Police taser boy with broken back 19 times

[flintknapper]

Kevin,

The good news for law enforcement is that we are moving more towards an atmosphere exactly lik eyours. It is taking time and there is still a lot of old memories to be overcome on both sides, but we are making progress. The younger officers are much less likely to protect an officer they know is guilty. What I see them doing is a lot like what i do. We stand up and say we need more info. We ask people not to judge based on news reports that have only one side covered. Let a full investigation occur, then respond. The bad news is that we too often see police departments investigate themselves, and that does not breed faith, even when it is done correctly.

Take the case we are looking at as an example. We do not know that the police tasered the boy 19 times. We have the father saying this, but nothing to indicate how he knows or came up with this figure. and yet, we still have people saying 19 times is excessive.

And most of us will never know the truth because the news media will not report the police told the truth. That doesn't sell papers.

I like the idea of another agency investigating all complaints, but that is not well received yet in law enforcement. I think it is coming.

Agreed!

[seamusTX]

To review: In July, police in a small town in Missouri reportedly used a Taser on a 16-year-old boy 19 times.

The boy reportedly tested clean for alcohol and drugs and had no criminal record.

I and some others thought it looked bad for the police.

Last week, the county prosecutor issued a report saying that the police had acted appropriately.

The report said the the boy had taken LSD, jumped out of a moving vehicle, and was pounding on the windows of other occupied vehicles before falling and breaking his back.

When officers arrived, they tried to use as little force as possible, but the teen was being combative and that's when the tasers came out. Investigators say most people will comply after two or three five-second bursts from a taser. But it took 18 for this teen. This report shows the teen told a friend he didn't even know he had been tasered by police until the next day when someone told him.

http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=76271

Apparently, the drug test that was administered did not detect LSD. LSD is not included in standard drug tests.

I apologize for the prejudice that I displayed.

- Jim

[WildBill]

The Christian County Prosecutor says there was no wrongdoing on the part of Ozark police after a sixteen year old was tased eighteen times during an incident at highways 65 and F back in July. Prosecutor Ron Cleek says Mace Hutchinson, who is now seventeen, had traveled from Springfield to Branson and attended a party at an area hotel. Once there, there was drinking and drugs. Cleek says Hutchinson had consumed alcohol, prescription drugs, marijuana, and possibly LSD before he jumped out of a moving vehicle, and then jumped from an overpass onto the highway. Ozark officers say they tried to arrest Hutchinson, but he kept getting up. even while he was being tased. Cleek says the officers were just trying to protect themselves.

http://www.ktts.com/tabid/4882/xmid/26829/Default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Even with specialized testing LSD is difficult to detect, but this report doesn't say that they found any other drugs in his system. Alcohol, marijuana and many prescription drugs [opiates, sedatives, tranquilizers, etc] would show up during a normal drug test.

[seamusTX]

That is an inconsistency. I can only guess that the prosecutor was using testimony from teenage witnesses as opposed to objective tests.

- Jim