Witnesses: Tasered boy posed no threat

ChicagoSunTimes ^ | 7-31-05 | DAVE NEWBART

[SevenMinusOne]

Without a doubt the taz at the Chuck E. Cheese was another example of terrible decision making by an unprofessional police officer (and an officer who should be out of a job).

We can agree to disagree on this case (but I have no larger dog in this fight as you speculated earlier - In fact I have good friends/family that are in the enforcement business in both the civilian and military side of things).

But we do not live in a police State and police do not have the right to use unnecessary force. Nor do they have the right to act as unprofessional as this officer (Lopez) did with his total conduct.

[KDD]

Our mistake was militarizing County and City Police Departments to wage the never ending War on Drugs. Abuse is rampant...so is corruption in many PDs on that account.

The War on Drugs is causing many more problems than it solves.

[SevenMinusOne]

The War on Drugs is causing many more problems than it solves.

I am in complete agreement with you here (as are many in the field they just aren't allowed to go on the record saying it).

[KDD]

When dealing with the police always keep a level head and a civil tongue...and the phone number of the best attorney you can afford in your pocket.

Almost all cops these days are a little...twitchy.

[A CA Guy]

Sure, the kid was a train wreck that the facility lost control of. They had the equivilant of a maniac on the loose.

[A CA Guy]

175+ pounds at age 14 is a giant kid. I'm 200 pounds myself and at his age was 132.

I'm glad he didn't die, but if there's a chance he may endanger somebody else's life with his behavior, I hope he goes before somebody else does at such a time.

The issues do speak for themselves.
#1 Out of control maniac kid of 175+ pounds.
#2 Bleeding, large and for all they know could spread aids.
#3 Broke lots of glass, could break more or use what he broke as a weapon.
#4 The facility called the cops because the facility lost control of this kid.

On and on and on.

IMO, the bad effects of the taser was rotten luck against the odds. The cops weren't going to charge into a large maniac kid with glass around with their weapons or brute force where the kid could bite them.

More than likely the history of the kid not mentioned here reads like a horror story as well.

I think the cops were outstanding here and I'm also sure they did wonder how long paperwork on all the destruction of the kid and their visit would take. Cops do have too much paperwork.

There was common sense here by the cops. They did good.

[A CA Guy]

How afraid are the police of anybody bleeding?

Plus being this is a young kid at a facility, you either have a nut or a orphan who could have aids through the mother. It isn't far fetched at all. Nuts bite and that was an issue for sure.

The kid was far more whack job than a punk IMO. The home witnesses who have liability issues regarding this gave a testimony IMO that would put themselves in the best position in a lawsuit.

The developmentally delayed boy was sitting on a couch in a juvenile home and was not attempting to harm anyone, the witnesses claim in sworn court depositions obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The incident happened after the boy went into a rage at the residential center in February when a staff member took his baseball cap. He smashed windows and allegedly pushed staff members. He then refused treatment for his bleeding hand.
In response, the boy said, "Go ahead, shoot me with your toy gun,'' testified Ulich campus supervisor Wayne Riley, a former probation officer.

[MRMEAN]

Sometimes, retardation is a after-the-fact media diagnosis or familial excuse.

If you read the article you will see that the 14-year old boy is a ward of the state with a diagnosis of DD, living in a group home no doubt with other mental defectives. It would appear from the evidence available that the only after-the-fact excuses are in the police report.

If 14-year old 'Tard A tells 14-year old 'Tard B, "Shoot me with your toy gun," and Tard B pulls the trigger, then we understand we have a situation of tards acting like tards. But if a 14-year old 'Tard tells a Sergent police office, one of "Chicago's Finest," "Shoot me with your toy gun," and the police officer takes that as license to shoot the 'Tard, then the police officer is even stupider than the 'Tard.

[MississippiMan]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on this case. What did you think about police action in the case several months ago, when they tased a seventy-plus-year-old woman in her own yard because she was loud and obnoxious? That justified too?

MM

[A CA Guy]

Post a link to the case and I will check it out.

About the only bad thing a typical cop has done in the news was a while ago when they showed up at the wrong house and the owner got hurt.

I think there are a very few dirty ones, and I do believe they are human and can make mistakes, but in this case I have no problem with their actions.