A man who was tasered by police at Pearson International Airport Monday has been charged with assault and mischief, following allegations he was aggressive toward officers.
Peel Regional Police Const. George Tudos said the man was trying to get through security Gate E for an international flight without being screened or searched by employees just before 11 a.m. Monday.
Airport staff used a silent security alarm to call police officers to the scene.
Police found the 23-year-old man in the common area outside security.
"Officers that responded were met with a confrontational, very aggressive male who assaulted one of the offices," Tudos said.
The officers were attacked and a Taser was deployed by police, Tudos confirmed.
Two officers were injured during the confrontation and were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. One of the officers had injuries to the face.
The suspect was also taken to Etobicoke General Hospital where he is being assessed, police said.
Zhi Wei Chen, of no fixed address, faces two counts of assault with intent to resist arrest and one count of mischief.
Officers are trained yearly on when to use force, Tudos said.
"When we do use any use-of-force weapon, it has to be justified by the actions of the person that they're interacting with," Tudos said.
Police said security video taken from cameras inside the airport will help them determine exactly what happened.
Pearson officials confirmed that a Terminal 1 international security screening checkpoint closed shortly after 11 a.m. due to a police investigation.
The checkpoint remained closed Monday afternoon and passengers arriving at Terminal 1 were being rerouted to other checkpoints. The checkpoint was then opened again at 4 p.m.
There was limited impact to actual passenger traffic inside the terminal at Canada's busiest airport.
