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Cop tasers teenager for acting like a teenager

1:04 am - 07/09/2009
New Mexico Teen Girl Tasered In The Head By Police Chief (VIDEO)

The use of tasers by law enforcement is becoming increasingly controversial as more examples emerge of them being used improperly and causing victims serious harm. This New Mexico teen was arguing with her mother, so her mother brought her to a police station to get help (it's unclear what kind of argument they could have been having that would warrant police intervention).

The girl ran off and the police chief chased her and ordered her to stop. When she didn't, he tasered her in the head. The giant scar and stitches in the teen's head show the tasering was terribly brutal, and it's difficult to see how this could in any way be justified.
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antisaints 9th-Jul-2009 06:10 pm (UTC)
tasered in the head.
wow.
on so many levels could she have died.
antisaints 9th-Jul-2009 06:30 pm (UTC)
I heard of an anorexic girl getting killed after just being tased once because she had a weak heart.
ladygoddess 10th-Jul-2009 06:18 am (UTC)
Oh, my goodness. That is *my* fear. And we've seen from videos that some cops also taser people are being completely compliant and good. Ten years ago my brother tricked me into touching a malfunctioning touch lamp and I got eletricuted. It took over an hour for my heart to quit freaking out. >_>
wicked_g 9th-Jul-2009 06:13 pm (UTC)
Oh wow. Fuck.
pansylove 9th-Jul-2009 06:13 pm (UTC)
That is such a shame.
peebs1701 9th-Jul-2009 06:22 pm (UTC)
Escalation of force, ur doin it rong.
jaded110 9th-Jul-2009 06:30 pm (UTC)
Argument or not, if I was this kid's mother I'd be screaming at the moron who tasered her. What the HELL was this cop thinking????

THE GIRL COULD HAVE DIED, YOU FUCKING IDIOT.
tigerdreams 9th-Jul-2009 06:33 pm (UTC)
I honestly think the trouble with tasers lies with the notion that they are "nonlethal weapons." Anyone who has real-world experience with police policy please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, police firearm training teaches cops to shoot to kill -- and therefore, every officer knows that if he draws his weapon, it had better be a situation where killing someone may be warranted. The concept of a "nonlethal weapon," I think, makes a person inclined to be freer with its use than they would be with a lethal weapon, because the consequences are felt to be not as great. This seems to be leading to a state of affairs where police are *too* free with the use of tasers.

I'm not sure what the solution to this is, if I'm right. Intuitively, it's more humane for police to have a nonlethal means of incapacitating a violent suspect. But if the psychological factor of the weapon being "nonlethal" leads to an abuse of the weapon, something needs to be done. Perhaps the high rate of these incidents is due to the fact that the taser is still a relatively new tool, and police training in its use needs to evolve. Perhaps the *weapon* part of "nonlethal weapon" is the word that needs to be emphasized. Perhaps we need to drop the notion that tasers "harmlessly incapacitate" a person. Regardless, something needs to be done to break police of the mindset that they can use tasers as much as they want and nothing bad will happen.
brewsternorth 9th-Jul-2009 06:48 pm (UTC)
Regardless, something needs to be done to break police of the mindset that they can use tasers as much as they want and nothing bad will happen.

Certainly true. There has to be a way to make them, like firearms, a last resort and not a first one.
tigerdreams 9th-Jul-2009 08:13 pm (UTC)
Exactly this. It feels like police these days are treating tasers like Star Trek phasers on "stun" -- knocks the person out harmlessly and painlessly. Unfortunately for everyone involve (mostly the people on the receiving end of the tasers), reality has not yet caught up to Star Trek. Police NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS.
red_pill 9th-Jul-2009 10:31 pm (UTC)
not to be picky, but a middle-high resort, surely. fire arms are the last resort. tasers should be lower then guns (being reletvly safe compareard to a firearm) tho still high.

sorry, this is what doing philosphys done to me. i feel the need to define everything neatly out loud, even when i get the implisit point.
ragnor144 9th-Jul-2009 07:58 pm (UTC)
I can only really see the use of tasers if the only other resort would be using a gun. A girl running off? It's not like she was holding a knife to a baby's throat. Running from the law is generally not a smart move, but in circumstances like this I say, let her go.
arisma 9th-Jul-2009 06:34 pm (UTC)
And once again I'll point out that this is exactly why I never laughed at the 'don't taze me bro' guy like most people did.

binarywords 9th-Jul-2009 08:21 pm (UTC)
amen
bushy_brow 10th-Jul-2009 01:06 am (UTC)
Seriously.
azure_rhymes 9th-Jul-2009 06:46 pm (UTC)
Easier said than done when you're young and terrified. Hell, I'd run.
cgallivan 9th-Jul-2009 08:24 pm (UTC)
this. more people should learn that.
syndicalist 9th-Jul-2009 06:38 pm (UTC)
Cops are generally too fat-ass and lazy to actually huff it and jog after someone, so they rely on these kinds of gizmos to compensate for that, with these kinds of consequences.

Solution: Cops who aren't fat pigs and can run 10 feet without getting winded.

thebigbadbutch 9th-Jul-2009 06:47 pm (UTC)
But then we would have millions of unemployed cops and a national donut surplus.
ragnor144 9th-Jul-2009 08:00 pm (UTC)
Mostly OT, but a close-by town was going to close its only doughnut shop. The city police BOUGHT IT TO KEEP IT GOING.
binarywords 9th-Jul-2009 08:21 pm (UTC)
hahahahaha i think you must live near me. i just heard about that the other day.
ampris2007 12th-Jul-2009 03:40 am (UTC)
and named it Cops and Doughnuts? I totally read about that today in The Week!! =^_^=
nikoel 9th-Jul-2009 09:00 pm (UTC)
THIS!! Make cops stay in fucking shape. Firemen have to, why don't police?
lickety_split 9th-Jul-2009 06:43 pm (UTC)
Growing up I was always taught to follow the directions of people carrying lethal weapons, especially when said armed person is trained to use it.

Although I am quite interested to hear his justification as to why he felt it was necessary to use a taser on someone who I'm assuming was not really a huge threat to anyone's safety.
nostariel 9th-Jul-2009 06:43 pm (UTC)
Running away ≠ violent behavior. The cop has no excuse for what he did.
azure_rhymes 9th-Jul-2009 06:45 pm (UTC)
Cops treat teenagers like shit around here. :( Which is a damn shame cause a lot of us really aren't up to anything and we get harassed anyways. Down at the beach, teenagers aren't allowed to walk together with more than six people in a group cause OMG IT MIGHT BE A GANG.

Holy fuck, I live in a southeast Maine tourist trap of a town. There are no gangs, there never have been. The worst thing teenagers do around here is smoke pot in the woods.

Luckily nobody here has been TASERED, thank God.
roorootimes 9th-Jul-2009 08:38 pm (UTC)
1. You shouldn't taser unarmed teens, asshole.
2. Arguing with your mother isn't even a crime unless you're choking her, so why was the FUCKING POLICE CHIEF even chasing her?
3. The HEAD?
ididthatonce 9th-Jul-2009 10:45 pm (UTC)
I visited my friend's new apartment last night in a not-so-safe part of Atlanta, and she has a Taser under her bed. She demonstrated it for me. I honestly thought she was going to taser me for a sec. Them things is scary.
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