14 YO girl shot in head with a taser!

I don't believe the officer was aiming for her head however, I wouldn't condone the tazing on any part of her at all unless she was a physical threat to the officer and I just don't see that happening without a weapon. I mean, come on! She is 14. His actions are simply not justified. Tazers are like batons to the officers, just easier to use and because they are getting away with it, we are seeing many many unnecessary tazings.

That said. . . I now have these comments based my own experience, having been a juvenile probation officer at one time.

After about a year in the profession, given the choice, I would choose 10 male gang-bangers on my caseload rather than a single 14 year old female sitting there with her arms crossed and rolling her eyes. They can be the most obstinate and disrespectful creatures on earth. They think they know everything, but have extremely poor judgement and engage in extremely high risk behavior. Without serious and consistent intervention, they most likely will make decisions that will affect them lifelong.

First of all, I can guarantee you, if the mother brought her to the police station for help, the child was a serious behavior problem and the mother was trying to control her. I would bet it wasn't the first time and won't be the last.

Second, for the officer to have been chasing her at all, means the mother complained immediately that her daughter had run away, thus his pursuit. A reasonable person would have radioed for backup, reported her direction and made reasonable attempts to apprehend her. She did run and she did evade the officer. Those are two charges for which she should be referred to the juvenile probation department.

The officer made a bad choice in using the tazer and probably will be sued. In fact, had he tazed her in any other way, he probably still would be facing a lawsuit. If the girl survives the surgery without any serious consequences, her lack of judgement isn't likely to change anytime soon, especially if the parents sue.

reply to post by Burred_Dawg


Yeah, that does all make sense... but you could be entirely wrong.

It's good to read your perspective. At 14 though, that to me is a child. They can be cunning and acidly insidious, but I think it is the enabling nature of today's society that is the problem being shown in this story.

As parents, we sometimes have to be the thunder that shakes their world to the foundations just as we sometimes have to be the kind encouragement that holds the door open for them to access the world as we forge them into good, loving adults. Trouble is, a little lightning and thunder can quickly land you in legal strife these days.

If I was the parent in this situation, and it was getting really out of hand, I would have taken the cell phone, dismantled it and dumped it into a rubbish bin. Gone, just like that. But people have been getting taught that as parents, they always have to negotiate and compromise with children and while that is a valuable skill to master, sometimes an entirely uncompromising "This ends now." is the responsible option.

I wasn't there, and I don't know these people, so you can say I'm making assumptions to make a point. I am, but I have difficulty seeing any good justifications for the actions of the adults involved. I could be out of line though...

[edit on 5/7/2009 by Recouper]

I fail to see how tazing a 14 yr old girl is acceptable unless she is obviously an armed threat, regardless where the tazer hit. I bet it'd be a different story altogether if you tazed an officer even in self defence. (not sure if carrying a tazer is legal for a civilian though) We'd be deemed a "cop killer" type if we "dared" to use unwarrented force on a cop, regardlessof circumstance.

And they wonder why we don't respect them? This injustice answers that one.

The chief was way out of line there and the parents I feel bad for even though they put there daughter in that situation but I guess that they never excepted the outcome to be so brutal.

Originally posted by Recouper
reply to post by Burred_Dawg

 

... I think it is the enabling nature of today's society that is the problem being shown in this story.

As parents, we sometimes have to be the thunder that shakes their world to the foundations just as we sometimes have to be the kind encouragement that holds the door open for them to access the world as we forge them into good, loving adults....

I completely agree with you. Parents lose control, when they do not act in accordance with their responsibilities.

And no, we were not there, do not personally know these people, and can only comment on what is publicly available - which can often be misreported as well.

However, it clearly appears the incident occurred due to the mother's lack of control over the daughter which, as we seem to agree, is really the point. In my experience, contact with authorities in these situations isn't based on 'first time' problems and is usually a step up from previous disciplinary actions that were ineffective. The parent(s) either isn't willing to deal with the problem consistently or effectively themselves or don't know how, so they 'use' police to do their job for them.

