Police taze 8 year old girl

[Second Phoenix]

That's a pretty heartless comment, there is absolutely no justification for abusing/torturing a child in such a way..being an Adult and a cop, and with his training he would have got to her before she did any harm.:o

The cop should be charged with child abuse and booted out of the force, and a thorough investigation done on her family/ why did a little girl feel so bad that she had tried to take her life.

The police were doing what they were told to do in that situation. It is not their responsibility to make up policy.

 

[Hetta]

Did you read my post? They can sue- but they can't sue successfully the individual officers if the police were following protocol. That means they are not personally responsible for their actions since it was what the laws and practices required.

The can attempt to sue those who put the practices in place - but they would have sufficient evidence and reasons to put it into practice in the first place.

That's a big 'if'. I doubt it is in police policy to tazer children. But we will see.

 

[Mikaeri]

The police were doing what they were told to do in that situation. It is not their responsibility to make up policy.

As the previous poster has said, I disagree that it would be police policy to taser children, especially a child so young..this sort of treatment one would expect in corrupt dictatorships, not country's like the US.

As I have previously stated, the cop should be charged.

 

[Second Phoenix]

Tasers are considered non-lethal devices to be used, without regard to age, whenever a suspect is carrying a lethal device but has not used it.

That's standard policy.

When you start saying that suspect must be 13 or some such (which cannot be known)- you create all kinds of gray lines for lawyers to pounce upon.

The use of a taser in this incident was appropriate and in following with protocol established by law enforcement with consultation from medical and ethical professionals.

 

[Mikaeri]

In our country it would never happen, we must be more civilised than the US if their policy is to torture/taser a 8 year old, no cop in their right mind would do this to a child, was his training that limited?

 

[Second Phoenix]

In our country it would never happen, we must be more civilised than the US if their policy is to torture/taser a 8 year old, no cop in their right mind would do this to a child, was his training that limited?

They taser people all the time in Australia. Using a taser is not 'torture'.

They used it because that was standard practice when dealing with a person possessing a deadly weapon.

 

[Mikaeri]

They taser people all the time in Australia. Using a taser is not 'torture'.

They used it because that was standard practice when dealing with a person possessing a deadly weapon.

Hey cops kill Adults and teens every day for the same or similar reasons, your reasoning would be that if the 8 year old had got hold of a gun, that child should be treated the same and be shot DEAD..

 

[Second Phoenix]

Hey cops kill Adults and teens every day for the same or similar reasons, your reasoning would be that if the 8 year old had got hold of a gun, that child should be treated the same and be shot DEAD..

What?

I can barely understand what you just said. A suspect, regardless of age, is not shot for holding a weapon.

 

[Mikaeri]

What?

I can barely understand what you just said. A suspect, regardless of age, is not shot for holding a weapon.

A person could be waving the gun around and be shot..it happens all the time, even in our own country whose gun laws are a lot tighter for police and civilian alike.

With your silly theory, that little girl would have been shot DEAD..there could be a lot of reasons why the child would have got hold of the weapon..

 

[Miss Shelby]

Because campers are notoriously armed and dangerous?

because they want to get in but can't cause the parks are shut down. Might break out in a riot,you know.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Did you read my post? They can sue- but they can't sue successfully the individual officers if the police were following protocol. That means they are not personally responsible for their actions since it was what the laws and practices required.

The can attempt to sue those who put the practices in place - but they would have sufficient evidence and reasons to put it into practice in the first place.

Then that makes being a cop a powerful thing.
'Not personally responsible"..? Then who is at fault if he kills a young child with his weapon?

A professor at the University of Illinois, George Conner, is a police trainer who studies the use of force by police officers. He was stunned when he heard the Taser was used on such a young child. He said it was very difficult to see any type of situation where a police office would need to be using a Taser on an 8-year-old. He also added that each circumstance was different but that makes it even more important for all police departments to have firm courses of action on when to use this type of force.

South Dakota Police Accused of Tasering 8-Year-Old Girl

 

[WarriorAngel]

Then we have Canada having issues with tasing ppl...


