Judge to probe use of Taser to get DNA

Ryan S. Smith refused a judge's order last fall to give a DNA sample, insisting to police that he didn't care what court papers said.

"You are gonna have to Taser me if you want my DNA," an officer reported Smith saying.

So police did just that, jolting Smith with electricity before swabbing the inside of his mouth.

Now the judge in the case wants to know why.

"This isn't pretty," Niagara County Court Judge Sara Sheldon Sperazza told lawyers involved in the case during a recent court appearance. "I'm fearful of how he's been treated."

Sperazza ordered several Niagara Falls police officers and an assistant district attorney to appear in her court Monday and provide sworn testimony to explain how Smith came to be shocked by a Taser on Sept. 29, 2008.

According to police records obtained by The Buffalo News, officers involved had been told by superiors to "use any means necessary" to collect the sample....