Police use Tasers on teens during fight at theater
Up to 12 people face different charges after a fight at an Aventura movie theater.
By Associated Press
Published January 18, 2005
AVENTURA - Four teenagers were shot with Taser stun guns during an altercation with police outside a movie theater, officials said.
A group of teens who were involved in a fight inside the theater were being led outside by an off-duty police officer in this Miami suburb Saturday night when the officer was attacked by another group of youths, Aventura police Chief Thomas Ribel said.
More Aventura police arrived and the Tasers were used. Two officers suffered minor injuries before the disturbance ended.
One of the teens hit with stun guns is 19, two are 17 and one is 16, Ribel said. Ribel said 11 or 12 people face charges from trespassing to battery on a police officer.
Aventura police policy bars the use of stun guns on pregnant women and children younger than 12, Ribel said. He said Saturday's incident, like any involving Taser use, is being investigated to determine whether officers acted appropriately.
"We ... review every Taser discharge and every Taser gun so that what is reported by the officers is matched against the evidence," Ribel said.
A Taser discharges 50,000 volts of electricity into the target, temporarily incapacitating the person. Since early December, at least three people in Florida have died after being subdued by Tasers, but the stun gun has not been ruled the cause of death in any of the cases.
Some medical experts say the Taser shock increases the risk of heart failure among people who are agitated, use drugs or alcohol or have other health problems.
A Miami-Dade County grand jury last week recommended expanded use of Tasers by police as an alternative to the use of firearms in crisis situations.
Also last week, the Miami-Dade Police Department announced a revision in its stun gun policy after officers were criticized for using them on a disturbed 6-year-old who had cut himself with a piece of broken glass in a school office and a 12-year-old truant who was running from a police officer.
According to the new policy, an officer's response must depend on factors such as age, size, weight, the target's likelihood of physically harming himself or others, the ability to physically challenge the officer and the overall seriousness of the situation.
