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Subscribe to RSSMOUNT STERLING, Ohio -- An Ohio police officer says he used a stun gun twice on a 9-year-old who skipped school because the child refused to cooperate with his commands.
Details of the incident, which resulted in the shutdown of a village police force, were released Monday, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The Mount Sterling officer went to the boy's home on a truancy complaint last week. He says the child's mother warned the boy, who weighs between 200 and 250 pounds, to obey the officer or he'd be shocked.
According to a copy of the police report provided by the mayor’s office to msnbc.com, the officer wrote that the boy “dropped to the floor and became dead weight” and lay on his hands to prevent being handcuffed.
“He refused any and all orders. I told him if he did not stop flailing and place his hands behind his back, I would deploy the Taser on him. He still did not comply to my orders to stop resisting,” the officer wrote.
The officer said he deployed the stun gun twice before he was able to handcuff the boy. The child was checked by a medic before being taken to the sheriff’s office, and a delinquency count of resisting arrest was added to his truancy charge, according to the police report.
The village police chief, Mike McCoy, announced Monday night that he will resign from his post but said it has nothing to do with the Taser incident. McCoy read a statement that said the village’s declining budget keeps him from doing his job, according to the Dispatch.
“Basically, the funds we have here are very low and he wasn’t able to keep in budget,” Mayor Charles Neff said of the police chief.
McCoy was placed on paid leave late last week from his $49,900-a-year job for waiting two days before telling the mayor about the incident.
The loss of the chief effectively meant the end of the village’s police department, since he was the only full-time officer. The others were part time or volunteers, Neff has said.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office has taken on the task of patrolling Mount Sterling, which has a population of about 1,800.
Neff said state authorities are investigating whether the officer used excessive force or otherwise acted inappropriately in subduing the boy.
Read the full Columbus Dispatch story.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Take the age out of the picture. Cop is getting resisted by a 250 pounder because he doesn't want to obey the cop. Okay, the cop has a choice: let the suspect just do what he wants to do, taze him, beat the snot out of him, shoot him.... now what?
I would sure like to see what this kid looked like before I jumped to conclusions.... automatically braying "but he's only 9!!" or "Damn cops anyway" both seem counterproductive.
kid obviously had a lot of lead in his azz.
What kind of parent lets a nine year old weigh four times what he should? What kind of parent lets a nine year old skip school repeatedly? What kind of nine year old has a tantrum(s) and refuses to listen? What kind of an officer is unable to handle a nine year old and has to use force? And what kind of an officer has to handcuff a nine year old in the first place? What kind of school leadership lets this go on? Certainly a teacher or administrator has noticed the kid is over weight and out of control. Clearly everyone involved is to blame...
I'd say the doctor 1st but that involves a whole lot of other issues that need to be addressed.
Of course the government knows best right? If your kid doesn't go to government child prisons...I mean "public schools" then he/she can be shot by blue shirt thugs and arrested for refusal to be held against his/her will? And the child's parents let it occur? I can't believe that a 9 year old can be 200 pounds but that should not be seen as relevant. I don't believe in the death penalty and I have no children but if I had one and saw some blue shirt try and shoot the child then I would stop him in the child's self-defense. That kid's parents should be ashamed of themselves for not defending their child.
Wow, so many people speaking so harshly of the kid! He's NINE. I don't care how much he weighs, a nine-year old kid should not tasered for throwing a tantrum. The officer was not in danger; the kid was laying down. The whole point of tasers was to have an alternative to "deadly force", NOT to taser anyone who annoys or disobeys a cop.
The mom may be a bad mom, but we don't have enough info to know that. I was overweight my entire childhood, but my brothers were normal weight. Does that mean my parents abused me and not them?? I never felt I was treated differently. My parents tried to help, but there have always been fat kids and these days people act like every fat person is lazy and worthless and every fat kid has bad parents. It makes me sad.
The kid probably didn't want to go to school because of his size but to use that kind of force? All I can say is WOW!
Wrong at every level and in every way.
My question is, If the kid laid on the ground with his hands under him, why didn't the cop just roll him to the car? Obviously he is as round as he is tall
How do you know the kid was overwieght? Maybe he's 6'8"?
Okay, that was a joke. How else do expect the cop to act? The kid was non compliant and probably outweighed the officer.
Once again, I say: "Where is dear old dad in this picture." Not a word about dad. No wonder this kid was out of control. Many people seem to think they have a right to have as many children as they want, but apparently don't seem to feel much responsibility to care for them very well after they are born.
On the other hand, as I've seen other people note, conservative Republicans seem to want to protect children when they are in the womb, but once they are out, they are on their own. Hmm, is there some sort of perverse parallel going on here?
Really? WTF do conservative Republicans have to do with this? Some people just have to point the finger and stir up the pot no matter what the article is about......**Shaking my head**
Some people shouldn't be parents, but some people also just shouldn't be cops... I 'd say we have at least one of each of those folks in this case.
Sounds like this dangerous hardened threatening criminal was acting like a bratty nine year old, imagine that... the cop doesn't even deny that he did it because he was pissed off... the kid wouldn't do what he told him, so he tased him, twice. I'd take the kid out of the house, and take the cop off the force.
The matter had been resolved, the child was now ready to go to school, why then did the officer choose to further escalate the matter?
Because it was fun.
Ummmmm it's called "teaching him a lesson".....something pretty much unheard of these days when a kid does wrong
If this had been a dog. It would have been shot. A lot of cops are cowards and despicable scumbags.
