Child Tased for Stealing Piece of Candy
Cincinnati , OH – Eleven-year-old Donesha Gowdy was tasered in the back by an off-duty police officer for shoplifting a piece of candy from Kroger in Spring Grove Village, Ohio.
The child was taken to a children’s hospital after she fell to the ground shaking and couldn’t breathe very well. Kevin Brown, 55, who was working as a security guard, tasered the child outside the Kroger store on Tuesday, August 7. Cincinnati police rules state that an officers can taser anyone aged between seven and 70.
Her mom, Donna Gowdy, acknowledges her daughter should not have been stealing candy, but was horrified that an officer would use such extreme force against an 11-year-old child. She said that the policeman had no idea whether her daughter had a condition, such as asthma, which could cause a serious medical reaction to being tasered.
Donesha was initially charged with theft and obstruction of justice, but those charges have been dropped at the behest of the local mayor. Cincinnati’s vice mayor Chris Smitherman has since proposed raising the minimum age for stun gun use from age 7 to 12 years old. Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac added he was ‘extremely concerned’ that an officer had used a taser on a child of 11.
Brown has been placed on restricted police duties following the incident.
