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Kamloops RCMP tasered an 82-year-old man in his hospital bed last Saturday after he threatened hospital staff with a knife.

Frank Lasser was in Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops for pneumonia last weekend. At about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday he began to threaten the staff and pulled out a pocket knife, hospital spokeswoman Darshan Lindsay said. Although the hospital's on-site security tried to handle the situation, it escalated and staff called RCMP.

RCMP tasered Mr. Lasser shortly after arriving.

"This patient was physically threatening staff. He posed a danger to our staff and other patients and this was a very serious situation and that's why the RCMP were called," she said.

"I can't speak for the RCMP and the actions they took, but what I can say is our staff felt they required the assistance of the RCMP."

Ms. Lindsay said Mr. Lasser had brought the knife with him into the hospital. "Generally patients' belongings are not sorted through by staff. This is out of respect for patients and their privacy rights," she said.

Mr. Lasser has since been discharged from hospital.

He has had heart surgery and carries an apparatus to supply oxygen.

He told CBC News that he sometimes becomes delusional when he can't breathe properly, and said he couldn't explain why he wouldn't release the knife after the Mounties showed up. He described the stun-gun encounter as "bang, bang, bang, three times with the taser, and I tell you, I never want that again."

Kamloops RCMP told the CBC they had no other choice but to use the taser. No one in the RCMP would comment last night.

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