Police officer uses Taser on Rosebud Sioux girl (EIGHT years old!!)

[niyad]

Native Sun News: Police officer uses Taser on Rosebud Sioux girl

PIERRE—An 8 year old member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe was subdued by a police Taser in Pierre after officers responded to a report of the child being suicidal.
The child, who was under the care of a baby sitter at the time of the incident, was holding a 4 inch knife that responding officers reported was being held to her chest.

In statements made to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Pierre Police Chief Bob Grandpre, said that once the officers arrived on the scene the child was approached by the officer and turned the knife towards the officer, when the officer stopped she placed the knife back at her chest. It was then that the officer fired the Taser at the child. The prongs from the Taser hit the 8 year old in the chest and stomach. The devices are designed to give police a non-lethal alternative to firearms and send a shock through the bodies of those they are deployed on high enough to disable any possible threat that may be present.

A family member who spent time with the child in the days after the incident told Native Sun News that the child had told them that the blast from the Taser sent her child in to the wall where it knocked her out.

“She said that she didn’t remember anything after that,” said the family member.

. . . .


The child was in extreme pain the night of the incident and has according to the family member begun having panic attacks and difficulties breathing ever since she was tasered. In some cases the use of the devices has led to cardiac arrest and a variety of other heart conditions amongst those who were hit by them.
. . .

Pierre police chief, Bob Grandpre in statements to the Argus Leader defended the actions of the officer saying
*******“He quite possibly saved the juvenile’s life that night.”***** (I think I am going to be quite ill)
. . . . .

http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/011475.asp

[KamaAina]

1. Douchebadge of the Day.

Or perhaps we should call it the Darren Wilson Award.

[hifiguy]

2. They're never too young to learn

their place and to Respect the Authoritah.

[cui bono]

3. Out of control. Poorly trained.

We need a complete overhaul of ALL police depts and training.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Just say anything in order to justify out of control cops...Yeah, that's the ticket.

He quite possibly saved the juvenile's life that night.

[rhett o rick]

5. This is totally absurd. It's very unlikely that the girl would have stabbed herself.

And if she did, most likely it would have been minor. The police are trigger happy. They should have made an effort to calm her down.

[bluesbassman]

6. Wrong. "Less lethal".

I can't even imagine the thought process a full grown man (or woman, article didn't indicate) went through to determine that an eight year old child required tazing. I'm sure the usual apologists will chime in that police procedures dictate the use of excessive force to subdue a suspect when said suspect has a knife and is within 21 feet (she could've closed that gap in milliseconds! ), and that no LEO should have to risk being stabbed or cut on the job, but c'mon; an eight year old child? Or they'll say that they did the child a favor by subjecting her body to thousands of volts and potential blunt force trauma when she struck whatever object was near as she fell. Some favor.

There needs to be a complete overhaul of our system of law enforcement, and a re-evalution of the kind of person put into these positions of public trust and authority.

[nolabear]

7. "The juvenile." You mean the little girl he electrocuted?

Depersonalizing the child to soften the horror of what they did to an upset little girl.

[Ino]

15. I can't stand "cop language."

assessed the situation
exited the vehicle
made a threatening gesture (wow, is that vague or what?)

Why can't they talk like normal people?

[ManiacJoe]

8. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

DU thread saying taser use on suicidal folks is a good way to end the situation:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025427982

[Tsiyu]

9. Were they discussing adults?

We're talking an 8-yr-old here.

[LanternWaste]

10. Many half-wits and idiots will place the use of a taser on an eight year old girl on the same ethica

Many half-wits and idiots will place the use of a taser on an eight year old girl on the same ethical plane as that of a taser being used on an much older person.

No doubt, you merely forgot to include the distinction between the two...

[BklnDem75]

11. That's one for tazing a child...

Police can do no wrong

[Vattel]

12. A 4 inch knife in the hands of an 8-yr-old girl. What's a police officer to do?

I am not physically courageous, but I did pull three dogs off of my dog when they were attacking him. I could have been bitten (my dog required stitches), but it is what you do in certain circumstances. If I had been in the situation with the little girl I would have tried to calm her down and, if that failed, I would have grabbed her arm and took the knife from her. It would involve some risk of a cut, but 8-yr-olds are not that quick or strong. Again, I am not pretending to be a tough guy. I am not tough at all. But some cops these days seem to think that they should never take a risk to protect and serve.

