Student In Coma After Being Tased

[damnedifIknow]

BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) - The family of the high school student who was tased by a school resource officer last week has filed a suit against the Bastrop school district, their lawyer said Monday.

Adam Loewy said he will outline the details of the lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin at a news conference later in the morning.

In the court filing, the suit says the officer used unnecessary force against Noe Nino de Rivera, 17. The suit also alleges that the the teen's rights were violated. The suit seeks monetary damages, lawyer fees and related expenses.

Meanwhile, the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office is asking the Texas Rangers to look into last week's use of a stun gun on a high school student by a school resource officer.

The office said Monday that it wants an independent investigation into the incident that happened Nov. 20 at Cedar Creek High School. After Noe Nino de Rivera was stunned, he fell and hit his head and has remained in a coma."

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/rangers-asked-to-investigate-tasing

[valerief]

1. When will the school's officer get his raise and promotion? Cuz that's what happens when tasing

assholes in America hurt people. They get rewarded. They don't get punished.

[Swede Atlanta]

2. While all the facts of this incident are not known it seems like we have

gradually devolved into a police state.

Law enforcement agencies are outfitting themselves with the instruments of war. So armed they are engaging in egregious behavior that not only violates their oath to "serve and protect the people" but is in many cases outright illegal.

But what happens? Incidents are investigated by "internal affairs" that more often than not just sweep it under the proverbial rug and nothing happens. They circle the wagons to protect not only one of their own but their own power and position. They have little interest in serving and protecting anyone other than their own self-interest.

I'm not saying this is universal. There are indeed many good law enforcement officers. An uncle of mine that was a beat copy in a large midwestern city for nearly 40 years shared his fears of what is happening to the law enforcement community with me last summer. He said he sees a systemic breakdown in law enforcement culture and discipline - something he never saw in all his years on the force. He said he has had the conversation with countless other retired police and sheriffs from around the country and they agree.

From armored personnel carriers to semi-automatic rifles to power water and sound canon to swat tactical squads the average American city's police force has more firepower than the military in some small countries.

Has this made us any safer? I don't believe the drop in violent crime overall is related to these developments. In fact I am as afraid or more afraid of running afoul of the police than I am a burglar, robber or kidnapper. The police believe they are right until they are brought to heel by indisputable evidence and that emerges, unfortunately, often too late.

[damnedifIknow]

3. Great post and 100 percent agree with everything you said.

[xocet]

4. Also, campus police departments...

Armored military transport to join Ohio State police fleet
By Theodore Decker
The Columbus Dispatch, Monday September 30, 2013 9:22 AM

Wisecracks abounded as news of Ohio State University’s newly acquired armored military vehicle spread from blog to blog this month.

Would university police use the 38,000-pound vehicle to quash collegiate panty raids? Lay siege to the University of Michigan?

But peppered throughout the online riffing were bleak predictions about the rise of a government-sponsored police state. Some brought up the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State.

“Four dead in Ohio?” one person wrote. “That will be small fries when campus police start their show of force with this puppy.”

...

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/09/30/osu-police-military-vehicle-for-safe-travel.html

[Mnemosyne]

5. K&R for more visibility. nt