is it appropriate to taser a first grader?

[karyn]

from channel 5 in bumfuck

the majority of readers of this article thought it was appropriate to taser a small child.

Police Use Taser Gun On 6-Year-Old At School

MIAMI -- Police in Miami-Dade County, Fla., say they used a Taser gun on a 6-year-old boy to keep him from hurting himself.

The boy, who wasn't identified, was shocked with 50,000 volts on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School. The principal called 911 after the child broke a picture frame in her office and waved a piece of glass.

When two police officers and a school officer arrived, the boy had already cut himself under his eye and on his hand.

Police said the officers talked to the boy without success. When the boy cut his own leg, one officer shocked him with a Taser gun and another grabbed him to keep him from falling.

The boy was treated and taken to a hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. The case is under review.




anyone here ever been tasered?

[postcoital]

Well, the boy can consider himself lucky that the officers haven't shot him in the legs to keep him from hurting himself.. :|

[HempKnight]

I have been tasered as well as had a stun gun used on me, when I worked in bail bonds I had a cop thinking I was the felon zolt me instead of the bad guy... given the alternative of being shot in the back with a S&W .40... I'll take the taser any day.

It is mostly harmless, with the exception of people with a pacemaker or heart condition.... don't believe me, go wet your finger and stick it an open light socket... it will hurt, but you'll live. Just make sure you have someone standing by the switch to turn it off

[Sceptic_Messiah]

tasers are illegal over here i think which is a shame because these days people need them, but if a kids freaking out and running around with a piece of glass in his hand i'de rather he got tazered then shot

[Tequila Zaire]

I would have got the other kids to throw dodgeballs at him...that'd of taken him down REAL fast.

[postcoital]

They should probably check his family. Could be just me, but I don't think that borderline is a common hobby for a six years old.

[One Eyed Cat]

Totally inappropriate. A 6 year old can be subdued without a taser.


OEC

[Cthulhu23]

Not only is it appropriate but also fun!

j/k

[franziska]

It's not cool to taser children. If I can subdue a kid, hitting and kicking people, or hitting himself, without a taser, the police most certainly can. Fercrissakes, it's not that hard to subdue people.

[Nightingale]

Two policemen, a six year old child. How big was this hunking gorilla of a six year old?

Sorry, I think that the police overreacted in this case. I cannot believe that they were incapable of disarming the child by any other means.

[Kidthorazine]

i think the taser would have been the best way to subdue the kid without risking any further injury because if you try to use bodily restraint on someone that small it runs a very high risk of injuring them further esp. if they have a weapon not to mention since the kid was armed albiet only with a shard of glass you have to take into account the safety of the officers they probably did what they were trained to do as a relatively harmless solution to the situation

[Morning Glory]

fucking cops. I think there's a big difference between hempknight and a first grader. sure taser's are " painful, but relatively harmless" but they are intended to be used on a adults not on kids that are three feet tall and weigh like 50 pounds, so I think the probibility of them having far more serious and damaging effects is pretty likely. why didn't they pepper spray the kid? that seems to be what they do to everyone else, or is that more fucked up than electrocution? this is just another case of the police using excessive force, but it's cool cuz they are cops, and they don't seem to have any reservations about doing things that they arrest other people for.

[Morning Glory]

If I shot my kid with a taser for doing something dangerous, granted this is a little extreme, but what kid hasn't done something stupid and harmful? it's a fucking five year old. but anyways, say my kid was playing with a sharp object or something and I used a taser gun on him, how many years of prison do you think i'd get for child abuse? i'd like to see one jury in the country that would think it was ok for a parent to eletricute a child with 50,000 volts.

[TheQuietPlace]

How would you feel if you had to taser a small CHILD?

[hewhoisagod]

How would you feel if you had to taser a small CHILD?

I used to drive a school bus............... I actually asked my boss if it was ok to bring a taser. Luckily for the kids he said no.

[Nightingale]

I used to drive a school bus....

In Germany at the moment, school ends at about midday (between 12 and 2, say). I work until 8 at night. When someone starts trouble I can stop and wait; the children know this, ergo: the children sit quietly. They've tried it. They lost.

[TheQuietPlace]

I don't care how unruly the kids are. I would NEVER hurt a small child.

[Forestghost]

Ok, picture this:

This six year old is cutting himself with a shard of glass, inside a confined room. Two officers enter the scene and try to talk to the kid. The kid is obviously not cooperating.

