12-year-old tased by police officer

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Valid point -- I think I probably got sucked into the title of the tread on that one by focusing on 12-year-olds, and I wasn't really meaning to do that. If a policy is going to start with a premise that absent certain circumstances, a child (or minor) shouldn't be tased, than a workable policy would certainly need to take into account in some way the officer's ability to tell or make reasonable judgments about a person's age. As DrPhil notes, this wouldn't be new.

I'm sure DrPhil would be happy with the explanation that oops, the officer made a cross-racial age ID and thought she was in fact 4-5 years older than she actually was and oops, tased her. Simple mistake, right?

Definitely, the age of the subject should be a factor, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near the top. The size and behavior of the subject would be paramount as well as any other surrounding circumstances.

As Jerry Sandusky said, age is just a number. (too soon?)

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I'm sure DrPhil would be happy with the explanation that oops, the officer made a cross-racial age ID and thought she was in fact 4-5 years older than she actually was and oops, tased her. Simple mistake, right?

Those kinds of mistakes happen. The 12 year old in this thread looks very 12. Therefore, many children under the age of 18 look under the age of 18. Those who do not are more the exception. We would not have status offenses if the age range (not the exact age) of children was unlikely to be determined at face value, by talking to the person, and/or contacting family. Ninety or more percent of the time children, girls having a higher rate than boys, under the age of 18 are "obviously" under a certain age and can be arrested for status offenses. Status offenses would not be as common as they are in some jurisdictions is they were difficult to detect.

Originally Posted by Kevin

As Jerry Sandusky said, age is just a number. (too soon?)

Sandusky learned that age is not just a number.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Those kinds of mistakes happen. The 12 year old in this thread looks very 12. Therefore, many children under the age of 18 look under the age of 18. Those who do not are more the exception. We would not have status offenses if the age range (not the exact age) of children was unlikely to be determined at face value, by talking to the person, and/or contacting family. Ninety or more percent of the time children, girls having a higher rate than boys, under the age of 18 are "obviously" under a certain age and can be arrested for status offenses. Status offenses would not be as common as they are in some jurisdictions is they were difficult to detect.

Sure she looks 12, but if you told me she was 15, I'd have taken your word at it just as I did briefly from other sources before I did my own checking.

As far as status offenses, that's a different thing entirely which takes into account the child's age and maturity at a certain level as to whether that child could, for example, content to sexual contact as in statutory rape situations or as to whether the child deserves to be prosecuted as an adult. Here we have a totally different situation where you're asking a police officer to make a snap decision judgment call in which if he does not pull that trigger, he puts his own life and limb in jeopardy.

So yes, as to status offenses, we admit kids can be kids. Of course in an instant when an adult police officer judges that kid to be an imminent threat, I don't begrudge that officer his or her use of reasonable force.

As to what is reasonable, I don't know here. Until more facts come out, considering the mother is a convicted felon several times over, I'm likely to give the officer the benefit of the doubt. I could change my mind though if more came to light.

Sandusky learned that age is not just a number.

Touché.

[als463]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I'm sure DrPhil would be happy with the explanation that oops, the officer made a cross-racial age ID and thought she was in fact 4-5 years older than she actually was and oops, tased her. Simple mistake, right?

Definitely, the age of the subject should be a factor, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near the top. The size and behavior of the subject would be paramount as well as any other surrounding circumstances.

As Jerry Sandusky said, age is just a number. (too soon?)

Too soon? Uh, yeah, Jerry Sandusky aside---I'd say making light of child sex abuse is never funny.