(Miami) Police Tasered truant girl, 12

[Mika]

Police Tasered truant girl, 12
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10170605.htm

A Miami-Dade police officer used a Taser to stop an unarmed, 12-year-old girl who was running away from him after she was caught skipping school, police acknowledged Friday night.

The incident happened Nov. 5, just over two weeks after other Miami-Dade officers used a stun gun to restrain a first-grader. In that case, police said the 6-year-old boy was holding a shard of glass and threatening to cut himself. Police Director Bobby Parker defended the decision to shock the boy because he could have seriously hurt himself.

But Parker said Friday that he could not defend the decision to shock the fleeing 12-year-old, who was apparently drunk.

''Under the circumstances, we thought that he should not have used the Taser,'' Parker said referring to the officer. ``It's likely that discipline will be forthcoming.''

[colonel odis]

1. if they're smart, they won't ever let that girl's parents know

the name of the officer who tasered her.

it would be like writing a death sentence for the cop. at least it would, if that were my daughter they'd done that to.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

23. You assume.....

.....the parents even care.

Then again, they probably would want to beat the officer up, if only for damaging "property".

[colonel odis]

25. are you assuming the parents don't care? and that they consider

their child to be property?

thanks, but i'll err on the side of parents caring about their children.

and if a cop can't subdue a 12 year old girl without pulling out his taser, then he has no business being a cop.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

56. Well, let's see.........

........twelve years old, truant, and drunk.

Yeah, go ahead and bet the house on the parents.

[colonel odis]

59. thanks. i will.

meanwhile, you keep loving those stereotypes.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

60. What stereotypes?

Did letting 12 year olds run around drunk and truant suddenly become an acceptable method of parenting?

[Ilsa]

2. Those drunk, unarmed 12 yr old girls are a danger to society!

They might have the strength to plop down down in front of a tv to watch Survivor or a soap!

What the hell is wrong with these peoples' judgement?

[Mika]

3. Cop used the Powel doctrine..

.. used overwhelming force to defeat the "enemy". :puke:

[amber dog democrat]

12. Mission Accomplished

Shock and Awe.
Back in my formative years I used to think of the police as " the enemy ".
Sometimes I still do.
Holy cow.

[China_cat]

6. Well, they got all these neat toys

and haven't had a chance to really use them.

These things really worry me. My heart ain't so good. If I got Tasered, there's a real chance I could die. I know this. What about those who don't?

Then there's the other thing...the Taser is the one with the leads and the button that the officer can push to keep the voltage going. (At least until the batteries die) How many sadistic assholes are there out there who would do just that? How many would see just how many Taser leads they could get into a person and what zaps from multiple Tasers at once would do?

The really unfortunate thing is that that question has to be asked in the first place.

[immoderate]

38. I did some training for the Miami-Dade police

I was talking to a couple of Sergeants who didn't want to take the Taser training because they would have to be "tased."

They told me that the after effects of the taser are rarely publicized. Victims can have convulsions and vomiting for hours afterward.

--IMM

[China_cat]

41. And that's for an adult.

Just imagine what it would do to a child.

[immoderate]

48. One of the Sargeants, a tall woman

shuddered and said, "I'll let my boys take the training."

--IMM

[MSgt213]

15. We are in a race to incompetence. Judgement is for girly men.

[George_S]

30. Ah, the good ol' days...

... when they would be incarcerated and released only when sterilized. Oh, wait, maybe a good Taser jolt will accomplish that.

[pinerow]

4. The Flat -Earth Society is now officially in charge.

nt

[LauraT28]

5. F@#$%^&^ Facists!!!! Militarization of the police is happening...

When the draft riots start it's going to be bad..REAL Bad...Bastards...

[Cooley Hurd]

13. With Mr "Okay-To-Torture" as AG now, I think we're going to see...

...lots more of these stories, and the citizens of Jeebusland will cheer them on. We're in uncharted waters now, my friends...:(

[The Zanti Regent]

7. SS is alive and well in Nazi AmeriKKKa.

WHat else would you expect from Jesusland?

[saigon68]

20. The Miami Police Department.

Nelson said he fired ''for my safety along with safety.''

[cornermouse]

8. Don't you recognize minature criminals when you see them?

Fact is you don't taser children. Period.