Now....scenerio number 1, officer A starts distracting the kid while officer B starts inching towards the kid. It's a small room, the kid sees what officer B is doing and decides to take the shard of glass to his eyeball or throat. Now you have a SERIOUSLY injured, maybe DEAD child.

Scenerio number 2, officer A starts distracting the kid, while officer B dives at the kid aiming to take him down and confiscate the glass. Officer B may succeed. Officer B may end up with a shard of glass in the eye or hand or wherever. Officer B may end up grabbing the kid by the legs or something and the kid proceeds to stab himself in the eye or throat with the glass. Officer B grabs the kid too roughly and ends up breaking one or many of the child's bones.

Scenerio number 3, the officers taser the kid rendering him helpless, the kid is treated in the hospital for the shock, spends a day in bed recovering, then ships off to the psychiatric institute.

Now if you were the officers, which choice looks best? Remember, you cannot predict how scenerio 2 will unfold, and there are many risks involved. I imagine that the police knew what a taser would do to a human of any age or size because weapons used by police (or military) are TESTED for a large number of situations. If the officers thought that the taser would seriously harm the child or maybe kill him, they would have opted for scenerio 2. But police (dispite common assumptions) are not stupid, heartless people. I'm sure one of those two policemen probably had a kid of his/her own at home waiting for them.

I would never harm a child if it could be avoided, but if it was a potential matter of life or death, I'd rather shock a kid than seriously hurt them or have them seriously hurt themselves!

[TheQuietPlace]

Ok, picture this:

This six year old is cutting himself with a shard of glass, inside a confined room. Two officers enter the scene and try to talk to the kid. The kid is obviously not cooperating.

Now....scenerio number 1, officer A starts distracting the kid while officer B starts inching towards the kid. It's a small room, the kid sees what officer B is doing and decides to take the shard of glass to his eyeball or throat. Now you have a SERIOUSLY injured, maybe DEAD child.

Scenerio number 2, officer A starts distracting the kid, while officer B dives at the kid aiming to take him down and confiscate the glass. Officer B may succeed. Officer B may end up with a shard of glass in the eye or hand or wherever. Officer B may end up grabbing the kid by the legs or something and the kid proceeds to stab himself in the eye or throat with the glass. Officer B grabs the kid too roughly and ends up breaking one or many of the child's bones.

Scenerio number 3, the officers taser the kid rendering him helpless, the kid is treated in the hospital for the shock, spends a day in bed recovering, then ships off to the psychiatric institute.

Now if you were the officers, which choice looks best? Remember, you cannot predict how scenerio 2 will unfold, and there are many risks involved. I imagine that the police knew what a taser would do to a human of any age or size because weapons used by police (or military) are TESTED for a large number of situations. If the officers thought that the taser would seriously harm the child or maybe kill him, they would have opted for scenerio 2. But police (dispite common assumptions) are not stupid, heartless people. I'm sure one of those two policemen probably had a kid of his/her own at home waiting for them.

I would never harm a child if it could be avoided, but if it was a potential matter of life or death, I'd rather shock a kid than seriously hurt them or have them seriously hurt themselves!

..Great point. The way you describe it, if it was an ABSOLUTE situation of life or death, I would agree to shock the kid too.

It just seems a bit odd that they shock a kid. I wonder how the police officer felt after he/she shocked him...

[keiko]

Absoulutely NOT! No one should ever tazer a 6 year old! The kid had a peice of glass in one hand. GLASS. A SIX year old! Unless this is a Nuclear Baby, the kid is less than 3 ft 6 inches tall and couldn't possible weigh more than 80 lbs. I've been a baby sitter. When a kid acts like this it is a learned behaviour that need to be stopped. Grab the kid by the wrist, twist him around smack him squarely and firmly on the ass, not to hurt but to startle him, he'll drop the glass and then you give him detention for the spitballs he was throwing. It is NEVER apropriate to put five thousand volts of electricity through a CHILD! If the kid had a gun I might feel differently about the tazering, but it was a peice of GLASS!

Speaking of Bumfuck Redneck Fla cops tazering children a 12 yo girl was tazered by a cop becasue the cop thought she was skipping school and she ran away from him. I'm seeing a trend, are you?
K

[-=Asmodeus=-]

I think that a billy club to the head would have been appropriate....then go to the kids house and do the same to his/her parents for not raising their kid right....

[Kidthorazine]

notice that all the people who have actually been tasered think that it was appropriate...

