You Better Follow Orders

Trey Smith

A New Mexico police officer used a Taser gun on a 10-year-old boy to demonstrate what cops do to people who don’t follow orders, according to a complaint heard by a Sante Fe court Tuesday.

Officer Chris Webb was attending “career day” at Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School when he sent 50,000 volts of electricity into the child’s chest on the playground. The young boy blacked out and has, according to his legal representative, been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder ever since; the officer faces a civil suit.

According to the complaint, Webb shot his Taser at the child (referred to only as “R.D.”) after he said he did not want to join fellow classmates in cleaning the officer’s patrol car. Courthouse News reported:

“Defendant Webb responded by pointing his Taser at R.D. and saying, ‘Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.’”

Webb then shot “two barbs into R.D.’s chest,” the complaint states. “Both barbs penetrated the boy’s shirt, causing the device to deliver 50,000 volts into the boy’s body. “Defendant Webb pulled the barbs out [of] the boy’s chest, causing scarring where the barbs had entered the boy’s skin that look like cigarette burns on the boy’s chest.

“The boy, who weighed less than 100 lbs., blacked out.”Instead of calling emergency medical personnel, Officer Webb pulled out the barbs and took the boy to the school principal’s office,” the complaint states.

Following the May 4 incident, Webb, who claims he accidentally discharged the Taser, was given only a three-day suspension.

~ Cop Used Taser Gun on 10-year-old Boy by Natasha Lennard ~

If the officer REALLY discharged his taser by mistake, one would think that he would have done something other than take "the boy to the school principal’s office."  I'm sorry, but that action does not make the officer's explanation credible to me.

When tasers first came on the scene, I was worried.  My worry was that police officers would utilize them inappropriately.  If you keep up with news, this worry has been borne out.  It seems like every few weeks we hear of an officer using a taser on individuals not being violent OR resisting arrest.  We hear of cases in which a taser is used on an elderly person or a young teenager.

The police often grouse about why so many people distrust them these days.  Read yet another story like this and you should know why!