Thursday, February 21, 2008

More Tasing Teens

I just read about some more brave police work, this time from California. An unarmed Vallejo teenager was tasered in the back for being involved in a fight in school:
16-year-old Jarvis Porter said the incident happened Feb. 8 at Vallejo's Hogan High School.

Porter admitted he took part in the fight but claimed he did not hear an officer's commands to stop.Porter said he suddenly felt "stinging on my back like somebody pinching my back, then everything went still and I couldn't move. I fell."
Be sure to check out the comments attached to the article. Pro-taser, pro-torture CA residents come out to support tasing students.

Fights in schools between children happen. It's unfortunate. However, this kid wasn't armed and it's not clear that he heard the officer. He likely didn't; he was in a fight.

Why was using an electrical discharge weapon the very next resort after yelling at the child?

This is a problem with tasers I was writing about the other day. The devices aren't standing between guns and suspects. They're being used in situations where guns would clearly be inappropriate.