Pixiq

haha. you should be “SHOCKED” but you’re not.

i get it.

puns are great.

So, given the situation was the girl a threat to:
1. The officer? No, she was running away from him. No indication that she had threatened him.

2. Was she a threat to herself? There is nothing noted about her being suicidal or self destructive.

3. Was she a threat to anyone else? I am not sure what she did to assault her mother, but it doesn’t seem likely she would be a threat to someone on the street or at her school given the situation.

Of course, I only have the information given in the article, but it does make me want answers in order to justify the LEO’s decision to Tase the girl.

So, what would have been the consequences of letting her run away and cool off if the LEO was not fast enough to catch up to her?

Many of these stories seem to indicate that the Taser is being used by some as a compliance device to make people obey, rather than a device to protect citizens, suspects or the LEO’s from harm.

I remember the days when the police would engage in high speed pursuits for any suspected crime, i.e. shop lifting etc. Eventually this changed in most departments as the risk assessment was that more harm was caused by crashes than by misdemeanor suspects getting away. I think that they actually caught most of the suspects later without risking lives in the pursuits.

It seems like it is time to assess the risk of the Taser. There have been enough stats collected to do a good risk assessment. Have the LEO’s been sold a bill of goods, that the Taser is harmless, safe, and good for most any annoying circumstances or suspects? Is it just human nature that when you have a hammer every problem looks like a nail? Or in this case, when you have a Taser on your belt every defiant suspect needs some voltage to help them see the “Right way”?

Does anyone know if there is a LEO best practices somewhere regarding Taser use? It seems that one of the national groups should step up and set some standards/guidelines. It would be a good way to persuade the local PD’s to integrate them. If they were not following the standards, it will cost them dearly in court if something bad happens, like to the girl in this story.

Boi Boy

“The incident makes you wonder whether or not police need more training in dealing with teens”

Nah, just shows another reason why there needs to be actual repercussions when cops do something which would land the rest of us in jail (instead of being on *paid* leave).

A paid vacation. THAT will teach the police chief to think twice about using the Taser irresponsibly!

Perhaps the police departments should institute a policy of docking the officer a days pay for using the Taser regardless of any later findings of justification. So if the officer was willing to give up a days pay to use the Taser perhaps these types of situations would decrease.

Boi Boy

Ah, clearly a case where, but for a taser, lethal force would have been required.

It really is time to give up the fiction that tasers are aren’t regularly used as “compliance devices” – dangerous, easy to deploy torture devices used to enforce the will of the police officer wielding it that usually don’t leave large marks.

I’m sure there are plenty of cops out there that use them as intended, as an alternative to lethal force. But far too often we see cases like this.

