Tasered Grandpa Sues Hospital

A grandfather and pastor is suing a Toledo, Ohio hospital after being tasered and beaten by security guards at the facility.

Much of the incident was caught by surveillance cameras.

Al Poisson, 67, says he was visiting a friend in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center a year ago and was in a very good mood when he came upon a glum-looking guard and joked with him.

"I said (to the guard), 'Are you happy today?' Poisson told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Friday. "He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Well, you oughta tell your face!' "

Poisson added that, "It went downhill from there" and turned into an "atrocious, unbelievable situation, to say the least."

The guards wound up taking Poisson outside the building, where they used a taser and/or stun gun on him, dropping him to his knees and, he says, beat, kicked and "manhandled" him when he was down.

It all happened in front of Poisson's son and Poisson's six-year-old grandson.

The Web site of CBS affiliate WTOL-TV in Toledo cites Poisson's lawsuit as claiming Poisson's son pleaded with the guards to stop because Poisson has a bad heart

The Web site also says a police report quotes the security guards as asserting that Poisson provoked them and that, once outside, Poisson elbowed one guard and tried to pull his hair while on the ground.

The guards called Toledo police and had Poisson arrested for alleged assault, but those charges have since been dropped.

Poisson says he used to go to St. Vincent's regularly to pray with patients, but no longer can cope with doing that. He also says he's had to give up his duties at a local soup kitchen that's since closed.

Poisson is seeking punitive damages of an unspecified amount, along with damages for pain, suffering, medical expenses and lost income. The lawsuit also says the hospital doesn't train its security personnel properly.

St. Vincent's issued a statement saying, "According to our policy regarding physical aggression, the use of a taser is warranted if someone attempts to physically attack a staff member, patient or visitor. We conducted an internal review of this incident that determined the response to the aggression was appropriate."

"That's not true at all," Poisson responded to Smith when the statement was read.