# Cop uses taser on handcuffed 9 yr old girl **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449 "2004-05-28T01:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Coin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Coin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/121 "2004-05-30T06:53:02Z")
I _really_ think we need someone to explain how the cops could have handled the situation in a better fashion before we condemn them for doing it this way. We’ve had it explained (and my own knowledge regarding troubled youth tends to concur) that the girl was quite possibly a serious physical danger to herself and others, and that the cops probably had no course of action that would have resulted in less harm to the girl and to themselves. Certainly the incident should be investigated fully, and the police officers should face some extreme penalties if they are found to have acted carelessly or improperly…but I also think some of you need to consider that anything else they could have done might have been _worse_ than tasering a nine-year-old, sick as that makes me feel. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/122 "2004-06-01T01:30:14Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > I don’t know if the police have [instruction](http://www.crisisprevention.com/) similar to what we learn in the social services field, but I’m pretty sure the facility employees did \. I’ve had that training (I worked with special needs kids, and it was required we be CPI certified) and I _really_ can’t picture that being effective if a person has gone completely ballistic. You have to be able to get ahold of their arms to do the humane restraints, and if they’re flailing and kicking, I don’t see that happening without someone getting hurt. Count me as one of the people who needs more facts before making a judgement on whether the cop was unjustified or not. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/123 "2004-06-01T18:08:22Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > I love the fact that the Bushco supporters can’t pass up an attack. > > Says a lot about them. Yeah, that’s it. I seem to recall **Master Wang-Ka** having nothing but praise for BushCo. Fuck, **Reeder** , have you and **Sam** been hitting the same crack pipe? You may want a refund, because you guys obviously got some impure crack this time around. -Joe, not fucking insane and part of a shrinking majority around here ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/124 "2004-06-01T18:57:18Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve had that training (I worked with special needs kids, and it was required we be CPI certified) and I _really_ can’t picture that being effective if a person has gone completely ballistic. You have to be able to get ahold of their arms to do the humane restraints, and if they’re flailing and kicking, I don’t see that happening without someone getting hurt. It’s worked for us, and we work with the adult population. The key is to find/discover the antecedent to the undesirable behavior and then limit or eliminate that specific antecedent. You want to stem the full blown behavior BEFORE it gets physical in nature. Since we’ve adopted this approach, our incidents of physical violence and injury has dropped remarkably. Our staff is more confident and our clients are safer from over-reaction by our staff. Of course it’s not the cure-all approach to every incident, but it teaches our staff to recognize the potential behavior, take some time to assess the situation, clear other people/clients from the potentially aggresively client, and verbally address the client first before graduating to physical means of addressing the client’s behavior. I personally have addressed about 60 incidents and only once had to resort to the physical escort of a client to our vehicle and take him back to our office/program. About 15 other incidents of those 60 could have become violent, but we were able to de-escalate the situation before it got violent and that’s where using the techniques learned were applied. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/125 "2004-06-01T19:12:22Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > It’s worked for us, and we work with the adult population. The key is to find/discover the antecedent to the undesirable behavior and then limit or eliminate that specific antecedent. You want to stem the full blown behavior BEFORE it gets physical in nature. Yeah, but that’s before the gone completely ballistic, flailing and kicking I mentioned. I don’t doubt it works in _many_ situations (I know how hard a two person hold is to get out of since they had us practice on each other) but once a person has completely snapped, _then_ I have trouble thinking it has a chance of working. Maybe this kid was too far gone to restrain safely. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449/126 "2004-06-02T05:03:21Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > [http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/23436.php](http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/metro/23436.php) > > Will it ever end? A 9 yr old girl? Handcuffed? She must have been one scary 9 yr old. > > People called these kind of cops pigs. > > Deservedly so. Her name wasn’t Huey, by the way? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cop-uses-taser-on-handcuffed-9-yr-old-girl/247449.md?page=6)