The mother of an 8-year-old who was tasered by South Dakota police
last October has filed a federal lawsuit claiming police used excessive
force violating the child’s civil rights, according to the Rapid City Journal.
Dawn Stenstrom filed the suit on behalf of her daughter – identified
in court documents as ‘L.M.J.’ — naming Pierre police chief Robert
Grandpre, police officers “John and Jane Does 1-4” , and the city of
Pierre as defendants in U.S. District Court on Thursday.
According to attorney Dana Hanna, “Four police officers in close
proximity to an eight-year-old Indian child with a kitchen knife in her
hand made no attempt to simply grab the knife from the girl or grab the
girl’s arm. Instead, within minutes of arriving on the scene, one of
them shot her with a Taser.”
According to police reports, officers arrived at the girl’s
home after a babysitter called them saying the girl was holding a knife
and threatening to hurt herself. Upon arriving, officers instructed the
girl to drop the knife — described as a paring knife — and, after
failing to comply, one of the officers shot her in the chest with his
Taser.
According to the lawsuit, “The force of the electricity shot through
her body, lifted her and threw her against the wall.After the officers
had stunned L.M.J. into high voltage submission, they pulled the
fish-hook like Taser darts from her chest, gave her emergency medical
attention, bandaged the holes left by the razor-sharp hooks and called
an ambulance.” http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/08/mother-files-suit-after-her-8-year-old-is-tasered-by-police-for-wielding-a-knife/
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