Montreal police Taser use criticized

MONTREAL, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Montreal police inappropriately used Taser stun guns 11 times in two years, internal statistics obtained by Radio-Canada showed in a report Friday.

The report obtained by the broadcaster found Tasers had been used 53 times in the city and 11 of the uses breached prescribed protocol, the Montreal Gazette reported.

Last October, Montreal police used a Taser on a 38-year-old man who died four days later of multiple heart attacks. That incident is under review by the provincial coroner's office, along with a September Taser death in Quebec City where a man who refused to leave a store when ordered to by police was zapped at least three times before he died.

At least two Montreal city councilors have joined Amnesty International's call for a ban on the high-voltage devices until the full range of effects has been studied, the Gazette said.