Like you, I would have broken the phone in half and tossed it in a 'this ends now' scenario. And I would have cleaned out her room - no TV, no VCR/DVD, no music, no nothing except basic necessities - bed, underwear, shoes and clothes, long before police ever became involved.

Perhaps the mother had already taken these steps - I doubt it, since a 'cellphone' was the point of contention between them. We won't likely hear one way or the other in the media.

What we will hear more of sadly, is the lawsuit that will surely be filed. Granted, the officer should be severely reprimanded, and possibly fired or demoted, but the child should have consequences for her own behavior and that can only be done by the parent(s).

why not he fire up gun in the air. maybe girl will stop run. one thing is crazy why cop aim taser to her head? trained like gun aimpoint? I cant imagine shock through my skull. that s crazy. it happened to girl. I think there are should be new law>> no taser above the shoulders. compare to Guns. if you shot head with gun. that mean you intention to murder. it cant be accident happen. Cop should aim low taser to chest. Cop suppose to train for that. Chief cop need to train on his aim more.

Seriously, it's the parents fault. That simple enough for most of you in this thread?

Lets assume for one minute that not all cops are super human, all-event knowing, super sports stars, who leap over cars and can subdue criminals with their minds alone. Now, assuming this, we have a normal human being who maybe gets a call that a teen has been in an altercation with a parent and now ran off. Said teen runs into traffic without looking.

He tells her to stop, she keeps running. Was the taser necessary? Maybe, but probably not. BUT WAIT, the cop is a human being you say?

The possibility that maybe as the cop was chasing after her, he was not sure of whether or not the situation, which he was most likely unaware of, would have called for the use of a taser? That he was unsure of what might happen as a result of him not catching her?


What it seems like to me, is that if he hadn't used his taser, continued to chase her, and the kid got hit by a vehicle, or tripped and smashed her head into the ground, you would blame the cops for chasing after this "poor little girl".

The reason cops are making such questionable decisions isn't because they are power hungry power grabbers (though some of them are undoubtedly) its because the general public wants to string up a cop every time a situation doesn't go down perfectly, whether it is their fault or not. Now they have to think about what is least likely to get them in trouble.

"What will happen if I don't stop this girl when I had the means to do so (taser)?" because these days, cops have to worry about getting sued just because they aren't super human crime fighting hero's.

Ultimately, blame the parents. Girl was out of control. Parents brought the police into it, and the police DID THEIR JOB. You want to avoid situations like this one? Stop involving the police in BS affairs.

[edit on 6-7-2009 by grimreaper797]

normaly i dont like this kinda behavior but yea .shoot them all in the head coz they are messd up in there anyways,maybe the eletricity will triger something positive in those little brains of theirs.

Also, yes, he shot her in with the taser in the head.

Anyone who is complaining about this should cease talking, ever. You have never shot anything, not even a rubber-band gun, because if you had, you would know this isn't Tombstone and the cops aren't Val Kilmer. Shooting a gun with accuracy, turns out, not as easy as you make it out to be. Hmm, would ya believe that?

i'm sitting here wondering how a police officer can't catch a 14 year old girl on foot. i mean are we talking about some future olympic sprinter, or is the cop just to fat and/or lazy.

disgusting... not suprising.

I would be paying that officer a visit if she were my daughter. The last visit

then again... i guess if this girls mother needs POLICE to get her daughter off the phone... were all doomed to idiocracy

[edit on 6-7-2009 by Kevin_X2]

This girl should not have ran, so she isn't innocent of this. Did she deserve to be tasered in the head? No, because I think the cops are over doing it with the taser. You don't evade a police officer. That's a big no no. This is how you can get yourself shot, or beaten by the cops and be in a lot of trouble. This was all over a cell phone and the girl is running from the cops, and then he's tasering her. Not to bright on both ends here. He should have either tried to catch, but if not, then let her go and scoop her up later. So really, it's stupidity on both parts and someone got hurt, all over a stupid cell phone.

