Old story, but this shit still annoys the crap out of me.
UPDATE: The FBI is now looking into the tasering of the 10-year-old.
Earlier this week, we told you about the 73-year-old grandma who was caught on tape being tasered twice during a traffic stop. Now it seems an Arkansas officer has tasered a 10-year-old girl. Our question: Where the hell are they getting these cops?
Police in Ozark, Arkansas say officer Dustin Bradshaw was called to a home by a mother who couldn't get her 10-year-old daughter to shower before going to bed. He found the girl on the floor screaming and crying. Why police were called to diffuse a little girl's fit, we don't know. But something tells us we're not dealing with All-American Mom here.
What we do know is that the girl refused to follow her mom's orders, which little girls tend to do when throwing fits. So mom told Bradshaw to taser her ass...
The cop carried the girl into the living room, where she was "kicking violently," according to the police report. How "violently" can a 10-year-old girl can kick? Not very, we can tell you from vast experience. But we suspect officer Bradshaw also thinks chess is a dangerous activity to be played in only bicycle helmets and medieval armor.
The girl reportedly kicked Bradshaw in the balls. So Bradshaw blasted her in the back with his taser, then handcuffed her and carried her to his squad, where she was squired off to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.
Now it might just be us, but aren't the nation's peace officers becoming a little effete when they're incapable of subduing grandmas and kids who still play with dolls? It's doubtful Bradshaw will be punished, since Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle has no rules about tasering little kids and old people. But experts believe Bradshaw's actions make him automatically eligible for an officer's commission in the French Army.
UPDATE: Officer Dustin Bradshaw is given a paid vacation for zapping the little girl.
Mayor Vernon McDaniel says the cop has been suspended for seven days -- with pay -- not for using a stun gun on the little girl, but for failing the have the camera attached to it.
As you can see from this video where a cop blasts a grandma over a traffic stop, Tasers now come equipped with cameras to back up the officer's accounting of an incident. But in this case, it's probably good Bradshaw failed to use his camera. Imagine the views this video would get on YouTube.
Meanwhile, police chief Jim Noggle is still defending his officer. "We didn't use the Taser to punish the child -- just to bring the child under control so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else," he told the Associated Press. If Bradshaw tried to forcibly handcuff the girl, he could have broken her arm or leg, Noggle said.
UPDATE: The goofy police force of Ozark, Arkansas is finally getting some professional help.
Mayor Vernon McDaniel says the FBI has been brought in to review the case. That's a good thing, since the Gooberville town seems incapable of investigating itself.
Officer Dustin Bradshaw has been suspended not because he tasered a 10-year-old, but because he failed to have the camera attached to the taser. Now we learn that the department has rules against tasering pregnant women -- not because they might electrocute the baby, but because the woman might get injured when she collapses.
These don't sound like people who should be operating dangerous equipment.
