Police Officer Tases 14-Year-Old Keshana Wilson' Groin Outside Of Pennsylvania High School (VIDEO)

After an Allentown, Pa. police officer fired a stun gun at the groin of Keshana Wilson, a 14-year-old student, outside Dieruff High School in September, edited surveillance video has been entered as evidence as a part of a federal lawsuit filed against the officer, the The Morning Call reports.

The video appears to show the girl raising her arms mere seconds before officer Jason Ammary fired the gun, causing the girl to collapse on the street.

According to the report, before the incident, the school was "having problems" with students being "disorderly" at school dismissal. Attorney Richard J. Orloski has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the girl's mother claiming excessive force, but police told The Morning Call that Ammary was right to use the taser due to the "use-of-force continuum."

NBC Philadelphia summarizes the video before the tasing, but notes there is one minute and 40 seconds missing from the tape:

"The video then abruptly cuts to Allentown Police Officer Jason Ammary struggling with Wilson on the side of a parked car. Ammary appears to be shoving Wilson against the car. She then appears to push her left forearm against his face. Ammary then steps back and fires his Taser at Wilson’s groin, causing her to collapse to the ground. Several security officers then arrive. One can be seen leading a teen boy away in handcuffs."

Wilson was taken to the hospital to have the probes removed from her leg. The girl's mother, Victoria Geist, told WFMZ-TV that her daughter did nothing to provoke the officer, and that she believes the attack was racially motivated.

WATCH:

Comments

[ChoppyBob]

01:55 PM on 03/04/2012

A child of color who gets into a physical altercation with a police officer is lucky to emerge with his/her life.

Are parents not properly educating their children on race in this country?

[Cody Backer]

07:42 PM on 02/22/2012

The video was entered by the prosecution against the officer so editing would have been done not by the police but rather the attorney. As for the shot cops are trained to shoot center mass if it hit here in the groin its just bad luck tasers are not known for being accurate. Let me see the missing 1.40 and i might change my mind

[Volantiad]

10:31 PM on 02/21/2012

AFTER he 'shoots' her, he radios. WTF?!

Clearly, she wasn't attacking him. He was free to step away from her. He shot her in anger, not in self defense. Also, in the still picture from the video you can see that his mouth is wide open. Can't tell if he's yelling at her or laughing. This guy lost his temper and unnecessarily tased a 14 year old. Clear abuse of his authority. Illegal. No case for self defense or peace keeping.

Also, that missing 1'40" is about as suspicious as the missing Watergate tape: obviously not 'accidentally' edited out. Is whoever presented this evidence allowed to 'edit' some of it out? It's not like that small amount of time would have been a waste even if nothing important happened.

[Volantiad]

10:18 PM on 02/21/2012

Well, that missing 1'40" sounds pretty essential, simply because it's missing. Impossible to get a clear picture of even what happened in this incident without it.

However, it does seem to me that if the police officer was afraid for his safety ~ his justification for tasing a 14 year old who had her hands up? ~ then by stepping away he could have called for back up. If he wasn't in the act of being grappled with, for example, and losing his position of authority and control over the situation (which he didn't seem to) then it's hard for me to justify him tasing her. After all, he was in a safe position when he 'shot' her. It seems that he didn't lose control of the situation but lost control of himself. Having been elbowed in the face (and it wouldn't surprise me if there were heated words exchanged, too) he just wanted revenge and to assert his dominance over her personally, not defend himself from an assailant and re-establish law & order.

In all situations between adults and children the onus is on the adult to lead and control. We are burdened with responsibility for what happens, not the child. Adults are supposed to have the better judgement. I would certainly hope a 'peace officer' had better judgement than this one exhibited.

[pragmaticalpaula]

12:06 AM on 01/23/2012

Mr. Policeman feels all big and bad using a stun gun on a 14 year old girl. Shame on you. If this girl was fairer of skin color, hair and eyes he wouldn't even of taken out the stun gun. Law enforcement officers need to screened for prejudice, just like they do for mental health issues. Another day in America where racism once again rears it's ugly head. SAD SAD SAD...

