Oregon police taser 11-year-old autistic girl found wandering naked

[Pyraxis]

Source

In Oregon, police found a naked and very confused 11-year-old girl wandering on the highway along the I-5 corridor. Instead of offering her a ride home, they decided to taser her.

The young girl was autistic.

Adam Bednar, a cab driver, saw the naked girl on Sunday morning. When he drove up to the seemingly confused girl, she gave him a smile, indicating that she was not fully aware of her surroundings or what she was doing.

Bednar said, “I thought she was drugged. I thought she was on bath salts, too much meth, something.”

The cab driver called the police, as he drove alongside her.

The trooper who showed up on the scene told the girl to stop walking. After she didn’t respond, he threatened to taser her twice. Two little red dots appeared on the small girl’s back, and then metal barbs.

“She seized up, then she just fell face first on the ground. Just face first on the ground,” said Bednar.

The Oregon State Police defended the officer’s decision to taser the 11-year-old, saying it was necessary to prevent her from wandering further and “putting herself in danger.”

Bednar, on the other hand, says this explanation isn’t good enough. “She wasn’t going off the road, she was set on walking down the freeway,” he said. “And I think that, had [the trooper] waited for back up, they could have gotten her without the Taser.”

The girl’s father says the local news reportage also wasn’t fair. His daughter was referred to as a “young woman,” a “woman,” and a “juvenile.” The report refused to give her age.

The father said, “They keep calling her a ‘woman’ …she is 11 years old. Since when is an 11-year-old kid with the mind of a 3-year-old a ‘woman’? She is very gentle and non combative. If the police cannot apprehend a child who is cooperative without Tasing then what would be the alternative? Shooting her?”

This entire situation is an absurd case of a police power-grab. Tasers are only to be used in emergency situations, as a last resort before lethal force.

The local media coverage of the events also illuminates a problematic relationship between media and police. There was no attempt to question the trooper’s decision to taser the 11-year-old with autism. Instead, they called the 11-year-old a “woman,” and presented their story to the public as if it were unbiased and fair.

Another news report

So sick of this shit.

[skyblue1]

Source

In Oregon, police found a naked and very confused 11-year-old girl wandering on the highway along the I-5 corridor. Instead of offering her a ride home, they decided to taser her.

The young girl was autistic.

Adam Bednar, a cab driver, saw the naked girl on Sunday morning. When he drove up to the seemingly confused girl, she gave him a smile, indicating that she was not fully aware of her surroundings or what she was doing.

Bednar said, “I thought she was drugged. I thought she was on bath salts, too much meth, something.”

The cab driver called the police, as he drove alongside her.

The trooper who showed up on the scene told the girl to stop walking. After she didn’t respond, he threatened to taser her twice. Two little red dots appeared on the small girl’s back, and then metal barbs.

“She seized up, then she just fell face first on the ground. Just face first on the ground,” said Bednar.

The Oregon State Police defended the officer’s decision to taser the 11-year-old, saying it was necessary to prevent her from wandering further and “putting herself in danger.”

Bednar, on the other hand, says this explanation isn’t good enough. “She wasn’t going off the road, she was set on walking down the freeway,” he said. “And I think that, had [the trooper] waited for back up, they could have gotten her without the Taser.”

The girl’s father says the local news reportage also wasn’t fair. His daughter was referred to as a “young woman,” a “woman,” and a “juvenile.” The report refused to give her age.

The father said, “They keep calling her a ‘woman’ …she is 11 years old. Since when is an 11-year-old kid with the mind of a 3-year-old a ‘woman’? She is very gentle and non combative. If the police cannot apprehend a child who is cooperative without Tasing then what would be the alternative? Shooting her?”

This entire situation is an absurd case of a police power-grab. Tasers are only to be used in emergency situations, as a last resort before lethal force.

The local media coverage of the events also illuminates a problematic relationship between media and police. There was no attempt to question the trooper’s decision to taser the 11-year-old with autism. Instead, they called the 11-year-old a “woman,” and presented their story to the public as if it were unbiased and fair.

Another news report

So sick of this shit.

