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Fla. officer TASERs combative teen
By Sarah Lundy
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — An 11-year-old girl who was shocked by a Taser after she punched a deputy was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to write a letter of apology to the deputy.
The former Moss Park Elementary student tugged at her pink shirt as she quietly answered questions Wednesday from Orange Circuit Court Judge Alan Apte. He wanted to make sure the girl – who wore a ponytail with a pink headband – understood she was pleading no contest to a charge of resisting arrest without violence.
“Yes, sir,” she answered, leaning into the microphone so he could hear her.
The girl also must continue counseling.
The Orlando Sentinel is not identifying the girl because of her age.
Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence.
The incident occurred March 27 when the 5-foot-5, 170-pound girl became disruptive in a class and started shoving her desk and spitting at teachers. Orange County Deputy Sheriff Donna Hudepohl, Moss Park’s school resource officer, came to the classroom to remove the child.
The girl refused to comply and began flailing around – pushing the deputy and hitting her in the face. The deputy suffered a bloody nose.
That’s when Hudepohl used her Taser, which fires two small probes connected to a wire that shoots 1,200 volts of electricity.
The student’s mother said Wednesday that the girl has had nightmares about the incident and is sometimes leery around police officers.
Now she is attending a different elementary school, which the mother wouldn’t identify but where she said the girl is doing better.
The mother agreed the judge’s sentence was fair.
The family plans to look into possible civil action against the Sheriff’s Office for the deputy’s use of the Taser at the school. The deputy could have used better judgment, said the girl’s attorney, Mark Lippman.
“It appears she acted out of pain because her nose was bleeding at that point. I don’t know if she acted correctly,” he said.
Copyright 2008 Orlando Sentinel