The “Smoking Gun” is reporting an astonishing story from Arkansas, undoubtedly destined for cable news immortality. A policeman was summoned to a home by a mother who couldn’t control her 10-year-old daughter, who was having some kind of an emotional meltdown. When the officer was unable to stop the girl from “screaming and kicking,” he used a taser on her, a tactic suggested and approved by the mother.The girl was then handcuffed and arrested. She is apparently a normal-sized child for her age.
A few conclusions:
- A mother who has to call the police to handle a tantrum by a 10-year old girl needs parenting classes.
- The police officer has to be disciplined, if not fired. The mother’s suggestion of tasering was obviously inappropriate, and did not give him any additional rights, legal or ethical, to use excessive force. Thank goodness she didn’t give him permission to shoot her!
- This was not a law enforcement matter, and for the police officer to treat it treat it as such shows terrible judgment.
- Can we agree that using a taser on a child is always, always, wrong?
Ethics Alarms 
Every city has hotlines for parents who are in a crisis with their kids. Best alternative to calling the police. Who trains the police? This was not a spousal abuse problem with two out-of-control adults. A full grown policeman couldn’t put his arms around this kid to control her, and didn’t have a hotline number for the mother to call?
Don’t know the history here, but don’t need to. A taser on a 10-year-old is not only “overkill” but could in fact end up a “kill.”
Shame. Shame. On both mother and policeman.
On the first hand, I recall a routine where Brian Regan talked about a local politician who had voted to allow 7-year-olds to be Tasered. (about two minutes into this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpSGSna0g5U)
That seems to make sense, but on the other hand, I think the primary use of a Taser is to incapacitate a subject, and unless this kid is a giant, any cop (or hell, any parent) should be able to do that just with their ordinary adult strength. And since these things are meant to drop a 350-lb thug, I can’t imagine what the child feels. (Do Tasers have settings, like phasers?)
It’s really difficult to think of the ‘worst-case scenario’ where it would be necessary to use a Taser on a child where some other course of action isn’t preferable.
It sounds like the mother and the cop were both out of line, but where there’s smoke there’s fire and I’d like to know more about the size of the girl and what she was doing. Had she armed herself with kitchen knives? The old man’s gun? Does anyone know?
Tom, the story says she was 65 pounds and 4’6″…and unarmed. Any cop who can’t subdue a kid that size without a taser needs to find another line of work.