[justiceischeap]

13. No one seems to care why an 8 yr old is suicidal

Yes, Tazing a child is horrible but why would a child that young want to die in the first place?

[xmas74]

14. That was my concern, even more than the use of the taser.

Why was she acting out in such a manner? Is she getting help now?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. That does seem a bit younger than usual, but

suicide, especially juvenile suicide is epidemic on reservations. Doing just a quick google search on 'daily kos indian suicide' (since I know I've read things on it there before, quickly gets a couple of articles that point out Indian suicides are 4 times the national rate, and disproportionately high among teenagers. The IHS (Indian Health Service) is always underfunded for the need, and the sequester hit reservations, which hold the poorest of the poor in the nation, very hard.

It's one reason I donate to Okiciyap, a food pantry and learning annex on a reservation in South Dakota. They're scrambling at the moment to get enough supplies to send the kids back to school well-equipped, but they do all sorts of good work to try and give the children their both food and hope.

[niyad]

16. my first instinct would be to FIRE a supposedly fully-trained cop who could not handle

an 8-year old child holding a knife. that "cop" is obviously an incompetent hack who has no business on the force, or anywhere else in any position of authority.

[etherealtruth]

17. I am just relieved he didn't shoot her ... because she had a knife

Not hyperbole .... sadly, I am serious

[niyad]

18. sadly, you have a very correct point.

[etherealtruth]

23. It is a very sad state of affairs if my first response ...

... is to be thankful he didn't shoot her.

What the hell did they do before tasers? I understand the primary goal was to prevent this poor kid from harming herself (and others) but it seems to me, that what we know about the potential lethality of tasers .... this should have been a last resort

That poor kid ... I can understand the panic attacks.... praying she does not have PTSD

[moriah]

19. Better a taze than stabbing herself. I hope a psychiatric stay is in her future....

... along with investigating WHY she was driven to that.

Ever thunk that perhaps her panic attacks had to do with whatever is wrong with her that made her suicidal at the tender age of eight?

[niyad]

20. the panic attacks began AFTER the tazing:

The child was in extreme pain the night of the incident and has according to the family member begun having panic attacks and difficulties breathing ever since she was tasered. In some cases the use of the devices has led to cardiac arrest and a variety of other heart conditions amongst those who were hit by them.

please tell me that you forgot the sarcasm icon, because I am appalled that you seem to think tazing an EIGHT-YEAR OLD is acceptable. one would think a fully-trained cop should have been able to disarm AN EIGHT-YEAR OLD CHILD, armed with a small knife.

[moriah]

21. If you think suicidal gestures are anything to play with, even in children, you're dead wrong.

And that was in evidence before the tasing.

If it were my kid, I would be thanking the officer. My kid'd still be alive to get help, instead of possibly needing surgery or blood transfusions IF she lived.

And yes, I'd be taking my child straight to a treatment facility. I'm confused that evidence doesn't seem to indicate the family did that, it seems to suggest they kept her at home. I hope they at least had her evaluated and a treatment plan started. That should be the first priority, as well as getting to the root cause of whatever caused her to be suicidal at age eight. Things could be going on the family has no clue about.

[niyad]

22. since I have lost several friends to suicide, I take it VERY seriously, but thanks

for the dismissive tone.

you go right on defending that cop's actions. I will continue with my view that the cop needs to be fired for being a totally incompetent hack. I notice you did not respond to the fact that the panic attacks started AFTER the tazing.

[moriah]

24. Some people think kids wouldn't do it, that they couldn't actually manage it....

... or just are in denial that it can happen, so they don't take those gestures seriously in young children. Sadly, they're very wrong.

And what I countered with was that she was obviously showing significant psychiatric symptoms immediately before the tasing incident. Now there's all this attention on her, attention she probably didn't want. If there *is* something going on that she's been told she has to keep secret, the pressure would also be a possible reason for the panic attacks manifesting now. I would not want to rule out the possibility of them being related, which goes back to the fact I am far more concerned with this child getting the help she needs than I am about the officer's actions or what consequences there should be as a result.

[niyad]

25. you keep right on defending the officer if you must, with all the justifications and

rationalizations you can muster. some of us would prefer not to.

[tazkcmo]

26. Wow

You have a very low set of expectations if you think Tazing an 8 year old is better than taking away the knife.

[ecstatic]

28. Just... ugghh...

On the bright side, they didn't gun her down. It shows they are capable of thinking prior to letting the bullets fly. But why are guns and tasers the only two options they consider?