Cincinnati cop tases 11 year old girl after stealing from a grocery store. - Sensationalist Headlines

Don't tasers have a very limited capacity to deliver an electric shock, something like five seconds? So unless the officer continuously changes the cartridge, a taser doesn't fire forever. Also I think you underestimate how dangerous knives can be; you don't have to be trained with blades to kill or maim someone. You also can't just assume what's going on in a criminal's head. Sure, they probably aren't trying to hurt anyone, but that's not always the case. That being said, tasing a 10 year-old seems messed up, but I wasn't there so I'm not really the one to judge.

There are a ton of reason to be against police relying on tasers that are based in reason. The incredibly tiny portion of incidents where they lead to a dead suspect don't fall into any of those.

Authorities say the officer suspected the girl was using a backpack to shoplift when he approached her. Police say the girl resisted and fled before she was shocked. Regardless force was going to be used to apprehend the 11-year old. Maybe would have been better if he went hands on instead of using a taser, but regardless the media is gonna play it off as some case of brutality. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I dunno... I'm not saying that the officer was in the right relying on a taser (especially against a kid doing something as relatively harmless as shoplifting), but since I wasn't there and don't know all the details, I can only make assumptions. As for being against the use of tasers, I'd rather have an officer make use of one instead of his sidearm. That doesn't make it right, but tasers are much less likely to cause any long-term harm. Yes, people with heart conditions are more at risk, but it still strikes me as a safe(r) way to end a situation before it escalates.

It's an 11 year old girl. An officer should be able to just grab their arm and thats it. She isnt pulling herself free. If she hits you, it won't hurt. You don't need to suplex her.

Force is an umbrella term, if a officer just puts hands on you it is considered force. Hence why in policing you have to justify using force, If I detain you and put you in handcuffs it is considered force. Force is basically anything that is utilized according to the use-of-force continuum. The cop doesn't need to suplex her nor did I ever suggest that.

The biggest failure here is to the child. This thread can go back and forth on what who should have known but at 11 years old this was the perfect time to have a respectable authority teach her that stealing was wrong and that it has consequences you don't want to pay, and that lesson could have stuck with her in a way that kept a troubled kid in a better place. What the hell does tasing a non threatening child do? It teaches them that police are tyrants that want to hurt them and to fear them, and it doesn't do anything about a developing problem for a troubled person. That's not the kind of lesson you want to instill in someone.

speaking of police abuse, my parents house were searched (the sheriff/etc came to the house demanding to search the house (falsely) claiming that a criminal they let loose made a call from our house) they went into their house, tore the place up, yelling at my stepdad (and cuffing him in his underwear and keeping him in front yard after he OKed the search) about "if we find him we'll arrest him, " step dad as confused as can be then the sheriff threatened to arrest him "he's asking too many fucking questions cuff him and put him in the car", they threw things everywhere and brought a sniffing dog (???) too. but what can you do? It was the sheriff, so there was noone to report it to, lawyers are way too expensive for people in near-poverty to afford, etc. this isn't the first time our police abused power (hell state troopers had to come arrest a few officers for having sex with prisoners) but unless the news gets ahold of your story there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. yay for a legal system that requires self-bankruptcy to get justice!

I wonder how that cop felt hearing the kid scream in agony because of his decision to jump straight to the taser. Did he feel remorse? Disgust with himself on some level? Or did he manage to quickly file the little girl under "criminal scum unworthy of sympathy" and treat her like any other perp?

So there have been cases where tasers were deployed but caused an accidental death, and you're just okay with it being used on a minor, for a SUMMARY offence? Jeez you're one step behind from asking for an execution without explicitly stating that, this reeeeks of absolute stupidity, I wouldn't even say it's justified to use against an ADULT in this situation.

Isn't being tased excruciatingly painful? Theft shouldn't warrant being tased in the first place. Kid or not.