The family of an Oakville senior who was seriously hurt when Halton police Tasered him during a confrontation last fall want to clear his name.
Gerry Morgan, a 79-year-old who suffered from Parkinson's disease, broke his hip after Halton emergency task force officers used the Taser inside his home. He had also been shot in the arm with a rubber-like projectile from an anti-riot weapon.
Officers were called by Morgan's wife after she saw him cutting fruit in their kitchen in the middle of the night. She thought he was confused and called for assistance.
When police arrived, they used the Taser, triggering the serious fall. Morgan was in a hospital for months.
He died earlier this month, but an investigation by the province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) did not link his death to the Taser incident.
The SIU probe concluded the officers should be charged. Officers Joe Davis, Richard Dodds and Matthew Kohler now face various assault offences.
Their case was heard in a Milton courtroom on Monday. Morgan's family attended the proceeding.
"My dad was wonderful family man, loving husband -- he was a gentle, gentle man," said Morgan's daughter, choking back tears.
"He was proud of his name, and so were we, and that's what we want."
Morgan's family is struggling for answers in the bizarre case.
"It's beyond me why a 79-year-old man, a 150-pound man with Parkinson's, could not be controlled by tactical officers without having to use a Taser and rubber bullets," said the family's lawyer, Julian Falconer. "Something is very wrong"
Falconer denied stories that Morgan tried to attack the officers with a knife.
Anthony Leitch, a lawyer representing the officers, said he was not aware that his clients were attacked.
Morgan had never been in trouble with the law before.
With a report from CTV's Tom Hayes
