'Nobody deserves to die that way,' dad says of teen hit with Taser

Michael Langan, the teenager who died after police zapped him with a Taser, may have been a high-school dropout who wandered the streets of Winnipeg's inner-city core, but he didn't deserve to die like that, his father says.

"Nobody deserves to die that way, no matter how many problems you had," Brian Minchin told CBC News on Thursday.

Minchin is still struggling to cope with his 17-year-old son's death Tuesday following an altercation with police officers in a back lane in the city's core.

Police say they pursued the teen into a back lane after reports of a smashed window on a Lexus, then zapped him with a stun gun when he refused to drop his knife.

Langan was rushed to hospital in critical condition but died soon after, marking the 22nd stun gun-related death in Canada since 2003 and the first for the Winnipeg Police Service since they began using the device in 2006.

'I have nothing'

Sitting on the peeling wooden steps of his inner-city rooming house, where Langan lived with him for the past three weeks, Minchin says he still can't believe his son is dead.

"That was the only thing I had in my life is my son. He's gone. I have nothing," Minchin chokes up, his eyes red-rimmed.

"I love my son so much, he always used to say, 'I love you, old man.' That's what he'd call me," he sobbed.

While he acknowledges he was no model father and his son was no angel, Minchin was proud of his son.

He said his son likely broke into the car to steal some money, perhaps for alcohol. "Teenaged kids, they do stupid things," he said.

But using an up to 50,000-volt electronic stun gun on his 145-pound, five-foot-four son was excessive, he says.

The teen's father is convinced that Langan would have put down the knife he carried for protection if the officers had continued talking with him.

"If they would've talked to him longer, he would've put the knife down eventually," he said.

"There was no other thing they could've done. Wrestle him, tackle him to the ground, do something else, man," the father said.

Police say it's unclear what caused Langan's death. Autopsy results are pending.

Chief wants all the facts

Winnipeg police Chief Keith McCaskill said the force plans a "complete and thorough investigation" of what transpired during the confrontation between officers and the teen.

"It's really difficult for me to make judgments on anything until I have all of the facts," McCaskill said in a hastily called news conference Thursday.

One of the questions the force will be looking at will be whether it was appropriate to deploy the electronic stun gun.

An investigation into why a Taser was used will be turned over to another police agency for a complete review before it is sent to an external Crown attorney, McCaskill said. A public inquest will also be held.

Meanwhile, Minchin plans to go panhandling so he can try to get enough money to buy new shoes and a suit for his son's funeral.

The date of the funeral has not yet been confirmed.