Are Cops Free to Taser Anyone They Please?

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/11/cop_dustin_bradshaw_tasers_10-.php

I was looking around on cnn.com today and found a headline about a cop who had tasered a ten year old little girl. I didn’t think it gave as much information as I would have liked so I decided to check it out at the true crime report web cite and it was very interesting to say the least. Apparently a single mother was having some problems getting her daughter to take a shower before she went to bed. The little girl must have been throwing the biggest fit ever because her mom called the police over it. In the article it states that this mother is probably not the greatest of all parents to walk this earth and didn’t get any props for her mothering capabilities. When the officer arrived at the house for the call, he entered and saw the temper tantrum first hand. After a bit of the tantrum in front of him the mother of this child told the officer to taser her little girl. The officer carried the girl from her room into the living room while she was kicking and screaming the whole time and one of those kicks landed right in the officer’s crotch. He then pulled his taser out and tasered her in the back. He then took the little girl to his cop car and off to a youth shelter. Another crazy fact from this article is the fact that the officer can not be punished for tasering the little girl because there is no law that states how old the perpetrator must be for an officer to use their taser. The officer did get suspended for seven days with pay, but they claim that it was because he failed to have the video camera installed in the taser itself.

I can’t believe this guy even has a job after an act like this one. I mean who in there right mind couldn’t handle a ten year old little girl with a throwing a tantrum. I know that she got a shot in the dark kick to the man’s crotch, but still what guy hasn’t been hit there before in his life time. He should have still been able to handle this little girls fit. I think that the mom and the officer need to be the ones getting tasered, because they are both ridiculous.

I reacted this way because parents are supposed to be able to handle situations like this one with no problem. The officer should have just left and let the mother deal with the situation at hand. If it was a bit more out of control than he thought normal he still should not have tasered a ten year old girl. I believe that there should be a few more restrictions for the officer to able to use a taser on anyone and that the officers are held a bit more responsible for their actions in cases such as this one.

This sounds like a case for Nanny 911, but would be an episode I would more than likely watch on Cops.