[0007]

9. This is as outrageous as junior leading this country into war

So I assume that 50% of Americans think that this is okay, 'eh?

[nine23]

10. I just heard on the news...

...that one of the officers stated "We DID catch her as she was going down, preventing her from hitting the pavement."

Well, I guess that makes everything OK then...

By the way, I'm in Vancouver...this is so pathetic the story has gone international.

[tlcandie]

17. If they caught her and kept her from falling THEN there was no

need for her to be tasered. Drunk and outrunning them? LoL Laughable!

[arikara]

42. I used to think that the cops were the good guys

at least 99% of them. But their brutality is getting right out of hand, and its getting just as bad here in Canada as it is in the US. Just a couple of days ago, a pair of Vancouver policewomen roughed up and handcuffed a photographer for taking pictures of squeegie kids. In Victoria a couple of months ago, a cop shot and killed an unarmed man who was running away from them right in front of a bunch of people coming out of a church. His wife had called the paramedics to help him because he was acting weird.

I never used to be afraid of cops, now I don't trust them at all.

[slor]

11. My Friends, before we condemn these fine officers...

of the law, shouldn't we find out if this child hated freedom?

[shesemsmom]

14. well the cops have a new toy

and if that were my kid I would probably be in jail for thumping a cop.They need to learn a little self control. just because they have a SG doesn't mean they whoop it out for every situation. These cops need a little training in self control and appropriate use of a weapon
:spank:

[rman]

21. well, she had just escaped from school.

that's pretty freedom-loving.

so, let's condemn the fine officers.

[lostnfound]

16. These incidents will be so commonplace they won't be news.

I hate the brutal society which is being created in part through the militarization of police departments.
In Houston they just received about 4000 of them.

[goodboy]

18. These cops are out of control. that's the 2nd kid in two weeks they

zapped.

[Starlight]

19. So, if they've zapped 2 little kids...

do we even want to know how many adults? :mad:

[goodboy]

22. nope. Remember after the hurricane, some guy was trying to get

back home ,and the cops zapped him and pulled him out of the car in front of his family?

[ParanoidPat]

31. They zapped a 75 year old woman a couple of weeks ago........

.......who was "creating a disturbance" trying to visit a friend at a nursing home. :scared:

http://www.heraldonline.com/local/story/4124708p-3890580c.html

Police stun 75-year-old
Rock Hill chief says Taser was used after woman attacked officer

By Matt Garfield The Herald
The Rock Hill Police Department is investigating why an officer used an electric stun gun on a 75-year-old woman who refused to leave a nursing home where she had gone to visit an ailing friend.

The woman, Margaret Kimbrell, said she suffered bruises on her leg and face after she was knocked to the floor by the force of the weapon, called a Taser.

Police Chief John Gregory said Tuesday the department is reviewing whether Officer Hattie Macon's use of the Taser was appropriate -- a step that is taken in unusual or high-profile cases.

"On face value, it looks like it was," he said. "We have a person who was asked to leave, who refused and who attempted to assault the officer."

<More>

[TeeYiYi]

43. . . . and a pregnant woman in the stomach . . .

"... The officer allegedly turned the Taser gun toward her and threatened the bride with it, according to the lawsuit.

Madison ran into the home, and one of the officers followed. That officer then allegedly shot Madison with the Taser gun twice in the abdomen, despite being told by witnesses that she was pregnant.

A prong from the stun gun reportedly became lodged in Madison's stomach and had to be removed by paramedics, Ferguson said.

A third officer allegedly held a gun to Madison's head as she was being arrested.

After being released from custody, Madison sought medical care and doctors told her the unborn child's vital signs were weak and that tests would show whether she would lose the baby..."

http://propagandamatrix.com/articles/october2004/251004firingtaser.htm

TYY

[TeeYiYi]

45. More than one pregnant woman has been tased with 50,000 volts. . .

"There is enough evidence of taser-connected miscarriages to conclude that it is a very bad idea to shoot a pregnant woman in the abdomen with a taser gun, in case common sense doesn't lead one to the same conclusion. I know I wasn't there, but I know there are less harmful ways to subdue a pregnant woman than sending a shock strong enough to incapacitate an adult human straight through her unborn baby. In 1988, Angela Valdez, a former client of one of my professors, suffered a miscarriage after she was shot in the abdomen with a taser. The news media did pick up this story, and it is printed in the Orlando Sentinel, 6/16/1991. Another U.S. woman suffered a miscarriage the day after taser darts sent a current across her uterus, according to the New Scientist, 8/11/2001. Then, on December 11, 2001, police in Chula Vista, CA shot a six months pregnant woman in the stomach with a taser. Four days later she delivered a stillborn girl, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune , 6/29/2002."

http://www.thezeroboss.com/archives/001178.html

TYY

[msanthrope]

24. I want to see a picture of the Miami police officer

who needed a taser to take down a drunk pre-teen.

