10-year-old girl tased by Arkansas cop - and mother gave the OK

This makes me ill

Believing there is no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories.  That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful.  I have to try to treat people right the first time around." -- Penn Jillette

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by: hap @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:13:38 PM CST

Did her father file for full custody immediately?

If telling some to tase your child doesn't count as child abuse, I don't know what does.

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by: one jewish dyke @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:21:30 PM CST

Dad said it!

I can only speak for myself, but I would be ashamed of myself, as a parent, if I had ever called 911 for assistance in putting my child to bed.

I think Kiara's father hit the nail on the head. Hello? Maybe Ofc. Bradshaw should've radioed for back-up if he was unable to subdue the child on his own.

Good thing the mother didn't give the okay to shoot.

A closed mind is like an unfed lake. It becomes stagnant, dark and unsuitable to sustain life.  

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by: ChristineW @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:37:48 PM CST

Tasers

Tasers are useful tools for cops, as long as they use them only as a last resort.

They should think to themselves, 'I either have to shoot him or tase him. Those are my only two options left.'

Too many cops seem to think tasers are perfectly safe and should be used whenever they feel like it.

On a side note...

"Bradshaw warned the girl that she was 'going to jail'"

For what? What crime did this girl commit? If a mother called the cops because her 10-year old girl didn't want to go to bed, I'd be more likely to arrest the mother for wasting my damn time. I'm 90% sure calling the cops to report a crime that didn't happen is illegal while not wanting to go to bed in legal.

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by: CSStrowbridge @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:40:36 PM CST

I want to know why the mother wasn't tased,

...and the girl taken into protective custody.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:55:33 PM CST

The officer should have...

...told the mother that he would taze her first, and then if she still wanted her daughter tazed, he would.  If she then said she still wanted her daughter tazed he should have arrested for attempted child abuse and put her in the slammer.  In any case it's time for that mother to only have supervised visits with her daughter.

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by: TomTallis @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 19:14:34 PM CST

Personally...

I don't think this is so much about a cop tasering a kid as a PARENT who does not know how to control their child, to the point where aforementioned brat is so out of control that she has to call the police.  That, right there, tells me that this is a disciplinary issue.  No, the cop should not have tased the kid, but the kid should have been properly disciplined by the parents and then this whole thing never would have happened in the first place.

Don't blame the police for trying to do their job.  Blame the parent who can't accept responsibility for her crappy parenting that led to an unruly brat of a kid.

"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common." - Dorothy Parker

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by: RubyDynamite @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 19:24:10 PM CST

apparently

the girl didn't want to take a shower so her mom called the cops.

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by: PurpleLove08 @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 19:52:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I sure as hell blame the cops AND the mother...

Just because a parent tells a cop to do something doesn't mean the cop should DO IT. Since when does law enforcement taser small kids during a non-threatening confrontation (oh no, that kick might leave a bruise, better use electrical shock).

Who cares if the parent consents? The parent obviously needs to be a parent, but the cop needs ot be a cop. Tasering kids is NOT being a cop, but being a sadistic bully.

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by: lyonside @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 23:53:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yes

Because the cop is a mindless automation who can't think.

Since when was it the job of the police to help parents taser their children?

I blame the parent, I blame the police, and I blame people like you who accept this kind of abuse of power from police.

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by: rfloh @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 01:48:42 AM CST

[ Parent ]

um... I think Dad was the only sane one involved.

The officer should be put in jail for tasering a child that was not breaking the law. There was no crime.

The mother should be put in jail for telling the police officer to tase her daughter and also for calling the police in the first place when no crime was committed.

The daughter should have a psychological evaluation for possible issues. It is abnormal for a 10 year old to act out in such a manner to make a grown man use a taser.

(my sister actaully broke a middle aged mans arm during a brawl she started with 6 students and 3 teachers at age 12. It would amaze you how violent a child can be.)      

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by: Gina9223 @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 19:37:22 PM CST

BACON

If ever there was an abusive officer that deserved an involuntary departure, this would be him.

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by: CubPaws2008 @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 19:47:43 PM CST

If this had been around when I was a kid,

my dad would have given the OK.  After all, he did knock me out of my high chair onto a concrete floor when I was 9 months old.

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by: PSzymeczek @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 20:39:59 PM CST

cruel and insane!

I thought my father was horrible because he always made it a point to tell our teachers each year that they were free to spank us if the situation warranted. I remember feeling totally terrified and humiliated because of it. That was in the 60s!

I cannot imagine anyone stupid and uncaring enough to call the police because their child refused to go to bed (or take a shower, or whatever). I can't imagine anyone cruel enough to request that a taser be used on a child of any age who is basically having a tantrum -- not to mention a cop who would do so in the first place.

Parenting is no easy task, and sometimes it's easy to lose it, throw up your hands, and say or do something you will later regret. But there was someone -- the cop -- who should have known better in this situation, and who should have drawn the line by telling the mother that they needed some serious counseling, not a police presence.

Raising a child is not like breaking a horse! Sometimes they just have to learn things the hard way. So what if the kid stays up all night and goes to school half-awake the next day? It would have been a good lesson learned, and hopefully it would have inspired the mother to arrange to get them both into family therapy before things got worse.

I lost my only child to a drug overdose four years ago, and while I know I'm not to blame for what happened to her, I've certainly spent a lot of time thinking of all the things I wish I'd done differently in our relationship. When I see parents treating their kids like crap, I want to tell them to stop and think how they would feel would feel if they suddenly lost that child. There are no do-overs.

The relationship with your children is far too precious to not work hard to nurture and maintain. I sure hope someone intervenes before this girl ends up as a runaway, or worse.

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by: lunarmagpie @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 21:04:53 PM CST

When I first saw this story, I questioned the cop's judgment

Now that I know he was facing a 65 pound kid--the same size as my own 10 year old--I question his sanity. What kind of fool can't put an effective restraint on a child 1/3 his weight?

The mother is clearly an incompetent proof of the axiom, The ability to reproduce does not make a person a fit parent.

The cop, on the other hand, gets paid to defuse conflict and keep the peace. Pitiful.

But wait, there's more!

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by: PhoenixRising @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 23:02:17 PM CST

Arrested for WHAT?

For not going to bed?  For arguing with her mother?

What crime was committed by the child here?  

It seems to me that the dad should be awarded custody of the girl, the mother should be had up on charges of child abuse, certainly with some serious psychological evaluation, the cop should be sacked IMMEDIATELY for his total lack of judgement in tazing a 10 year old, and the girl herself could use some couch time herself.  

I imagine she's got somewhat of a jaded view of parents and law enforcement now...she's prolly quite likely fucked up for life.

The more I hear about these Orwellian devices, the more I'd like to see them used on the asshats that invented them and brought them into common usage.

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by: RadarGrrl @ Fri Nov 20, 2009 at 07:07:36 AM CST