News / Crime
‘I thought they were taking my life’
A 63-year-old race relations campaigner was allegedly shot in the face with a taser by police in Easton.
Officers were looking for a wanted man and appeared to wrongly identify Judah Adunbi as their suspect.
When the police confronted Adunbi – who helped found an organisation which aims to improve relations between Bristol’s black and ethnic minority groups and Avon & Somerset Police – and asked for his name, he refused to give it.
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Video footage shows a male officer struggling with the grandfather, and then – with little warning – a female office firing her 50,000 volt stun gun at Adunbi from close range.
“You don’t accuse someone of being someone else,” Adunbi told ITV. “You ask questions. The first thing they should have done is come to me in a polite manner.
“The way they approached me – they were accusing me. That was wrong.”
The altercation, filmed by a neighbour, became physical as Adunbi tried to go back into his home.
“I felt that was it,” Adunbi said. “Because of the way I fell back… on the back of my head. I was just paralysed. I thought that was it. I thought they were taking my life.”
Chief Superintendent John Reilly said that the incident had been voluntarily referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to see if an internal review is necessary.
He said: “I understand the community are going to have concerns. And we’d really like to answer those. But there’s an ongoing investigation for us to do.”
Main photo from ITV
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