A man Tasered at his home last June confronted Saskatoon police board on Wednesday
From Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 24, 2017
The Saskatoon board of police commissioners wants to keep talking to a man who was shot in the back with a Taser in his apartment by police who were at the wrong address.
Board chair Darlene Brander said she wants to personally set up a meeting with Dion Waniandy, who appeared in front of the board’s Wednesday meeting at city hall.
Holding a feather, Waniandy confronted the board and singled out police Chief Clive Weighill and Mayor Charlie Clark, who sits on the board. Waniandy said he still suffers from anxiety due to the incident and expressed his desire for charges to be laid against the officers.
The 49-year-old left the committee room abruptly after his allotted five minutes, before board members could talk with him.
The Public Complaints Commission, which investigates complaints about municipal police services, dismissed his complaint about the incident.
“Of course, he feels very passionate about what happened to him,” Brander said in an interview. “As Mr. Waniandy said, he’s angry and he’s tired.”
Waniandy was dressed in boxer shorts and drinking beer in his downtown apartment in June 2016 when police came through his door, which had been left ajar. Waniandy said he yelled at the officers they had entered the wrong apartment and went to put on pants when he was shot by a Taser in the back.
Police said Waniandy became verbally and physically aggressive toward the officers before it was determined Taser use was warranted. Waniandy was originally charged with assaulting a police officer and uttering threats, but those charges were stayed.
“I’m being lit up like a Christmas tree by a 6′ 4″ fully armed cop that was within reaching distance of me,” Waniandy told the board about his experience. “You guys have done nothing about this. Diddly-squat.”
Waniandy also confronted Clark during a scrum with reporters at a committee meeting in city council chambers on May 15, then yelled at Clark in the lobby at city hall after the meeting.
Weighill told reporters he has met with Waniandy and his lawyer and wants to continue dialogue. Waniandy’s lawyer, Andrew Mason, said in February that questions linger about the incident, despite the Public Complaints Commission report. He noted police were not responding to a call about criminal activity at the building and wondered why Waniandy was shot in the back if he was posing a threat.
“If you think this is going away, it’s not,” Waniandy told the board on Wednesday.
http://thestarphoenix.com/storyline/a-man-tasered-at-his-home-last-june-confronted-saskatoon-police-board-on-wednesday