Cops Tase Barely Conscious Boy With Broken Back 19 Times For Non-Compliance

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Cops Tase Barely Conscious Boy With Broken Back 19 Times For Non-Compliance
Police: Taser use is "not one of the unanswered questions" surrounding the case

   
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
 
 
 
 
 
     

 You couldn't make it up if you tried. Police in Ozark, Missouri repeatedly tased a critically injured sixteen year old boy after he "refused to comply with the officers".

The cops were called to investigate reports of a boy walking along a busy overpass, but when they got there they found young Mace Hutchinson had fallen 30 ft to the ground below, breaking his back and and foot in the process.

When he did not co-operate with the cops they pulled out their stun guns and fired them into his body, shocking him up to nineteen times with 50,000 volts.

According to the boy's father, the actions of the police caused an elevated white blood cell count leading Mace to develop a fever that delayed vital surgery by two days.

Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset tried to condone the use of the taser in comments to the media:

"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he’s also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers."

Watch a local report from KY3 News:

 

(Article continues below)


The idea that a boy with a broken back would need to be "subdued" by a team of cops is not patently ludicrous but also smacks of a desperate attempt to cover up the true events in this case.

This is a perfect example of how it has become the norm for cops to react with extreme physical force towards anyone who acts out of the ordinary in any way whatsoever.

We have previously carried reports of police tasing an already restrained disabled man, a 6-year-old boy who was wielding a piece of glass and a woman having diabetic seizure to name but a few, but this case trumps them all.

This behaviour is not limited to cops in the U.S. either, last November a man who slipped into a diabetic coma on the top deck of a bus in Leeds, England described how he was used for electric stun gun "target practice" after he "failed to respond to instructions" and police "mistook him for a suicide bomber".

Tasers are supposed to be the last response before lethal action, yet police now use the taser as if it is a pair of handcuffs or pepper spray. The latest figures show that over 300 people died in one year in admitted cases in the US alone from being tased.

Prominent heart doctors have declared that there is no doubt that Tasers can cause heart problems and even induce sudden and lethal cardiac arrest.

The UN's Committee Against Torture issued a statement on the TaserX26, in November of last year which read: "The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use."

Despite these facts, we see stories every week of old women, children and disabled people being shot with tasers. The weapons are even being used in schools.

The police are now trained that "pain compliance," a euphemism for torture, is acceptable in apprehending anyone even if that person poses no physical danger.

The heart of the issue is that this was another act of wanton police brutality and torture by means of tasing.

 
 

[rockbilly]

There seems top be a rash of incidents such as this.  In a recent incident in Winters, TX a little man with a big ego wearing a uniform arrested a group for discharging fireworks inside the city limits.  All the time the group were attempting to explain that they were located outside the city limits and the officer had no authority there.  Disreguarding the information, he insisted he was right, arrested and took them to jail where they were kept overnight.  It was later discovered that the family did, in fact, live outside the city limits and the officer was wrong in arresting them.  Further investigation into the oficers background indicated he had a history of enforcing "his laws" at will.  He was also found to have been charged for crimes in another area several times,  including a felony conviction.  Just a few days ago, after a protest from the local citizens, the entire police force was re-organized.  The rouge officer was fired, the police chief fired, and several other officers reassigned to other areas.  

The problem...............law enforcement officers are in such high demand that they are taking questionable people just to fill a slot.  Most have a minimal mental screening before being hired, they are often just barly able to pass a certification test.  Many of ther folks that go into law enforcement are little minds with a big ego, and a big gun to back them up.  They think they can serve up justice as they see fit.  

I realize these are trying times, and officers face problems today that did not exhist a few years ago when a beat cop was respected and coulld maintain peace without overstepping his authority, but the truth is, there are just too many wanna be rambos out there today. JMHO.

[Old Syko]

but the truth is, there are just too many wanna be rambos out there today. JMHO.

I agree completely!  I get tired of hearing about the cops confronting someone where 23 shots are fired by the cops with only 3 hitting the subject nonfataly.  Where did the other 20 stray rounds go?  Who knows?  There have been multiple such incidents around here recently.  It is a case of 2 things.  Lack of proper restraint and lack of any type of reasonable training.

The latest was a report of a semi local man killed by a taser attack.  These things aren't nonlethal toys like the cops seem to think.

[woodchukhntr]

I have friends who are cops, and I respect the police very much.  But I have a problem with the ones who are basically bullies with badges.  What is with the shaved heads?  Why do the SWAT teams wear military uniforms in place of more readily identifiable police uniforms?  If somebody breaks down a door in a black uniform, wearing a mask, they are most likely to be identified as an armed intruder than if they were wearing a police uniform.  I don't care if they yell "police" or not.  A guy wearing black and carrying a gun who breaks into my house is an intruder.

[dukkillr]

I suspect people take the job of police officer for one of two reasons:

1) They genuinely care about the public and want to make a safer world.  These people understand they are public servants and conduct themselves with class and intelligence.  They risk their lives to make the world better.  They believe in justice. 

2) They love power, love bossing people around, and want a near limitless ability to act cool and tough.  These guys tend to be (but are not always) meat heads.

The percentage of each varies by location, affluence, education, pay, etc... But I would say there are more of the second kind than the first.

[torpedoman]

The non lethal toys that kill people should be taken away from the police. no exceptions they are a lot more cautious when they have to use deadly force and explain it. besides after seeing a lot of reports were they fire 200 round and the suspects get away or are wounded it seems to me that their pistols are not all that deadly.

