Tasered Ypsilanti student assaulted principal, sheriff's official says
An Ypsilanti High School student was released pending charges following an altercation at the high school Friday that ended when he was shot with a Taser.
Washtenaw County sheriff's officials also released new details today on what led the deputy to deploy his Taser.
Department spokesman Derrick Jackson said both Principal Jonathan Brown and school Deputy John Campbell stepped out of their offices after hearing swearing and yelling in the hallway Friday.
Jackson said the 17-year-old student was threatening and was approaching a group of students. He said the student pushed Brown away when he attempted to calm the student down and bring him to his office.
“At that point it turned from a school disturbance issue to an assaultive crime on the principal,” Jackson said.
Campbell then attempted to calm the student, Jackson said, and was also pushed away.
“It then became resisting an arrest,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the student was tasered and taken to the Washtenaw County Jail, where he was released later that night pending charges.
Calls to Ypsilanti Public Schools spokeswoman Emma Jackson were not immediately returned.
AnnArbor.com will continue to update this story as more details become available.
Comments
swcornell
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 10:46 a.m.
Teenager think they are immortal and can do whatever they want. When they get violent and physical they need to be put in their place. Call their parents to come an get them immediately. If their parents don't come then consider them an abandoned child and call protective services! What would you have the police do, use their service revolver? That's what they're trained for. Or maybe go back to the days of night sticks, beat the kid down. I believe TASERS are a safer alternative. Yes violent people occasionally die. But at least this way bystanders are safer.
RoboLogic
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 8:50 a.m.
This quote below from Anonymous Due to Bigotry is the most intelligent thing I've read in ages. "Sorry Charley, but that's not one of the options when a cop is assaulted. Not only that, but again you're jumping to the conclusion that both the principal and the officer are incompetent and that the student was capable of being reasoned with. You have no basis for this conclusion, but it's quite clear from the article that the officer was assaulted. So again, since a taser should never be in a school, when you have a situation where a student simply won't comply with verbage, would you rather see the officer strike him, sic the police dogs on him, put him in choke hold, shoot him with rubber bullets, or what? These are all considered justified force in that situation according to law enforcement experts. The problem with lots of "educators" these days is that they seem to think that everything can be resolved by coddling students even when they're a danger to other students! This doesn't work, and if I had kids I'd come have a word with you about your policy of putting my kids in danger. Coddling often leads to students pushing limits further and further and becoming more and more unruly and dangerous. Once they get out into the real world and the cops won't coddle them they're in for a rude surprise. Also, a 17 year old is not a "child". He isn't quite an adult yet, but he's far from a child. This is other part of the problem: very low expectations for people even as old as 17! I'm sorry, but at 17 you're only a few months from legally being an adult. If 17 year olds are going to be little children then we need to raise the voting age to 21 or something. To say that you're a child one day, then the next day you're legally an adult is like giving someone credentials to perform surgery without teaching them anything, then once they walk into the operating room telling them "oh, maybe we should start expecting you to start learning to perform surgery now". By that time it's too late. The low expectations for young people also factors into the underage drinking situation mentioned in an article elsewhere on the site. It would be much less of a problem if people started insisting that teenagers behave more like adults. (And yes, TASER is a brand name and not a verb, but who cares? The point is that everyone knows what we're talking about.)"
nxil2009
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 7:47 a.m.
17 is an adult in the eyes of the law hence why he went to JAIL and not to detention. Therefore the story as reported here falls well within the policy and law for taser usage. It is not appropriate for any student to defy in any way any school official, ever. Adding threatening and physical resistance to that is abhorrent an should be intolerable to even the most liberal of you. But apparently it is ok for disruptive and threatening people to run the joint. It is foolishness to think that a physical fight with anyone is better than tasering them. You have got to be kidding me. This is just silly talk. Kind of like saying, "The cop didn't have to kill him, he could have just shot him in the leg." Clearly being said by someone without one ounce of knowledge. The cops just need to respond after everything is over and clean up the mess and take the report. There is no use trying to save people from themselves. There is no support by the majority of the public. I don't care if you don't think the police deserve it. Fine. Delete the 9's and 1's off your telephone. I guarantee there will be no Ypsi school liaison officer next school year. There is no cop who will take the job. I bet the current deputy can't wait for the year to be over so he can go back to just patrolling the streets.
anonamoose
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 7:01 a.m.
Dave66~ You weren't there and neither was I. So let's not make assumptions about what happened. You don't know if they were in his face or not when he pushed them. I don't want some angry 17 yo threatening anyone on a school. If he cares not for the authority figures around him, principal and deputy, what kind of damage would he do to a group of his peers? I'm glad they tasered him. Maybe next time he will act accordingly in an institution he has clearly no respect for.
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 6:47 a.m.
