14 year old boy tasered in face, beaten to a pulp by cops after shoplifting from Wal-Mart

The arrest happened last Tuesday when the boy -- whose name has not been released -- allegedly shoplifted goods from a Walmart in Tullytown, Pa., with two adult relatives.

She doesn't deny the charges, but said the arresting officers beat the teen so bad, he has a broken nose and two swollen eyes.

“What he did was wrong. He was coerced by a 19-year-old. He does know better,” she said, according to the New York Daily News. “The picture speaks a thousand words.”

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said the officers yelled warnings at Sargeant's son before firing a Taser to subdue him. Police said the Taser struck the boy in the face and, since his hands were in cuffs, he fell face-first without being able to brace for the fall.

source

Here's some more from philly.com:

“You take off running at a full clip and someone pulls your legs out from under you, and you’re cuffed from behind, you’re going to break your fall with your face,” Heckler said last night. “I could well believe that you’d have fairly substantial bruising, cuts and scrapes.”

Heckler said there were eyewitnesses and possibly footage on a police dashboard camera that his office may review. Based on Williams’ extensive facial injuries, Sargeant said she believes police assaulted her son. But, she said, he was knocked unconscious and does not have a clear recollection of what happened.

Told of Heckler’s explanation of falling, Sargeant responded: “That’s impossible. Did he get up and fall 15 more times?”

Sargeant said she went to the police department Tuesday after the arrest, but police wouldn’t let her see Williams. She said he was treated at Lower Bucks Hospital and told to sign off on his own medical treatment and discharge, then held at a juvenile detention center.

I'm having a really hard time believing this kid received this amount of injury from a single fall after being tasered. There are abrasions on around one side of his face, his forehead and the bridge of his nose and yet his other eye is horribly swollen too. At a glance, it doesn't look plausible.

Even if one assumed that the story from the police is 100% true--is that really how we want our cops treating 14 year old kids busted for shoplifting? So at the very best, taser happy police strike again (AND TASERED A CHILD IN THE FACE) or if the mother is correct, these cops tasered and beat her son to the point of breaking his nose.

reply to post by theantediluvian


Whatever the facts are here, a taser in the face is just wrong.

theantediluvian
I'm having a really hard time believe this kid received this amount of injury from a single fall after being tasered. There are abrasions on one side of his face well passed the side of his eye and also on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. Then there's the fact that his other eye is horribly swollen.

Even if one assumed that the story from the police is 100% true--is that really how we want our cops treating 14 year old kids busted for shoplifting? So at the very best, taser happy police strike again or if the mother is correct, these cops tasered and beat her son to the point of breaking his nose.

edit on 18-11-2013 by theantediluvian because: (no reason given)

i don't know why you think that's not possible, it looks like a face on injury after sliding across concrete on impact and broken noses alone can cause black eyes. to me it looks like a broken nose and a few scrapes from running and falling.

reply to post by namehere

It seems to me that even if he face-planted, the abrasions would suggest that the impact was predominately absorbed by one side of this kid's face. His other eye is really swollen too. There's not yet enough information yet for this to be proven conclusively either way imo.

Setting that part of this aside for a moment:

He was running away from the cops and yet they tasered him in the face? Is it common practice to taser people in the face?

reply to post by theantediluvian


These cops are just getting plain lazy. I mean how hard is it to catch a kid already in cuffs? isnt there a rule or a law that says they need to be in some type of danger to fire that thing?

Should this boy have ANY injuries? I think not.... He just shoplifted which a lot of children try, and often on a dare. So that part of the story sounds accurate. Granted the kid should not have ran, but the police could have apprehended him without any injuries. He is a child for goodness sakes.... They should be treated a bit differently than some adult.

See, this is now becoming so common-place that a twit like me on the other side of the planet can predict that this EXACT thing is par for the course with regards to the thugs with badges currently described as "police" in your land of the free.......

And I quote.......

If it happened in Time Square, he would have been Tazzzzzered whilst back-up was called. Then beaten to near death and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest as well as being a public nuisance.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It is no wonder that LEO's are so disrespected these days, and also no wonder they are becoming more militarized and armed to the teeth......there is only one way this sort of ship is going to end.

But, they'll try to get as many of your guns first, before the inevitable happens.

They are just waiting for the general populace to SNAP.

reply to post by theantediluvian


The fact is a person handcuffed with there arms behind there back isn't going nowhere fast, the way your arms are just doesn't allow momentum to carry you properly so why on earth do you need to taser somebody in that state god only knows, to do that to an adult you would need to be a coward, to do that to a child well that takes a monster, and to shoot a sharp projectile in a kids face to deliver an electric shock......I don't care what this kid has done but the behavior of the cops is really really really tempting me to break the ATS T&C's. I'm angry at this. If this was my kid I'd be hunting the man down.

elouina
Should this boy have ANY injuries? I think not.... He just shoplifted which a lot of children try, and often on a dare. So that part of the story sounds accurate. Granted the kid should not have ran, but the police could have apprehended him without any injuries. He is a child for goodness sakes.... They should be treated a bit differently than some adult.

Exactly. Nobody is condoning shoplifting but it's one of those stupid things that kids do. How fast is a kid going to run with his hands cuffed behind his back? This whole story reeks of misconduct.

reply to post by theantediluvian


If someone of any age is handcuffed, and running AWAY, how exactly does one taser them in the FACE?

Additionally, once someone is handcuffed, there's no call to taser them as they can be controlled by some extra restraint around their feet or even the hog-tie thing. Police have done this quite well for decades before they ever carried taser guns.

He was running AWAY from them, handcuffed, yet the taser hit his face.
Not even possible.

