ATLANTA — An Atlanta mother is speaking out after her daughter and another student were zapped with a Taser gun by a school resource officer.
The incident happened on a school bus parked near Inman Middle School in northeast Atlanta Friday afternoon.
Sheena Lester told Channel 2’s Ashley Swann the officer went too far by using the stun gun to break up a fight between the two seventh graders.
“How could you tase a 12-year-old? I'm still heartbroken, this is my only child,” said Sheena Lester. “She has heart problems and I just think it was terrible.”
“She came up to me and she hit me,” daughter Shakya told Swann. “That's when I hit her back."
Shakya showed where the officer stunned her as she admittedly fought with the female classmate on the bus.
“It was like this deep shock and it made me shake,” Shakya explained.
“There’s no excuse,” said Lester. “These kids didn't have a weapon. They are little girls." She says she came to the school as soon as she heard and confronted the officer herself.
“You're like (6 feet 2 inches). You weigh about 240 pounds. Why couldn't you just break these two girls up?,” said Lester, referencing the officer.
An Atlanta Public Schools spokesman confirmed both students were shot with a stun gun and said the officer, who’s a certified Taser instructor, responded how he saw fit.
“They must use their own best judgment when making sure that our kids are safe,” said APS spokesman Stephen Alford.
“If it's OK to pull out a Taser to break up 12-year-olds, I think that is totally wrong,” said Lester. “We need to do something to change that."
Atlanta police said the officer's stun gun was used in "drive stun" mode by making a brief, direct contact with the girls. They also said the devices are equipped with video and audio capability, so the department will review that evidence and interview witnesses to determine if its use was in keeping with their policies and procedures.
WSBTV
