An 11-year-old boy was tasered in school while trying to get away from a police officer in South Carolina.
According to an account in Colleton Today, two school officials radioed a resource officer to help contain a 6th grade boy at Colleton Middle School in Walterboro. When the officer arrived, the boy began to run. She asked him to stop and when he didn’t, she fired her taser.
The boy was taken into custody and moved to an office where the taser prongs were removed. His parents were angry when they learned their son had been tased and took him to the hospital.
Every use of a taser is investigated, according to Colleton County Chief Deputy Ted Stanfield. The supervisor in charge of the Colleton County school resource officers is also reviewing the incident.
There are cases across the country where tasers have been used on children. The most recent incident we’re aware of in Georgia occurred in 2006 when an 11-year-old boy was tasered in Jonesboro after failing to follow verbal commands, according to WSB-TV.
The boy, who was fighting with a 6th grade girl, was tasered twice when he didn’t stop.
Tasers have been controversial for years. Police officers say they are a non-lethal alternative to guns and they save lives.
Amnesty International says tasers can be deadly. Their research in 2008 looked at 334 deaths related to tasers and stun guns. The study, Less than Lethal? The use of Stun Weapons in US Law Enforcement, found that tasers are most dangerous for thinner and smaller people. People who wear pacemakers or have heart disease are also at risk.
Here’s what else the research found:
- Most people who died were subjected to prolonged or repeated shocks.
- Many had heart disease or were shocked in the chest.
- Most were under the influence of stimulant drugs.
- Many went into cardiac arrest at the scene, shortly after being shocked.
The report suggests that law enforcement only use tasers in extreme cases. Researchers recommend all officers carrying tasers also carry defibrillators and limit their use to one, five-second shock.