Madison, WI - 14 Year Old Black Boy Tasered at School
Thursday, February 17, 2005 at 03:18AM
TheSpook

Surveillance video from the Madison
School District leaves some questions unanswered in the controversial
incident of a student being shot with a Taser weapon last week. The
video shows there is a physical confrontation taking place.What is also
on the tape are other students going about their daily business, and
that's what's puzzling to some officials who have seen the tape. The
surveillance tape is hard to follow because the camera is programmed to
make continuous sweeps and pans.It does not zero in on the officer
struggling to handcuff the 14-year-old boy.The boy was being arrested
on what would later turn out to be a faulty warrant."The interesting
thing about the tape is there are a lot of folks who are walking by and
not responding to the incident as if it's not out of the normal," said
MMSD board President Bill Keyes."Is it because they don't see it? Is it
because they regard it as normal, or is it they regard it as nothing
unsafe? It's hard to say just what is going on.""But the critical
moment -- the instance of the Tasering is not visible at all," said
Keyes. "So, there's no conclusion to draw about what happened."The
boy's mother and another school board member, Juan Lopez believe police may have
used excessive force. 'What I've seen so far doesn't warrant the use of a
taser. My first impression was there's an African American kid that's
being picked on. That should not be occurring in our schools or in our
community, period,'' said Lopez. The surveillance video comes just as national
media raise new questions over the controversial weapon.Just this week,
a 14-year-old Chicago boy went into cardiac arrest after being hit.Some
critics have linked Tasers to as many as 70 deaths across the country. [more] and [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.