Sorry Charley, but that's not one of the options when a cop is assaulted. Not only that, but again you're jumping to the conclusion that both the principal and the officer are incompetent and that the student was capable of being reasoned with. You have no basis for this conclusion, but it's quite clear from the article that the officer was assaulted. So again, since a taser should never be in a school, when you have a situation where a student simply won't comply with verbage, would you rather see the officer strike him, sic the police dogs on him, put him in choke hold, shoot him with rubber bullets, or what? These are all considered justified force in that situation according to law enforcement experts. The problem with lots of "educators" these days is that they seem to think that everything can be resolved by coddling students even when they're a danger to other students! This doesn't work, and if I had kids I'd come have a word with you about your policy of putting my kids in danger. Coddling often leads to students pushing limits further and further and becoming more and more unruly and dangerous. Once they get out into the real world and the cops won't coddle them they're in for a rude surprise. Also, a 17 year old is not a "child". He isn't quite an adult yet, but he's far from a child. This is other part of the problem: very low expectations for people even as old as 17! I'm sorry, but at 17 you're only a few months from legally being an adult. If 17 year olds are going to be little children then we need to raise the voting age to 21 or something. To say that you're a child one day, then the next day you're legally an adult is like giving someone credentials to perform surgery without teaching them anything, then once they walk into the operating room telling them "oh, maybe we should start expecting you to start learning to perform surgery now". By that time it's too late. The low expectations for young people also factors into the underage drinking situation mentioned in an article elsewhere on the site. It would be much less of a problem if people started insisting that teenagers behave more like adults. (And yes, TASER is a brand name and not a verb, but who cares? The point is that everyone knows what we're talking about.)
Dave66
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 6:11 a.m.
Seems to me he wasn't resisting arrest, he was resisting calming. And lest we forget, we're talking about a child here. OK, so maybe he's a big kid, 17 years old, but still a teenager. The story changed a little from the first time it was reported. Now it's because he pushed the principal and deputy. He couldn't have done that unless the principal and deputy were right up in his face. That's usually not the way to calm down an angry teenager, is it? Anyone here ever been a teenager before? He was angry and belligerent and they tried to manhandle him out of the hallway and into an office. He didn't want to be moved and resisted the effort to relocate him. Seems to me that he was guilty of being loud, then the victim of an assault himself. I've seen a few angry teenagers before, and pushing them around isn't the way to calm them down. Just give the guy a little space and let him wear himself out, and then move to somewhere more private to figure out what the problem is. Epic fail on the part of the principal and officer, and now they're covering their you-know-whats.
michigan48103
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 6 a.m.
Last year in Bloomfield Hills, I got out of my car and was going to visit a friend as I was walking into the garage to go into the home, I heard the voice of a man say stop or I will shoot, I did not know if it was a police officer the afternoon sun was in my eye and I said what ever, I did I will be right back, I have to use the rest room. After, I did go into the man kicked in 3 different doors and shot up the home with a taser gun and he did not hit me. I was put into jail until the courts open on a Monday and I did not know what I did wrong, I was told my driving was ok and I did not speed and when my Lawyer from the Jeff Fieger law firm asked why was the police after me, the police officer said I looked suspicious because I had on a leather coat. I was found guility and I can not drive for one year and I am out over $20 Thousand. If the police or the school in Ann Arbor had a reason to use a taser gun if some one was killed or about to kill or harm others with a real gun, The taser should be used. In my situation, I did nothing wrong and the young student did not do any thing wrong to be shot with a taser Gun. The Police did not repair the home in Bloomfield Hills and after I was put into handcuffs, I was kicked on my head so many times, I had to have plastic surgery at U of M and my surgery site is still bleeding after 5 months. The Police in any and every city is out of control and it is not right. I am 53 years old and I could of died with my medical problems if I would of been shot and the young student could of also.
Charley Sullivan
Tue, Mar 23, 2010 : 4:28 a.m.
What do I expect in this situation, Anon? That a TASER never ever even be present in a school, much less ever be used. When the student escalated the situation, the administrators needed to de-escalate it, to keep talking, to come back calmer; not to shoot electrical charges into a student. I've been in education my whole adult life, and this is just so not OK on so many levels. In short, I expect the adults in the situation to have acted like adults and educators.
FreedomLover
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 11:40 p.m.
What has our society come to when we need to have a deputy assigned to the school in the first place? The police are often in a no win situation. They need to bring a situation under control to prevent further violence yet they are vilified for doing so.
Jay
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 11:19 p.m.
It should be noted that "tasered" is not a word. TASER (the correct way it is written and spelled at all times) is a brand name, not the name of the product. It's like Dumpster or Band-Aid. One wouldn't say "I got Band-Aided after I was scratched." The correct usage would be "I put on a Band-Aid after..." So the student "had a TASER used on him" or "forced the officer to utilize his TASER," but the student was not "tasered."
Will
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 8:22 p.m.
