Disgusting

There are many many reasons to read Digby regularly, but among them are her consistent and disturbing reports on the use and abuse of tasers by the police in this country.

Exhibit 1: Keeping a 10-year old under control through the "magic" of attacking their nervous system with painful electronic pulses and being called a hero for it.

Teschner said that because of the tight quarters the boy was in, stunning the child with a Taser was a more effective way of arresting the youth rather than using pepper spray.

"They couldn't get close enough to deploy pepper spray without putting themselves in danger," Teschner said.

Apparently it just doesn't dawn on this purportedly well-trained "officer of the peace" that they can probably physically manage to overwhelm a 10-year old child through the timeless process of grabbing them. No the first priority is tasering...and the back up plan for a 10-year old child is pepper spray.

And besides, it was a foster child, and who gives a shit about them anyway? /pissed off sarcasm.