police use stun gun on 6 year old

[basschick]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/12/chi....ap/index.html

the cops are saying that they tasered the kid to keep him from hurting himself - like tasering doesn't hurt. they couldn't just jump a 6 year old kid? i mean, okay - he had a piece of glass. but come ON!

[JustMe]

Greetings:

My partner is a police officer, and I have to say, I think that officers acted very responsibly in this situation.

#1. You have some kid that you KNOW is messed up in the head because he's slicing himself with broken glass.

#2. You try to negotiate with him, to no effect.

#3. He continues to slice himself with the glass.

Should the officers have jumped him? No, they should not have. First of all, the kid could stab himself when you approach, could fall on the glass, or could stab or seriously cut the officers. Why should the officers face unnecessary risk of injury? It's not their job to get injured. Sure, he's only 6 years old, but children younger than that have seriously injured and even KILLED police officers before.

Did the taser "hurt" the kid, hell yes it did. Did the taster "injure" the kid, no it did not. The officers stopped the kid from continuing to "injure" himself, and eliminated the risk of him "injuring" them or anyone else. In the process he got "hurt" for a few seconds. That's the unfortunate result of behaving like the Psycho Son of Chucky.

My partner and I have been together for many years now, and every day that he's left for work in that time, I've told him 2 things on his way out the door: First, that I love him. Second, to remember that his safety comes first.

In this situation just like any other, the officer's safety comes before the safety of others involved, including this child. Period. Officers face difficult situations like this every day, and if they all ran around trying to act like the big hero, not a one of them would be alive for more than a month to serve and protect the rest of us.

[Dawgy]

sad as it is, i think they did the right thing.

someone needs to look at that kid's homelife... there is something seriously wrong at home.

[basschick]

well, i guess i'm the odd man out here, but that's okay.

six year olds are VERY small, and the smartest is not that experienced. i can't comprehend that two full grown adults couldn't figure something out besides tasering him. ah, well. i'm sure that child is going to grow up with a very dim view of law enforcement. i wonder if he went into convulsions from the taser...

as far as this kid's homelife, he'd probably be a lot better off elsewhere.

[JustMe]

Greetings:

Oh, here's one other bit of information that I thought I would pass along.

Most people are not aware of this, but did you know that almost all police officers get shot with a taser in order to qualify to carry them? Just like all officers get sprayed with military grade pepper spray in the eyes and face in order to qualify to carry it.

Officers are well aware of the effects of both of these tools, because they've experienced them for themselves. They're designed specifically for these situations. A tool that allows officers to take the fight out of someone, without having to resort to using their asps or guns, which have far more serious consequences for the perpetrator.

Is it possible that 2 officers could have stopped this kid by jumping him? Sure, it's very possible. But, it's also possible that the kid could have injured them or himself in the process. It's not worth the risk when you have a perfect tool at your disposal.

Yes, tasers can cause heart attacks. HOWEVER, virtually every single case of a heart attack or seizure taking place with a perpetrator, he or she was HIGH ON DRUGS at the time.

[basschick]

officers are aware of how these things work - on THEMSELVES.

how they will work on others depends on lots of things, like where on the person's body they are being tasered, and for what amount of time. also the physical condition of the person can change the results.

[Dawgy]

this is really a no-win situation for the cops

if they had jumped the kid or done something else, and he had sliced his face up or sliced one of the cops, theyd get condemed for not doing something else to restrain him...

ive tried to wrestle things away from young cousins that age, even non-sharp harmless objects, and its still a bitch. little kids are slippery suckers and if they dotn wanna let go of something, they dont... wrestling a kid with a shard of sharp glass cannot possibly have any good outcome.

[Lee]

I have to agree with Dale on this although they may have been another option the two officers could have taken, without being there all we know is the spin the media has put on things.

Regards,

Lee

[Lykos]

I really don't like police but in this case they were totally right