Cop Stuns Girl With Mother's Approval
Officer chastised for failure to record use of Taser, not for act itself.
Nov. 24, 2009 -- Kelly King of Ozark, Ark., was having trouble with her 10-year-old daughter.
The girl, who had a history of emotional problems, was acting out, refusing to take a shower. King called a juvenile probation officer who advised her to call the police.
The officer at the scene said the girl was "violently kicking." So he asked King for permission to use his stun gun, if needed.
King agreed.
When the girl kicked him in the groin, the officer delivered "a very brief drive stun" to her skin, the officer wrote in his report.
After the Nov. 11 incident, the police department placed the officer on administrative leave; not for using the stun gun but for failing to use the required camera to record the incident.
The girl's father, Anthony Medlock, who does not live with King, is especially upset.
Medlock told ABC News that his daughter is "a good kid, not a dog.
"She doesn't deserve to be treated inhumane," he said.
Town residents are also voicing their dismay.
"If a parent were to do that to a kid, he'd be arrested," Ozark resident Chris Mayner said.
Tasers, or stun guns, are valuable tools against suspects who resist, according to experts. But they are rarely used on 10 year olds.
"It's unlikely that a 70-pound girl was going to overpower a police officer," said Dennis Kenney, a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College in New York City.
This is not the first time King has called police to the home to help deal with the child, Medlock, her father, said.
Still, King is confident she made the right decision to call the police and alert the officer, she told ABC News.
"I'm not calling him over here to handle my problems," she said. "I'm having him come over here to protect my daughter from hurting herself or someone else."