[zombiewolf]

The non lethal toys that kill people should be taken away from the police. no exceptions they are a lot more cautious when they have to use deadly force and explain it. besides after seeing a lot of reports were they fire 200 round and the suspects get away or are wounded it seems to me that their pistols are not all that deadly.

Good point. And I agree.
Sounds like a lack of training.

It takes a lot less training to just use a taser.

Whatever happened to cops training in martial arts for the purpose of learning humane compliance techniques? 

Oh yea, properly training law enforcement officials? That might up take too much of the budget.

[beemanbeme]

Don't know how many of you "Cool Hand Lukes" have shot at a target when it was shooting back but it's an entirely different situation.  Or to get the effect of the adrenaline rush of any tense situation, try running full out for a 100 yards then slam into a kneeling or standing position and rip off a magazine full of ammo. 
I'm not gonna get involved in this thread because it's obviously a bash cops thread and cops are like most people. There are good ones and bad ones. 

[zombiewolf]

I'm not trying to bash cops. I have seen well trained cops in action. I know they exist. There just seems to be less of them these days.
 My "Sensai" trained cops all over the nation.
It's safe to say I know more about humane compliance techniques (and some not so humane) than most cops! (I'm a white belt)
The departments can rarely afford any more than a 2 hour seminar, and overworked cops have a tough time attending anyway.

As for weapons training, does the department pay for cops practice ammo?
Are cops required to certify their marksmanship at regular intervals?

I would hope so.

[torpedoman]

local cops here had 4 car loads firing at a suspect vehicle, no big chase involved as they drove to the scene, the vehicle drove away after over 200 rounds were fired at and into it. They also tasered and beat a disabled retarded man to death after he attacked them (he was armed with a two liter bottle of soda). Tasered a guy they were talking down from a bridge (he jumped after they tasered him).Telling the truth isn't bashing. I'm sure there are good cops out there but they are getting harder to find.

[jimster]

I will always take my hat off to cops in general as they put their lives on the line everyday, that being said there is nothing wrong with pointing out the questionable ones.  I was watching the show "cops" on tv a few months back, there was a lady who was drunk, and giving a police officer a hard time.
He just wanted her to get into his cruiser.  He must have tazered this gal 12 times, most of them were after she was in the cruiser...the cop was very large, and yes around the middle too....I was thinking from watchiing the whole thing there wasn't even a reason to tazer her once let alone 12 times,  I can't see where it would have been a problem just picking her up and throwing her in there...after all the first time she was tazered he threw her in the car anyways...I have no idea why he kept shooting her with that thing after she was in the car.  Looked like he was trying to keep her from squirming around in the back seat...but heck, it was just her reaction to the voltage.  Guess I'm glad I wasn't there, I would have taken that thing way from him and got into a heap of trouble...
Nothing wrong with questioning cops, as long as we recognize there are good ones out there with level heads, we should be able to point out some things as well. 

[Sourdough]

In my openion the root of the problem is the MILITARIZATION OF OUR POLICE FORCES.  It comes from ex military being placed in charge of the police forces and we are being looked at as "citizens" different, not as the same type of people they are.

I had always looked up to police forces, till a few years ago.  Now I have a different outlook and they have slipped a few notches on the respect issue.

[beemanbeme]

Sourdough makes a good point.  Watching the little gestopo walking around with their bloused trousers and their tactickool little fingerless gloves doesn't exactly paint a picture of "protect and serve". But, by the same token, if I was a cop, and a buddy walked up to a stopped car to ask for a driver's license and got his **** blown away, I'd have my next traffic stop out of the car laying on the ground even if it was a nun.   

[toysoldier]

   The Taser is a tool. It allows police to subdue a non-compliant, possibly violent suspect (usually) without causing physical injury to the suspect or exposing the LEO to injury. It's ancestors are the hand-held stun gun, telescoping metal baton, slapper, leather sap, and wooden club. Each of these was supposed to be "less lethal" than the previous one.
   Those who advocate that LEOs train in and use martial arts ignore the fact that simple physical contact with a suspect can expose the officer to potentially lethal diseases, as well as put him/her withing striking distanceof any weapon the suspect might produce. The Taser, used properly, is the best tool police have ever had.
   As others have pointed out, the problem is misuse and abuse of this tool. Perhaps we should note that "Tasers don't torture people, people torture people---with Tasers." Sadistic bullies need to be identified and removed from police forces. Leave the good guys with the tool they need to keep themselves safe.

[zombiewolf]

   ...Those who advocate that LEOs train in and use martial arts ignore the fact that simple physical contact with a suspect can expose the officer to potentially lethal diseases...

I guess you've got a good point there.
The whole " you could get AIDS" was covered briefly in my M.A. class.
Basically, try not to punch a guy in the teeth.

If you get bit by a human, even without aids, the infections can be life threatening, without medical treatment (peoples gots nasty mouths).  

[bubba]

although this matter was totally uncalled for, the parents kind of misreported the medical issues. A raise in a white blood cell count is because of an inection and it does not cause a fever. The white blood cell count would elevate during stressful situations such as being tasered so much when not necessary. If he had an actual infection the surgery would have been delayed much longer than two days.  The white blood cells increase to fight the infection in the body. This delay was totally precautionary to be sure there was not an infection and I am sure he was being monitored closely. This does not excuse the actions of the officers in any way and I believe they should be fried.