14 YO girl shot in head with a taser!

Did I see on this thread that she was resisting arrest?? therefore she deserved it?

What have you all become that a parent dragging you to a police station for discipline is a good idea? Furthermore, when did it become an offense to walk / run away from such authority that had no official charges of criminal activity to begin with? A teen has the right to walk away at that age from a parent, not to mention from the police that she had no liability to remain with.

I am tired, but I hope this thread improves by morning into some realistic non-police-state posters who believe that a teen (child) has the right to defy authority because that authority has no right to hold them (even a parent).

Get real, this kid could have and would have run into a park by her own free will and come out the other side with a plan to find a friend for a place to crash or even to call her parents. Blame the kid?? Are you insane??? How many of us in our lifetime have been distracted and almost walked into traffic?? What if you were in panic mode and did the same...does that give a cop the right to taser you after the fact knowing full well that HE was the unfounded cause of your panic?? I think NOT.

edit: when will your country realize that 'suing' anyone who steps on your toes is a means to collect justice???? Tossing a few bucks? at the life of MY child would be unheard of. This cop is a criminal and should be tried as a criminal. Stop putting money in place of the value of a human life, seriously, it is sick! Another reason why other countries mock your country., it is sick.

[edit on 4-7-2009 by suzque66]

seriously unless my child comitted a murder, I wouldn't drag them to a police station, even then, that is the toughest decision a parent has to make. But over a cellphone discussion? Seriously, that is deranged.

[edit on 4-7-2009 by suzque66]

reply to post by resistor


I agree with you the "running into traffic" is obviously the excuse for this "officers" assault on the girl.

Hum, a foreign object on the head of a 14 year old that required surgery to be removed? hum, I think that a law sue will be the best approach for this one, no really on the police but on the manufacturer of the taser for safety reasons.

Tasers kill and it have been prof of it, over and over again.



[edit on 4-7-2009 by marg6043]

It is possible that the girl was on probation and that is why the mother took the girl to the police station. Just because the argument was over a phone doesn't mean that there wasn't violence involved.

The police chief would have no grounds to refer the case to the Juvenile Probation Office if they were not already involved.

However, Hatcher says he plans to refer the case to the Juvenile Probation Office on Monday for possible charges.


www.kob.com...

Regardless, the use of the taser was probably not justified and I still think that perhaps a Congressional investigation into the use of tasers should be in order.

[edit on 2009/7/4 by GradyPhilpott]

I wasn't there, but I strongly suspect he shouldn't have tased her. But police are people and sometimes when a person tries to make an on-the-spot decision about which course of action is right, they make the wrong one.
But the girls mum taking her to the police station...? I know teenage girls can seem insane and I wasn't there and I don't know these people, so I shouldn't judge, but I do know this child needs her parents to administer discipline, not strangers at a police station.

Somebody earlier said something about her not having respect for authority. Well, I don't have respect for authority. I respect people because they are people, I would never allow a person's profession or position therein to influence my level of respect for them. Do you think a police officer should be shown more respect than you? What about someone who's "above" you in upper management on the corporate ladder? Are they entitled to more respect than you? Are you not equal to those people as a person? People need to learn how to show people respect so we can all respect each other. Not pander to some enforced hierarchy.

[edit on 5/7/2009 by Recouper]

This is an update that was posted to the local news message boards by someone claiming to live there and knows the family and officer involved?
I cant say this 100% true how can you be with a BBS posting but for what its worth here it is...

July 4, 2009
NEVER Go to the Police for ‘Help’…
Posted by William Grigg on July 4, 2009 06:52 PM | Post a civil, substantive, and intelligent comment
… with a domestic problem, unless your intention is for potentially fatal harm to come to you or the relative with whom you’re having trouble.

A 14-year-old girl from Tucumcari, New Mexico wound up in the hospital with a Taser dart embedded in her skull after her mother, Stacy Akin, took her to the police department because the two of them had been fighting, reports the Portales News-Tribune.

After Akin drove to the police station, the teenager, who suffers from epilepsy, quite sensibly decided that it would be foolish to seek “help” from the police and walked away from the facility. No mention is made of the youngster being under arrest, so there was no reason at all for the police to pursue her as if she were a criminal.

Nonetheless, a call was sent out saying that a girl had “run off” from the station. Police Chief Roger Hatcher responded, tracking the teen down at nearby George Molinas Park. When he called to her, the young lady — perhaps recalling parental advice against accepting rides from creepy strangers — ran away.

Hatcher briefly gave pursuit on foot. But chasing down a fleet-footed teenager is hard. So Hatcher pulled out his Taser and shot the youngster in the head.

