Cop Tases Jr. High Students; Lawsuits Filed

Concerned parent says it was special needs children who were shocked

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Two federal lawsuits each seek more than $10 million on behalf of two 12-year-old boys who allege a Kankakee police officer shocked them with a stun gun during an in-school demonstration.

The lawsuits were filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Urbana. Police officials in Kankakee placed the officer on administrative leave after he allegedly used a stun gun on students Tuesday as part of an unauthorized demonstration of the device at Kankakee Junior High School.

The lawsuits name the police officer, the city of Kankakee, Kankakee School District 111 and two teachers.

The boys' attorney, James Rowe, says they also want the officer -- identified in the suit as Lonnie Netzel -- fired and criminal charges filed in the case. Teachers Teresa LaReau and Jessica Labon are also named.

Rowe alleges that the shockings were racially motivated.

"Shocking two 12-year-olds with a taser gun for no reason is reprehensible and criminal," said James Rowe, the lawyer representing Alta Young and Stella Bender, the boys' mothers, in a statement. "This was abuse, and it was perpetrated upon students of color and only students of color."

http://www.nbcchicago.com

Seems like the "less lethal" option is being abused quite a bit these days. Poor kids.

Move Along- Nothing to See Here.

Simon Glik, a lawyer, was walking down Tremont Street in Boston when he saw three police officers struggling to extract a plastic bag from a teenager’s mouth. Thinking their force seemed excessive for a drug arrest, Glik pulled out his cellphone and began recording.

Within minutes, Glik said, he was in handcuffs.

“One of the officers asked me whether my phone had audio recording capabilities,’’ Glik, 33, said recently of the incident, which took place in October 2007. Glik acknowledged that it did, and then, he said, “my phone was seized, and I was arrested.’’

The charge? Illegal electronic surveillance.

boston.com

I wonder if they'll take down the "red light" cameras using their own logic? Another case of what's good for the geese isn't good for the gander.

Yet another wrongful and willfull conviction.......

More than 500 pages of recently released court documents and interviews with witnesses, police and prosecutors show that Louisville police and prosecutors repeatedly ignored evidence that the wrong man was sent to prison for the 1993 fatal shooting of a clerk at a Newburg Road gas station.

Courier-Journal.com

This is the only reason I'm opposed to the death penalty.