Chicago Police Taser 82-Year-Old Woman

The Guardian reports:

Chicago's Police Department is investigating an officer's use of a Taser last month on an 82-year-old woman who police say was swinging a hammer when they arrived.

Lillian Fletcher was rushed to the hospital after being jolted by the Taser last week but has been released, police said Tuesday.

Officials with the city's Department on Aging went to her home Oct. 29 to make a welfare check and called police when they saw Fletcher in a window swinging a hammer, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Tuesday.

Officers arrived and in an attempt to subdue Fletcher, one of them used a Taser, Bond said. The department is trying to determine whether the officer violated department policy on the use of stun guns.

Fletcher said Tuesday that officers pushed their way into her home. ``They shocked me,'' she said.

Fletcher at times sounded confused during the telephone interview. Her granddaughter Traci Taylor told the Chicago Sun-Times that her grandmother has schizophrenia and dementia.

``My grandmother is easily confused,'' Taylor told the newspaper, adding that the woman can be belligerent but is about 5 feet 1 and weighs no more than 160 pounds.

``I just don't think they should be Tasing 82-year-old women. That's ridiculous,'' Taylor said.

Tasers use compressed nitrogen to fire two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing to deliver a 50,000-volt shock to immobilize people.

Touted by law enforcement officials as less lethal than other ways of subduing combative people in high-risk situations, the weapons have come under criticism nationwide after they were blamed for several deaths.

In 2005, the police superintendent at the time suspended the distribution of stun guns after the deaths of two people who had been hit by police with Tasers.

Today, about 150 field training officers are set to be issued new Tasers, and about 200 sergeants have had the weapons for about five years, Bond said.

The human rights group Amnesty International USA has voiced concerns that police departments are starting to use Tasers more routinely rather than in cases of serious danger.

Taser use by police drew national attention recently when police stunned and arrested a University of Florida student after his fervent, videotaped outburst at an event with Sen. John Kerry in September.

In Ohio, a patrolman accused of repeatedly jolting a woman who had been arrested with a Taser gun faces a disciplinary hearing Friday, The Tribune Chronicle of Warren reported. The woman had been arrested because she was acting unruly at a bar, police said.

No Age Limit on Gwinnett, Georgia Police Taser Policy

Halloween incident where police shocked teen sheds light on issue; critics complain kids as young as 6 can be Tasered.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Last week's use of a Taser stun gun on a handcuffed 14-year-old trick or treater is within Gwinnett County police policy, which has no age provision, police said.

The only protection in the policy is for pregnant women because it could induce labor.

So what about a 5- or 6-year-old?

That's OK, according to Gwinnett police policy.

"People who are handcuffed are still a threat no matter what age," said Cpl. Illana Spellman, a Gwinnett County Police Department spokeswoman.

Taser shocks of youths, though, have been questioned by critics, including Amnesty International.

"We have heard about cases all over the nation, even the tasing of a 6-year-old boy in Miami," said Jared Feuer, a spokesman for the organization. "We believe the use of force on any child is excessive force. It doesn't matter if it does not violate police policy."

The Halloween night Taser shock of the teen is being reviewed by Gwinnett police supervisors.

But police brass have said that they don't believe the incident warrants an internal affairs investigation.

During the incident in a subdivision near Snellville, Officer W.A. Bohn was working off-duty detail when he heard the teen cursing loudly near young children, according to a police report.

After the teen tried to punch the officer, he called for backup and was able to get the girl handcuffed with the help of another officer.

The girl was shocked one time with the Taser after she continued to struggle, police said.

The use of the Taser has been a controversial subject across the nation.

Proponents say the 50,000-volt stun gun saves lives and injuries by stopping incidents from escalating to deadly force.

Opponents say the device needs to be studied more, can be misused and may have led to numerous deaths.

Frank Rotondo, director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, said his organization has studied the Taser and believes age should not be the deciding factor in use. "You would hope that you would not have to use the Taser on anyone, especially a child," Rotondo said Monday. "But you have to look at the behavior of the individual rather than the age. And in the Gwinnett case, the Taser was able to stop the behavior."

Gwinnett police Maj. Keybo Taylor said he is reviewing the incident.

Taylor said he has asked the foster mother of the teen to come to the Police Department to discuss the incident. However, the woman has refused.

"We are still reviewing it to see if any policies were violated, and so far we do not see any policies violated," Taylor said.