http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/8483554/spratt-tasered-up-to-41-times/ (10 December 2010)
Kevin Spratt was tasered up to 41 times in a week and went to hospital with fractures, a collapsed lung and a dislocated shoulder after being taken out of his cell by a special ‘cell extraction’ team, a Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry has been told.
Mr Spratt’s fiancée broke down in tears today as the CCC was shown confronting footage of him being repeatedly tasered by prison officers in riot gear. The tasering of Mr Spratt by WA Police and specialist DCS emergency support group officers during his arrest, detention and investigation is the subject of the public hearings.
The vision of specialist Department of Corrective Services emergency support group officers removing Mr Spratt from his Perth Watch House cell on September 6, 2008 to take him to Casuarina Prison was shown publicly for the first time.
The vision had been kept secret by Corrective Services Minister Christian Porter, who refused to release it on the grounds that officers could be endangered by having ESG tactics revealed and available for prisoners to watch on television.
The vision shows ESG officers repeatedly ordering Mr Spratt to lie down on the ground or face tasering. With officers in riot gear lined up outside his cell, one officer warns Mr Spratt: “Lay down or I’ll Taser you.”
The order is given several times before the crack of a Taser is heard and the officers move into the cell and drag Mr Spratt into a narrow corridor outside his cell. Tasers are used on him 11 times, including nine when the weapon was activated in drive stun mode while held in the small of his back. Seven prison officers take part in the operation.
Mr Spratt is heard to be exhibiting bizarre behaviour including what appears to be singing and praying. Mr Spratt, who read a statement outside the CCC with fiancée Tayunna Schatkowski in tears at his side, welcomed the release of the vision.
“As a result of that incident I was hospitalised with broken ribs, a punctured lung and a dislocated shoulder,” he said.
