Parents' fury after cops Taser their EIGHT-YEAR-OLD daughter

Think I am first in on this, did the searches...

South Dakota Police Taser 8 year old girl

Another police-state taserpalooza event. This time an 8 year girl who was suicidal and had a 4.5" (~11.5cm) pointed menacingly at...her own chest.

There certainly are merits to both the pros and cons of any debate, but I felt it should be posted because of one very interesting quote from Police Chief Bob Grandpre:

He added that the child was a 'threat' and that his officers are trained to deal with all manner of threats.

'We can’t control if the threat is eight or 80,' Grandpre said.

(emphasis added)

CONTROL. He cites it like a trained mantra. Police are indeed conditioned to control every interaction they have, and there is no room for humanity, communication, reasoning or any other sane solution to (in this case) an OBVIOUS cry for help. 8 year olds don't just kill themselves. They more than likely could have talked that knife out of her hand with a little love and compassion.

County tax records, typically available online, provide addresses if you have names.

Getting the names may be a bit more difficult but can be done.

What you do with the information gleaned is up to you.


"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke

Using a tazer on my child would be an unfortunate decision.

reply to post by blamethegreys


Ya know, I really, REALLY wanted to get outraged as I usually do when I read your OP. HOWEVER, the girl had a knife that she pointed at the police, and it was when she pointed the knife to her OWN CHEST, is when they tasered her..

For once, I have to say they did what they had to, to save a young, disturbed girls life......

Sorry, but can't jump on the cop hating band wagon on this one.....

reply to post by blamethegreys

Furiouser and furiouser I get, each time I read this crap!

Three officers responded to the girl's home in Pierre, South Dakota, last Friday after a babysitter dialed 911 and reported that the girl was suicidal and stabbing herself in the leg with a 4 and a half inch kitchen knife.
The officer said he used the Taser after the girl pointed a knife at him, then pointed it back at her own chest.

This was an eight year old girl you IDIOT! It's bad enough the babysitter couldn't freakin handle the situation. But a full grown man!? Does he not have any common sense whatsoever? BAH!!!

reply to post by seeker1963


Have to agree. Tough call to make in that situation. The officer obviously did what he felt was necessary to save the girls life. If he doesn't use the taser at that exact moment, she might of stabbed herself in the heart or throat and we would be reading about her death instead.

seeker1963
reply to post by blamethegreys

 

Ya know, I really, REALLY wanted to get outraged as I usually do when I read your OP. HOWEVER, the girl had a knife that she pointed at the police, and it was when she pointed the knife to her OWN CHEST, is when they tasered her..

For once, I have to say they did what they had to, to save a young, disturbed girls life......

Sorry, but can't jump on the cop hating band wagon on this one.....

edit on 24-10-2013 by seeker1963 because: (no reason given)

Your response is logical based on the story as presented, a one sided story as told by the cops. I highly doubt the parents would be outraged for no reason. There are three sides to every story and this article only provides one. Cops are liars.

reply to post by bozzchem


Yet it's the only source we have at the moment...

At least they didn't shoot her. Plus one for that, I guess.

I have to wonder what pharmaceuticals this child was on. What is it with such young kids wanting to die these days? If she is not on any psych meds, there is no part of me that can fathom what she could have possibly gone through to drive her to act that way but something horrific must have.

Eight years old. My 9-year-old kids still play with Pokemon and My Little Pony figures. They throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way; they don't pull a knife and threaten suicide.

HA HA HA HA
They taser your kids hahahahaha

Have I got you steaming mad yet? You ought to be!

An EIGHT year old girl and they have to TASER her? They are not cops, they are monsters!

DeadSeraph
reply to post by bozzchem

 

Yet it's the only source we have at the moment...

Agreed. Do you have children? Ever have one pull this sort of childish crap? Was your instinct to taze them for doing so?

reply to post by bozzchem

Your response is logical based on the story as presented, a one sided story as told by the cops. I highly doubt the parents would be outraged for no reason. There are three sides to every story and this article only provides one. Cops are liars.

I can't come up with anything logical to disagree with you! But let me just add, I am 50 yrs old and suicidal tendencies have been a struggle for me for the past 10 years.. When I see an 8 year old that is so desperate that she is willing to put a knife to her chest??? It just makes me weep inside..............for what mental pain this little child must be going thru.

Perhaps the police did lie. There is always two sides to the story and the truth is usually in the middle.......

As an adult, all I can say is that when so many of our children believe that death is the answer to their problems, our world is suffering greatly!!

Okay, maybe I'm the only one who thought of this but getting tasered makes your body clench up and fall forward. There is a possibility of her falling on the knife piercing her heart. Alone she probably would not have had the strength to pierce her ribcage or have the force necessary to go through her breastbone.

