A kid who's kicking and screaming =/= a kid with a metal pipe. On initial impression, I think this case is far more easily justified than the last one. It's the weapon that does it for me.

Eville- I suggest you go to your local group home for screwed up kids, hand a ten year old boy a two foot pipe, and give him a strong incentive to take a swing at you with it. Then come back and tell us that he doesn't present a danger.

Cops are expected to subject themselves to some risks, but the use of force continuum is very clear. a cop is never expected to deliberately under-arm himself in confrontation with someone he's trying to apprehend. The taser was probably an appropriate solution in this case.

Sorry, you're right. I can't find mention of the material the pipe was made of.

That said, I trust the judgement of the average police officer- bear in mind the kid had also already thrown some timber at the foster father too. He had already, therefore, shown a willingness to attempt to cause injury to another person.

Now, the situation being resolved, I don't think the appropriate response is to press charges. It's a ten year old kid with serious behavioural issues. criminalizing him with a charge is unlikely to have any positive result. The kid needs behavioural therapy and probably some other psychological attention. A criminal charge wouldn't provide this, and putting him into a juvenile facility (hypothetically- I doubt a ten year old would go to one) would simply cause him to associate with other, probably older deviant kids from whom he'll learn more antisocial behaviours.

These kids are not at all easy to deal with, and even proper treatment isn't always a success, but keeping them out of the justice system is very important if they're to be turned around. Those who do enter the justice system should, in all possible cases, be dealt with at the lowest level, preferably through pre-charge or post-charge diversion. Giving a kid a criminal record is almost never of any help.

 

Of course after reading this article you can see how a taser could possibly be more harmful to a younger kid than a full grown adult.

 

http://fray.slate.com/id/2154253/ - http://fray.slate.com/id/2154253/

 

Happy reading

Remember, you aren't just dealing with the kid's own strength, you're also talking about the leverage and mass of a (metal?) pipe.

Again, I invite you, go give a metal pipe to a behaviourally challenged ten year old and make him a 50 dollar bet he can't hurt you with it. I sure as hell wouldn't be willing to do it.

 

Plus the kid had already begun assaulting the officer after he threw a landscape timber at him

Generally speaking, a police officer will always maintain standoff distance from a person with a weapon such as this. If the person has a close range weapon, the cop should never move within that range. This risks the cop becoming incapacitated. What if the kid managed to clock him in the head on the way in? Suddenly there's a KOed cop at the kid's feet, with pepper spray, a taser and a gun on his belt. Think of how this could have escalated the situation.

Further, if the cop closed with the kid and was struck, or even if the kid attempted to strike, all of a sudden now the kid has assaulted an officer, which is MUCH more seirous than anything else he's already done.

Based on the limited info we had at hand, and based on the training cops receive and the sound judgement most show, I don't think this was inappropriate.

Biby was the foster father, not the cop.

When spanking is not allowed, you can always rely on your Taser.

 

More so than the 10 year old girl before this, he attempted to harm Biby,

and had what 'could' have been, and in most cases 'would' have been, considered a weapon.

He refused to drop it. Open and shut, reguardless of him being 10.

How many ten year old boys weigh less than sixty pounds?

The effects of pepper spray will last for quite some time. The tazer simply gives a jolt, drop the kid, and it's done. Much less lasting pain or impact than pepper spray or a baton- and if you expect a cop to go in unarmed against anybody with a weapon, you're deluded. Police have a right to look after their own safety. Anyone who wields a weapon at a cop bears the burden of responsibility for escalating the situation. The police officer is perfectly justified in using a proportional amount of force to protect himself.

Anyone who things a ten year armed with a pipe old couldn't present a physical danger is deluded. There are some very screwed up kids out there, and this one had already shown willingness to use violence.

But... but... but, he's a COP!  His only option is to put his arms over his had to be smashed with a pipe while he runs in to hip check the kid!  

Seriously, I just don't understand what some of the people here expect.  What would you have the officer do instead? Sword fight with is night stick?  Everyone keeps citing the need for him to use his training, but he did exactly what he's trained to do.  Trying to catch the pipe being swung would have at least resulted in broken fingers, maybe a wrist or a knee.  This way, the only pain experienced was 1/100th of a second of shock felt by the kid, who get this, was in the wrong. 

 

Its rediculous to try and relate this to the situation with the 11 year old girl tho. Not the same thing.

 

Yes, a 10 year old can inflict decent amounts of damage to you with a pipe. It doesn't take much force behind something like that to give an injury.

 

As I said last time, a weapon makes the difference in a case like this. It's not so much age as situation; obviously a 10 year old throwing a fit and kicking is quite different than a 10 year old swinging a weapon.

 

I think anytime a taser is used on a minor there should be an investigation, but I don't see where the officer did any wrong from the story I read.

What part of 'the kid had a weapon' aren't you grasping?

My mistake, but given that the only ten year old 'electrocuted' in the anecdotes in this thread was the one with the metal pipe, it was an understandable error. Reb posted that only to demonstrate what a ten year old is capable of even without a weapon.

Chuck Norris approves of this post.  Because nobody, nobody is Chuck Norris except Chuck Norris.

 

Haha

 

Oh, the irony.........................