----- Original Message ----- From: Newsroom-l To: NEWSROOM-L at LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 9:56 AM Subject: [NEWSROOM-L] Why not?
<http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10170605.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp>
MIAMI-DADE POLICE Police Tasered truant girl, 12
Miami-Dade police said an officer should not have used a stun gun to stop a 12-year-old girl who was skipping school.
BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH snesmith at herald.com
A Miami-Dade police officer used a Taser to stop an unarmed, 12-year-old girl who was running away from him after she was caught skipping school, police acknowledged Friday night.
But Parker said Friday that he could not defend the decision to shock the fleeing 12-year-old, who was apparently drunk.
Officer William Nelson responded to an anonymous complaint that some kids were swimming in a West Kendall pool, drinking alcohol and smoking cigars about 11 a.m.
Nelson said he noticed the girl was intoxicated and told her to get dressed so he could take her back to school.
"While walking [the girl] to the police car, [she] took off running through the parking lot," Nelson wrote in his report.
Nelson, 38, a 15-year veteran, said he chased her and yelled several times for her to stop. Nelson said he pulled out the Taser and fired when the girl began to run into traffic.
The electric probes hit the girl in the neck and lower back, immobilizing her with 50,000 volts.
His department is already under fire for using a Taser to subdue the 6-year-old last month. That zapping has made national headlines and prompted calls from child advocates that Miami-Dade review its Taser use.
Police Director Bobby Parker said Friday night that his department will review its Taser policy. "That doesn't mean that we're going to change it," he said.
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