Nov 20, 2009 09:00 PM
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Are idiot cops with tasers in some sort of competition with one another? I think the new record for stupidity belongs to Dustin Bradshaw, the Arkansas police officer who zapped and arrested a 10-year old girl for throwing a fit.
Get this: the mother called police because her child was throwing a fit about showering before going to bed. When the officer arrived the girl was kicking and screaming on the floor and the mother suggested that she should be tasered. Instead of saying something like "I don't have time for this crap lady" and calling out child protective services, the officer picked up the girl and carried her into the living room. At that point the girl was reported to be "kicking violently" and one of those kicks struck the officer square in the balls. The officer then proceeded to taser the girl in the back, handcuff her and drag her off to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.
If that wasn't bad enough, Officer Bradshaw was suspended for a week without pay, not because he tased the girl, but because he failed to use the camera attachment to record the incident. The girl, on the other hand, will face disorderly conduct charges as a juvenile over the incident. Seriously, what is it going to take before law enforcement decides to rein in police abuse of tasers? Or can cops just go around tasering babies and puppies at will? [AP via True Crime Report via Digg Image via Flickr]
Send an email to Sean Fallon, the author of this post, at sean@gizmodo.com.
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