Madison, WI - 14 Year Old Black Boy Tasered at School
Surveillance video from the Madison School District leaves some questions unanswered in the controversial incident of a student being shot with a Taser weapon last week. The video shows there is a physical confrontation taking place.What is also on the tape are other students going about their daily business, and that's what's puzzling to some officials who have seen the tape. The surveillance tape is hard to follow because the camera is programmed to make continuous sweeps and pans.It does not zero in on the officer struggling to handcuff the 14-year-old boy.The boy was being arrested on what would later turn out to be a faulty warrant."The interesting thing about the tape is there are a lot of folks who are walking by and not responding to the incident as if it's not out of the normal," said MMSD board President Bill Keyes."Is it because they don't see it? Is it because they regard it as normal, or is it they regard it as nothing unsafe? It's hard to say just what is going on.""But the critical moment -- the instance of the Tasering is not visible at all," said Keyes. "So, there's no conclusion to draw about what happened."The boy's mother and another school board member, Juan Lopez believe police may have used excessive force. 'What I've seen so far doesn't warrant the use of a taser. My first impression was there's an African American kid that's being picked on. That should not be occurring in our schools or in our community, period,'' said Lopez. The surveillance video comes just as national media raise new questions over the controversial weapon.Just this week, a 14-year-old Chicago boy went into cardiac arrest after being hit.Some critics have linked Tasers to as many as 70 deaths across the country. [more] and [more]