Coward.

[Judi Lynn]

27. They really should run his/her photo. WE need to see our heroes, by golly.

Whatta genius.

Apparently the Miami Police Department has the view concerning their new shipment of taser guns, "Use it, or lose it."

Gotta find more ways to mainstream tasers in every day life, even if it means traumatizing a child for decades to come....

I guess she will learn to be grateful she wasn't shot!

[Miami Liberal]

26. I feel so much safer now

that my friendly neighborhood cops are going after the REAL criminals. Brings a tear to my eye, I tell ya.

:mad:

[Jose Diablo]

28. You have seen these cops before

They are the ones in F911 discussing going into battle listening to "Roof is on Fire".

There will always be a certain percentage of individuals that love the feeling of power over others.

They have been 'blooded' and will now become our new security apparatus for the country Bush is turning us into.

We are on a slide into your worst nightmare. If you had been in Germany in 1933, what would you have done? Anything? Nothing?

Few people will stand-up to stop what is happening. After all, isn't everyone for 'law and order'? Don't you trust your government to do the 'right thing'?

People by and large are sheep. Always willing to let others fight the battles. "It is not MY battle. Maybe if I ignore this, it will just go away."

[bobthedrummer]

29. Another legacy of Ashcroft, The Witchfinder.

Miami's finest Tasering kids, wanna bet they're minority kids, too?

[restorefreedom]

32. is this national "torture children" week?

did I miss the memo?

this is the second taser-kid story in a couple of days.

I knew these things would be trouble. Cops will toss restraint techniques into the wind. After all, just whip the ol' taz'

How many instances of abuse will take place that we will never hear about?

These things should have never been legalized. We just put yet another torture instrument into the hands of government officials.

[Glenda]

33. Isn't this what killed the Red Sox fan

When the police shot into the crowds?

[RamboLiberal]

36. Red Sox Fan was killed by a Pepper Ball

Think of it like a paintball filled with pepper spray. Fired from a high velocity weapon - like a bullet coming at you.

[LifeDuringWartime]

55. holy jesus

didnt know they had those

[OutsourceBush]

34. She was probably a terrorist

[kodi]

35. what? cops no longer shoot a fleeing suspect in the leg? good show!

it takes a special personality to shoot a non-violent kid with a taser. and with all due respect to our brave men and women in blue, such personalities are found in higher concentrations amongst law enforcement personel than in the general public.

[denidem]

37. I lived in Miami-Dade County in the 60s/early 70s and

the Metro cops were jack booted thugs. No joke. I live in Boston, and a video has turned up of the fatal Snelgrove incident. It clearly shows the Boston cop, the one who was the trainer, yet, shoot at face height into the crowd AFTER the crowd had already quieted down. That cop is toast. But they had these new crowd control toys to use. They just had to try them out, don't you know.

[Bark Bark Bark]

39. HEY! GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU?

...I mean the "at least they didn't SHOOT her" crowd, the ones who spun and twisted when a similar discussion cropped up about Tazzing a self-mutilating SIX-year-old. The members of the Officer Zappy McTriggerhappy Fan Club.

Where you at? I need one of you to tell me that when an eight-foot-tall chainsaw-weilding crackhead attacks me, I'll wish I had cops like this to defend me. C'monnnnnnn.

[sakabatou]

40. O_o

YOu'd think he'd call the school or the kid's parents... but NOOO... he had to taser the kid. -_- Next you'll see officers tasering for funn or using mutiple taser guns on a single person.

[seriousstan]

44. He couldn't catch a 12 year old DRUNK girl????

Perhaps a few hours in the gym would help. Take him off the street and put him in a sweat suit.