“She committed a delinquent act,” sniveled the tax-feeder to the press.“She was running from police across traffic without looking.” If he’d been able to grab and tackle her, Hatcher continued, he would have done so, since there “was a lawful reason to do that.”

Actually, there wasn’t: The girl was not a criminal suspect, she had not been taken into custody, and the only lawful course of action on Hatcher’s part would have been to make sure that the girl wasn’t critically injured by traffic when she ran away from him.

So after waddling after the terrified girl for a few yards, Hatcher ordered her to stop and “then did what I had to do”— meaning that he shot her in the head with a reliably lethal instrument of electro-shock torture.

The assailant, who insists that things could have been “worse” had he not shot the girl in the head,“plans to refer the case to the Juvenile Probation Office … for possible charges,” reports the paper.

If he succeeds in saddling his victim with criminal charges, Mr. Hatcher will surely deserve to be horsewhipped.

Stacy Akin, whose idea it was to seek police intervention, was horrified by the result.

“One of the darts entered her skull,” she observed. A CAT scan disclosed that the implement had actually entered “her brain a little bit, but not much.” Not surprisingly, the girl remains hospitalized at Albuquerque’s University of New Mexico hospital.

Apart from offering a redundant illustration of the eagerness of our “protectors” to use lethal force against the innocent, this episode offers a critical object lesson: Never, never, never, in saecula saeculorum, go to the police for “help.”

Originally posted by JulieMills
did you'all miss the part where she was running into oncoming traffic without looking? ...
HE SAVED HER LIFE, give the officer the benefit of the doubt.
Oh and the part about shooting her in the head? you try to hit a running target while you dodge traffic and let me know how well you do.

Wrong!
What are you, daft?
First off...cops usually come up with some lame excuse like this to justify their actions.
Second, even if it were true that she ran into traffic (which by the sound of it, could have only benefited the human gene pool more if she was accompanied by her dim-witted mother), how do you determine that he saved her life?!?
Swallow another load while you have your lips affixed to the man's hirsute nether regions, and tell us all how sweet it is...kay?

Originally posted by JulieMills
did you'all miss the part where she was running into oncoming traffic without looking? or did you conveniently overlok it so we could all police bash again?
Would he have been forgiven if he didn't taze her and the stupid chick got her butt ran the eff over while throwing her tantrum?

HE SAVED HER LIFE, give the officer the benefit of the doubt.
Oh and the part about shooting her in the head? you try to hit a running target while you dodge traffic and let me know how well you do.

So, he saved her life by tasering her after she crossed the street.

Indeed.

Shot in the back of the head never saved anyone, ever, period.

The saed fact is this: Today MOST cops will not tolerate losing to a civilian in any w3ay...it damages their paper thin ego system too much. To disobey an ' order' even an obviously illegal one, is reason enough for most of these sick scum to use force, even deadly force, to get compliance for even the most minor and mundane' offenses'...like refusing to obey some petty order.

The fat cop simply could not catch her, and would not suffer the humiliation he imagined in his warped psyche would occur had she gotten away. So, he shot her; he would hqave shot her in the head with his gun but even he knew he could not get away with that; so he shoots her in the head with a Tazer.

Now she lies in critical condition. The cop swaggers around like some twisted psychopath bragging about how he ' saved her' from the harm of a non-existent car. He said she just didn't look; so the position of her head gave him license to shoot her? The fact that she may have run some minor risk, still unproven..is enough cause to shoot her? No way.

O course the cop groupies will rush in and come up with far fetched and unproven scenarios to try and justify this madness. There are some people so intimidated by cops that they will tolerate anything...any kind of abuse, as long as a cop did it. They always find some way, no matter how untrue, to show that the victim is better off shot in the head than allowed to go her way and be approached later.

The girl had a serious disability, and the shock alone could send her into convulsions that could kill her. the the barb in her BRAIN...sure..just a LITTLE into her brain!! If it was YOUR brain a little would be way too much. but because the girl was dragged to a cop station by her hysterical Mom, who should NEVER had taken her to a cop for an intelligent solution.

If the girl was a problem, there are ways to deal with it; never go to a cop for real help. Go to an agency that doesn't shoot it clients in the head for walking out of a meeting.

The girl was NOT under arrest, was NOT a danger to herself ( if not pursued) and had every right to walk away from the cop. A cop MUST have reasonable grounds to believe a CRIME has ben committed BEFORE he can detain a citizen for ' questioning'. WeNEVER have to answer any questions from a cop. So they have no right to detain us for questioning we refuse to submit to. It is that simple. the cop is wrong and should be fired and sued and then charged criminally and sent to prison.

