Daily MailA mother is suing the city of Pierre, it’s former police chief and members of its police department, saying an officer used excessive force and violated her 8-year-old daughter’s rights when he shot her in the chest with a stun gun.
Dawn Stenstrom is seeking unspecified damages in the suit filed in federal court in late July.
Authorities say the officer shot the girl with the stun gun from 5 to 6 feet away because she was suicidal and brandished a knife.
‘The force of the electricity shot through her body, lifted her and threw her against the wall,’ the lawsuit says.
The state Division of Criminal Investigation later concluded that the officer was justified in using his Taser on the girl because it was the safest method to defuse the situation.
Dana Hanna, an attorney for Stenstrom, told the Rapid City Journal that the girl suffered physical, psychological and emotional injuries.
‘There is no excuse for cops to use a Taser on an 8-year-old child,’ Hanna said.
Attorney Rob Anderson, who is representing the defendants in the lawsuit, told The Associated Press on Friday that he does not comment on pending litigation.
The mother and child now live on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, according to Hanna.
At the time of the incident, the the police chief is defended the action – saying the girl was a threat to the officer and to herself and that the Taser jolt actually saved her life.
Three officers responded to the girl’s home in Pierre, South Dakota, after a babysitter dialed 911 and reported that the girl was suicidal and stabbing herself in the leg with a 4-and-a-half-inch kitchen knife.
Police Chief Bob Grandpre said his officers responded according to protocol.
Grandpre has refused to release the officer’s name, but says he has not been disciplined and remains on the job.
The officer said he used the Taser after the girl pointed a knife at him, then pointed it back at her own chest.
The sharp probes from the stun gun hit the girl in the chest and the stomach.
‘He quite possibly saved the juvenile’s life that night,’ Grandpre told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
He added that the child was a ‘threat’ and that his officers are trained to deal with all manner of threats.
‘We can’t control if the threat is eight or 80,’ Grandpre said.
After the girl was subdued, she was taken to the hospital, where she was observed for 24 hours and released to her parents.
Contrary to the initial report, the girl had no knife injuries.
Her parents are demanding that the officer be disciplined and say they are considering suing the department.
‘Tasers are for grown adults, not 8-year-old girls. They say it was for her own safety, but there is no justification for that,’ Bobby Jones, the girl’s father, said.
Her mother, Dawn Stenstrom, said the little girl was in pain the entire night from the Taser shock and the wounds she received from the sharp probes.
‘How much harm could she have done?’ Ms Strenstrom asked.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2720966/Mother-suing-Baltimore-police-using-Taser-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD-daughter-officers-claim-saved-girls-life.html#ixzz3A6H3qzDu
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“reported that the girl was suicidal and stabbing herself in the leg with a 4-and-a-half-inch kitchen knife.”
“Contrary to the initial report, the girl had no knife injuries.”
Damn hospital, lying again.
“I feared for my life and I thought my Taser was my Glock.
Of course it saved her life because he didn’t have his 9mm in his hand. Some of the cops must have a pussy where their balls should be. There is no excuse for tasing an 8 year old boy or girl the chicken shit pig bastard!