Police Tasered 12-Year-Old For Crying After He Tackled Her Mother Over Traffic Ticket Warrants
A 12-year-old girl is recovering after being Tasered in a St. Louis Victoria’s Secret while police officers were trying to arrest her mother over warrants for traffic tickets.
The mother is now demanding an investigation, even though police insist their actions were appropriate.
Dejamon Baker showed KSDK the wounds on her chest and stomach from the Taser probes.
“This one goes in my chest,” the girl explained. “It was stuck in there so she had to keep on pulling trying to pull it out.”
“I had fell on the floor and I couldn’t control myself I just kept on shaking and stuff.”
A spokesperson for the police department said that Baker had interfered while officers were trying to arrest her mother, Charlene Bratton, for outstanding warrants due to unresolved traffic tickets.
“He said, put your hands behind your back. I said for what,” Bratton recalled. “Next thing you know he tackled me down on the ground.”
Both Baker and Bratton deny that the 12-year-old girl interfered with the arrest.
“I was just crying. I guess he got mad because I was crying or something, then he just took it out and just Tased me,” Baker insisted.
Bratton added: “He should have had enough control to tell her to get back instead of pulling out his gun, I guess he was nervous or whatever, and Tasing people.”
The police spokesperson said that the officer’s actions were justified, and advised Bratton to contact the department’s internal affairs division to launch an investigation.
(via mooncalfe)