[KilLAtomiK]

i thought the thread read:"is it apropriate to tease a first grader" so i voted yes lol i need to get my eyes checked

[macabrette]

I agree with whoever said pepper spray would have been a better option. Tasers are for adults, and the chances of permanent injury on a child would make me reach for the spray instead.

[TheQuietPlace]

i thought the thread read:"is it apropriate to tease a first grader" so i voted yes lol i need to get my eyes checked

You're not the only dyslexic one here.

[purplepixie]

i thought the thread read:"is it apropriate to tease a first grader" so i voted yes lol i need to get my eyes checked

hehe i thought that aswell when i clicked on the thread

how did they manage that anyway isnt it illiegal to even hit a child so that it leaves a mark well then surely the police definantley wouldnt have been alowed to taser the child

[Morning Glory]

um, when I suggested using pepper spray I was being sarcastic. you could have subdued the child with a squirt gun. of course he didn't respond to the police talking to him, how many five year old do you know that do what you tell them to? the way that they make it out was that this deranged kid was trying to mutilate and kill himself with a peice of glass, but given the extent of the injuries on the kid, two small cuts, in the time that it would have taken the police to even get there, if that was his intention he could have done much more severe damage easily, so I highly doubt that that's what the situation was, probbily just exageration to make it seem more justified for user a taser.

[One Eyed Cat]

um, when I suggested using pepper spray I was being sarcastic. you could have subdued the child with a squirt gun. of course he didn't respond to the police talking to him, how many five year old do you know that do what you tell them to? the way that they make it out was that this deranged kid was trying to mutilate and kill himself with a peice of glass, but given the extent of the injuries on the kid, two small cuts, in the time that it would have taken the police to even get there, if that was his intention he could have done much more severe damage easily, so I highly doubt that that's what the situation was, probbily just exageration to make it seem more justified for user a taser.

Police use gloves that are resistant to cuts and tears from knives and any jagged objects. They are extremely effective. It is ridiculous to think that under those circumstances, the object could not be removed from a 6 year old by a trained Police Officer. I think you are probably correct that the situation was exaggerated as well.

OEC

[pelelaka]

i'm not sure i understand how the tasering thing works out, but what i don't understand is how two grown police officers can get close enough to shock the shit out of him, but they can't get close enough to hold the wrist that's holding the glass and take it away from him? the kids six, i weigh 98lbs and i can hold down a six year old. i've done it before. those are some pansy ass lazy donut munchers. i wonder if they're feeling big because they saved the six year old from hisself...

[DharmaLion]

not in this scenario...but I can certainly think of a few kids who could probably use it.

[Mirren]

There were other things that could have been done, I mean if authorities are afraid of 6 year olds with a piece of glass... it's a sad state of affairs.

[Amelia G]

[One Eyed Cat]

That picture says it all. The intent of the Constitution was to protect us against the tyranny of our own government thru a series of checks and balances and an enumeration of rights. In this day and age, we see law enforcement which takes license upon our liberties in the name of "personal safety" and/or "terrorism". The day may come when the concentration of state power becomes so great; that those protections offered to us by the first amendment will be null and void to those who remain reticent out of fear or a false patriotism.


"They that give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin



One Eyed Cat

[Nightingale]

i'm not sure i understand how the tasering thing works out, but what i don't understand is how two grown police officers can get close enough to shock the shit out of him, but they can't get close enough to hold the wrist that's holding the glass and take it away from him? the kids six, i weigh 98lbs and i can hold down a six year old. i've done it before. those are some pansy ass lazy donut munchers. i wonder if they're feeling big because they saved the six year old from hisself...

They don't need to get close, these tasers shoot out wires which give a charge on impact.

[Morning Glory]

that day is today my freind.

[One Eyed Cat]

that day is today my freind.

I know it is man, but I have to keep liberty in my heart. I can do little else.

Regards

OEC

[Nightingale]

I know it is man, but I have to keep liberty in my heart. I can do little else.

Keeping liberty in your heart isn't going to help in the future, sorry to say. You need to keep liberty in the hearts and minds of everyone possible, and you need to keep it in the Constitution by fighting against all these laws and Presidential Decrees which limit and them destroy your freedoms.

[VampBoi]

LOL

[suicidal_tendencies]

I would have got the other kids to throw dodgeballs at him...that'd of taken him down REAL fast.

[Raina]

Absolutely Not. For ANY reason.