Plus handcuffed behind his back, how could he run fast?
Let alone turn around while speeding off in handcuffs, for the taser to get his face.

They can't even make that make sense......

***yep - everyone posting ^^up there is concluding the same.

Sorry we won't get upset about it, until it happens to a white kid!

btw I am white so don't toss no momma hating racist crap my way for that comment. However true it may be.....

I am going to have an unpopular opinion but what else is new.

These cops (and I am no fan of them either) do go out into the streets where 14 year olds SHOOT AT THEM just the same as the 40 year olds do. They are dealing on the corner, robbing, assaulting, just the same as older folks do. This might not be a reality where you live....but it is a reality. Children today are not the children of 40 years ago. Not all of them. The cops can not know in a situation like that what someone would do just because they are kids.

NOW should he look the way he does now? I don't know all the details. My first thought is... you play... you pay. Then I think that there are cops who carry stuff WAY TOO far and I have to back off on that thought. You can break your nose and wind up with both your eyes looking like that. I have done it. The abrasions look like they may have scrubbed his face on the concrete at some point and they probably did. Whether it was unintentional, I doubt any of us will ever know. If the boy was struggling he very well could have helped in the scraping of his face. Tasing his face? If he had on thick winter clothes, that may have been the only place they could tase that would have any affect. Should they have tased him at all? Again, I would think not. But I do not have all the evidence.

A lot of cops have gotten out of hand. But not all of them do. Nobody wants to see their child like this. It brings out the "mama bear" in you, but sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that not everything is one way or the other. She wants answers and I would want them too. However, sometimes we have to accept the consequences that come with doing something we know comes with these sort of risks. Any arrest, at any time could go wrong. Whether the officer is to blame or something else it is a possibility.

I hate the fact that there are even cops out there that make any of us have to second guess safety when dealing with them. It's despicable for sure. I do truly hope they find the answers they are looking for.

theantediluvian
reply to post by namehere

 

It seems to me that even if he face-planted, the abrasions would suggest that the impact was predominately absorbed by one side of this kid's face. His other eye is really swollen too. There's not yet enough information yet for this to be proven conclusively either way imo.

Setting that part of this aside for a moment:

He was running away from the cops and yet they tasered him in the face? Is it common practice to taser people in the face?

certainly the taser bit was a little strange, i'm not sure how that was possible unless he was running towards another cop.
i'm thinking that black mark on his face was from the where the taser hit him and he turned his head trying to avoid it but failed and he fell with his face turned as a result, the fact one side of his eyes was more swollen and bruised tells me this.
whether the cop was right or wrong to taser him in the face, this kid was a fool for running and brought this on himself with his own actions.

reply to post by snowspirit


Sure it's possible. Picture another policeman arriving and walking towards the situation. If three people were arrested, chances are there were more than two police. Kid might have had his head down a little for balance as he was running.

Just disgusting. A teen shop lifting in no way calls for that. I see the cops teaming up to do the old cover up. He was running? What running towards the officer or it wouldn't of been a face shot. What danger does a hanscuffed teen present to a grown man? Pussies.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

I'm going to have to completely disagree with you. This kid's crime was SHOPLIFTING. I have racked my brain and I can't come up with a scenario where it's reasonable to taser a handcuffed kid in the face. This whole "there are 14 year old kids shooting at cops in the street" thing is so overblown.

Fishers and related fishing workers, at a rate of 116 deaths per 100,000
Logging workers, at a rate of 91 deaths per 100,000
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers, at a rate of 71 deaths per 100,000
Farmers and ranchers, at a rate of 41 deaths per 100,000
Mining machine operators, at a rate of 38 deaths per 100,000
Roofers, at a rate of 32 deaths per 100,000
Refuse and recyclable material collectors, at a rate of 29 deaths per 100,000
Drivers / sales workers and truck drivers, at a rate of 21 deaths per 100,000
Industrial machinery repair and installation, at a rate of 20 per 100,000
Police and sheriff's patrol officers, at a rate of 19 per 100,000

source

You can keep believing this BS excuses for police brutality all you want, but the average cop is in less danger than the average GARBAGE MAN and that's a fact.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Tazering anyonein the face is wrong, not doubt about it. Tazering a 14 years old kid is a evil.

Then we have this from the mother:

“What he did was wrong. He was coerced by a 19-year-old. He does know better,” she said, according to the New York Daily News. “The picture speaks a thousand words.”

So the mother says he was wrong, that he knows better but then turns around and tries to blame it on the 19 year old. That's typical of so many pathetic parents. "Oh my little Johnny wouldn't do bad things, it's the other persons fault."

This whole situation is a massive fail on so many levels.

Bassago
reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

 

Tazering anyonein the face is wrong, not doubt about it. Tazering a 14 years old kid is a evil.

Then we have this from the mother:

“What he did was wrong. He was coerced by a 19-year-old. He does know better,” she said, according to the New York Daily News. “The picture speaks a thousand words.”

So the mother says he was wrong, that he knows better but then turns around and tries to blame it on the 19 year old. That's typical of so many pathetic parents. "Oh my little Johnny wouldn't do bad things, it's the other persons fault."

This whole situation is a massive fail on so many levels.

I couldn't agree more on that count for sure. It is a fail and it's sad that any of it occurred.

reply to post by theantediluvian


I didn't give any excuses for police brutality. I said that they deal with kids who are criminals all day long. Not all of them shoot at them in the streets which is why I included other crimes as well. I did however give an excuse as to why the police might be on guard with a 14 year old. We all see our own children and can't dream of them being in this situation but the fact remains that they can not just assume since it's a kid that they are safe.