OBVIOUSLY JUST TRAINING IS NOT ALL ANYONE NEEDS
TO BE ABLE TO CARRY ANY TYPE OF WEAPON THERE NEEDS
TO BE A MENTAL/PHYSIOLOGICAL TESTING DONE EVERY
COUPLE OF YEARS. ALONG WITH DIGGING INTO THERE PAST
AND EVIDENCE OF VIOLENCE WITH THERE PAST RELATION-
SHIPS, ANY EVIDENCE OF VIOLENCE WITH PARENTS TO
EACH OTHER, ANY EVIDENCE OF BEING BULLIED OR BEING
THE BULLIER, FIGHTS, WITH TEACHER IN SCHOOL. WHAT
KIND OF MAN WOULD EVEN TASE A YOUNG GIRL OBVIOUSLY
WITH NO WEAPON CHASED HER 20FT 30FT AND DECIDE TO
USE A WEAPON. WHO THE HELL TRAINED THIS DAM COP OH
EXCUSE ME CHIEF. THE GIRL IS JUST WANTING SOME
ATTENTION. CHIEF DID YOU EVER THINK OF WHAT THIS
YOUNG GIRL HOMESTEAD IS LIKE. NO YOU WERE PROBABLY
TO BUSY THINKING OF AN OLD CASE THAT YOU HAVE A
HANG UP ON. MAYBE COPS NEED TO BE SEEN BY A
THERAPIST TO EVALUATE THERE PAST . SEEMS
LATELY THAT IT NO LONGER TAKES TWO POLICE OFFICERS
TO GET SOMEONE IN CONTROL. FOUR TO SIX MORE
OFFICERS SHOW UP NOT JUST TO BE A WITNESS TO THERE
FELLOW WORKERS ON THE INCIDENT BUT TO THROW A FEW
PUNCHES AND SOME KICKS AT SOMEONE THAT IS ALREADY
ON THE GROUND. IT DOES NOT TAKE THAT MANY GROWN
TRAINED HA HA HA MEN. WHAT THESE GUYS ARE DOING IS
LETTING OUT THERE PAST FRUSTRATIONS OUT ON SOMEONE
ELSE. I AM A SECURITY GUARD AND HAVE NO DESIRE
TO INVOLVE MYSELF WITH HAVE BEEN BULLIED EARLIER
IN LIFE AND NOW WANTS TO BE A COP. I CAN JUST
LOOK AT SOME AND TELL MY GOD CHIEFS TRAINERS
CAN NOT TELL. YOU CHOICE A JOB THAT DEALS WITH
PEOPLE WITH PROBLEMS AND MANY VARIOUS REASONS
BUT EACH INCIDENT IS A NEW ONE NOT OLD AN OLD
INCIDENT. YOUR JOB IS TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES
NOT TO INVOLVE VIOLENCE OR MORE VIOLENCE.

TO THE YOUNG GIRL I AM SORRY THAT YOU HAD TO BE
A VICTIM TO A UNTRAINED COP. THIS SHOULD HAVE
NOT EVEN HAPPENED. ME I WOULD HAVE CHASED YOU
AND CHASED WHILE TELLING YOU LETS TALK, I WANT TO
HELP, IS THERE SOMETHING MAYBE I NEED TO KNOW,
PLEASE GIVE ME A CHANCE TO HEAR YOUR SIDE, PLEASE!
SOME RUNNING AND A LITTLE SWEAT THIS WOULD HAVE
NEVER HAPPENED. I HOPE AND PRAY YOU WILL RECOVER
FROM THIS TRAGEDY.

Perhaps more vigorous PT training is in order.

Or boomerangs.

Idiot Parents: Do not call 9-11 to deal with family issues.

Why? Police make perverts look relatively harmless.

Another example of a “non-lethal” device used on the nations slaves. Must not resist the slave drivers or you get this or worse. And it is indeed foolish to expect the cops to behave like civilized human beings.

Geez! What a gash! Another kid traumatized for life by a brief encounter with the cops.

“Police make perverts look relatively harmless.”

Funny! Scary! True!

b
911=USrael

If parents like this idiot of a “mother” would learn to be parents instead of trying to use the police to raise their brats or get the police to raise them for them, this wouldn’t have happened. It sounds like the kid was not adequately disciplined at home.

I am sure the cop didn’t intend for the dart to strike her in the head. Sounds like a bad taser cartridge if the darts flew that far apart (head and hip). I’m sorry the kid was injured like this but I hope she understands that it wouldn’t have happened if not for her unruly behavior.

@Roughny

Excellent point. I’m sure we all agree this girl understood that her adolescent acting-out would lead to getting her epileptic brain electrocuted by a police chief! It’s all her fault.

It’s really that simple – misbehave, and you’ll be subject to Taser-roulette.

Tasers are ordinarily super-accurate, and they never kill, right? This was just a case of the rare malfunction.

Authoritarian idiot.

Thuggery pure and simple. Why can’t alot of LEO’s ever take any responsibility for their own idocy. What might have come out of the officer’s mouth if his kid was tasered and some SOB thug made a lame lie to cover?

I know that this is an old article, but I have to ask, the ridiculousness of using the taser in the first place aside, how on Earth did one of the taser prongs end up in the girl’s head?

Take a couple days off Calahan.