Then maybe he will use better judgement in the future. The only thing bad cops know is force and to get locked up themselves, and that is what this moron deserves.

Amen Richie

If a cop is sooo tired of talking a problem away in the line of duty, why does he even bother showing up for work? They used to learn ways of effective listening because many just need to be taught. I guess they don't any more and common sense is left to the ones who are left with their mouth agape after-fact.

Originally posted by JulieMills
did you'all miss the part where she was running into oncoming traffic without looking? or did you conveniently overlok it so we could all police bash again?
Would he have been forgiven if he didn't taze her and the stupid chick got her butt ran the eff over while throwing her tantrum?

HE SAVED HER LIFE, give the officer the benefit of the doubt.
Oh and the part about shooting her in the head? you try to hit a running target while you dodge traffic and let me know how well you do.

What the hell right did her have to be chasing her anyway? She ran off from her mom - she would end up back at home at some point - her mother was stupid to go to the police, stupid in that she expected them to be human rational beings.

The underlying problem here though is the lack of parental authority to use corporal punishment to discipline children - without discipline what is the use of a parent anyway?

100% of any comment i make is bad

this incident makes my blood boil

stupid parent = needs tazer
stupid cop = needs tazer

stupid 14yr old = needs medical treatment


America home of the Cowards, Land of the Slaves.

i am so upset with everything right now

i just need to get up and walk around and take some breaths
i cant read this crap anymore
this crap is ruining my life

i need to just ban all news of everything - and go hide in a cave

another case of police brutallity.
why am I not suprised?

Originally posted by Chovy
another case of police brutallity.
why am I not suprised?

What really gets me is that every time a taser thread comes up people defend the police.

Don't people realize that people get tasered all the time? The only time we're outraged is when they are misused. The only time it makes it into a thread at ATS is when someone is unjustly tasered.

"Today a drunken man assaulted a police officer and was subsequently tasered and arrested." 150 flags and 300 stars. Yeah right...

Originally posted by Theomi


Well lets say he aimed for her leg?
Did she duck or something to make him hit her in the head?

Lol i think even if she did duck, the dart would have gone OVER her body right? You can't get hit in the head if you try to duck.

That officer was sure skilled, pulling of a head shot like that.

Never, repeat, NEV-EV-EVER, in my experience, does calling the cops improve a situation. The VAST majority seem to be sociopaths, if not psychopaths. In any case, they are usually on drugs: steroids and, yeah they're a mood-altering drug (ever heard of " 'roid rage"?).

Cops are very predictably dangerous to all concerned, because in their paranoid worldview, everyone's a criminal but them and everyone deserves punishment at their hands, because the courts are such liberal lefties that they allow criminals off scottfree, according to copthink, and can't be trusted to do what's right.

So alone in the world, they must be judge, jury and punishment rolled into one.

Damn, fire them all like Mexico is doing with their criminal cops and replace them with people who can actually pass a psych eval AND don't give them guns, period. If they are too scared to patrol then, then get their whiny asses into some other line of work.

If you absolutely must arm them, only give them one bullet, like Deputy Fife from that old Mayberry show.

This guy needs to get the crap beat out of him.

[edit on 5-7-2009 by apacheman]

Maybe he was just having a bad day... while this is not him, it is his brother - and it appears that abusing children runs in the family...

Roger Hatchers brother arrested for child abuse




Edit to add the Sheriffs image..

This is the guy... And he cant outrun a 14 year old?






[edit on 5/7/2009 by badw0lf]

reply to post by badw0lf


Thanks for the link... I remembered this case "originally charged with 143 counts of child molestation reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to seven counts " that was just year before last right?

I pondered over the wisdom of adding this tidbit, as I didnt see a real connection.... but I did wonder if this girl maybe looked a little like the girl who got his brother in trouble?

Well, a few things don't add up. At what part of the road was she in when he shot her, or was she already on the other side? If he shot her because of oncoming traffic, what an insipid idea to stun her in the middle of the road. If she already crossed the street, then there was no reason to shoot her at all (granted, in this case, there was no reason ever). Also, how far is a road across? How did the cop know he couldn't run fast enough to keep up with her? And is he obese? I could run faster than most high school girls when I was 13, let alone now. Men are on average faster than women, especially pubescent ones.

So we are left with the conclusion that the police officer is a liar and a degenerate, a fact that is further bolstered when one observes his pusillanimous attempt to file charges against the victim to cover his own rear.

[edit on 5-7-2009 by Viral]

reply to post by badw0lf


Apparently the story's been pulled...link doesn't work. Has the sheriif just broken the law by forcing the paper to pull it, or did the paper do it as a favor, which makes it a conspiracy?

still works for me apache

try reloading