Posted on 11/12/2004 6:17:49 AM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Police used a stun gun on a 6-year-old boy in his principal's office because he was wielding a piece of glass and threatening to hurt himself, officials said Thursday.
The boy, who was not identified, was shocked with 50,000 volts on October 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School.
Principal Maria Mason called 911 after the child broke a picture frame in her office and waved a piece of glass, holding a security guard back.
When two Miami-Dade County police officers and a school officer arrived, the boy had already cut himself under his eye and on his hand.
The officers talked to the boy without success. When the boy cut his own leg, one officer shocked him with a Taser and another grabbed him to prevent him from falling, police said.
He was treated and taken to a hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation.
"By using the Taser, we were able to stop the situation, stop him from hurting himself," police spokesman Juan DelCastillo told The Miami Herald.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That's the Enterprise's fog light.
I can hear the principal now speaking after the police have "subdued" this kid. "Thank you gentleman. You're everything we've come to expect from years of government training." ...geez, what a couple of whimps...remember "officer safety" is paramount in all contacts with the public. Temper tantrums by six year olds are "tactical scenarios" requiring high tech solutions. Lord help us all...
I wonder if the kid will remember the valuable lesson: "Act like a heathen brat - get tazered"??? I sure would.
This is what happens when you don't spank your children.
Boys especially need a spanking every day. Even if they didn't do anything wrong - they damn sure thought about it.
I got my ass tore up on a regular basis and I turned out just fine. (My head is twitching violently to the left and I'm giving you all an evil stare...)
:-)
No, just the security guards/cops.
Agreed. With a six year old child, I think I could be man enough to risk a cut arm or hand to avoid having to hit him/her with a taser. A few stitches would be a lot easier to live with than the thought of the kid dying because I was too scared to do anything.
The cop out of "to avoid him harming himself" is outrageous. Waiting around for the police borders on child endangerment to me.
Thats not an incendiary headline is it :)
I don't want to get into the second guess game on this-on the surface it looks like the cops may have done a wussy thing. I also know that edged weapons are nothing to mess with, no matter who has them in their hand. TV gives us a mistaken impression that fighting someone with a knife is a matter of a few Karate Kicks, and it's just not that way.
The default action to deal with someone with a knife within 21 ft is to shoot them. On that level, these officers exercised restraint. Was there a better way than a Taser? Probably. Was a taser better than some of the other options, probably. None of us were there to see the totality of the circumstance. To paraphrase, it is easier to comment from the sidelines than to be the man in the arena
Voltage doesn't kill. Amperage kills. The 50k volts is in the artoicle for shock value. (pardon the pun). That voltage is more or less standard for such devices.
If you wanted to kill someone with electricity, you'd use a high amperage charge. The voltage of that charge could vary widely and in fact could be very low.
The amperage of a Taser charge is well below 1 amp. The lowest amperage fuse in your car is typically 3 amps.
I'd a hit him in the head with a book.
Excellent question. The phaser discharge array on the Galaxy Class Starship is a large ring that travels around the bottom of the saucer section allowing an almost 360° firing solution.
That's a great question and a sad one at that, isn't it? What's wrong in his life? Something sure is. I hope they find it. As for the taser...I think it was a good thing so they didn't have to grab him physically in any way except to keep him from falling. He IS seriously disturbed to mutilate himself like that. Cutting himself UNDER the eye when he could have taken out his own eye tells me this kid was SCREAMING for help. Hope he gets it and hope his life gets turned around.
As I recall, in the final episode, the future version of the Enterprise did in fact have a phaser gun mounted there.
Tasers for tots? Now I've seen everything. Sounds like a South Park episode.
Its not the volts that get you dead...its the Amps. ;)
I think the adults did the right thing. Had they grabbed the child and attempted to take the glass from him eveyone could have gotten cut and besides...no matter how well meaning and careful the guards might have been with the child...they would have been crucified. This way the child was stopped from hurting himself further and the adults handled it the best they could. If they had not, I am certain the Principal would be testifying to unnecessary actions by the guards. Now the child will receive care for his self-inflicted wounds and hopefully he'll get the help he needs in order to grow to a responsible adult. It's not a perfect world by no means but I think we all do the best we can.
LOL
Janeway would negotiate. Kirk would dodge.
He'd be liable to fall on the glass shard.
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