Re: Orlando: Autistic Teen Tasered

[Guest guest]

For what it is worth, I will comment from the perspective of a mother of an autistic child and the wife of a police officer. While it is a shame that it came to having to taser this young man, it is better than the alternative of having the officer have to use a nightstick or firearm to defend himself. If the student wouldn't come out of the bathroom for (supposedly) specially trained teachers, aides, and other school personnel, it might have been better to call the student's parents, than to introduce an authority figure that the student assumed was threatening. I cannot blame the officer for defending himself. Is he supposed to allow himself to sustain physical harm and or death simply because the child is autistic and the school staff is unable to deal with his problems? I wonder if we will get an update as to what happens in this case.

G.Subject: Orlando: Autistic Teen TaseredTo: deniseslist Date: Monday, October 20, 2008, 7:31 PM

From:

AutismRecoveryNetwo rkyahoogroups (DOT) com

[mailto:AutismRecov eryNetwork@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of Holly

Bortfeld

Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 5:17 PM

To: AutismRecoveryNetwo rkyahoogroups (DOT) com

Subject: [AutismRecoveryNetw ork] Orlando: Autistic Teen Tasered

Autistic

Teen Tasered

bit.ly/46zQUf

Orlando, Fla. AP - An Orlando police officer

Tasered an autistic middle school student after the teen refused to leave a

bathroom and broke the officer's hand.

The incident happened Friday at Glenridge Middle

School after a teacher called police. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound student was

washing his hands when an officer confronted him. The boy then swung around an

punched the officer in the face and struck his

hand. Police say the student was not

injured but that they would ask prosecutors to charge the student with battery. Teach your children that

it's better to lose on their own terms than to win on someone else's.

__________________________________________________