Tough call in this situation, they could have probably talked her through this then again as long as she's not dead, mission accomplished.

reply to post by seeker1963


reply to post by DeadSeraph


reply to post by bozzchem


You're telling me none of you guys can handle an 8 year old girl with a knife? You would taser her too? Seriously? Wow. I don't mean any disrespect to any of you. But that just blows my mind. A little psychology would have gone a long way here, and would have saved that little girl the extra trauma she didn't need.

reply to post by blamethegreys


I'm not particularly caught up on the chief's choice of words but wtf happened to law enforcement trying to defuse a situation with words? I find it hard to believe that the only recourse these cops had was tasing an 8 year old girl. Breaking out the taser seems really excessive given the reported circumstances, particularly when you consider that the information in the 911 call turned out to be inaccurate.

If anyone needs advice on taking a small knife away from an 8 year old, PM me before calling 911 and I'll give you some better suggestions.

Okay, it would be a tough call for me to make. Yes.. A tough one indeed.

However, *I* am not wearing body armor and a batman duty belt with all manner of toys. Used to be, some actually had batons. Imagine that.... A Night Stick or even expandable baton for the real Batman fan with a Badge.

Many ways for a grown man to overpower an 8yr old child without risking killing her to save her.

Umm... I wonder if sparky there recently fought for peace, too?

Klassified
reply to post by seeker1963

 

reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

reply to post by bozzchem

 

You're telling me none of you guys can handle an 8 year old girl with a knife? You would taser her too? Seriously? Wow. I don't mean any disrespect to any of you. But that just blows my mind. A little psychology would have gone a long way here, and would have saved that little girl the extra trauma she didn't need.

edit on 10/24/2013 by Klassified because: correction

I would ask you if you read my posts but can see that you didn't prior to throwing a passive aggressive dig, albeit accompanied with a pre-apology.

Perhaps you should go back and read what I had to say.

reply to post by Knives4eyes

Okay, maybe I'm the only one who thought of this but getting tasered makes your body clench up and fall forward. There is a possibility of her falling on the knife piercing her heart. Alone she probably would not have had the strength to pierce her ribcage or have the force necessary to go through her breastbone.

Tough call in this situation, they could have probably talked her through this then again as long as she's not dead, mission accomplished.

VERY GOOD POINT!!

I honestly though think what is most important is finding out WHY THIS CHILD thought that killing herself was the answer to her problems.

What pisses me off is that she will now become a product of Big Pharm and be put on all kinds of meds. I am willing to bet that her anger and frustration will relate back to how her parent raised her......but drugs will be the answer right?

You see, I am bringing up things that no one thinks about after something like this happens! Sure, we can blame the police, blame the parents, but how many of us actually think about what will happen to this child after the fact of this news story????

Does anyone realize the drugs and therapy this child is going to have to go thru?

The mom in me is screaming mad reading this... then the logical part asks... What would have been felt had the child actually rammed the knife through her chest if she had not been stopped?

I don't know. Honestly my first thoughts are the raging "mama bear" but extreme mental conditions are not only found in adults. Nobody knew if she could/would do it. I am glad I didn't have to make the decision. And my heart goes out to the child and family.

When I start a thread I try to stay neutral in the OP to allow the discussion to gel out of your minds rather than in response to any opinion I may start out with. That being said now, I was leaning towards 'justified' only b/c we don't know the situation, and there was an emotionally distressed child with a deadly weapon.
Granted, I still firmly believe that police are conditioned in this day and age to draw and fire without thinking, and I am completely opposed to that method of 'enforcing'.

BUT

Knives4eyes
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who thought of this but getting tasered makes your body clench up and fall forward. There is a possibility of her falling on the knife piercing her heart. Alone she probably would not have had the strength to pierce her ribcage or have the force necessary to go through her breastbone.

Tough call in this situation, they could have probably talked her through this then again as long as she's not dead, mission accomplished.

Knives4eyes brings up a very valid point here. Police are trained in taser effects...and if indeed tasers bring people down onto their chests consistently, the police showed a clear lack of reasoning, and likely endangered the girl more than she already was.

seeker1963


As an adult, all I can say is that when so many of our children believe that death is the answer to their problems, our world is suffering greatly!!

It's just that nobody teaches the value of life any more.

Marriage doesn't last so mothers and fathers are disposable.

Grandparents are stuck in homes so old people are disposable.

People get abortion like they are changing their shoes so babies are disposable.

Why would kids think they have any other alternative?

Society doesn't deal with problems. It disposes of them.

The message is "got a problem? Throw it away. NOBODY CARES ANYWAY."

We live in a society where any and every thing that we had to believe in was torn down.

All of societies standards...good or bad...have been done away with, and replaced with a gleeful emptiness.

We are a hollow nation. And we reap what we sow.

Empty lives are just easier to give up...and to take.