If the student was threatening while approaching other students, and pushed the principal and police officer away while they tried to intervene and calm him, then possibly the use of a taser potentially saved the other students from being assaulted at the least, or even seriously injured or killed at the worst! Have we learned nothing from tragedies at other schools? We need to protect our students and intervene quickly when they are threatened by others, including other students.
1973saline
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 7:13 p.m.
Do some of you really think that the Sheriff's Department, or any of the thousands of other agencies using taser's, did not do any research before putting tasers into service. Tasers cause very few deaths when compared other forms of control. They also cause alot fewer injuries to both the suspect and officer. Additionally it also takes the "The officer beat the s..t out of me, I should be found not guilty!" arguement and removes it from the equation. I wonder how many of the people questioning the use of the tasers are the same ones who were wondering why the officers did not use a taser after the west willow death. As long as there are laws there are going to be people who fight with the police and they have to be arrested somehow. Tasers are the best thing that is available now. Are they perfect, no. If you have a better solution I am sure you could make millions by marketing it.
Lokalisierung
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 6:50 p.m.
And then they count some like this one...which I fail to understand. http://www.modbee.com/2009/09/25/869696/autopsy-meth-killed-jail-inmate.html
Andrew Thomas
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 5:46 p.m.
According to the blog "Electronic Village" there were 59 taser-related deaths in the United States in 2009. This is the only source I could find that tracks taser deaths, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these numbers. Assuming they are correct, this works out to about 5 deaths per month, or one per week for the entire country. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether this is a significant number, but to add some perspective, there are approximately 16,000 homicides per year involving firearms, and in 2009, 47 police officers were fatally shot in the line of duty.
Lokalisierung
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 5:24 p.m.
I don't think deaths from tasers are as common as people think they are. I think they are uses a little too much these days but deaths and serious injuries occur from regular struggles. There's a lot of things to be weighed in on this. The officer's health is an issue as well.
John of Saline
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 5:13 p.m.
Tasering should be the last resort. No, shooting someone is the last resort.
John of Saline
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 5:11 p.m.
The idea that there's a huge number of deaths from tasers is bizarre. There have been a few here and there, but it's quite rare. Police choke holds can kill as well. I see no reason why an officer should expose himself or herself to injury by fighting to take down someone physically if the taser option is there.
treetowncartel
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:57 p.m.
Michigan reader, you have the assault on the principal, which the deputy witnessed, probable cause for an arrest. The article isn't clear if the deputy was trying to arrest the individual or not, but he could have in this situation. Regardless, the lack of respect towards both of those individuals is troublesome. If people would just comply with an officer's request there would be no need to use a taser or for there to be some type of struggle to subdue the individual, and then no resulting injury.
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:54 p.m.
Michigan Reader, if he assaulted the principal as the story stated then the officer is going to arrest him. It would make sense that the officer would try to get the alleged assailant to peacefully submit to the arrest and would thus try to calm him in pursuit of that goal. If this fails and the officer is then assaulted then what exactly would you expect here?
Arbuckle
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:53 p.m.
Why are the police always blamed for deploying their tasers? Does anyone ever stop to think that the suspect was given his fair chance to cooperate, and he blew that?
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:50 p.m.
"I would rather the deputies do their jobs and use their training to subdue this supsect and NOT USE A TASER!" Ok roadsidedinerlover. What sort of training would that be? The claim here is that both the principal and the officer tried to calm the student. In the absence of some sort of damning evidence, I have to assume that both used whatever training they had in their best attempts to peacefully deal with the student. Call me crazy, but I'm willing to give an LEO the benefit of the doubt here and not jump to unfounded conclusions that some sort of improper hasty resort to violence was made. I knew someone would bring up the issue of whether the student was black. Here we go again with unfounded assumptions. What about the officer and the principal? Are you going to ask if they're black as well? What if they both are? Also, is there some assumption here that every guy who gets violent must be black?
Michigan Reader
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:47 p.m.
The article says,"Campbell then attempted to calm the student,Jackson said,and was also pushed away. "'It then became resisting arrest'". If the deputy tried to calm him, it's not resisting arrest, because he wasn't trying to arrest him.
actionjackson
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:39 p.m.
Principal pushed = taser? Sue the school and the deputy.
roadsidedinerlover
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 4:36 p.m.
I would rather the deputies do their jobs and use their training to subdue this supsect and NOT USE A TASER! There have been so many deaths from tasers that this incident could have ended in the students death. The article states the student allegedly pushed the principal and the assistant principal.Was the taser really neccessary for this alleged pushing? I would like to know if this student is African-American. Tasers seem to be used against minorities alot more. I base this on several lethal taser articles I have read that have happened all over the USA. Just because I am against tasering, does not mean I am against the police. I am a law abiding citizen and I have a police officer as a friend. Tasering should be the last resort.
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 3:49 p.m.
So question for the police brutality screamers: Would you rather that the alleged assailant be wrestled and pinned to the ground or tasered? What would you expect in this situation?