TaserGun

Police Taser 6-Year-Old Boy At Elementary School

POSTED: 6:51 am EST November 12, 2004
UPDATED: 6:15 pm EST November 12, 2004

MIAMI -- A 6-year-old boy was subdued with a Taser while wielding a piece of glass and threatening to hurt himself in the principal's office, officials said Thursday. The boy, who was not identified, was shocked by police with 50,000 volts of electric current on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School.

Principal Maria Mason called 911 after the child broke a picture frame in her office and waved the piece of glass, holding a security guard back.

When two Miami-Dade County police officers and a school officer arrived, the boy had already cut himself under his eye and on his hand.

The officers talked to the boy without success. When he cut his own leg, one officer shocked him with a Taser, then another grabbed him to prevent him from falling, police said.

He was treated by Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation.

"By using the Taser, we were able to stop the situation, stop him from hurting himself," police spokesman Juan DelCastillo told The Miami Herald. "Sure he could have been tackled and maybe injured, maybe his arm broken or maybe that glass could have cut him in a critical area."

Retired Juvenile Judge Frank Orlando called the incident "ridiculous."

"It just sounds excessive to me to Taser gun a 6-year-old when everyone else around there were adults," said Orlando, who now runs a law clinic on youth law at Nova Southeastern University. "They couldn't subdue a 6-year-old? Must have been a pretty big kid."

Police wouldn't say how big the child was. The case was under review.

Here is link to original article: Police Use Taser on Six Year Old