Police brutality: Teen tased in the head

Here is your daily police brutality:

Tucumcari Police Chief Roger Hatcher has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into last weeks Taser shooting of a teenage girl.

Hatcher said he shot two Taser darts at Kailee Martinez, 14, Thursday while responding to a domestic dispute between the girl and her mother. One hit her in the head and the other struck her back.

Martinez said she was released from Albuquerques University of New Mexico Hospital on Sunday following a two-hour surgery to remove one of the darts from her head.

"I remember him saying 'stop, stop' and then watching him pull it out (Taser)," Martinez said. "The next thing I remember was being in the ambulance, handcuffed."

The surgery left her with 18 staples and six stitches.

"I feel good being home," Martinez said Tuesday. "It is a lot better than being in a hospital."

This is disgusting. Improper discharge of a weapon. If an officer cannot discharge a weapon without accuracy they should not be allowed to have them.

Nevermind the fact that the girl was 14....

reply to post by boncho


Yea should be old enough to defend herself huh?

She committed no crime.

She was guilty of nothing.

There were no charges being laid.

So because this little girl didn't stop as commanded, she got tazed in the head.

The new crime?...Running While Innocent.

People should view this as proof of a rising Police State as it truly is becoming a World of us against them.

Originally posted by Mimir
reply to post by boncho

 

Yea should be old enough to defend herself huh?

I'm not advocating tazer use in the least, but at the same time, I'm sure there are circumstances that warrant their use. I imagine those circumstances would involve a person well out of their teens, and most likely threatening someone with a weapon.

Tazing should not be an alternative to laziness.

reply to post by boncho


I know you were sarcastic.

I actually could find a few uses for a taser too, when I'm at work educating youths in physics, chemistry and math.

(end or sarcasm)

The girls sex and age are not important regarding an assessment whether tasering her was use of excessive force.
The key question is whether the girl posed a potential danger to society or herself if not stopped. I think it's safe to guess that on both accounts the answer is no. Quite the opposite the way the officer stoped the girl endangered her life.
All government actions must be judged under aspects of commensurability. US police appears to suffer from the delusion that it's okay to use any amount of violance to enforce duty to obey.

Police should keep out of domestics unless someone is in serious danger.

Originally posted by boncho

Originally posted by Mimir
reply to post by boncho

 

Yea should be old enough to defend herself huh?

I'm not advocating tazer use in the least, but at the same time, I'm sure there are circumstances that warrant their use. I imagine those circumstances would involve a person well out of their teens, and most likely threatening someone with a weapon.

Tazing should not be an alternative to laziness.

Absolutely! The lazy cop didn't want to run after her. She was no threat to him, just his ego, she didn't obey, which is why her mother brought her to the station.

Common sense tells you that she was running scared, and had no place to go really. It was just a matter of time till she would be back in her mothers custody, and the discpline applied.

Cops are not parental substitutes, and shouldn't be used to scare a child into obedience after a social indescretion. Now, she will be traumatized for life. So sad. Her mom must feel awful.

Originally posted by Mimir
reply to post by boncho

 

I know you were sarcastic.

I actually could find a few uses for a taser too, when I'm at work educating youths in physics, chemistry and math.

(end or sarcasm)

edit on 5-9-2011 by Mimir because: (no reason given)

Physics: "Project the rate Johnny falls to the floor kids, along with g-force felt during impact"

Math: "If Johnny is twelve feet away and my tazer shoots 100 feet per second, how long will it take him to feel it?"

Chemistry: "What chemicals are leaking out of Johnny right now?"


Yep, totally applicable.

Well if TASER prongs can go though your skull I suppose we will all just have to assume that it is in fact a lethal weapon from now on and no different than having a 9mm semi-auto pointed at your head.

Duly noted. I suppose the Chief isn't above shooting people in the back. Interesting...

reply to post by jude11

She committed no crime.

She was guilty of nothing.

There were no charges being laid.

Not necessarily.

Many states have laws against a juvenile running away or being generally incorrigible and not listening to their parents. They can be "charged" by a police officer as a juvenile for these crimes. They are known as "status" offenses. They are labeled "status" offenses because they are only an offense because they are committing the act as a juvenile and, if they were an adult, there would be no crime.

Please do not take my explaination as any sort of excuse for the actions of this police officer. The departments policy on using a tazer in this instance should be reviewed and revised. I cannot think of any reason why it would be a good idea to tazer a juvenile for running away specifically because of the chances of them being injured like this. For what? A "status" offense.

Very poor judgement on the part of THIS police officer and, barring any other circumstances that are not known at this time, a clear example of excessive force.

reply to post by boncho

This is disgusting. Improper discharge of a weapon. If an officer cannot discharge a weapon without accuracy they should not be allowed to have them.