Originally posted by DaddyBare



She evaded a police officer, that's a big no no, she could actually face charges for that. When a cop tells you to stop, or whatever and you go running then yes you can be charged for it, and even be shot in some situations. This how it has always been, even for minors. I doubt she'll be charged with anything, since this incident occured.

[edit on 6-7-2009 by Darth Lumina]

I cannot believe what I have just read! Practically every time I come on ATS there is another Lunatic Police Officer Tazering either a lil old woman or a disabled child thread.Very disturbing trend indeed.And I think any of you who think that it is right to shoot a taser dart into the skull of a child under any circumstance should be in the Nut Farm IMHO.To make things worse it was a police CHIEF that done this.(I am in total disbelief)This cop should be heavily punished for this! And he should get a Psychological evaluation(I don't think it is safe to let him walk the streets)

He aimed bad to hit her in the head, can't believe that was his target. Still he had to have been within 25 feet. Taser only has 30 foot range. Moving target and the fact that we all slow a little bit when taking aim and firing she couldn't have been at max range even. Even on the run a cop should be able to hit a body center mass at 25 feet, hell it is where you are trained to aim. He obviously aimed high.

A cop never, ever has the right to use force to stop someone for questioning. If they really need to question you and you want to take off they need to take other legal routes to bring you in, not take you down.

Why is it that people believe that you have to do what a cop tells you? This is just not true you have to obey a lawful order but that is it. Still a cop telling you to stop running is a lawful order so in this case she disobeyed just don't want people to get confused. Next time a cop harasses you insist on seeing identification, ask him what it is about, call in to verify that ID (they have to let you do this) and be sure to mention on the phone what he said he is harassing you about. It is all recorded.

Tucumcari Police Chief Placed On Leave After Taser Incident

TUCUMCARI, N.M. -- Tucumcari's police chief has been placed on paid administrative leave after a Taser incident last week involving a teenage girl

Tucumcari City Manager Bobbye Rose said the move to place police Chief Roger Hatcher on administrative leave was by "mutual agreement."

Hatcher said he shot Taser darts at the 14-year-old girl on Thursday during a domestic dispute between the girl and her mother.

Stacy Akin said she and her daughter, Kailee Martinez, were arguing over a cell phone Thursday and she drove her daughter to the Tucumcari Police Department to seek help.

While in front of police headquarters, Martinez ran off and was later found at a park by Hatcher. Hatcher said when he tried to talk to Martinez she ran into traffic without looking.

Hatcher said he used the stun gun because he didn't know where Martinez might go and he had to stop her.

14 YO Kailee Martinez shows off results of her encounter with Hatcher
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/45ef93ae9656.jpg[/atsimg]
Source

Im not going to attack the police on this one, although I sort of understand why some choose to.

I'm gonna attack the Mom on this one.

You took your daughter to the police for a cell phone dispute?!?!?!?!!?

The more I here of parents doing crap like this, the more I just shake my head.

Control your kids YOURSELF! This mom is an idiot.

reply to post by XTexan


Your very right in that half the blame lays with the mother... I raised 4 and now a granddaughter and I know how much they test you... especially the girls!!! but being a parent also means being the bad guy and setting rules they have to follow. Enforcing those rules too... cant be their best friends all the time, someone has to be the parent and it just works out better if that's the adult

This is why tasers are frequently used wrongly.
Because you get one bad corrupt cop at the top, and he runs all the other cops to do the same.
One bad apple spoils the whole bunch?Yes, it does in a very bad way.
Tasers are an alternative to deadly force, not to stop someone you cant catch because you are unfit.
There was no deadly force needed to be used in this case.
He needs to be fired and charged.

reply to post by CaptainCaveMan


there is one thing I'd like to know... seeing is how were talking about one of those very small towns were everybody knows everybody and their business... Did Hatcher know she was an epileptic when he tasered her?