Post by KC on Jan 28, 2007 18:51:09 GMT -5
SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. -- Police in two southern Arizona cities are facing criticism that they inappropriately used Taser stun guns against young people who reportedly failed to comply with officers' orders.
Douglas police investigators are probing an officer's use of a Taser on a 17-year-old girl because she held a burning cigarette he believed might be used as a weapon, according to a police report obtained by the Sierra Vista Herald newspaper.
Police said the girl was a runaway who had previously eluded officers, and they were called to her mother's home after she returned, according to the report.
When officers Ray Miramontes and Curtis Goodin tried to arrest the 125-pound girl, she reportedly tried to hit them.
According to the report, Miramontes took out his Taser and stunned her in the back because he was afraid the unidentified teen would use the lit cigarette as a weapon.
Douglas police spokesman Marcus Gonzalez said the department is reviewing the case to see if use of the Taser met department guidelines, which do not set age or weight thresholds.
"It's at the officer's discretion," Gonzalez said. "If he feels that that level of force is needed to subdue a person, then he is authorized to use it."
In a second incident, a police officer in Bisbee is defending his use of a Taser on an 18-year-old Massachusetts woman on New Years Eve.
Bisbee police Sgt. Howard Gardner stunned Marrietta Shattelroe after responding to a report that she was fighting with her 16-year-old boyfriend in Old Bisbee.
Shattelroe of Holyoke, Mass., was hit with the Taser after she refused to get out of her truck so officers could arrest her for disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Gardner also threatened to use the Taser against Shattelroe's boyfriend, who eventually was arrested for assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and two counts of disorderly conduct/domestic violence.
The attorney representing Shattelroe's boyfriend in juvenile court accused police in Bisbee and Douglas of inappropriately using the Taser weapons.
"Tasers were presented to the public as a means of protecting police officers from dangerous individuals without them having to use lethal force," said the lawyer, Bruce Houston. "They were not designed, in my opinion, to aid officers in corralling runaway juveniles or people who are passively resisting arrest."
Gardner said Bisbee police are taught Tasers may be used as an alternative to physical force because a Taser doesn't cause as significant an injury as a physical blow. The sergeant said he used the weapon against the 120-pound woman because she was intoxicated and had hit another officer before getting back in her pickup.
"She got back in the truck with the intention of driving away," Gardner said. "We couldn't allow that to happen."
kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5994244
Douglas police investigators are probing an officer's use of a Taser on a 17-year-old girl because she held a burning cigarette he believed might be used as a weapon, according to a police report obtained by the Sierra Vista Herald newspaper.
Police said the girl was a runaway who had previously eluded officers, and they were called to her mother's home after she returned, according to the report.
When officers Ray Miramontes and Curtis Goodin tried to arrest the 125-pound girl, she reportedly tried to hit them.
According to the report, Miramontes took out his Taser and stunned her in the back because he was afraid the unidentified teen would use the lit cigarette as a weapon.
Douglas police spokesman Marcus Gonzalez said the department is reviewing the case to see if use of the Taser met department guidelines, which do not set age or weight thresholds.
"It's at the officer's discretion," Gonzalez said. "If he feels that that level of force is needed to subdue a person, then he is authorized to use it."
In a second incident, a police officer in Bisbee is defending his use of a Taser on an 18-year-old Massachusetts woman on New Years Eve.
Bisbee police Sgt. Howard Gardner stunned Marrietta Shattelroe after responding to a report that she was fighting with her 16-year-old boyfriend in Old Bisbee.
Shattelroe of Holyoke, Mass., was hit with the Taser after she refused to get out of her truck so officers could arrest her for disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Gardner also threatened to use the Taser against Shattelroe's boyfriend, who eventually was arrested for assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and two counts of disorderly conduct/domestic violence.
The attorney representing Shattelroe's boyfriend in juvenile court accused police in Bisbee and Douglas of inappropriately using the Taser weapons.
"Tasers were presented to the public as a means of protecting police officers from dangerous individuals without them having to use lethal force," said the lawyer, Bruce Houston. "They were not designed, in my opinion, to aid officers in corralling runaway juveniles or people who are passively resisting arrest."
Gardner said Bisbee police are taught Tasers may be used as an alternative to physical force because a Taser doesn't cause as significant an injury as a physical blow. The sergeant said he used the weapon against the 120-pound woman because she was intoxicated and had hit another officer before getting back in her pickup.
"She got back in the truck with the intention of driving away," Gardner said. "We couldn't allow that to happen."
kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5994244