15 Year Old Autistic Teen Tasered By Police

A 15 year old autistic teen from California was tasered by police after running away from a center that he was at, and after running into traffic.

Deputies subdue autistic boy with Taser

The 15-year-old O.C. boy had run away from his parents and was dashing through traffic, authorities said.

Orange County sheriff's deputies on Tuesday defended their decision to use a stun gun on a 15-year-old autistic boy who ran away from his parents and later dashed into traffic.

Using the Taser in this case "was the right thing to do," said Jim Amormino, a sheriff's spokesman. "If that were your son, would you want him Tased or hit by a car? The deputy made the right decision. . . . It could have saved [the boy's] life."

But Doris Karras, mother of Taylor Karras, said deputies did not need to use the Taser gun, particularly since she had called various police agencies to alert them that her son was missing.

She said her son would have followed deputies' directions if he hadn't felt threatened. "This was a very aggressive response," she said. She said her son "didn't have any weapon on him. He didn't even have a pencil."

Taylor fled during a visit to the Regional Center of Orange County in Westminster about 11:30 a.m. Monday. The family had gone there for counseling, which the boy did not want.

About nine hours later, his mother saw him about one block from their home -- 16 miles from the center -- on the ground and handcuffed by deputies.

Amormino said Tustin police called the Sheriff's Department after a pedestrian reported a suspicious person. Taylor was pushing a shopping cart down Newport Avenue near La Loma Drive, near his home in North Tustin. With no money, he apparently had walked home.

Doris Karras said her son, who is 5 feet 10 and has a beard, looks older than 15.

Amormino said Taylor yelled something when approached by a deputy, then ran across Newport Avenue, causing two cars to swerve. It was then that a deputy shot him with a Taser gun.

The deputy handcuffed the youth to keep him out of traffic, Amormino said.

Taser guns use compressed nitrogen to propel two darts that attach to the body. The darts are connected to the gun by a wire and deliver a 50,000-volt shock at five-second intervals to incapacitate a suspect.

The favorite "toy" of police was once their guns. Now, it's the TASER. And they wonder why we hate them. They can do whatever they damn well please to us, and they get away with it. We, on the other hand, deserve our "punishments" bestowed upon us by these thugs!! Or so they say!!

This kid did nothing wrong, yet he got tasered. Clearly the sheriff's department knows nothing about autism and how people with autism react to situations. If they did, this kid wouldn't have been tasered. He wouldn't have been treated like a criminal. And I wouldn't be blogging about this story right now because there would be nothing to talk about!!

My personal favorite part of this story is the comment by the son of a bitch spokesman. He said, "If that were your son, would you want him Tased or hit by a car? The deputy made the right decision. . . . It could have saved [the boy's] life." Excuse me you fucking asshole? First of all, if this were my kid and they tasered him, they better damn well believe that they would be facing a lawsuit. How fucking dare this asshole suggest that anyone was right in using a taser against this kid!! Second of all, that taser could have KILLED this boy. Did they ever stop and think about that? People have died from being hit with a taser. But they were too fucking taser-happy to care!!

This is why people hate the police!! They use a taser on a teenager. What's next, using a taser against an infant that won't stop crying? If you think I'm joking, think again!! Police have already used a taser against a man holding a baby, and in turn, the baby was hit by the taser.