The smartly dressed sales executive travelling on the number 96 bus across Leeds didn't notice his body descending into a state of severe hypoglycaemia. He didn't have time to ask his fellow passengers for help, or press the bell. Instead he slumped back in his seat in a diabetic coma, his head lolling from side to side.This was why he wore a special tag and chain around his neck: it advertised his diabetes. His mother and father, both retired GPs, had encouraged their son to wear it ever since he had started having to take insulin 20 years earlier.
Nicholas Gaubert had been looking forward to a drink with friends in the suburb of Headingley after work. Instead he was critically ill, unconscious on the top deck of a bus continuing its route north through the early evening rush-hour traffic. Some 40 minutes later, it terminated at the Holt Park depot and the driver checked his vehicle. He was used to turfing drunks off the night bus at weekends, but it was Wednesday and the man apparently fast asleep on the top deck was far from dishevelled.
On another evening, the driver may have reacted differently, but the timing tonight was bad for Gaubert: just six days after the July 7, 2005 London bombings and one week before the fatal shooting of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by police firearms officers. Paranoia and suspicion, especially on public transport, were rife. And Gaubert had a rucksack. So the driver kept his distance and shouted at him to wake up and leave. When Gaubert failed to stir, the driver climbed off the bus and told his superiors, who cleared the depot and called the police.
The nearby Asda supermarket was evacuated and an armed unit was called. Eight firearms officers were sent; three entered the bus. The white male didn't look like a textbook terrorist and the bus was empty and far from the city centre.
But he was sweating profusely, wouldn't respond to their shouted orders and they couldn't see his hands, so an officer pulled his X26 Taser stun gun out of its holster, flicked on the 50,000-volt electric gun's red dot laser sighter and pointed it at him. It was the first time a West Yorkshire officer had deployed a Taser.
The man was well within the 21ft range so, when he still failed to respond, the officer shouted a final warning and squeezed the trigger. Two 20mm-long metal barbs attached to plastic-coated copper wires shot instantly and noiselessly from the barrel. The barbs penetrated Gaubert's cotton shirt and embedded themselves in his skin. For five seconds there was a crackling noise as the electricity shot down the wires and discharged into his body. Gaubert's body went into uncontrollable muscle spasms and he fell from his seat.
He landed face down on the floor with one hand under his body. The police shouted again for him to show his hands but he still didn't move; so the officer pulled the trigger for a second time. Another wave of electricity surged down the copper wires and tore into him. (At the subsequent inquiry, the officers would claim they had to stun Gaubert again to make sure it was safe to approach him).
Finally they got hold of him, put on handcuffs and put him into the back of a police van - which is when he regained consciousness and was able to shout that he needed urgent medical attention. He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary.
'I shudder to think what could have happened if I hadn't come round,' says Gaubert. 'They would have put me in a cell and I would probably have died. I was in a diabetic coma, and all they were bothered about was whether I was going to blow up an empty, stationary bus. I showed no aggression - I was unconscious and unable to respond to their demands. I think they just saw it as an opportunity to try out their toys.'
Gaubert has since become what is believed to be the first person in the UK to obtain compensation for being shot with a Taser. West Yorkshire Police has confirmed that it made an out-of-court settlement - thought to be tens of thousands of pounds - and an apology, after a civil action brought against them. (Daily Mail)
