Community demands answers after teen Tasered by RCMP in Norway House, Man. | CBC News

The community of a teenage boy who is non-verbal and disabled is seeking answers after he was Tasered by police and put in custody in Norway House, Man.

About 100 people showed up to a protest outside the Norway House RCMP detachment on Sunday, demanding justice for the boy. The rally was livestreamed on Facebook.

The RCMP said in a Sunday news release that officers responded to an emergency call about a violent assault of a pre-teen girl at a residence in the Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation shortly after midnight on Friday.

Police said officers were told a 16-year-old boy had a knife and was threatening to stab the girl and any officers who responded.

The boy was found outside the residence and told to show his hands but refused police commands and then pulled out a large knife, according to the RCMP release.

Officers used a stun gun on the boy, which caused him to drop the knife, RCMP said.

But people who say they were with the boy at the time say he had no knife at all, that there was no assault and that the pre-teen girl was his sister.

Krystal Munroe, 22, said she ended up in police custody for 12 hours, in a cell near where the boy was locked up, after the incident.

“Someone called the cops, and I guess some of the cops just barged in the house without knocking or anything,” she said in a phone interview with CBC News.

Munroe said police went after her first, then the boy, and then fired the stun gun on him.

“I guess they [Tasered] him because of how he was walking and they thought he was drunk because how he walked. He didn’t have his walker,” she said.

“I was in a different [cell] and he was in the cell all night for 12 hours, I think, and he was crying. I heard him crying, calling out for his dad all night.”

Relatives of the boy told CBC there was a party at the residence that night and that’s probably why police were called.

The RCMP said in an email that officers encountered two intoxicated individuals who were arrested “to ensure everyone’s safety and to prevent the continuation of the offence.”

They said they wouldn’t confirm the girl’s relationship with the boy in order to protect her identity, but that they’re known to each other.

The girl did not require any medical attention, police said.

Family members said police tackled the boy to the floor, using the stun gun on him and roughing him up. Photos provided to CBC News show some bruising on the boy’s wrists, and marks on his chest and legs that family members say are from the Taser.

The RCMP said in an email there was no other use of force than the stun gun.

“Officers recognized that the suspect had mobility issues and he was escorted and safely placed in the back of a police vehicle,” the release said. “He was then transported to the detachment without incident.”

People at the protest said police used excessive force. There was drumming, songs and chanting as they walked toward the detachment.

“He has no voice. We have to help him fight,” Heather Anderson said in a phone interview with CBC. “They’re just tackling anybody, just because they thought he was drunk, assumed that he was drunk.”

‘This has been going on for far too long’

Kelvin McKay, who also spoke by phone to CBC, said the community has a rough relationship with police, and that “this kind of stuff happens on an every-week basis.” 

“He only knows the words yes and no and maybe a few other words,” McKay said about the boy. “We just want the story to be told the right way. [He] did not deserve what [happened].”

Jonathan Meikle said the community is often sitting at a “bubbling point” when it comes to its relationship with police.

“When these things occur, these more prominent injustices happen. We see that community mobilization,” he said in a phone call.

“We have a lot of systemic issues as a result of historical trauma and systemic oppression, discriminatory policies. Community members are verbalizing … that this has been going on for far too long.”

The RCMP said in an email no charges have been laid at this time.

Members of the family said they will be seeking legal council. 

McKay said the community is planning more protests.