Police were justified in using Taser against a man who moved towards officers with two large kitchen knives in his hands, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded.
The incident happened in the Holywood Arches area of Belfast on 20 February 2011 after police responded to a report that a drunk man armed with a knife had locked his girlfriend and mother in a house.
The man's girlfriend had previously made an allegation of serious sexual assault against him.
When uniform officers arrived at the scene the man (Man A) was in the kitchen and was holding a knife to his throat. Although initially calm, he became agitated and upset, before taking a number of tablets.
Meanwhile, the PSNI's Belfast Regional Control had assumed control of the operation, and tasked trained negotiators and Armed Response Officers to attend.
The man's mother and girlfriend left the house before the Armed Response officers arrived. Man A, however, was found to be armed with two large kitchen knives and had open cuts to his arms.
He remained agitated despite attempts by the officers to negotiate with him, and further discussions with the negotiators after their arrival also failed to resolve the situation.
At one stage Man A sat down on the kitchen floor. He received a mobile phone call and was heard to say: "It's too late. It's gone too far."
He then got up off the floor and approached the officers with a knife in each hand. An officer reacted by discharging a Taser, which proved effective and allowed officers to bring him under control.
He was then taken to Belfast City Hospital for treatment to the self-inflicted wounds to his arms and the ingestion of painkillers, the quantity of which proved not to be life-threatening.
As is normal procedure following the discharge of any police firearm, the incident was referred to the Police Ombudsman for independent investigation.
A Police Ombudsman Deputy Senior Investigating Officer agreed that the PSNI should assume primacy of the scene to facilitate the investigation of the allegation of sexual assault.
Police Ombudsman investigators subsequently conducted their own examination. They also obtained all relevant police documentation and radio transmissions as well as accounts from officers who had been involved.
In his account, the officer who discharged the Taser (Officer A) said that Man A had, on a number of occasions, placed the knives to his own throat and chest and made reference to committing suicide. At one point, he said Man A had used the phrase "death by cop" and said he would only leave the house in a body bag.
The officer said he discharged his Taser because he believed there to be a real and immediate threat to life.
This account was corroborated by two other officers who were present. Information downloaded from the Taser, and other evidence examined during the investigation, also corresponded with Officer A's account.
In addition, Officer A was found to be properly trained and authorised to use Taser, and Man A later confirmed that he had no complaints to make about the police handling of the incident.
The Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, concluded that police had taken all reasonable steps to achieve a peaceful resolution, and had used Taser only when other options had been exhausted.