How tall was the kid? Where is the rest of the info on this story? So far most of the opinions here are pure BS.
they should have tasered the mom
Boy, there are a LOT of idiotic posts here! Trying to excuse the officer and blame the victim. typical right wing BS. One does NOT taser a 9 yo boy!
That poor child is probably skipping school because he's being bullied for being so overweight. Rather than calling the police, his parents should be calling a doctor and a nutritionist to help that young boy. They should also be contacting the school to see if there is a problem there. This boy is being failed by his parents, by the school, and by the police. If this kid doesn't get the help he needs now, he'll either be dead or in prison by the time he's 16.
I am shocked that any police officer would taser a 9 year old child. I don't care how big he is, he's still a 9 year old child. That police officer should never be allowed to perform in a law enforcement job again. He should be behind bars for the physical and emotional abuse he caused this child. This boy's mother should also be required to take a course on how to be a better parent and how to protect her child. If she can't do either, then that boy needs to be removed from her care and put with someone who will actually give a damn about him.
This story saddens me beyond belief.
The parents can't control their obese son. They expect the teacher to control him, but he doesn't go to school. Now they want the cop to do it? If the chief is the only full-time cop in the village, chances are there isn't much training for the part-timers. Still, truancy is a "crime" that only hurts the child and does not warrant a tasing.
Wrong freaking answer people! You don’t tase a 9 year old kid because he would not be compliant for the officer. No more than it would be allowed for the parent to tase him because he would not be compliant. Unless the child was an immediate danger to himself or someone else, or there was some other need to gain immediate compliance. The officer needed to call Family Services. 1st of all, we are talking about a child, idiots. His condition, for the most part is not his fault, but the parents, and even then, the parent may have done all she could. And let’s not forget, although the kid may need a few bags less potato chips, his condition could be beyond his control.
Let’s not forget, tasers have been known to kill people. And if you are one that thinks a 9 nine year old acting like that needs to be beat, then you need to land in jail right along with the cop who tased him.
What a freaking joke, tase a 9 year old over truancy. Family Services folks, counseling and HELP for the child. Not abuse. All effort should have been made to have a professional get this kid to come along peacefully on his own before starting to abuse him. And if you think tasing a 9 year old is not abuse, or tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. Then you ought to watch an adult get tased, better yet, let someone tase your ass. And then tell me it’s not tantamount to abuse.
I bet there is a bunch of you who think the school and Deputy Sheriff in Minnesota who scared the poor 12 year half to death to get her to give them her Facebook login, should have tased her as well if she did not comply. Better yet, lets give the school administration tases and the right to come and tase your kids and drag them out of their home when they don’t show for school. Hey, here is another good, the compliance officer from you company comes and tases your ass out of bed when you don’t show for work!
Now we have a kid that is probably beyond mentally unstable and is probably going to need more counseling, and possibly beyond help, because he likely will not get the help he needs. And, sadly, there is probably going to be another law enforcement officer out there whose number this kid is going to have some day.
Drudge link = goofy rightwing comments.
The family should sue the department. The article doesn't indicate the officer was in any danger: the boy wasn't being aggressive, just resisting non-violently like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi.
The propagation of non-lethal weapons has lowered the bar for police use-of-force.
The great irony is that the same rightwing folks who talk about government excess cheer the officer's unnecessary assault on a nine-year-old child.
I can't imagine a kid being out of control at 9! I also can't imagine a kid being 250 lb. at 9!
Sounds like the parents either don't have any parenting or nutritional skills, or they have a kid that should go to JV Detention.
Good lord, a nine year old that weighs #250? What's wrong with the mother to let her kidget that fat!
Wonder what the mom weighs?
What is this world coming to? There is another news story on MSN today about a 14 year old girl who saved up enough to purchase half of a foreclosed home with her mother who is a real estate agent. There are tons of people in there going on and on about how she doesn't deserve anything, and her parents are the only reason it happened, and she wouldn't have been able to have done it without her, ect. All a bunch of jealous idiots.
And then you come in here and, "ohh he is just a misunderstood child," and "take him away from his parents," and "fire that officer." He refused to go to school, refused to listen to his parents, refused to take care of himself (if he isn't listening to his parents I doubt they encouaged him to be 250lbs), refused to listen to the officer, and all around refuses to be reasonable.
So apparently in the court of public opinion if you give you child opporunities to succeed and help you are a bad parent spoon feeding them through life, and if you cannot control your unruly child it is all your fault and you should be put in prison. So how does one be a parent in this day and age?
if a cop tazered my kid.. for any reason Id be going to jail for murder
It sounds like the mother ASKED the cop to tazer her kid because she couldn't control him.
In 9 years that child will be able to buy a .30-06. Then he can put a bullet through that bully cop's brain from the woods while the cop is lurking along side the highway hijacking wayfarers to fatten the village coffers. It might be gratifying to make that cop eat that taser before beating him to death. But it isn't practical. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
9 yrs. old, 200-250 lbs. The officer did what he had to do. For parents out there who have children who have mental health problems, or any other behavorial problems, should seek the proper help for their kid before it amounts to something as drastic as tasing.
Hey D & L. I just don't think that kids should be tased unless they are a physical threat to others. Watching you warn parents to "seek proper help" or else thier kids will be tased is just sick, and all above comments about the decline of our society apply.
My son is 14, and is over 6'1" and 250lbs. He has autism. If a police officer tried to tase him then he better be ready for me too.
Unfortunately, the people who are drawn to jobs like Law Enforcement are typically the last ones you would want to have it. I believe that they should be drafted into service, along with political representatives. That would keep the sickos and crooks at proportional levels.