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10 y.o. boy tazed for not washing a cop car?


magley64

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WTF?

A lawsuit claims an Albuquerque, N.M., police officer stunned a 10-year-old boy with a Taser after he refused to wash the officer's car. Officer Christopher Webb was visiting the boy's elementary school for a career day on May 4 when the incident occurred, according to Courthouse News.

During the presentation, Webb apparently asked a group of students if they wanted to wash his patrol car, the lawsuit states. When the boy, identified as R.D. jokingly refused, Webb pointed the stun gun at him and said, "Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police."

Then R.D., who weighs about 100 pounds, was hit in the chest with two barbs and 50,000 volts of electricity, according to Courthouse News Service.

Webb told the Albuquerque Journal the Taser was accidentally discharged.

The boy blacked out.

The officer removed the barbs, which left marks that "looked like cigarette burns" on R.D.'s chest, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit claims Webb acted in a "reckless manner."

R.D., who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has "woken up in the middle of the night holding his chest, afraid he is never going to wake up again," Courthouse News Service quoted his lawyer as saying.

Webb was suspended for three days without pay, the Albuquerque Journal reports. He did not return calls from the newspaper seeking a comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/lawsuit-alleges-police-officer-tasered-10-old-school-152530178.html

Talk about reckless, what if the same had happened with his firearm?

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Although the discharge of the taser was (taken at face value) an accident, the officer had no reason at all to remove it from him holster, and especially not to point it at a child.

It demonstrates a serious and fundamental lack of judgement that I don't think the department can, or should forgive. Weapons discipline, muzzle discipline, trigger discipline - 3 strikes, he's out.

I'm from a cop family so I tend to work harder to see the officer's perspective before forming an opinion. In this case I think the officer was 100% wrong.

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I'll side with the officer to keep this thread going... why not...

C'mon, you all know you'd tazer a 10yo bratty kid, acting all smug about not washing your car. I probably would've used the baton though... it delivers a much more satisfying thud when it hits a child.

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I'll side with the officer to keep this thread going... why not...

C'mon, you all know you'd tazer a 10yo bratty kid, acting all smug about not washing your car. I probably would've used the baton though... it delivers a much more satisfying thud when it hits a child.

If the kid would have just kept his mouth shut, none of this ever would have happened .

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Ummm' date=' discharged, maybe, but don't you have to manually activate the shock??[/quote']

No. Pull trigger - fire darts and shock for 5 seconds.

My tazer C2 shocks for 30 seconds but can be cancelled early, not sure if the M26/X26 can.

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No. Pull trigger - fire darts and shock for 5 seconds.

My tazer C2 shocks for 30 seconds but can be cancelled early, not sure if the M26/X26 can.

So the initial firing triggers an automatic shock, did not know that.

I see that you can initiate additional shocks afterwards, figured the first

one had to be initiated too. good to know.

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So the initial firing triggers an automatic shock' date=' did not know that.

I see that you can initiate additional shocks afterwards, figured the first

one had to be initiated too. good to know.[/quote']

It is the first shock that fires the darts. The cartridge has electrical contacts that are right next to the electrical contacts in the front of the taser gun. The first spark travels through these contacts and into the unfired powder charge, setting it off (Civilian model uses compressed nitrogen, same trigger mech tho).

The dart wires attach to the cartridge right next to the electrical contact. Once the darts have fired the cartridge is no longer electrically conductive internally and instead the charge *can* go down the wires IF that is the path of least resistance. If the wires don't make a circuit then the spark arcs across the face of the taser instead.

The arc can cross 2 cumulative inches of air gap. If the darts are both stopped by heavy clothing 1.5" away from skin then the shock will be ineffective because 3" cumulative air gap is too much and instead it will arc at the taser gun instead.

The taser gun itself is a simple device - just sparks when you hit the trigger. The cartridge has all the dart/wiring/firing mechanisms. The taser gun also has intelligence so it won't arm until it is activated using a code you get from the taser website after you pass their background check. This prevents a stolen *new* taser gun from being used without being registered first. There is no way to exercise that same control a taser gun that has already been activated. They advise the taser be fired at the bad guy, placed on the ground and then you run away. I argued with them that that gives the bad guy a free taser. They said my safety is more important. I suggested they require the registered owner to get a new code from taser within 24 hours of being fired or else it goes back to disarmed state so. They said they'd forward that suggestion to R&D/ Maybe that will be a future feature, maybe she was just BS'ing me to get me off the damn phone. Dunno.

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