[DOC666]

06:56 AM on 12/29/2011

I guess the girl was winning that fight so he had to resort to the stun gun. Hey, she was a dangerous 14 year old, what else is a big strong donut-filled cop to do?

[Jack2011]

01:44 AM on 12/21/2011

If my parents saw a video of me resisting arrest, they would tell me I deserved to get tased. That being said, there is too much missing from this video (for me) to judge the actions of the cop.

[atomicneon4545]

10:37 PM on 12/19/2011

I think that she deserved it

[aviandonn]

05:47 PM on 12/19/2011

So we've come to the point where a grown male police officer is no longer capable of dealing with a fourteen year old girl without resorting to use of a weapon. What happened during the missing time period. Where is the tape of that? How did this escalate from a 14 year old girl leaving school to an assault by a police officer. I think tasers are proving to be one of the worst inventions ever. Police have always been arrogant, but now they seem to no longer be required to learn how to avoid escalating a situation, let alone how to diffuse one. Why bother to learn those skills when you can just pull out that supposedly non-lethal weapon and shoot someone with it.

I'm sorry, but if you can't handle a 14 year old girl, you need to get another job.

[vidian6]

12:30 PM on 12/18/2011

There is no justification for this kind of use on a 14 year old child. If you can't handle a 14 year old child without doing this then you should look for other work.

[simotron]

01:53 PM on 02/16/2012

damn straight

[XV8 Crisis Suit]

12:37 PM on 12/17/2011

I seem to remember a story a year ago where a cop punched a 16 year old girl who was resisting arrest. People criticized him because they said he should have used less lethal methods, like his pepper spray or his taser. Now, another cop uses those less lethal methods instead of being happy, the same people are saying that he should have physically restrained her instead. I think I sense a little bias here.

[kingdaddy 22]

09:33 AM on 12/17/2011

The people that justify this in any way amaze me.If any parent in the country done this to their own 14 year old KID the law would take the kid away from the parent and then charge them with child abuse.So why would it be ok for a stranger to do this to our kids if he cant handle a 14 yr old GIRL then he is in the wrong line of work.You dont shock them if you cant handle her you wait on help.

[newe1344]

12:24 AM on 12/17/2011

I don't understand when "non-lethal" weapons became cattle prods...

[Dionsmusica]

11:48 PM on 12/16/2011

years ago, I was tased as part of military training. I know that it is no joke. I also know that if ever in a situation where a cop even threatens whipping out a taser, my hands are going in the air.

The reason that police officers have the position that they hold is because we trust them in the serving and protecting of our cities. I think what is being ignored in all of this discussion is the fact that regardless of age, this individual was resisting a police officer. What should be done is you be courteous and compliant, and you let your lawyer deal with anything else. I'm a young black male from the inner city, now a teacher. When a cop tells you to do something, you get your chip off your shoulder, you drop your "you can't touch me cop" attitude and you damn well do it. End of story.

The reasons that police officers (and military soldiers in some situations) have tasers is because the moment you resist an officer in the lawful action of his job, you're probably lucky you don't take a slug to the chest, because the reality of life is that on any given day, these ladies and gentlemen deal with hundreds of situations that start out mundane, and turn life threatening in an instant, and yes, they never know when the most seemingly normal person is the one who loses all sense and brings an end to their life.

[simsum]

11:44 AM on 12/17/2011

What if the officer is breaking the law?
What if the officer is corrupt?

[simotron]

02:02 PM on 02/16/2012

i agree with your sober evaluation but part of a policeman's job should be to calm a situation down and talk to people - i think that's getting lost these days and the fallback is a weapon which 'probably won't kill' someone.

i don't think that's a good thing at all.

[theoczman]

05:31 PM on 12/16/2011

look at 39 seconds in, he took handcuffs from her posesion, that means that she grabbed his handcuffs, giving him no way of restraining her, he wasnt choking her, he was trying to put the cuffs on her starting with her right hand