Dont understand why the officer didnt pick her up and put her in his car

Should have been easy to see that she wasnt armed

He could have put her in his car and given her a blanket or something

She is also lucky that a child molester didnt pick her up

shame on that officer

[sg1008]

I swear- they are even worse with those tasers. Just give them guns and let the statistics pile up on them so the corruption is blatantly obvious.

[TheoK]

Imagine if people just decided to lynch the cops. Imagine seeing them lying in big pools of their own blood. 

[Lestat]

Couldn't agree more; lit. If a pig, an adult pig (even if only this on the physical growth side of things) If I had kids treated like that by pigs? fuckers better quit their job and look for a job in some tiny, secluded foreign monastery.

[El]

Sickening.

["couldbecousin"]

  If the trooper doesn't think he did anything wrong, he should be happy to have his name released. 

[Queen Victoria]

Okay, time for an unpopular stance. 

We don't know how big or mature looking this girl was.  Kids are getting bigger younger.  It was late at night. 

Wouldn't you assume that someone walking at night, nude could be dangerous?  Quote from the rescuer, "Bednar said, “I thought she was drugged. I thought she was on bath salts, too much meth, something.”  This had probably been communicated to the dispatcher.  The officer was approaching the girl with that possibility in mind.  It's probably a lot safer to handle someone who may be on drugs if you can avoid the possibility of a physical fight. 

She was walking on a freeway.  Yes, the taxi cab driver (did) or police officer could have driven beside her until other help arrived, but that in itself is dangerous.  I don't remember the term for it, but drivers focus on the police vehicle and plow into it.  Also, what happens if she makes a run for the woods or even into traffic?  There may not be any traffic then, but what about it a minute or two?  Would you like to be wrestling with a nude person on an interstate at night?

We don't know how long back-up would be in arriving to help out at the scene.

Tough, scary choice.  At least she's alive.

[TheoK]

Cops should die, no matter what 

[Parts]

It is a tough call,  if the danger to her was imminent perhaps it was for the best but I have seen them close down I95 one of the busiest interstates in the country in the middle of the day because of a dog on the road 

["couldbecousin"]

Cops should die, no matter what 

  I disagree with that, I am glad we have cops for protection against some things.  I just don't like the taser-happy,
  trigger-happy ones.  I guess times and practices have changed.  My brother's godfather was a career police officer
  who never even drew his gun.  Very scary to think tasering a confused wanderer is excused not because she
  threatened the officer or became violent, but because she didn't respond when spoken to.


  Full disclosure: About 6 weeks ago I too became lost while walking and ended up on the interstate.  Apparently someone
  reported me, because a police car pulled over next to me.  The officer said something I didn't hear. I assumed he was telling me
  to get off the interstate, and I agitatedly said OK and started to turn back to retrace my steps toward the city street I had left. 
  He said something like  "No, wait a minute,"  and I did stop, and he told me to get in the car and he would drive me to where
  I was going.  He did so.  He didn't want me getting hit by a car, that was all.  But I am a heavyset middle-aged adult and I was
  initially uncooperative due to embarrassment/agitation/not hearing what the officer said.  My lack of common sense could have
  registered, in his mind, as evidence of drug use, mental disturbance, or some other state that might have made me dangerous. 
  My point is, this officer handled the situation without tasering me.  I will be watching for updates on this story, to see what the
  Oregon trooper found so menacing about this girl. 
 

[Pyraxis]

Okay, time for an unpopular stance. 

We don't know how big or mature looking this girl was.  Kids are getting bigger younger.  It was late at night. 

Wouldn't you assume that someone walking at night, nude could be dangerous?  Quote from the rescuer, "Bednar said, “I thought she was drugged. I thought she was on bath salts, too much meth, something.”  This had probably been communicated to the dispatcher.  The officer was approaching the girl with that possibility in mind.  It's probably a lot safer to handle someone who may be on drugs if you can avoid the possibility of a physical fight. 

She was walking on a freeway.  Yes, the taxi cab driver (did) or police officer could have driven beside her until other help arrived, but that in itself is dangerous.  I don't remember the term for it, but drivers focus on the police vehicle and plow into it.  Also, what happens if she makes a run for the woods or even into traffic?  There may not be any traffic then, but what about it a minute or two?  Would you like to be wrestling with a nude person on an interstate at night?

We don't know how long back-up would be in arriving to help out at the scene.

