Police pepper spray 8 year old

[Eldarion]

A pair of teachers trained to deal with troubled students overpowered by an 8 year old?

I call shenanigans.

 

[gigastar]

Give me a reason why first, not the supposed offenders age. It makes things much shorter, less polarizing and news sites like MSN dont seem to get that

 

[Neuromaster]

The kid was trying to KILL two people. I think they should have snapped his arms and legs.

Kill people with a stick when he's 8?

I think pepper spray is fine in this situation since parenting obviously has failed. But he wasn't going to kill anyone.

He wanted to, and he said he wanted to find something sharp. Sharp objects can be used lethally quite easily.

Wanting to and being able to are very far apart.

From TFA, "He had ripped molding from the wall and tossed chairs and a TV cart around the classroom. He had grabbed a stick and chased his teachers into the office, where they locked themselves in... At one point, police allege, he warned his teachers "If you come out, you're gonna die""

I think it's excessive force. Pepper spray can be leathal if the person has an allergic reaction to it. I don't think you should use it in a situation that doesn't call for leathal force. Same with tasers.

What would have been an appropriate level of force?

-Grabbing him, possibly causing lasting physical harm to both the boy and/or the officers?
-Beating him with batons?
-Pepper spraying him?
-Tazering him?
-Shooting him?

Those are pretty much all the options you get. If the kid can't be talked down, what do you do better? I think pepper spray is pretty clearly the lowest level of acceptable force possible that would cause no lasting harm to anyone involved.

 

[Urgh76]

I smell bullshit when he was asked about what he did when he was asked to put the stick down at about 4:30

 

[s0m3th1ng]

No mental issues you say?
Either that diagnoses is fucked up or you ma'am(And sir if there is one) are a terrible parent(s) and I'm just sad I wasn't the one to blow a load of liquid fire into your son's retinas.
Now if only all moms (And fathers you sexist nut jobs) were equipped with pepper spray to subdue their obese, ADD-having, attention whore skin bags there would be a lot less whining and tantrums in super markets. Only their painful sobs as they claw at their eyes.
Yeah....I don't like children.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think it's excessive force. Pepper spray can be leathal if the person has an allergic reaction to it. I don't think you should use it in a situation that doesn't call for leathal force. Same with tasers.

You know that police have GUNS right? If they need lethal force, they can just fucking shoot you, they don't need a taser or pepper spray. The reason that police have those is for when they need to use NONLETHAL countermeasures.

 

[twistedmic]

I think pepper spray was completely justified. The kid had a weapon, even if it was a blunt stick, and had threatened to kill somebody. And, despite the kids height, and weight, his adrenaline levels (always spiked when you're pissed or scared) could have given him a boost in strength. Plus I don't think it takes that much strength to cause bodily harm when swinging a long object (stick/bat/staff etc.).
In my opinion, the cops closing in on the kid would have been monumentally stupid and dangerous. He could have gotten a hold of one of the cop's weapons and then used that to hurt or kill the police or his teachers.

As for the kid saying that he dropped the stick before he got pepper sprayed, he could be lying, or misremembering what had happened. When someone is really mad they don't really think or remember clearly.

 

[Dogstile]

Seriously, when I was a kid, I was like that. They just held me down and told me to STFU. These teachers are pussy's. I mean that sincerely.

And to everyone saying he had a sharp object. HE HAD A STICK. IT WAS NOT SHARP. IT WAS A STICK.

He said he wanted to find a sharp object, but (i didn't watch the video here, so if i'm wrong, well, DURRRR HERP DERP on my behalf) he had a stick. He is eight. Those teachers suck. So does his mother.

 

[Shiftysnowdog]

The mom was asking for the special unit that deals with kids?
Does such a unit exist? I can see it now
CSI: Special Toddler Unit

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Pepper spray was the right call, I bet this kid doesn't threaten to kill his teachers any time soon. He even says "I probably deserved it"

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

A pair of teachers trained to deal with troubled students overpowered by an 8 year old?

I call shenanigans.

Remember, teachers aren't allowed to so much as TOUCH a child without a lawsuit anymore. I'm sure they could have easily taken him, but they chose to call the police instead, because that's protocol and it takes responsibility from the school district for any injuries that the child may sustain.

 

[dslatch]

Probly a little excessive to call the cops for an 8 year old having a bad day, well three bad days. My elementary school just had a room to chill in, you really had no choice about chillin in that room.

 

[unoleian]

He completely trashed a room enough to make any rockstar jealous, chased down two teachers, and threatened to stab them?

He's lucky they didn't pull out the bear tranqs.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Seriously, when I was a kid, I was like that. They just held me down and told me to STFU. These teachers are pussy's. I mean that sincerely.