Improper discharge of a weapon? I would agree with that. Not because of where the probe hit her but because of WHY he discharged the tazer.

The accuracy of a handgun and the accuracy of a tazer are two completely different subject.

During a stress reaction, a police officer's accuracy with a handgun can drop as much as 50%. This is merely due to the physiological response of the body when put under stress and confronted with a threat. I do not think you would argue that all handguns should be taken away from police officers? I may have just stepped on a land mine because I am sure some will make that exact argument.

A tazer discharges two "probes" which, if running, can have completely different trajectories. Officers are trained to aim for center mass and under ideal conditions the tazer probes strike in the body.

There are numerous tazer discharges everyday and the vast majority hit their target with no issue. If this same incident happened, but instead of a 14 year old girl it was a suspect that just robbed someone or committed some other serious crime we would have little issue and would tell him or her, "suck it up, you should'nt have robbed someone."

The real disservice is WHY the tazer was discharged in the first place.

I can't watch the video but two questions are raised:

* what made the officer pull out the taser in the first place?

* how bad was the situation to have to fire the taser?

I'm guessing that the officer will be charged of assault on a minor but with criminals getting younger, who knows how badly the teenager was acting to need to be restrained in such a way.

In my view, he should be suspended from duty and made to go on a course about when to use a taser as well as community work while the teenage girl also should be investigated and watched in case she's a girl of habit.

I've seen 13 year olds get violent and walk away laughing because they knew the law wouldn't touch them for being kids first hand many times over the years so yeah, not all young girls her age are sweet and innocent. Shame when you try to look at it from both sides but some members are already making up their minds that it's all the fault of the police and that we should have lawlessness just because of a possibly one sided news report that paints the girl in a good light. That or those ATS members have some serious issues with police and should spend a day with them to see just how tough the job is.

Anyone else here know what it's like to work for 12 hours as a security officer at a major arena during a show that has celebrity and royal visitors, be on the lookout for terrorists constantly and then on the way home still in uniform, get attacked by a group of 6 police hating 14 and 15 year olds who see a uniform, hurl abuse and then get violent as you try to ignore them and get home for much needed rest and food?

I do.

And why do those kids hate the police? Because they blame them for members of their families and even themselves being arrested previously for committing crimes and they didn't like being caught and jailed for it (the youngsters weren't jailed because of their age but they still had the same belief they did nothing wrong despite being caught with stolen goods or attacking someone unprovoked, all of which I later found out from a friend who somewhat knew these kids and their families).

This incident happened in 2009, here is the outcome:

Tucumcari Police Chief Roger Hatcher has been cleared of any wrongdoing and reinstated, according to a press release issued late this morning.

Hatcher was placed on administrative leave July 6 after shooting a 14-year-old girl with a Taser stun gun four days earlier.

City Manager Bobbye Rose said in the press release that following an independent investigation the city has determined Hatcher did not violate any city policies.

Rose said Hatcher has been notified in writing and he will return to duty today.

Link

reply to post by LadySkadi


I am usually one to present a good argument for the police where one exists but this is an instance where I cannot muster one.

I agree that the officer committed no crime and violated no policy of the department but that should be revisited and a more conservative policy on the use of tazers installed.

Your ample follow up investigation has brought up a better question though.

Should members of ATS be so irresponsible, when making a "new" thread about alleged police brutality, that they use an incident that happened TWO YEARS AGO?

And then to accompany the video with a statement like this?

Here is your DAILY police brutality:

Tucumcari Police Chief Roger Hatcher has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into LAST WEEKS Taser shooting of a teenage girl.

Hatcher said he shot two Taser darts at Kailee Martinez, 14, THURSDAY while responding to a domestic dispute between the girl and her mother. One hit her in the head and the other struck her back.

Martinez said she was released from Albuquerques University of New Mexico Hospital on SUNDAY following a two-hour surgery to remove one of the darts from her head.

*Bolded and capitalized wording changed to draw attention.

It appears that this is just a case of irresponsible authoring of a new thread. It appears that the OP wanted to convey a sense that the event was recent. This probably stems from the OP having a predisposition towards hatred or contempt for the police in the first place.

reply to post by curious7


She had a argument with her mom and ran away.



reply to post by areyouserious2010

Originally posted by areyouserious2010
During a stress reaction, a police officer's accuracy with a handgun can drop as much as 50%. This is merely due to the physiological response of the body when put under stress and confronted with a threat.

What kind of policeman gets a physiological responce (brakedown?) when he see a 14 year old girl running away. I can hardly imagine how scary that sight must have been to him. It's not like he was some rookie either, he is actualy a chief officer.

