Teen shot with stun gun - as he wouldn't stop playing video game

Teen shot with stun gun - as he wouldn't stop playing video game
TALK about being addicted to video games, a teen in the US had to be shocked by a stun gun twice to make him let go of his Game Boy.

The incident happened last Thursday at about 9am when the 14-year-old boy was playing his Nintendo Game Boy during class.

His class teacher asked him to put away the game several times, but he refused.

Then, the teacher sent the student to see the assistant principal, Mr Larry Phillips.


Mr Phillips told the boy he could have the game back at the end of the day. But the teen, a student at Lincoln Park High School in North Carolina, still refused to give it up, reported the News-Herald.

Police officer Paul Cochran, who works in the building as the school liaison officer, was called in to help.

Once the police officer began a pat-down search, the teen began kicking and punching him. The officer then tackled him.

He and Mr Phillips held the teen down while a secretary called the police.

When they arrived, they handcuffed the teen, but he continued to fight, the police told the paper.

That's when one officer pulled out a Taser gun and shocked the boy.

The gun's electric current, which officials said is non-lethal, makes suspects lose control of their muscles.

Being shocked 'stopped him for a moment and then he started fighting again,' the police report said.

The officer warned the boy again to stop fighting and to give up the Game Boy.

The boy said no, resumed fighting and was shocked again.

Only then did the police manage to take the video game out of the student's coat pocket and detain him.

The boy was not injured but suffered a couple of scrapes when he rolled around on the floor during the scuffle.

The teen was taken to the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility, where he is being held on a US$2,000 ($3,280) bond.

He was charged with resisting and obstructing a police officer.

Mr Cochran, who said he was scratched and bitten during the scuffle, was given a tetanus shot and antibiotic prescription at the Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital.

The boy's mother apologised to the police and informed them that her son has been in counselling since fourth grade.

STUN GUN REVIEW

In Miami, the police are reviewing the use of stun guns after they were used on a 6-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.

Miami-Dade County Police Director Bobby Parker defended the use of the stun gun on the boy in a school office, saying the child had cut himself twice with a piece of glass and was threatening to harm himself further. But he said the use of the stun gun on the girl who was fleeing officers because she was drunk and apparently skipping school, was questionable.