11-year-old girl tasered at school

[AllieBaba]

Isolating a child will keep that child and other children safe. In detention facilities there are rooms (the old-fashioned term, "padded cell") where children who are out of control are taken. They are put in there, their clothes are taken so they don't hang themselves, and they are left until they are finished with their fit or until they are sedated or further restrained. But I honestly doubt most classrooms are set up for effective, safe "isolation" in the case of an out-of-control child. There are windows, objects they can throw, objects that can cut, stab, choke. And I'm not talking about cutting, stabbing or choking others. I'm talking about the kid doing it to herself. I'm thinking that most teachers aren't equipped or trained to deal with this level of behavior. But anybody who is hired as a CO for kids SHOULD be.

You don't know what was going on with this girl. Don't assume she was having a simple grade-school tantrum. It's quite possible she was completely and insanely out of control.

Also don't make the mistake of thinking that tasing is an effective, safe or useful restraint for children. Particularly children who may have brain issues. Children are extremely susceptible to electricity. It doesn't take much of a shock to completely stop the hearts of some children, and to further jumble their already malfunctioning brains.

In other words, the girl was out of control and she needed to be restrained, let's assume. The guard should have been comfortable doing that without the taser. Tasers are for 200 lb. men who are drunk and charging upon arrest, not 11 year old girls who are out of control (and charging) at school.

 

[dread]

Isolating a child will keep that child and other children safe. In detention facilities there are rooms (the old-fashioned term, "padded cell") where children who are out of control are taken. They are put in there, their clothes are taken so they don't hang themselves, and they are left until they are finished with their fit or until they are sedated or further restrained. But I honestly doubt most classrooms are set up for effective, safe "isolation" in the case of an out-of-control child. There are windows, objects they can throw, objects that can cut, stab, choke. And I'm not talking about cutting, stabbing or choking others. I'm talking about the kid doing it to herself. I'm thinking that most teachers aren't equipped or trained to deal with this level of behavior. But anybody who is hired as a CO for kids SHOULD be.

You don't know what was going on with this girl. Don't assume she was having a simple grade-school tantrum. It's quite possible she was completely and insanely out of control.

Also don't make the mistake of thinking that tasing is an effective, safe or useful restraint for children. Particularly children who may have brain issues. Children are extremely susceptible to electricity. It doesn't take much of a shock to completely stop the hearts of some children, and to further jumble their already malfunctioning brains.

In other words, the girl was out of control and she needed to be restrained, let's assume. The guard should have been comfortable doing that without the taser. Tasers are for 200 lb. men who are drunk and charging upon arrest, not 11 year old girls who are out of control (and charging) at school.

So stopping her with a baton WOULD have been more effective?

 

[AllieBaba]

No way. There are other options.

 

[Angel Heart]

And they used one.

 

[AllieBaba]

There are accepted methods, and the guard should have known them.

 

[Angel Heart]

I would love to see all officers both school and street be taught in physical control. Most departments don't have the money to. There are ways to restrain with minimal risks. But... they are not. This officer used the tools given to her and defended herself. As she was taught to. She shouldn't be condemned for that. She did her job.

 

[AllieBaba]

She's in the wrong job.
Schools do have enough money for it. They could fire one of their useless school counselors and hire round-the-clock, trained security with the money.

 

[dread]

No way. There are other options.

Like what?


Do you understand the use of force techniques?


Have you EVER been to F.A.T.S. training?

 

[Angel Heart]

She's in the wrong job.
Schools do have enough money for it. They could fire one of their useless school counselors and hire round-the-clock, trained security with the money.

Not the counselors... How about admin? I agree with you that they do have the money if they where to better spend it.

 

[AllieBaba]

Like what?


Do you understand the use of force techniques?


Have you EVER been to F.A.T.S. training?

Yes, I do. I've worked with kids and loons for years. In lock down detention, and group homes for mentally handicapped and mentally ill male sex offedners. We had to learn a new set of approved restraint methods for each of our guys, and adjust them as they learned new and better ways to attempt to escape/attack/etc.

 

[Taomon]

I am. The brat more than got what she deserved.

And the school got what it deserved for their bullshti liberal policies of aloowing the inmates to run the asylums. This kid is a direct product of their crap.

So you favor tasering a child? I don't care if she kicked the security gurad in the jimmy, tasering her is too extreme.

