Re: Cops use 50,000-volt stun gun on autistic child

[Guest guest]

Maybe they could have handled it better and not used the taser but even

if he was only 12 years old, 5'7 " and 150lb is not a little kid...

as an alternative they might have shot him with a conventional firearm

and in most likely killed him... The question is did they even try

to talk the kid down before using the taser. And was the kid

provoked in some way... and/or felt he was being threatened.

Ender

At 07:01 PM 3/2/2009, you wrote:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11818714

Cops use 50,000-volt stun gun on autistic child

Daily News Wire Services

Posted: 03/02/2009 09:13:09 AM PST

Updated: 03/02/2009 09:14:23 AM PST

HAWTHORNE - Hawthorne police have launched a misconduct investigation

of an officer who used a 50,000-volt stun gun on a violent autistic

12-year-old boy at one of the city's middle schools.

Such use of electroshock weapons by police on young students is rare,

but high-profile incidents have sparked fierce debate around the

country over when, if ever, Tasers should be used on children.

A Hawthorne police spokesman said that the department launched its

investigation in response to a complaint by the boy's parents days

after the Sept. 23 incident. He said department officials are

reviewing the incident to determine whether the officer followed the

agency's rules on using Tasers.

Lt. Ishii said that police were called to Hawthorne Middle

School after a student grabbed a counselor in a threatening manner

and punched and kicked a security guard who intervened.

The boy, described as about 5 feet 7 and 130 to 150 pounds,

threatened to kill staff members and continued assaulting the guard,

who tried to protect other staffers, Ishii said.

Officer Arias arrived at the school about 11:30 a.m. The boy,

whose name was not released, continued behaving violently and kicked

Arias in the groin as about 200 students looked on from the school

grounds, Ishii said.

School officials called the boy's adult sister to the site but she

was unable to calm him, Ishii said. Arias, he said, fired a hand-held

X26 Taser when the boy dashed toward the school's exit and the area

where other students were in a physical education class.

The boy was not hurt, but his family complained, prompting the

department to launch its investigation. The probe is examining

whether the officer should have used an alternative method to detain

the boy, Ishii said.

[Guest guest]

" Maybe they could have handled it better and not used the taser but

even if he was only 12 years old, 5'7 " and 150lb is not a little

kid... as an alternative they might have shot him with a conventional

firearm and in most likely killed him... The question is did they

even try to talk the kid down before using the taser. And was the

kid provoked in some way... and/or felt he was being threatened. "

I agree with you on those points. My feeling is that most kids know

what is or is not appropriate behavior and this kid was behaving

inappropriately. He may have been freaking out in reaction to some

kind of provocation, and if that is the case, then the adults around

him were as guilty as he was for things going this far. At the same

time, in most schools, how often do we see OTHER kids engaging in

this kind of behavior when they are upset? Why should there be an

exception for people on the spectrum?

I suppose there is ONE exception to the rule, and that is if there

had been some build up to all of this, such as day after day, week

after week, month after month of bullying, either by students or

teachers combined. Some people just flip their lids after a while,

and some autistics do have emotional explosions when they have to

deal with all that bullying in addition to normal stress and sensory

overload.

So it boils down to your question: Did they try to talk him down or

not? And how empathetic or sympathetic were they when they were doing

so? What did they know about autism and did they employ any

techniques that they knew?

Personally, I think the availability of the tser makes it easier for

police to use it instead of negotiating where situations can be

diffused through negotiation.

Administrator