And to everyone saying he had a sharp object. HE HAD A STICK. IT WAS NOT SHARP. IT WAS A STICK.

He said he wanted to find a sharp object, but (i didn't watch the video here, so if i'm wrong, well, DURRRR HERP DERP on my behalf) he had a stick. He is eight. Those teachers suck. So does his mother.

I've already said this about another post, but I'll repeat it:

Remember, teachers aren't allowed to so much as TOUCH a child without a lawsuit anymore. I'm sure they could have easily taken him, but they chose to call the police instead, because that's protocol and it takes responsibility from the school district for any injuries that the child may sustain.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

It didn't do anything to him. It calmed him down. It was justified. Police had been called on him two other times? He needs parenting. Badly.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Pepper spray's not bad. Its not like the guy who works in the police department who watches over the district I live in. He carries a cattle prod.

Twice may be a bit excessive (but then again, once just doesnt always cut it unless you get someone good), though he pretty much damned himself when he said he wanted to make something sharp to hurt someone, and shouted if you come out you're gonna die. Thats not even childish banter anymore, thats just a legitimant threat. Besides, he has a history, and they had tried to deescalate the situation (at least it says they did, nad I choose to believe this.

and on a side note (and I shouldnt say this), be he looks like he needed that.

And why do you need to remind people that this is a school district with the columbine incident? thats not helping anything, and no one wants to hear that.

 

[chowderface]

I'd say justified, for the cops personally. One of the comments the mom made implied that some but not all of the police in the area are trained to deal with kids in situations like this, and the cops sent out weren't on that list. So given their options, they made the right choice; I'd say that the person who dispatched the police should have been more aware of the situation and sent officers who were trained for such a situation though.

I think it's excessive force. Pepper spray can be leathal if the person has an allergic reaction to it. I don't think you should use it in a situation that doesn't call for leathal force. Same with tasers.

What are the stats on that, though? The whole point of pepper spray is that it is, in fact, a non-lethal deterrent. Unless allergies to it are super-common, it's not really reasonable to discontinue a tool like that.

Same for tasers. They're specifically designed and tested to be non-lethal; situations in which they ARE lethal (say, damaging a pacemaker) are unfortunate, but not common enough to justify not using them.

There's no perfect solution to this problem. Anything that's meant to disable people temporarily is going to carry a risk of being used on that tiny segment of the population who are somehow fatally sensitive to the factor that makes it effective for disabling people. They're not just throwing this shit around willy-nilly, they've studied it and have determined that the risk of causing serious harm is low enough that they can use the tool and reasonably expect not to end up using it on someone who reacts badly.

 

[Ashendarei]

Honestly, I would have either tazed the little bastard, or pepper sprayed him. 100% behind the cops on this one.

And that mother? god damn ... "they could have called in and asked for a special unit who talks with children" ... FAILURE of a parent, who has NO right to complain when her failure as a parent is clearly at fault here.

If your kid is 8 years old, and has already been talked to by police on no less then 3 occasions, I think it's a pretty safe bet that there is a serious lack of parenting at home.

Here's a sobering thought for you fellow Escapist readers: That's the future generation of America ....

 

[Dogstile]

Seriously, when I was a kid, I was like that. They just held me down and told me to STFU. These teachers are pussy's. I mean that sincerely.

And to everyone saying he had a sharp object. HE HAD A STICK. IT WAS NOT SHARP. IT WAS A STICK.

He said he wanted to find a sharp object, but (i didn't watch the video here, so if i'm wrong, well, DURRRR HERP DERP on my behalf) he had a stick. He is eight. Those teachers suck. So does his mother.

I've already said this about another post, but I'll repeat it:

Remember, teachers aren't allowed to so much as TOUCH a child without a lawsuit anymore. I'm sure they could have easily taken him, but they chose to call the police instead, because that's protocol and it takes responsibility from the school district for any injuries that the child may sustain.

I know, but I still find it stupid. I hate all the lawsuits flying around nowadays. It was so much better when if a kid mouthed off he'd get told to STFU. My old teacher actually had a thing for snapping a ruler on our desks. Worked rather well. He also had a tennis ball, but he'd only throw that at us if he knew us well.

But still, lawsuits are ruining education.

 

[Revolutionary]

S**t, short of shooting a net or something at him, that's about the kindest way they could have stopped him.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The kid had a sharp object which indicates that he had harmful motives. But he's eight. I mean yeah, they had to stop him, but if you've been trained to take down a full grown man how hard is it to grab an eight year old and hold him down?

Yeah, because a 180 pound cop tackling an 80 pound kid is definitely a better idea than pepper spraying him. At least the pepper spray won't leave broken bones and internal injuries.