Off duty Cincinnati police officer deploys taser on 11-year old child
By
Jacob Crosse
11 August 2018
Last Monday, Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) Officer Kevin Brown, 55, saw fit to tase 11 year old Donesha Gowdy as she was leaving a Spring Grove Village Kroger grocery store Monday evening. Brown, working as a security guard, tasered Gowdy for allegedly stealing “snacks.”
According to the police report, Gowdy refused to comply with Brown’s demands to stop. As she turned her back and walked away, the off duty officer electrocuted the adolescent: shocking her with up to 50,000 volts of electricity. The metal electrodes pierced her skin and embedded in her back, completing a circuit that witness’s state caused Gowdy to collapse. She began convulsing as the electricity sent spasms through her 4-foot-11-inch, 90-pound body. The fourth grader was transported to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and charged with “theft” and “obstructing official business.”
The use of a Taser on a child “as young as 7 or an adult as old as 70” is currently permitted under the CPD’s Use of Force policy.
Donna Gowdy, mother of Donesha, was irate at the officer’s actions. “If you can’t restrain these little kids, you need to find a different job.” She also stated that her daughter was suffering from back pain and having difficulty sleeping since the incident. In comments to local reporters, Donesha stated that she didn’t comply with the officer’s demand to stop because she was scared.
The Taser, developed by Axon Enterprise Inc., has been sold to law enforcement departments, the military and civilians as a “less lethal electroshock weapon” that can incapacitate from up to 25 feet away. Axon, formerly Taser International, touts the ability of…