12-year-old tased by police officer

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by justgo_withit

Sure it does. I said "I'm more inclined to think that the officer's actions were acceptable and we'll hear that there's more to the story in support of him". An example of this sort of growing story would be that the "unidentified female" who (according to the cop, of course) also charged him is actually a strong adult woman and he was aiming the taser at her. Because tasers aren't very accurate, he missed.

So, if the officer wasn't intending to taser the child, and the child got caught in the crossfire, it's OK to accidentally taser a child?

[justgo_withit]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

So, if the officer wasn't intending to taser the child, and the child got caught in the crossfire, it's OK to accidentally taser a child?

What? That's like asking if it's okay to accidentally burn someone else's house down. The moral question (okayness) here depends on the intent. If (big 'ole hypothetical if) the officer, using the book-answer police moral compass and all of his training decided that yes, the woman needed to be tasered and he accidentally hit the child, then I wouldn't fault the police officer. Would it be absolutely unfortunate and would I look for the department to reevaluate their taser use policy? Absolutely. Accidents are accidents though, and cannot be totally controlled in the present. That's why they're accidents.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by justgo_withit

What? That's like asking if it's okay to accidentally burn someone else's house down. The moral question (okayness) here depends on the intent. If (big 'ole hypothetical if) the officer, using the book-answer police moral compass and all of his training decided that yes, the woman needed to be tasered and he accidentally hit the child, then I wouldn't fault the police officer.

No, it doesn't depend on intent. It goes to the police officer, using his training (including his training regarding the reliability of tasers accurately hitting their target) to determine whether the intended target can be safely hit without endangering others. It becomes a question of negligence, for which intent is irrelevant.