I'm not in favour of giving in to whiny kids who don't want to get clean, but this goes way too far - and it's shocking that the parent requested it!
Cop Dustin Bradshaw tasers 10 year-old girl after she kicks him in the balls
10 year-old doesn't want to take a shower? In Arkansas, it's taser time!
Thu, 2009-11-19 19:25
#1
10 year-old doesn't want to take a shower? In Arkansas, it's taser time!
Thu, 2009-11-19 19:43
#2
What a bizarre story! I hope Children's Services has taken note.
Thu, 2009-11-19 20:24
#3
My son is 10. When I think of how little and weak he is - and he's big and strong for a 10 year-old - it makes me crazy just thinking about a little one his age being electrocuted. If anyone tasered him, I'm afraid the end result would be me doing 25 to life. I can't even imagine TELLING some pig to torture him with a taser, no matter how poorly he acts (and, like many parents of, ahem, spirited children, I've had some tantrums to deal with in my time).
Thu, 2009-11-19 20:34
#4
Catchfire
Oh no no no no. This is horrible. That poor kid.
Thu, 2009-11-19 20:35
#5
Native kid my brother and his wife were looking after a few years ago was tasered by local cops. I forget how old he was, somewhere under ten. But he liked to wander downtown in the middle of random summer nights from his mother's place. He gave the coppers a hard time one night, and they tasered him.
Thu, 2009-11-19 22:46
#6
There are no words to describe how insane that is.
Fri, 2009-11-20 00:12
#7
Quite the tabloid this story originated from.
http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/11/jamar_pinkney_sr_executes_15-y.php
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:30
#8
Polly B
Not sure if this source is any better, but it seems that ya, he tasered the poor kid for freaking out on her mom. Gaaaaaaaaaaaa.
(can someone pls tell me how to put in those nice little urls with the title of our choice like we used to have I hate this software.)
Anyhoos, cop should be fired, not given a few days off. Fire his ass. I am with Michelle, ten year olds are little cute puny things and if you can't "get" your daughter to take a shower without calling the police then you have a HUGE parent skill deficit on your hands.
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:32
#9
Not to detract from this story but does anybody else find this quote amusing?
She doesn't deserve to be treated like a dog. She's not a tiger.
God help me.
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:54
#10
RevolutionPlease
(can someone pls tell me how to put in those nice little urls with the title of our choice like we used to have I hate this software.)
[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6602043/Taser...
Copy and paste with [] in place of {}:
{url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6602043/Taser...}test{/url}
{url= paste your link here} name you want {/url}
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:55
#11
RevolutionPlease
I have to do it manually if I want to, the software doesn't work for me either.
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:56
#12
RevolutionPlease
Kind of INACCESSIBLE rabble. 
Fri, 2009-11-20 01:59
#13
Polly B
Thank you revolution please. When I am considerably more sober I will totally try that.
Fri, 2009-11-20 02:15
#14
Fri, 2009-11-20 02:17
#15
Polly B
Ha, it worked. But when I previewed it it didn't.
[url=http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/10-year-old-does... bout this time[/url]
Fri, 2009-11-20 02:18
#16
Polly B
Ya, dog...tiger....anything but small child? There is something seriously wrong when an adult can even kinda try to rationalize another fully grown adult having to use a - okay what do they call them - electronic control device????? - to subdue a child! A child! And not a child who was in danger of hurting herself or others, but a child who was in danger of not having a shower.
Fri, 2009-11-20 02:29
#17
RevolutionPlease
Cheers!
Fri, 2009-11-20 05:23
#18
I am not surprised after all Arkansas is one of 23 states that still beat kids in schools with big pieces of wood..
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:12
#19
Here's the thing. You can't reason with a 10 year-old who is having a tantrum. And a 10 year-old having a tantrum is really different than a 3 year-old having a tantrum. 10 year-olds are surprisingly strong - when they kick or hit, it hurts. I've been bruised by a 10 year-old tantrum. And they can hurt themselves, too, especially if they figure out that doing something self-destructive, like banging their head or something like that during a tantrum will freak the parent out. Everything you try to do to restrain the child has the potential to either bruise you or bruise the child or both, because even just holding them and having them struggle against being held can hurt.
So I totally understand why the mother was at the end of her rope. It's scary when a child that age has a tantrum and screams and flails. In the moment, you're scared for the child's safety, you're furious at the behaviour, and you just want it to stop without anyone getting hurt.
But somehow, most parents who are unlucky enough to go through an episode like that (and I'm one of them) manage to get through it without a cop electrocuting their kid. Even if the mother was out of her mind momentarily and asked him to do it, he's the professional and should have had the presence of mind to know that it is a totally inappropriate action to take.
I'm rethinking my comments about the mother above because, as a parent who has been through that kind of tantrum behaviour, I know how horrifying it is in the moment, especially if it looks like your kid is going to hurt himself or herself. And you really do lose your head for the moment, especially if you're alone with the child with no other adult there to support you or back you up. I've had ECE training and yet, I was at a loss with how to deal with a tantrum by an older child in the moment. I ended up giving myself a time-out briefly and calling a relative in order to calm myself down enough to deal with it.
