Austism and Tasers and gangs, oh my!

Brought to you by the same folks who handcuff kindergarteners when they refuse to take a nap? Autistic middle-schooler Tasered into unconsciousness.

Of course, there are situations where an outburst by a child with special needs and/or mental illness (this child is reported as autistic and bipolar) warrant a physical response for the safety of bystanders and the child himself. Most nurses in psychiatric wards - including pediatric psychiatric wards - have been physically attacked by a patient. It is not uncommon for those who work with autistic teens to report similar experiences. When I worked with severely autistic teenagers, there were at least a dozen full-out attacks on staffers and 2-3 times when police intervention was both necessary and appropriate.

Going by what this article reports, the school called 911 when the child "sa[id] outrageous things...the boy threatened to call members of his gang to retaliate against the teachers." The child's parents' attorney noted that the school knew that the child made similarly outrageous and baseless threats when upset, and that "[t]hey know he has no way of acting on what he is saying. They are taking these idle threats and calling police [instead of following the school's own procedure.]"

I will allow that the school did not consider these threats "idle," and I emphasize that all the information in this article is provided by the child's parents' attorney. Post-Columbine, post-Virgina Tech, post-[insert most recent school violence here], schools are wise to be especially vigilant to (1) threats of violence and (2) patterns of violent threats and violent acts by mentally ill children. I will further add that the attorney only briefly remarks that the child became "frustrated and began to act out" without detailing the specific nature of the outburst. Readers do not know whether the child physically lashed out (and if so, to what degree), or if he was merely saying whatever came to his mind. "Idle" threats alone do not justify police intervention, but a dangerous and uncontrollable outburst might.

Police are trained in how to interact with citizens who are mentally ill, autistic, and diabetic. They are also trained in how to confront and, if necessary, restrain a physically violent child. Moreover, there is a specific set of guidlines for when use of a Taser is appropriate. However, in this case there is no mention as to whether the school informed the officer that the child's threats were merely "idle" or that the child's special needs warranted a different approach. There is also no mention for how the officer justified the use of the Taser. If the child's "frustrat[ion] and...act[ing] out" could be more specifically described as, say, trying to claw his own eyes out (I've seen this happen), then, yes, there is the possibility that using a Taser was appropriate.

If, however, the situation happened exactly as the attorney describes, then it seems that the school is much more at fault than the officer. The attorney indicates that the school had knowledge that the child expressed his frustration with threats so outrageous that no intelligent person could take them with any seriousness, and that the school had a specific procedure for calming the child. Thus, the 911 call would seem to go against both the school's experience with and prior treatment of this child. Moreover, the school should have informed the officer that the child's special needs warranted a response appropriate to these needs. It is not clear in this article that the officer knew he was called in to subdue an autistic and mentally ill child, what steps the officer took, if any, prior to resorting to the Taser, and how the officer justified its use, so I'm going to refrain from placing too much blame on the officer at this time.

On a lighter note...I wonder how an autistic gang would be organized and function.