A 17-year-old Texas student who spent 52 days in a medically induced coma after police used a Taser on him at school entered a full-time rehabilitation facility Friday, his family's attorney said.
Noe Nino de Rivera was transported to the hospital on November 20 after Bastrop County Sheriff's Deputy Randy McMillan, serving as a school resource officer, used the device on him after the teen tried to defuse a school fight involving two girls, one of them his girlfriend, said attorney Adam Loewy.The parents have filed a lawsuit alleging their son never posed a threat to the deputy and that Nino de Rivera suffered a permanent brain injury when he hit the ground after McMillan tased the teen.The family is also asking the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to outlaw the devices, along with pepper spray, on state campuses.Several civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement last month calling the use of such weapons on children "unconscionable." link
Perhaps such tools are unconscionable on "children", but they're not necessarily so on teenagers. Some of these teenagers are big and having a little extra some'm-some'm to subdue them when necessary seems smart to me.
I'm not saying the teenager in this story deserved to be tased--I don't have enough information on which to base such a statement. But making a blanket statement that such tools should never be used on teenagers? No, I can't abide that.
2 comments:
Darren
I remember this report in the Houston Crap, oh yes, Chronicle. It’s tragic but again, the only parts put out in the articles are from the teenagers who claim to have seen it, the kids family and the usual suspects (ACLU, etc). The officer involved cannot comment because he is under an investigation and HISD Police Department is not going to say much because there are possible defendants in a lawsuit.
The Chronicle wants HISD Police to basically be disarmed (No mace, TASER or firearms), to use “de-escalation” techniques. Hey guys, they don’t listen to that much. An a high school may have 5 officers and over a thousand students the cops are outnumbered. Great. I would like the idiotorial writers at the Chron to walk one day at the schools in 3rd or 5th Ward alone and then tell the officers about de-escalation.
Two similar incidents have led to reassessment of tasers in the Dallas PD. The problem is that if you have someone amped up on meth, they are NOT going to be reasonable and put down their weapon. Likewise the many mentally ill people who roam among us often act out publicly endangering themselves and others. When drunk or self medicated, the Taser can have a bad outcome. But then again, would their relatives prefer that the police shoot them?
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