Minkevich/Winnipeg Free Press									Email to a friendPrinter friendly Font:* * * *
                        var addthis_pub = 'canada.com';                        function textCounter(field,cntfield,maxlimit)                        {                        if (field.value.length > maxlimit) // if too long...trim it!                        field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlimit);                        // otherwise, update 'characters left' counter                        else                        {                        var divLabel = document.getElementById("divLabel");                        divLabel.innerHTML = maxlimit - field.value.length + " characters remaining";                        }                        }                       Michael Langan died after being Tasered Tuesday by Winnipeg police when they encountered him in a back alley allegedly holding a knife. Langan had been living with his father since early July.

Minchin said he's angry at the police for not trying to talk to his son more.
"It's senseless, you know? They couldn't talk with him, negotiate for ten minutes and talk to the kid, you know?"
Amnesty International says Langan was the youngest Taser-related fatality recorded in Canada.
"It is definitely the youngest person by several years," said Hilary Homes, a security and human rights campaigner for the human rights group.
"He's definitely the first teenager."

Police have said the teen was a suspect in an attempted car theft. Two citizens flagged down police officers, who then went after the teenager. Police said that when the officers found the suspect, he was armed with a knife and refused to obey their directions. They then used a Taser on him, according to police. Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill told a news conference Thursday that there was no indication that racial profiling played a role in the incident. The Manitoba Metis Federation has been providing counselling and other services to the family, according to some media reports.
"It's tragic for everybody," the police chief said. "A young person has lost their life."
He said the investigation was continuing, and that officials were waiting to receive results from an autopsy.
"It's really difficult for me to make judgments on anything until (I) have all of the facts," he said of the Taser incident.
"There's specific rules on when those devices can be activated."
On Wednesday, the teen's grieving mother lashed out at police and their use of the Taser.
"They might as well just took a gun and shot my son right there instead of using the Taser," Sharon Shymko told CTV news. "Basically, it did the same thing.
"They took away my son and they should not have. This should not have happened. My son's not here, and there's nothing else I can say."
As autopsy results have not yet been released, no definitive cause of death has been established. The teen's mother called on Winnipeg police to stop using Tasers. Minchin said his son was "stubborn" but good at heart.
"He didn't go back to school last year when school started," Minchin said. "He was kind of a stubborn kid, you know? He didn't respect me that much, I suppose. He was a kid so I still loved him.
"He was a good kid, man, you know? Harmless kid. Maybe he did some stupid things once in a while, but who doesn't as a teenage kid, you know? He wasn't involved in any gangs. Sure he liked to smoke pot and he liked to drink a little bit, but what kid his age doesn't, you know?"
Since 2003, there have been 21 stun-gun-related deaths reported in Canada. More than 300 people across North America have died in connection with stun gun use. Four people died in Taser incidents last year. The death of Robert Dziekanski, after being stunned by RCMP at the Vancouver Airport in October 2007, unleashed a global firestorm of controversy about police use of Tasers after an amateur video of his death was released to the media. The spokeswoman for Amnesty International said that while the group is concerned over the use of stun guns and Tasers in general, they will wait until more details of the investigation are released before commenting further on the Winnipeg incident. The teenager was the first person to die in Manitoba after being hit by a police stun gun.
"There hasn't been enough independent and comprehensive testing (on Tasers)," said Homes.
Received on Sun Jul 27 08:51:35 2008