By Madeline Baro Diaz and Ihosvani Rodriguez, AZ Central.com (Arizona)
MIAMI, Fla. - Parents and community leaders are outraged that a Miami-Dade County police officer used a stun gun to subdue a 6-year-old boy who was using a shard of glass to cut himself and hold a security officer at bay.
Many said they couldn’t fathom why an adult used a Taser to shock a first-grader rather than restraining him.
“I couldn’t imagine why a police officer would use that kind of device on a child,” said Marvin Dunn, a psychology professor at Florida International University who was formerly a principal at an alternative school. “I can restrain a 6-year-old with one hand. I don’t get it.”
The incident occurred Oct. 20 inside the principal’s office at Kelsey L. Pharr Elementary School, police said. The unidentified child, who has a history of behavioral problems, was alone in the office with a school security officer.
Principal Maria Mason told police she heard glass breaking and rushed into her office where the boy was bleeding and holding a piece of glass he’d taken out of a picture frame he broke with his fist.
By the time school district and Miami-Dade police officers arrived, the boy had cut himself under his right eye, was bleeding from his left hand and was smearing blood over his face, according to police reports.
An officer then slid a trash can toward the boy and tried to persuade him to throw away the glass. The boy responded by tightening his grip on the glass, the reports said.
As officers continued trying to calm the boy, he began cutting his leg, police said. That’s when Miami-Dade Officer Maria Abbott fired the stun gun. The probes hit the boy in the middle of his torso and the bottom of his shirt.
“To further prevent the student from injuring himself, the officer felt she needed to deploy the stun gun,” police Detective Randy Rossman said.
Officers then grabbed him and took away the glass, police said. Paramedics checked the boy’s injuries, which consisted of the area where he was stunned and the cuts on his hand and face. The boy was committed for psychiatric evaluation.
Miami-Dade police policy prohibits the use of Tasers only against pregnant women. Before the officer used the stun gun on the boy, Miami-Dade Officer Yolanda Rivera, who was on the scene, called a sergeant and verified its use was within department policy.
Rossman said the department’s administration was reviewing its Taser policy.
Dunn said there are methods of physically restraining children and dealing with emotionally disturbed children. Clearing the room and having just one person speaking calmly to the child could have been one option, he said.
“You simply escalate the situation when you bring more adults into the picture,” Dunn said.