Posted on 06/24/2005 10:07:17 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
A deputy Tasered an intoxicated 13-year-old girl who was kicking and scratching two hospital nurses, officials said.
April Rene Burleson, who is 4-foot-9 and weighs 90 pounds, had a blood alcohol level of 0.175 percent and was under the influence of marijuana and the prescription drug Xanax, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
"You have to understand, she was lashing out, kicking and scratching," sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi. "She was acting like an adult who needed to be restrained. Just because she's 13 doesn't mean she can't harm somebody."
Burleson was charged with loitering, disorderly public intoxication, battery by a juvenile on health services personnel, battery on an officer and resisting an officer. She was sent to the Lee County Juvenile Assessment Center.
Burleson was walking on the street at 2:50 a.m. Thursday when a deputy picked her up on the loitering charge. She was first brought to her mother, who agreed to have the girl medically cleared at Lee Memorial Hospital before being processed.
According to sheriff's reports, Burleson had been combative with Deputy Chad Edwards before they reached the hospital, then screamed at the hospital staff and injured the nurses and Edwards.
Burleson was shocked with the Taser in the chest, then held in four-point restraints during her exam, deputies said.
I hate the way Tasers are being used like this. That said, once a person starts breaking the skin (scratching) she becomes a danger in this era a communicable diseases such as Hepatits and HIV.
The staff should not be expected to risk their health.
Democrat voter in waiting??
Seriously, that is a no-win situation for any male law enforcement officer. A well placed kick from a small female can do a lot of damage, yet he is expected to get her under control GENTLY, and without being perceived as groping any "naughty parts".
Why couldn't they handcuff her?
Sounds to me like the Tasers are the least of the dangers in this little girl's life. Out on the streets at 2:50AM, drunk, stoned, and spaced on Xanax -- at 13!
Scared.
A taser is NOT the weapon to restraint someone in that state. It is a good way to potentially give them a heart attack however.
The Taser was to subdue her sufficiently so that they COULD handcuff her. Actually they did more than that -- she was "held in four point restraints" during her subsequent medical exam.
Well, I suppose they could...but if you've got a girl kicking, screaming, scratching and spitting...would YOU approach her with a set of handcuffs?
Taser the parents.
Why couldn't they handcuff her?
Good question. 2 nurses, a deputy, the mother, presumeably a doctor and who knows how many other hospital workers... I guess they were all too skeert.
OTOH, I'm married to a gadget freak and sometimes just have to walk away when he's trying to complicate a simple job by using a new toy.
Because they have taken away batons....
I guess they could shoot her with their guns instead.
No doubt that they probably saved her life, and now media is worried about tasers. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to be in law enforcement.
What happened to the lead Sap and billy clubs..
Her mother is the one that needs to be tasered.
Another prostitute in training.
You gotta good point there.
... this is really sick and I probably should not admit this... but when they show a bad guy getting tased by a cop..... I always rewind on my TiVo....
Only the deputy would be carrying handcuffs. Really, a take down in I presume a small hospital examining room can get quite messy. And they still can bite and sratch, pull hair etc.
I just remember from a similiar incident, my shoulder will never be the same. And I wasn't Skeert!!
Since this was happening in closed quarters they probably couldn't use pepper spray.. I really dont know what another alternative would be.. whack her in the head with a billy club?
I forgot to add that the hospital staff should have had access to velcro wrist retraints. But they can be difficult to put on a small wristed person.
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