Mother Files Lawsuit for School Taser Attack

Sheila Weatherspoon has filed a lawsuit on the behalf of her 15 year-old son for personal injuries sustained when a police officer struck him with a Taser at his school, as reported by the Post-Standard for Syracuse.com.

The city school's policies regarding the use of Tasers by police is being challenged as well in the federal lawsuit.

The suit claims that the boy was recklessly injured when police used a Taser on him.  The boy was allegedly engaged in a melee, and trying to end a fight, between two girls at Fowler High School on September 28, 2009.

In a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Weatherspoon claims that "The police officers' actions were an unfortunate but inevitable result of the City of Syracuse's policies and practices governing the deployment of armed police officers in Syracuse public schools, which were designed to govern police activity on the streets of Syracuse, not the hallways and playgrounds of its schools."

Officer James Stone, the resource officer at Fowler High School, stated that he fired the Taser at the girl doing the most harm but it struck the boy instead. The boy the Taser probes struck was also the same boy the girl was aiming her punches at.

Stone, and a second officer, James Morris, are named as defendants in the lawsuit along with the city.

A failure by the city to "acknowledge the important differences between regulating adult criminal behavior and regulating children within the educational environment" is also claimed in the lawsuit.

The complaint outlines how the police are not trained before being assigned to a specific school, or trained in the risks of injury and death by Taser in a school setting.  The city has also made no distinction in the use of Tasers on adults verses children.

The boy, identified as "A.E.", sustained serious injuries during the attack.  He continues to suffer from both pain and emotional distress, per Weatherspoon, due to the actions of the police.

One student A.E. knew at Fowler - as he was new to the school from Michigan - asked to borrow his cellular phone at the end of a school day.  At that time A.E. spied another girl running at his friend.  He stepped in to break up a fight between the two when police, and other school officials, arrived.

But A.E. didn't see the officials - nor was there any verbal warning that they were present - until the Taser attack.

The officer immediately pulled the trigger, per Weatherspoon, and A.E. was struck in the arm with a painful shock.  Then, while splayed on the school grounds, with up to 40 students watching, the police handcuffed him. 

Weatherspoon contended that many of the dozens of students that witnessed the altercation told officers that her son was only there to try and stop the fight.

The lawsuit charges the police with assault, excessive force, false arrest and false imprisonment.

Compensation will be determined at the trial for the personal injury charges.  The lawsuit also seeks a declaration that the defendants violated New York State law and the U.S. Constitution.

If your child has been hurt at school, or anywhere else, due to police practices, click here to contact a personal injury lawyer from our directory.