Originally posted by areyouserious2010


Here is your DAILY police brutality:
That is just a statement to show that we see to many cases where officers go beyond their jurisdiction, it has nothing to do with "todays news".

Tucumcari Police Chief Roger Hatcher has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into LAST WEEKS Taser shooting of a teenage girl.

Hatcher said he shot two Taser darts at Kailee Martinez, 14, THURSDAY while responding to a domestic dispute between the girl and her mother. One hit her in the head and the other struck her back.

Martinez said she was released from Albuquerques University of New Mexico Hospital on SUNDAY following a two-hour surgery to remove one of the darts from her head.

This text should have been in a External text box (my mistake).
*Bolded and capitalized wording changed to draw attention.


It appears that this is just a case of irresponsible authoring of a new thread. It appears that the OP wanted to convey a sense that the event was recent. This probably stems from the OP having a predisposition towards hatred or contempt for the police in the first place.

That is your opinion. I searched for this on ATS before posting it and nothing came up. I don’t see how the case being 2 years old has any importance, the entire 9/11 forum is on a subject 10 years old.

I didn't try to disinform anyone as you claim but I understand your point. I could have used a word like another instead of “daily”, that has something to do with my national language not with my opinion on the police. Daily is not equal to today in my language what about yours?

Last but not least, you know absolutely nothing about me except for what I gave away in a few posts and I'm not going to enlighten you either because you already made your judgement.

The fact that Chief Roger Hatcher has been "cleared" of any wrongdoing and reinstated, in spite of what he did only makes the case more worthy of a ATS thread...but then again that's my oppinion.
If you disagree you should stop posting in it and let thread die instead of spawning accusations you can't prove.

reply to post by windword


The taser is the new hand. What once was used to grab someone now just pulls a trigger. Why is it police here are the only ones who do this? I'm suprised she wasn't shot with a gun.

CJ

reply to post by ColoradoJens


Gives the saying "the long arm of the law" some new weight.

reply to post by Mimir

What kind of policeman gets a physiological responce (brakedown?) when he see a 14 year old girl running away. I can hardly imagine how scary that sight must have been to him. It's not like he was some rookie either, he is actualy a chief officer.

He or she made the argument that if an officer cannot discharge a weapon with accuracy then they should not have them. I made the argument that it is not a question of accuracy because even the accuracy of a handgun can be low under certain circumstances. With that analogy in mind, noone can realistically challenge the need for police officers in the United States to carry handguns even though under certain circumstances their accuracy is low.

This lead to the statement that it is not a disservice that the probe struck her in the head. It is a disservice that the decision was made to use the tazer in this situation in the first place.

That is your opinion. I searched for this on ATS before posting it and nothing came up. I don’t see how the case being 2 years old has any importance, the entire 9/11 forum is on a subject 10 years old.

9/11 and police brutality are two very different subjects. The 9/11 forums studies one event that happened 10 years ago and draws proof of some form of criminal conspiracy, whose conspirators were possibly the United States Government itself, and distrust in the official story that it was a terrorist attack propogated by an enemy from outside the United States.

I didn't try to disinform anyone as you claim but I understand your point. I could have used a word like another instead of “daily”, that has something to do with my national language not with my opinion on the police. Daily is not equal to today in my language what about yours?

What it appeared you were doing was attempting to use an old incident, and pass it as a current event with constructive wording, to renew the idea that the police engage in brutality and excessive force daily. Which is untrue.

Last but not least, you know absolutely nothing about me except for what I gave away in a few posts and I'm not going to enlighten you either because you already made your judgement.

I was making an observation based on your constructive wording which appeared to be an attempt to pass an old event off as current and "daily." If this was merely from a mistake in quoting an offsite source and a mistake in syntax between english and your national language then I am wrong. But it is a positive thing that I brought it up because now we have a more clear understanding of what you were trying to say.

The fact that Chief Roger Hatcher has been "cleared" of any wrongdoing and reinstated, in spite of what he did only makes the case more worthy of a ATS thread...but then again that's my oppinion.

I disagree. A police officer's actions are based on state law, federal law and police department policy.

When a use of force occurs, the incident is investigated and reviewed by an Internal Affairs section and the State's Attorneys Office. If that use of force is found to be within the department's policy as well as state and federal law, it would be hard to prove criminal intent in that use of force. Criminal intention is something that must be proven to charge someone with a crime. And if the officer violated no policy of the department, then it would be very hard to find a reason to terminate that officer.

What needs to be done is a review and revision of the department's policy on the use of tazers so that if this sort of excessive use of a tazer happens again, the officer will be dealt with and punished.

If you disagree you should stop posting in it and let thread die instead of spawning accusations you can't prove.

You own words were proof enough. But since you have revised them, new appraisals can be made.