Indiana

A Tale of Two Tasings

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Now this is something you don’t hear about everyday.  Not one, but two incidents involving tasing, local law enforcement and pre-teens.

Two Martinsville police officers are on administrative leave for using a taser on an out-of-control 10-year old.  Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is defending an officer’s use of a taser to subdue an 11-year old.

The facts in both situations are pretty similar, police were called to a disturbance, they worked to subdue the kids, normal methods didn’t work, next thing you know, ZAP!

I’m not really sure where I come down on this one yet.  I believe that officers should respond with the force and methods necessary to get a situation under control,  however there is something to be said about the force necessary to subdue 10 and 11-year olds.

I think the bigger issue though is what is, or in this case, isn’t going on in the homes of these children that got them to this point in the first place.  Apparently no one ever put down any boundaries or told these children that there were consequences for their actions.

In the Martinsville case, the police had been called to the day care before regarding the child.  And in the Indianapolis case it looks like the child’s home was a magnet for police visits.

So with all that going on, is anyone surprised that the kids ended up getting tased?  The sad part if someone doesn’t intervene soon, when the kids get a little older and have a run-in with the law they may be on the receiving end of something a lot more serious than a taser.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on April 05, 2010 (boomark / email).