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:22
#20
P.S. I think the shower thing is probably a red herring. The issue was likely the tantrum, not the shower. Once a tantrum starts, it doesn't matter what started it, and usually tantrums ARE over little things like bedtime, brushing teeth, taking a bath, etc. And if the child is in the habit of taking tantrums over little things, it's also surprising how long they can carry them on before exhausting themselves. But I'm going to take a wild guess and say that no parenting expert, child psychologist, family counsellor, or other people who deal with behavioural problems in children, would say that tasering a child is a good way of dealing with such behaviour.
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:41
#21
Have you asked James Dobson, Michelle?
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:51
#22
Boom Boom
Could this story happen in Canada? I think child welfare authorities would be all over this.
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:55
#23
Boom Boom
I here you, Michelle. I have my B.Ed....
I know spelling flames are lame, but I couldn't resist this one! 
Fri, 2009-11-20 09:59
#24
Hell, even Dr. Dobson doesn't advise parents to electrocute their children! He just advises them to hit them with objects (never your hands, those should be instruments of love). But yeah, I think that the Babywise/Dr. Dobson influence on family culture in North America is what makes this kind of crap possible. You just know there are going to be religious nutcases out there reading this story, saying, "That'll learn 'er! Spare the rod, spoil the child!"
Fri, 2009-11-20 10:00
#25
P.S. Boom Boom, that's hilarious. What's more hilarious is that I didn't see the joke for a moment because I was focusing on the "B.Ed" part (looking for the error there) instead of "here". :D
Fri, 2009-11-20 10:06
#26
I hear you, Michelle. I have my B.Ed. but often when in the heat of the moment and with my own children all that knowledge seems to disappear. The 12 year old seems to be beyond tantrums but the 7 year old has a temper. No reasoning possible, and frankly why should I, an adult, expect an angry child of 7 to be reasonable. The smartest thing I can do is walk away and deal with the issue when he is calmer.
Fri, 2009-11-20 10:08
#27
Can I be a volunteer moderator long enough to taser Boom Boom? Volunteer moderators are issued tasers, right?
Fri, 2009-11-20 10:16
#28
Boom Boom
ps:
Fri, 2009-11-20 11:02
#29
Polly B
I've been lucky I guess, never had a child tantrum like that. We've watched a few worthy attempts but nothing that doesn't at some point peter out on it's own.
But to call the cops? I am sorry, my child would have to be posing a bigass danger for that. Honestly? I think he got pissy from being kicked in the balls and retaliated.
Fri, 2009-11-20 11:15
#30
Boom Boom
I remember a couple of times when my mum was at her wits end when I was a young kid (53 years ago!) - but she never called any authorities to deal with the situation, thank goodness. I was as stubborn as a mule in those days - I still am - and her strategy I guess was just to walk away from the situation and let it calm down by itself. I was a holy terror back then (some might argue I still am 
).
Fri, 2009-11-20 12:26
#31
Timebandit
We've dealt with tantrums... I have mentioned that Ms B is a little, ah, intense, I think...
But wanting her tasered? Dear gawd. Anybody who tasered my kid would find himself down at the emergency room having said device removed from his freshly cauterized colon.
Fri, 2009-11-20 13:04
#32
Hell, even Dr. Dobson doesn't advise parents to electrocute their children!
He does, however, advise parents to shower with their children - but that's just for boys to stop them going gay, so it wouldn't have helped here.
Fri, 2009-11-20 13:55
#33
Polly B
We've dealt with tantrums... I have mentioned that Ms B is a little, ah, intense, I think...
But wanting her tasered? Dear gawd. Anybody who tasered my kid would find himself down at the emergency room having said device removed from his freshly cauterized colon.
Nicely said.
Fri, 2009-11-20 16:34
#34
I think tantrums are about control. The child goes berserk because they feel they don't have control over bed time, teeth brushing, etc. What makes matters even worse is when the tantrum becomes a control issue for the parent, who has a meltdown because they feel a child is controling them, or even bullying them by throwing the tantrum.
I learned to head tantrums off at the pass by offering choices that aren't really choices but make the child feel more in control. And yeah, that's not completely honest, but then all control is an illusion anyway. It all evens out.
Back to the taser cop, it's a friday and I tend to fire more from the hip, but really, if a cop ever tasered Snarfy the Wonder Girl, I wouldn't be whinning to the media about it. The cop would be whinning.
When he came out of the coma.
Mon, 2009-11-30 17:59
#35
Officer who used stun gun on girl, 10, fired
The police officer in a small Arkansas town who used a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old girl has been fired for violating department policy — not for using the Taser itself but for failing to use the camera attached to it, according to the town’s mayor.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/11/30/11985306-ap.html
Mon, 2009-11-30 23:17
#36
If this cop is so stupid that he taser's a 10 year old just because her crazy mother told him to than he should have been fired for that.
A related note - a friend who does customer service for a milk company got a call from the police after a lady found a small piece of plastic in her milk carton and dialed 911. She didn't drink it - just saw something when she poured it in her glass. Over reaction?