[sandnsea]

46. cattle prods

I used to joke about using cattle prods to keep kids in line. It was a friggin' JOKE. Tasers amount to the same thing. Somebody needs to hand them a cattle prod and ask them point blank if they approve of using it on humans.

[TeeYiYi]

47. Taser hit on girl, 9, stirs talk on ethics . . .

Taser hit on girl, 9, stirs talk on ethics
Maker says device has been used on other U.S. children

_{By L. Anne Newell
ARIZONA DAILY STAR}

A handcuffed 9-year-old girl subdued with a Taser by South Tucson police is among a growing group of toddlers and youngsters the device has been used on nationally.

Still, few local agencies or national oversight groups have age-specific guidelines for the use of the stun-gun device, though they advise officers to use caution with it and avoid firing at pregnant women and compliant suspects.

<snip>

There have been other kids hit by Tasers, though.

Records kept by Taser International of Scottsdale show that as of six months ago, two 1-year-olds, one 2-year-old, two 3-year-olds, two 4-year-olds, one 5-year-old, one 6-year-old and one 7-year-old had been hit with Tasers, though most of the toddlers were hit inadvertently.

Slightly older children also have been hit, including a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl wielding a samurai sword, another 13-year-old girl in Washington who fought with officers, and another 13-year-old girl in Chandler who also fought.

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/23559.php

TYY

[mcg]

54. Inadvertently???

How do you 'inadvertently' taser a toddler?

[Jack_DeLeon]

49. WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!!!

Fucking tasers.

Sort of makes you wish "non-leathal" weapons were ever invented.

Now that police can use force, with no risk of injury to themselves, and a reduced chance of killing someone (and when they die they can just claim "oh its an accident") they will only get worse in abusing thier power.

[Voltaire99]

58. Absolutely right.

This is the road to a domestic Abu Ghraib.

[Laelth]

50. Can anybody say lawsuit?

The R's can gripe about tort law all they want (and they're trying to destroy it at the moment), but this situation is exactly what tort law is for. Somebody needs to sue. And when they win, the jury needs to slap the city with a big, big punitive damage penalty. The effect of those big jury awards is to scare the police (or the corporate offender, or whomever) into being responsible. If you have tort "reform," and the judgment that a tasered 12 year old gets is capped at a small number, then nothing gets accomplished. No large corporate entity or city would be hurt by a $250,000 judgment. As such, there'd be no reason for them to reform their policies. Those big awards protect all of us by frightening powerful entities who are, very often, not accountable to the public. If Miami had to pay a $25 million fine, then police forces across the country would pay attention, and they'd be less gung-ho about tasering 12-year-olds in the future.

That's what needs to happen here, imho.

-Laelth

[Auntie Bush]

51. Oh God... you know not what you do!

[FreedomSpirit]

52. paranoia runs deep ...

into your soul it will creep ...
It starts when you're always afraid ...

and so on.

What is it in their environment and/or their experience that is making these young kids so "uncontrollable" that the only option the police feel they have is to "neutralize" them with tasers?? Something much deeper is going on here than just cops over reacting and having inadequate training or ethics to deal with these situations in less violent ways. Kids are responding to stresses in their lives and in our society in general -- who are these kids? What socioeconomic and family background do they come from? What's going on in their homes that's causing behavior that's bringing school officials to call in the cops??? Something is SERIOUSLY wrong.

I don't agree with use of such force in situations like this but clearly no one knew what else to do to defuse the situation of a kid out of control and endangering himself and others and that is not good. I agree that use of tasers and such force is not the best solution and don't defend it, but they probably just didn't know what else to do and just wanted a quick fix. And if it was just a poor black kid or white "trash", so be it, what's the big deal if they get hurt? The situation at hand is resolved and that's all that matters as far as they are concerned.

Well, it IS a big deal!! We should not be tasering children who are responding to stresses in their lives that are beyond their control. So much of this kind of stuff is directly related to breakdown of families, education, jobs and social services which began with Saint Ronnie and Uncle Newt's Contract on AmeriKa. This is a VERY bad symptom of the virulent cancer the Republikan agenda is metastasizing.

God, Allah, Yahweh, help us all!!

[George_S]

57. What did they do before they had Tasers?

Shoot them?

[mcg]

53. The officer should be Tasered.