Mum of boy tasered by police at Craig Tara considering legal action

The woman claims her son was holding a butter knife when he was surrounded by officers and tasered at the holiday park back in March

Author: Paul KellyPublished 18th May 2023

The mum of an 11-year-old boy who was tasered by police at Craig Tara Holiday Park in Ayr says she is considering taking legal action against Police Scotland.

Officers were called out to the caravan park in March. A video of the incident on social media shows a stand-off between the child and five officers.

Police Scotland said in a statement earlier this week that the boy had been brandishing a knife, and that the situation was resolved without serious injury.

Boy's mum claims it was a butter knife he was holding

But the woman, who is not being named, told MailOnline it was a butter knife he was holding when he was tasered.

She also said her son has global developmental delay - meaning it takes longer for him to reach certain developmental milestones.

The boy’s mum said she is in contact with a lawyer and has not received an apology from Police Scotland.

"My son didn't speak for about two weeks after the incident because he was so traumatised," she said. "It's just been awful for us all.

"I've had no apology from the police following the incident, I'm raging about it.

"They've said nothing to me. I keep getting asked for statements from people higher up, but I've had no apology or anything.

"My son was terrified. I don't understand why there were so many of them surrounding him. If there had just been one or two and they had calmly spoken to him, none of this would have happened."

Police 'didn't take boy's age or learning difficulties into account'

She said police did not take her son's age into consideration, or the fact he has learning disabilities, describing the situation as "an absolute joke".

Footage obtained by the Scottish Sun newspaper shows a number of officers, one holding a Taser, approaching a boy who appears to be holding a knife.

One of the officers can be heard saying "throw the knife down, throw the knife away", and one asks "what do you want to do with the knife?"

The boy can be heard saying "stay back" before the Taser is discharged by an officer and the child falls to the ground.

The mother told MailOnline that she wants an apology from police for her and her son, and said she is in contact with a lawyer because "I want to take this further".

A video recorded by the boy was also published by the news site showing the lead-up to the incident, where he is warned to drop the knife and repeatedly swears at the officers.

According to his mother, the incident flared up after the boy was unable to get food from Burger King and he ran off.

Woman phoned police because she was worried about her son

She said she phoned police because he was somewhere he did not know and she could not find him herself and was panicking.

The mother said that when police arrived and were approaching, her son "grabbed a butter knife and just ran with it".

She said police then came at him with Tasers, describing it as "like something out of a film or a video game".

Responding to media reports at the time, the force said the incident would be referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) "as part of standard procedure".

A Pirc spokeswoman said: "Police Scotland referred the use of Taser to Pirc as is required.

"We are investigating the circumstances, and once our investigations are complete a report will be issued to the chief constable."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “As there is an ongoing PIRC investigation we are unable to comment.”

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