WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | UPDATED--Toledo pastor sues hospital after being tased

UPDATED--Toledo pastor sues hospital after being tased

Report by Lisa Rantala - email | bio

Posted by LS

TOLEDO (WTOL) - A local pastor is suing one of Toledo's main hospitals. He says he was unfairly tased by a security guard while visiting a friend there.

Pastor Alford Poisson says this one violent incident was unexpected and changed his whole life. He says he can no longer go back to Saint Vincent Mercy Medical Center due to the stress.

Further, he told his story on CBS The Early Show on Friday morning.

On Thursday, July 24, Poisson said a man called him from St. Vincent's. He said he'd been stabbed, but the pastor said he could not visit him.

Poisson has been an evangelist for 30 years. He has dedicated his life to the Toledo Gospel Rescue Mission downtown. "I love being here," he says, "I love the people. I love the place. If Jesus was here, this is where he'd be."

He prays with the men there and once did that with patients who called on him at Saint Vincent Mercy Medical Center. But ever since an encounter with two security guards last year, Poisson says he can't find it in his heart to go back. "The whole thing was so bizarre. How can you explain the unexplainable," he tells us.

He was visiting a friend who fell off a deck in the ER and came across a security guard Poisson thought he knew. "I went over and said hi to him, and he turned around real grouchy."

Being in a good mood, Poisson tried to spread his cheer. "I said, 'Are you happy today?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Well you better tell your face.' I thought it was funny."

The next thing he knew, Poisson said he was escorted out of the hospital. "I said, 'You boys, I'm a pastor.' He said, 'I don't care what you are. Get out of here."

The pastor says they then tased him six times. "They tased me, and they kicked me and they stomped me and they tased me again and again and again."

According to the lawsuit, Pastor Al's son pleaded with the guards to stop because Al had a bad heart.

According to the police report, the security guards said Poisson provoked them. It reports that outside, Poisson elbowed one guard and tried to pull his hair while on the ground. 

"I wake up at night, in the middle of the night," the Pastor says, "I'm nauseous all the time."

Poisson was charged with assault, but then prosecutors decided to drop the case.

Now Pastor Al says he wants those two security guards to find his type of faith.

We tried to get a comment about the case from Saint Vincent. They said they do not talk about pending litigation but did comment on their tasing policies. "Anytime they (security guards) are met with physical aggression against themselves or another, they are authorized to use the taser," says Pete D'amorest with St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Hospital officials say this matter did go under investigation last year, and the security guards were found to be just in their actions.

Meanwhile, Poisson is looking for punitive damages and attorneys fees with his law suit.

He's flying out to New York Thursday night and will share his story with the CBS Early Show Friday morning, July 25.