Tasering of 80-year-old woman does not instill confidence in Ontario’s new stun-gun policy

Just one day after the Province of Ontario approved the use of Tasers for all front-line police officers, an 80-year-old woman was shot with a conducted energy device in the streets of Mississauga, falling to the ground an fracturing her hip.

WOW.

 

[MikeK]

The police were doing what they were told to do in that situation. It is not their responsibility to make up policy.

They just heard you offer the apology for all the monsters of our times. "We did as we were told. We functioned as orders. We merely carried out directives from our superiors."

 

[psalms 91]

Cops should be held to the same standard as anyone else, it is a shame that usually they arent and this in turn makes them feel invincible as far as the law is concerned. If they exceed their authoirity they should be charged, doesnt happen very often

 

[MKJ]

I think Second Phoneix is overstating things a bit, but it does seem to be increasingly the case that police forces have policies that avoid officers taking any chances with suspects with anything that could possibly be considered a weapon. They are discouraging them from trying to engage by talking to them, or even things like wrestling the weapon away, when it would be safe to do so.

It seems to be about responsibility and liability. There is the issue of people being sued. There are also insurance considerations. If an officer is hurt, and he took "unnecessary" risks, insurance and workers comp could become problems. The employer is not going to want to allow that to happen, so they put in place these stupid, strict policies.

As an example of how silly this is: my husband a year or so ago went to a demonstration for work involving bullet-proof vests. Here, the police are all required to wear them as part of their worker-safety rules. What the company representative told them though, was that in our province, this was a silly rue. In most situations police here are exposed to, gun-fire will go right through the vests. In that situation, they actually cause serious problems, because fibers from the vests go into the would and cause all sorts of trouble.

But, the insurance people like to see that something is being done, even if it is something stupid.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Tasers Kill One Person Every Week

Amnesty International reports that there were 341 deaths between 2001, and 2008, totaling 541 deaths in 12 years.

 

[nathanielb1984]

Well....first off....I wasn't there.....and unless you are there no-one can particularly comment.....however I strongly believe that the officer did the right thing.....officers have to take the decision there and then.....under pressure.....to safeguard life.....he safeguarded her life.....mission accomplished.....

 

[Luther073082]

Tasers Kill One Person Every Week

Amnesty International reports that there were 341 deaths between 2001, and 2008, totaling 541 deaths in 12 years.

So we issue police tasers to prevent them from shooting people or beating them with a stick when they are resisting arrest.

Then you have 52 people a year die of tasers. And now everyone is upset because the police are using tasers.

What do people want the police to use on people who are resisting arrest? Hit them with fluffy pillows? Tickle them into submission?

I can't comment on every incident but maybe those 52 people who died of tasers shouldn't have resisted arrest.

In general I side the police on this one. It's not the police that are the problem it's the people who won't follow legal orders from the police or who resist arrest.

 

[WarriorAngel]

You dont have to be there to know:

A-an expert trainer for the police doesnt agree with a child so young being tased.
B-a police officer - and several of them - could easily have done things differently.
C-tasers have a chance of killing someone...and especially a young child.

 

[WarriorAngel]

So we issue police tasers to prevent them from shooting people or beating them with a stick when they are resisting arrest.

Then you have 52 people a year die of tasers. And now everyone is upset because the police are using tasers.

What do people want the police to use on people who are resisting arrest? Hit them with fluffy pillows? Tickle them into submission?

I can't comment on every incident but maybe those 52 people who died of tasers shouldn't have resisted arrest.

In general I side the police on this one. It's not the police that are the problem it's the people who won't follow legal orders from the police or who resist arrest.

I dont think that girl was resisting arrest.
I dont think she even had the capacity or strength to overcome a single officer there.

Its an assumption anyone is resisting arrest.

We do know - because of police car video cams - police have been found to use force when it was absolutely not necessary.
If they turn the car away from the person they tase - how much do we know - aside form what they say happened??

Power corrupts - absolute power - corrupts absolutely.