If she was brandishing a weapon, okay...then taser her...but not for unarmed assualt.

 

[tigerbob]

Leaving her in that room would harm who? No one, unless she started ramming her head against the wall, then tase her.

So tase her for harming herself, but don't tase her for harming others.

 

[tigerbob]

Maybe we should arm teachers and allow them to shoot students in the leg if they become disruptive. Most students can survive being shot in the leg.

Why not arm the students as well and decide the issue on a last man standing basis.

 

[BrianH]

So tase her for harming herself, but don't tase her for harming others.

Like I said, tasing someone is not a form of punishment....you can't categorize it as that. It is used to stop someone who is about to do harm to themselves or someone else....not someone who has already attempted to do harm to someone else. The girl was tased way after she tried to harm another student. She was making an agressive move towards at teacher and a security gaurd who where in the room where they took her. (If they had locked the door and isolated her, she would not have been tased, because she would not have made a threatening move towards anyone. And besides, I saw nothing in the report that suggested she was going to start hurting herself; it's obvious she was only interested in hurting others.

Like I also said before, tasing her was most-likely appropriate given the circumstance--being that she was making a violent move towards the security gaurds and teacher(s). But you all assume that the tasing was used as a form of punsihment...."well, she tried to push a kid into the highway, so they tased her for it." That's not the context in which she was tased...

 

[tigerbob]

But you all assume that the tasing was used as a form of punsihment...."well, she tried to push a kid into the highway, so they tased her for it." That's not the context in which she was tased...

I was just being silly with my response.

But I have never said or thought that she was tased as a punishment. If she had been, that would be reprehensible. I think she was tased because she was out of control, likely to do more harm and couldn't be immediately subdued any other way.

That said, all I have to go by (like all of us) are the media reports, which are inevitably slanted based on the political bias of the paper / station in question.

What bugs me a bit is that school security couldn't handle an 11 year old girl armed only with fists, a desk and a bad attitude. OK, she was a big 11 year old, but please, GMAFB.

 

[BrianH]

I was just being silly with my response.

But I have never said or thought that she was tased as a punishment. If she had been, that would be reprehensible. I think she was tased because she was out of control, likely to do more harm and couldn't be immediately subdued any other way.

That said, all I have to go by (like all of us) are the media reports, which are inevitably slanted based on the political bias of the paper / station in question.

What bugs me a bit is that school security couldn't handle an 11 year old girl armed only with fists, a desk and a bad attitude. OK, she was a big 11 year old, but please, GMAFB.

I agree...she was tased because she was out of control. But whose to say that a kid out of control has to be immediately subdued--when she's already isolated in a room? I guess that's my beef with this whole situation.

She was tasered appropriately, however....with the girl already isolated, what harm would it have done to let the girl stay in that room alone. Sure she may have torn some stuff up, but it's easier to replace stuff than replace a child who could have been killed by being tased? (it's happened before--grown men have died because of it).

The bad thing about controlling a school student, is that a teacher's hands are almost literally tied behind their backs when it comes to students. Sometimes I'm even afraid to look at a student in the wrong way. There have been too many lawsuits where parents have sued teachers for defending themselves. I've seen reports where teachers have let themselves get whooped because they were afraid to defend themselves.(Not me, I'd do it regardless). what happens with these kids, is the parents obviously have retarded views on things and don't punish or correct their kids, then these kids go to school-and when corrected by a teacher, flip out and don't do anything.

As a teacher, what do you do when you tell a student, "Jimmy, you need to open your book and read a little, you can't just sit there and do nothing." and the student says, "F*ck you, you can shove this book up your ass." What then? Tell him to go to the office? He didn't even open the book when you asked him to. I've seen kids, after being told to go to the office, completely bypass the office and head for the parking lot. What then....
I know how I would handle it, but I'm just saying that it's harder to control a student than you think.

 

[Shattered]

Why not arm the students as well and decide the issue on a last man standing basis.

Works for me.

 

[Ravi]

Why not arm the students as well and decide the issue on a last man standing basis.

Not a bad idea. Evolution is a beautiful thing.

Weren't you asking for advice on choosing a school for your kids?

 

[dread]

Works for me.

Unfucking real!

I simply say the girl deserved to tased and every sob sister comes on board to flog me and you get awy with murder.