Another 10-Year-Old Tased

In this week's cowardly police work corner, cops tase a 10-year-old boy, and their sheriff says it was justified:

PUEBLO, Colo. -- Sheriff's deputies who stunned with a Taser a 10-year-old child they said was "out of control" were justified in their use of force, the sheriff said Thursday.

The boy was Tasered by sheriff's deputies in Pueblo West on Monday, after officers were called to the boy's foster home on a report that he was destroying property and threatening a foster parent with a pipe and a stick. He had already thrown a landscaping timber at the foster father, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff said Thursday that the deputies involved in the arrest did what they had to do. ...

"They followed all policies and procedures. This was appropriate use of the Taser device," said Capt. Jeff Teschner.

He said that the juvenile was not hurt when deputies took action.

The boy refused to throw down a 2-foot pipe he was holding when deputies cornered him outside, Teschner said.

The boy was booked into Pueblo Youth Center on suspicion of menacing with a deadly weapon. The foster parent said he intends to press charges against the boy.

The boy has a history of violence.

Teschner said his department's policy on the use of Tasers is not age specific."

More details, including the names of the officers involved come from this article:

Capt. Jeff Teschner, head of patrol at the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department, said Wednesday that the deputies involved were justified in their use of force.

"They followed all policies and procedures. This was appropriate use of the Taser device," Teschner said.

The boy did not sustain injuries in the 3:30 p.m. incident in the 300 block of West Morning Glory Drive, Teschner said.

Deputies Mark Myers and Randy Mondragon were sent to foster parent Daniel Biby's home to help with an "out of control juvenile" who was reportedly destroying property. Mondragon said the boy had threatened Biby with a pipe and a stick, and had thrown a landscape timber at Biby.

Mondragon said that when deputies arrived, the boy ran away from them holding a 2-foot-long pipe.

"This lad, we have a long history of (him) running away. I don't know what his entire psychological profile is, but obviously he has emotional distress," Teschner said.

The boy ran to a neighbor's yard where he cornered himself between a camper trailer, pontoon boat and a fence, Mondragon

said.

The boy ignored a deputy's commands to drop the pipe. "I'm not going to drop the pipe," the boy is quoted as saying in a report. ...

Teschner said that because of the tight quarters the boy was in, stunning the child with a Taser was a more effective way of arresting the youth rather than using pepper spray.

"They couldn't get close enough to deploy pepper spray without putting themselves in danger," Teschner said.

Myers deployed the Taser at the boy, who then dropped the pipe, and Mondragon arrested the boy.