ASIRT investigating after Tasered man, 20, goes into 'medical distress'

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been directed to investigate circumstances surrounding the arrest  a 20-year-old man who was Tasered during an arrest in northern Alberta last week.

The man, now in stable condition in hospital, is expected to make a full recovery, ASIRT said in a news release Monday.

Around 7 p.m. Thursday, officers from Lakeshore Regional Police Service (LRPS) responded to a disturbance complaint at a home on the Sucker Creek First Nation reserve, ASIRT said.

Police had been told that an intoxicated person had damaged property and threatened an occupant of the house.

High Prairie RCMP officers attended to help the LRPS officers.

A 20-year-old man was located and arrested, ASIRT said.

"During the arrest, a struggle occurred and a conductive energy weapon, commonly referred to as a Taser, was deployed," ASIRT said. "After being restrained and removed from the residence, the man went into medical distress."

The man was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital before being transferred by air to another hospital.

Sucker Creek First Nation is on the southwest shore of Lesser Slave Lake, about 22 kilometres east of High Prairie.

The Lakeshore Regional Police Service was created in 2008.

ASIRT investigates incidents involving Alberta police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.