10 Year-Old Tasered By Sheriff's Deputies In Pueblo, Colorado

PUEBLO, Colo. — Colorado sheriff's deputies shocked an "out of control" 10-year-old child with a Taser and arrested him.

Pueblo Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Teschner said Wednesday that the boy was not hurt when deputies took action Monday after arriving at his foster home, where he was reportedly destroying property. Teschner says deputies were justified in their use of force. The deputies say the youth threatened them with a pipe and a stick, and threw a piece of wood at them.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of menacing with a deadly weapon.

Last month, a police officer in a small Arkansas town was fired after using a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old girl, not for using the Taser but for violating department policy by failing to use the camera attached to it.

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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain, http://www.chieftain.com

Comments

[clearwaterclearmind]

05:01 AM on 12/06/2009

punk *** p*ssies.

[JadeTiger]

07:29 AM on 12/05/2009

I'm beginning to think the taser has just become a tool of expediency. What did we do with unruly 10 year old kids before we had tasers? Shoot them? Manhandle and wrestle them to the ground?
I suspect perhaps the officers could have taken a little more time to talk with him, maybe they could have split up so one officer came up behind the boy to restrain him while the other disarmed him- I can think of lots of ways beside resorting to tasering to defuse a situation, but they do take more time and calculation.
We are rapidly loosing the art of diplomacy in tough situations and just reaching for the "quick fix". Kind of like drugging kids in school so they stay quiet and compliant, it's becoming accepted as the new mindset.

[BeJebus]

04:25 AM on 12/05/2009

Yeah, pretty soon we'll just taze the bay when he throws his food at Mommy.

[prisoner24601]

11:15 AM on 12/04/2009

What did they charge the kid with? 120 Volts :)

[Theatrixnyc]

11:10 AM on 12/04/2009

I say we taze any cops who get investigated by Internal Affairs.

[amluvinit2]

12:31 AM on 12/04/2009

Seriously? He threw a stick at them, and threatened them with a pipe? I wonder how big the boy was, I would think that two officers would be able to wrestle him down. Doc, if you are on huffpo, I already know what you are going to say.

[Tyler-Durden]

10:13 AM on 12/04/2009

"you would think"?

it sounds like you are NOT thinking.

if the boy was so easily restrained, why didn't his PARENTS restrain him? do you have kids? do you call the cops when your kids don't listen to you? i suspect not.

so obviously the situation was threatening enough that the parents called for help.

and cops do not "wrestle kids down". that's escalation. cops are given tasers so they don't have to escalate. instead the taser gives them a method to establish control of the situation while minimizing risk to themselves and to the suspect.

you are not seeing the big picture, you are reacting emotionally.

[DannyRose]

10:37 AM on 12/04/2009

It has already been mentioned many times on here that foster parents are not permitted to physically restrain the children under their care. You choose to ignore that information.

Why is that?

[KrautMan]

07:27 PM on 12/07/2009

Hahaha, Tyler-Durden, every single one of your posts that I bump into makes me cringe. Can't you just stop posting? Much appreciated.

[KIVPossum]

05:25 AM on 12/05/2009

It might be easy to sit at a computer and say the cops could have restrained the boy. I would, too, except a few months ago I saw a 12 year old take on two grown men, and come out on top.

Some disturbed children find strenght beyond their size and muscle mass when they are in a rage.

[Usama]

12:15 AM on 12/04/2009

So I can taze my son if when he slams the door or throws things?

or the guy who flips me off on the highway?

[blacksmithn]

09:27 AM on 12/04/2009

Or ex-wives?

[BeJebus]

04:26 AM on 12/05/2009

Why just the ex?

[Tyler-Durden]

10:14 AM on 12/04/2009

do you think the cops were called because he slammed the door?

did you even read the article in the Pueblo paper?

your ignorance is showing. work on that.

[Theatrixnyc]

11:05 AM on 12/04/2009

So is yours, babe.

[lastep]

07:13 PM on 12/03/2009

this story is old. That said. Any cop taser me or one of my kids? going to be bad just like if a dog bites me unprovoked

[Doug-Life]

06:38 PM on 12/03/2009

No one can say whether or not the kid deserved it. I would have to had to been there.

[lostagain]

07:01 PM on 12/03/2009

Deserving to be punished has absolutely nothing to do with shocking a child with a taser.

Who gave the cops the right to decide who "deserves" to be punished? I always thought that was supposed to be decided by a judge and jury.

No thinking adult, especially two grown and presumably professionally trained men, would ever reasonably feel the need to utilize such a brutal form of subduing a human being on a child. Yes, there can be justified uses of a taser when there is no other reasonable means to control an adult short of deadly force, but on a 10 year old child, such brutality is and should be treated as a crime.

All involved, including the captain who tried to justify the conduct should be dismissed from the police force and the two individuals involved should be prosecuted for battery against a child.

[Theatrixnyc]

08:00 PM on 12/03/2009

especially two grown and presumably professionally trained men**

That's a big assumption, that they were "professionally trained men.." Didn't sound like anyone was really in control.

[enoughofrr]

09:10 PM on 12/03/2009

You mean to tell me a 6 foot, 200 pound cop couldn't take down a 10 year old? Cops in Colorado are poocees.

[huffponewbie]

02:56 AM on 12/04/2009

I have no love for cops and am sure that they could have taken him down. However, I would think that the manner in which they would have taken him down (he had pipe) would have been more dangerous to the kid than the taser.

[PintoPony]

06:27 PM on 12/03/2009

Leave them alone. They're all uptight after the 'balloon boy' incident....

[Tagrid]

06:24 PM on 12/03/2009

Educate yourselves before you post here - Google "TASER DEATHS" - the articles there are very enlightening.

[DannyRose]

06:13 PM on 12/03/2009

I have a nagging feeling that these are former Blackwater goons, come back to the States to establish their brand of "order".

[dazed]

06:18 PM on 12/03/2009

Nah,the kid would be dead,and they would try to bribe the families with hush money.

[BeJebus]

04:30 AM on 12/05/2009

No, the kid would be r.a.ped and they would sue him if he told anyone about it.

[Geovan]

05:59 PM on 12/03/2009

If I was mayor, I'd fire him, and make sure he doesn't receive taxpayer money for a pension. Screw him. Tasered into submission. That's the Taser way.

[DollyLama1964]

05:59 PM on 12/03/2009

Looks like the kid needs to be put in an institution where the shock treatments can be administered by trained professionals

[DannyRose]

06:01 PM on 12/03/2009

Project much?

[Newthron]

06:07 PM on 12/03/2009

You, hum...I foresee a possible frontal lobotomy, to correct your inner vision.

[PartyPartyParty]

05:58 PM on 12/03/2009

You civillians just don't know what it's like out there when all you have between you and a stick-wielding 10-year-old is a bullet proof vest, a helmet, a gun and a taser!