Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

[MotherOfGizmo]

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. -- A deputy Tasered an intoxicated 13-year-old girl who was kicking and scratching two hospital nurses, officials said.

April Rene Burleson, who is 4-foot-9 and weighs 90 pounds, had a blood alcohol level of 0.175 percent and was under the influence of marijuana and the prescription drug Xanax, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office

the rest of the story

http://www.davesdaily.com/out.php?id=7028&url=http://www.wftv.com/news/4647071/detail.html

[apollo]

Re: Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

sickening

not as bad as the cops i heard about that shot a unarmed 13 year old boy though

[TyCowboy]

Re: Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

I don't know if I'd call it sickening. Depending on the situation, she was attacking two people at the time the officer arrived, and he had no way to know if she was armed, HIV positive, or any other issue which would cause him not to want to charge headlong after her.

I don't know all the specifics on the situation, but if the girl was out of control and the officer feared that he or anyone else would be injured if he let it continue or tried to jump in, I believe he did the least lethal choice which neutralized the situation.

I don't think it's ever good to have to taser a child, but for goodness sakes, high and drunk people do stupid things, and they often think that they're much stronger than they are. I don't blame the officer one bit so long as it was in the situation I just described.

Now...that being said, if he walked in, whipped out the taser and shocked her, I would suggest that he be fired and never permitted to work for the police again. That's just a stupid use of a weapon which is dangerous, whether or not it's lethal.

As to cops who shot someone who was unarmed, I'd want to know the details, but that does sound horrible.

-Ty

[-=Black Belt Brian=-]

Re: Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

What a brave man to face off with a little girl and then use "less than lethal weapons" on her. One word. coward. My wife works one on one with a severely retarded girl who weighs over 100 lbs. This girl lashes out violently constantly and my wife resrains her without harming the girl. I can't believe that a cop isn't trained to restrain people. If my wife whipped out a tazer and used it on this girl, what do you think would happen? Some cops are just legalized bullies.

[TyCowboy]

Re: Deputy Tasers 90-Pound 13-Year-Old Girl At Hospital

And how would your wife feel if she knew the girl had HIV or Hepatitis and if she were to get blood into a mucous membrane, could have contracted the disease...both are rampant among drug users, and she was, from the way it read, exhibiting the behavior of a drug user.

The officers are taught (as are employees in psychiatric and other medical careers) to keep themselves safe first, second to keep innocent people or bystanders safe, and lastly to protect the person who's behavior is causing the issue.

Again, it gets back to whether he walked around a corner with his taser out and popped the girl, or if he attempted to de-escalate her verbally or to move between and then felt he had no choice, the article shows no details on the specifics of what had taken place BEFORE he tasered the girl, and folks seem to be making the assumption that he came in guns'a blazin' and tasered her, which might not be the case at all.

Remember the girl was high and drunk, and attacking two nurses at once...if two nurses couldn't restrain her, what makes you think that one officer is any more capable? Remembering that restraint is less about brute strength and more about technique and numbers...that's why most longer-term restraints in numerous "safe hold" systems are two-person restraints. Be it as she was 13, the officer still has loyalties to protect the bystanders and him/herself first, and the girl is a distant last.

-Ty