Christopher Stephenson represents army veteran wrongly tasered by police

News | Thu 22nd Sep, 2016

Christopher Stephenson represented an army veteran who had been wrongly tasered by the police in Luton, securing an award of £50,000 which is one of the highest paid in this type of case. Michael (not his real name) was a British Army veteran who suffers from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after tours of duty in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Following a severe flashback police were called to the grounds of the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. After about an hour of calm negotiations one of the four officers surrounding Michael drew his Taser and told him to turn around. Michael asked the officer to put his weapon down, but suddenly the Taser was deployed and Michael was struck by a 1,500 volt electric shock. Michael claimed that  there was no change in the circumstances of the incident that justified deployment of the Taser and that it was fired unreasonably. The incident has had a profound effect on Michael, who has suffered a profound and debilitating exacerbation of his PTSD.

Christopher was instructed by Gus Silverman of Irwin Mitchell, Bristol.