View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2020/01/24/555419.htm
A father is suing Redmond, Ore. police because he says they used excessive force when they used a Taser stun gun on his 14-year-old son nearly two years ago.
Michael Francisco filed the civil rights lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Eugene, the Oregonian reported, contending the teen posed no safety threat when the two Redmond officers placed the stun gun against the boy’s torso and shocked him multiple times.
Francisco is asking for $250,000 for the teen’s pain and emotional anguish, and attorneys fees and costs.
Redmond police spokeswoman Heather Cassaro said the police department’s internal affairs division reviewed the case and found that the officers’ use of force was justified.
Redmond police Lt. Curtis Chambers said on Friday that he couldn’t comment in detail because of the pending lawsuit, but said officers are regularly trained on the proper use and deployment of Tasers.
“In this situation, when considering all the factors related to the incident, policy was followed,” Chambers.
The family’s attorney, Todd H. Grover, said the teen was detained on suspicion of “only minor offenses” when the incident happened Jan. 23, 2018. Neither Grover nor Redmond police would identify the kind of offenses or the outcome of any charge.
According to the police department’s policy, stun gun use should generally be avoided on people who are already restrained, women known to be pregnant, elderly individuals, people with obviously low body mass and “obvious juveniles, “unless the “totality of the circumstances indicates that other available options reasonably appear ineffective or would present a greater danger to the officer, the subject or others.”