Tough, scary choice.  At least she's alive.

I read somewhere (I'll look for it again if I need to) that it was at 4am and they closed off the traffic in both directions before approaching her.

Cops are trained to take down armed and practiced grown men. Even a mature 11-year-old is unlikely to be a serious physical threat.

No, I think the biggest threat in the cops' minds was likely lawsuit. Wrestling a naked and possibly drugged female child?

So I think they were protecting their own asses at the expense of the girl.

[Al Swearegen]

I thiunk the cops were arseholes and behaved like arseholes and are backed in being the arseholes they are

[Lestat]

Aye............Very good point. If this pig truly has nothing to fear, then his name (and address)  shouldnt be a problem at all, for public knowledge.

[Queen Victoria]

Here is the official statement from the Oregon State Police.

Oregon State Police Statement Regarding June 16, 2013 Taser Use-Of-Force Incident on Interstate 5 near Ashland   
June 21, 2013


On June 16, 2013 at approximately 4:15 a.m., OSP was dispatched to a report of a person walking naked along Interstate 5 north of Ashland. The lone trooper on duty in the area arrived on scene and saw an unidentified female walking in darkness southbound with her back to traffic on the fog line in an unlit area. Without backup available, the female trooper tried to get the female’s attention to get her to come to the car but was met with no verbal response or cooperation. When a passing motorist stopped at the scene, the female moved out into the traffic lanes and as the trooper followed she didn’t get any response or show of cooperation. As the situation continued to quickly unfold, the trooper used a Taser to keep the female from continuing to move into a position on the freeway, where others may suddently drive upon the scene with no reasonable expectation of pedestrians on the roadway, that would put her or others at risk.
 
After checking the female for any injury and finding none, the trooper placed the resistive female in the patrol car and took her to an area hospital. After arrival, the female continued to be unresponsive to questions and was resistant to medical staff’s help. Her behavior and physical development led medical staff and the trooper to think she was in her late teens to early 20’s. At that time they also started thinking she may be autistic.
 
While at the hospital, OSP sent a news release to area media asking for help to identify the female for which there was no information explaining how and why she was along the freeway. With the help of the local 9-1-1 center, she was identified and contact made with a family member. It was only at this time that her actual age (11) was learned. Once in contact with her family, OSP shared details of what happened and will update her family as needed.
 
OSP understands that this incident has caused concern while many parts of the story were being reported and picked up on social media. Per policy, OSP reviews all use-of-force incidents involving our troopers. We are grateful the girl was identified quickly and reunited with family that morning after being checked out at the hospital.
 
In June 2012, OSP began equipping all troopers assigned to the Patrol Services Division and Fish & Wildlife Division with Taser X2 electronic control devices (ECD). OSP troopers go through 8 hours of mandatory training to handle potential use of force situations with an appropriate level of response to minimize possible injury to our troopers and persons they are contacting. Ninety (90) percent of U.S. law enforcement agencies use ECD equipment as a safe use-of-force option compared to traditional use-of-force tools.  The Taser is an alternative to deadly force, impact weapons (baton) and physical resistance which may involve fighting with people, often leading to injuries to the officer and/or person.
 
During the last few years on average, OSP troopers were annually involved in over 250,000 calls resulting in contacts with people. During 2012, OSP troopers reported 125 use-of-force incidents - approximately .05% of OSP contacts. Preliminary information indicates use-of-force incidents are trending down since OSP troopers been carrying Tasers in late 2012, possibly because the displaying of a Taser during a potential use-of-force situation is known to diffuse resistance and gain compliance.
 
### www.oregon.gov/OSP ###​


And from her father:  “She warned my daughter twice, who doesn’t respond verbally at all, and then tased her,” said Aram Hampson, the victim’s father.

Hampson says he daughter’s case of autism is so severe, she cannot carry a conversation and she often runs away from home.

And, on top of that, she doesn’t look like your average girl, which is why her dad thinks she was mistaken for a woman.

“She’s kind of you know, husky,” Hampson said.

While tazing an 11-year-old disabled child sounds extreme, state police say the move most likely saved her life.

They claim the girl was actually running across both lanes of the freeway in the wee hours of the morning. And for what it’s worth, they didn’t know she was 11