Lawsuit filed over cop who Tased boy, 10, on career day

Santa Fe - A lawsuit has been filed against Police officer Christopher Webb and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety on behalf of a ten-year-old boy who alleges the officer used a Taser on him.

What was supposed to be a normal career day like any other child has experienced on May 4 became a nightmare for one ten-year old boy. The child who weighs 100lb and was identified only as R.D., attended class at Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School, where he was hit with 50,000 volts of electricity in a demonstration by Officer Webb. According to Courthouse News the boy’s legal guardian, Rachel Higgins, filed a complaint stating “Defendant Webb asked the boy, R.D., in a group of boys, who would like to clean his patrol unit, . “A number of boys said that they would. R.D., joking, said that he did not want to clean the patrol unit.”“Defendant Webb responded by pointing his taser at R.D. and saying, ‘Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.’” It is hard to believe what happened next. It was at this point that Webb pointed the taser at R.D. and fired two barbs into the boy’s chest, sending 50,000 volts through his body. But it does not end here. The boy, obviously terrified, lost consciousness after attempting to remove the barbed hooks from his own skin. And Instead of calling for medical personnel, Officer Webb pulled out the barbs himself and took the boy to the school principal’s office.The boy has been left with two scars, each resembling a cigarette burn. Representatives of the boy also said he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since the ‘attack’ occurred. A representative told the court yesterday “The boy, R.D., has woken up in the middle of the night holding his chest, afraid he is never going to wake up again,” The boy's guardian is suing for multiple complaints, from battery to failure to render medical care. She stated at the hearing ”No reasonable officer confronting a situation where the need for force is at its lowest, on a playground with elementary age children, would have deployed the taser in so reckless a manner as to cause physical and psychological injury.”