On Tuesday, a worker at Tender Teddies Day Care in Martinsville, Ind., called the police to report that one of the children was acting out in a manner that threatened the safety of the other kids. Captain William Jennings and Officer Darren Johnson arrived at the scene and, according to a spokesperson for the Martinsville Police Department, found the boy to be combative.
Jennings reportedly slapped the boy, then Johnson used his Taser to completely subdue the child. The 94 pound, 10 year old boy has two marks on his arm where Jennings used the gun, but is otherwise unharmed. The owner of Tender Teddies Day Care, Heather Lancaster, had no comments for the press but the Martinsville PD announced that Jennings and Johnson have been placed on administrative leave.
According to that announcement, “while the department will not condone the unnecessary treatment of any subject, regardless of age, in any apprehension situation, additional comments will not be made pending results of the final investigation.”
Independent investigations have been put in motion by the local Sheriff’s Department and Martinsville Department of Child Services. ”We need to look at it a lot closer because [the Taser gun is] not really made for 10 year olds,” Police Chief John Davis said at a news conference.
The police have been called to Tender Teddies more than once about the behavior of the same child, but local residents like Kenneth Frazier think the police went to far. Frazier told WRTV, “I don’t think that should have happened. I’m sure they could have detained him some other way. They take big grown-ups down without tasing them…why a 10 year old?”
