A lawsuit has been filed on behalf on a 10-year-old boy in Santa Fe, NM alleging that a police officer deployed a Taser because the boy jokingly refused to clean his car. Back in May, officer Chris Webb of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and Motor Transportation was visiting Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School for career day to speak to a group of students.
While demonstrating how to use the Taser X26, Webb reportedly asked who would like to clean his vehicle. One student, identified only as R.D. in court documents, "jokingly refused," so Webb replied "Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.” Webb then fired two bards into the boy's chest, sending 50,000-volts through his body.
The boy fell to the ground and blacked out, and the lawsuit claims that Webb never called for emergency services, opting to take the boy into the bathroom to "clean him up." He removed the barbs from the boy's chest, which left "cigarette burn” scars behind.
Webb says he forgot to remove the Taser cartridge from the device for a second demonstration, and was suspended for three days. The civil suit seeks an unspecified amount of punitive damages.
[via Gawker]
