10-Year-Old Boy Tasered for Refusing to Wash Police Car

When tasers were first rolled out by law enforcement, they were sold as a less-lethal alternative to deadly force for extreme situations. However, some police departments have lowered the standards by which tasers can be deployed, and, in many cases, they become a “pain compliance” device, used to torture suspects into obeying an officer’s order, whether or not anyone’s life is at risk. Before long, outrageous videos of abusive tasering incidents began to pop up all over the internet, sometimes with elderly people and children being targeted despite not being a realistic physical threat to any officer.

On May 4th of this year, the unthinkable happened. A 10-year-old boy, going by the initials “RD” for purposes of anonymity, attended career day at school in hopes of learning about future career options. At the event, a police officer asked which student wanted to wash his car. RD raised his hand and indicated that he did not want to wash the officer’s car. ABC News is reporting on allegations that the officer responded by tasering the 10-year-old child, discharging 50,000 volts into him and driving him into unconsciousness.

Using Tasers to Gain Compliance Is a Form of Torture

The American tradition of human rights bans cruel and unusual punishment. Tasers were originally intended for use in situations when a police officer might be able to take down someone, without using a firearm, who is in the process of eminently harming others. Using them to get a non-violent suspect to comply with an officer’s order is absolutely, by the textbook definition, a form of torture. It rises to the level of a violation of fundamental human rights and also violates criminal laws.

When RD’s mother arrived to pick him up from school, she rushed him to the emergency room. To this day, the young boy wakes up in the middle of the night terrified, worried his heart will stop at any moment. Imagine how terrible it must feel for a young child to have this experience at the hands of a police officer. Who should he be expected to trust?

The Officer’s Side of the Story

Officer Chris Webb claims that his taser went off by mistake when some students asked him to show them the device. A different officer had tested the device previously, and it was in working order. Even if one gives Webb the benefit of the doubt and assumes that to be true, such negligence is terrifying. Imagine if the students had asked to see his gun.

However, RD’s mother claims that, before deploying his taser, Officer Webb said, “Let me show what happens to people who do not listen to the police.” Also, the prongs hit RD in the center of the chest, precisely in the area on the body at which an officer would typically aim.

“RD” wishes to remain anonymous because his family is suing the police department in their small town, and they don’t want to risk being singled out for retribution. This 10-year-old boy’s non-compliance reminds us of something very important: police officers work for us, not the other way around.

We are not required to do chores for public officials in order to avoid being electrocuted. In fact, police officers are required to provide a safe community in exchange for the taxpayer dollars they receive. RD did the right thing by refusing to clean the officer’s car. Why should students detail cars on career day unless the lesson was that they should strive for that as a career? For refusing to comply with an unreasonable order, RD is our Rebel of the Week. It’s horrific and tragic that he was tortured with electricity by a police officer for this at the young age of 10.

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