Girl, 10, tasered in shower row

19 Nov 2009, 10:26 am   -   Source: SBS/AP
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Officials say the policeman involved in the Taser incident will not be disciplined for his actions (Getty)

Officials say the policeman involved in the Taser incident will not be disciplined for his actions (Getty)

A US policeman used a taser stun gun on a 10-year-old girl because her mother was angry that she would not take a shower before going to bed.

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A US policeman used a taser stun gun on a 10-year-old girl because her mother was angry that she would not take a shower before going to bed.

Officer Dustin Bradshaw said police were called to the home in the small town of Ozark, Arkansas, on November 11 because of a domestic disturbance, and found the girl curled up on the floor, screaming.

Bradshaw's report said the girl screamed, kicked and resisted any time her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed. "Her mother told me to tase her if I needed to," he wrote.

The child was "violently kicking and verbally combative," and when Bradshaw tried to take her into custody, she kicked him in the groin, prompting him to deliver "a very brief drive stun to her back".

Ozark Mayor Vernon McDaniel said the girl - who has not been named - was not injured in the incident, and has since been taken to a youth shelter.

'No disciplinary action'

But McDaniel said he wants Arkansas State Police - and if they decline, the FBI - to investigate the incident. State police have declined, and the FBI won't say whether it is involved.

"People here feel like that he made a mistake in using a Taser, and maybe he did, but we will not know until we get an impartial investigation," he said.

Police Chief Jim Noggle said no disciplinary action was taken against Bradshaw.

He insisted Tasers were a safe way to subdue people who presented a danger to themselves or others.

"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 said.

'Disorderly conduct charges'

The police chief said his department has never had to taser a child before.

But he said if the officer had tried to forcefully put the girl in handcuffs, he could have accidentally broken her arm or leg.

Noggle said the girl will face disorderly conduct charges as a juvenile in the incident.

The girl's father, Anthony Medlock, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that his daughter has emotional problems but that she didn't have a weapon and shouldn't have been tasered.

"My daughter does not deserve to be tased and be treated like an animal," said Medlock, who is divorced from the girl's mother and does not have custody.

 

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Your Comments

A spanking more apropriat

peter - from Melbourne, 2 years ago

This kid got arrested for a tantrum? Maybe if somone had put her over their knee and spanked her little bare butt it might have been better.

Absolutely insane

Zan - from Perth, 3 years ago

and only in America.

Tasers should be banned. THEY DO KILL PEOPLE

Anti-Taser - from sydney, 3 years ago

Tasers have been used too many times inappropriately or 'abused'. PLEASE ban them. The negatives easily outweigh the positives on this one.

attorney

Mike - from US, 3 years ago

Wow, it is horrific to think that a child can first be arrested for crying, screaming and not wanting to go to bed. And tasing her for, acting like a child. And the rest of the police department sees nothing wrong with this? Tasered her so she wouldnt hurt herself or someone else. How is not going to bed or getting a shower hurting yourself or someone else. Yea, we do have a lot of Dolts in the U.S. that wear Blue.

i hope for a better world...

michael - from sydney, 3 years ago

wouldn’t it be great if the Officer was found to have acted inside the bounds of the law. that would set such a precedent that i could walk down the street and taser children if they 'endanger' my well being..

wow

Stuart - from Canberra, 3 years ago

i cant believe this. . the problem with tasers is that police are more willing to use sidearms for minor incidences.. with a pistol or batton, this would not happen. If the mother has asked another covillian to taster her daughter, she would be sent to jail.

Are you kidding ???

Jon Biddell - from Bowen Mountain, NSW, 3 years ago

The girl may have "emotional problems", but the use of a taser on a CHILD ?? Come on, that is surely overkill. And the mother is a moron for even suggesting it to the officer - I hope she looses custody. As for the officer concerned, I'm not at all surprised he won't be getting disciplined - it is the South after all.

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