Don't tase students at school, activists say
BASTROP, Texas - Security video from Cedar Creek High School in Bastrop, Texas, captured what happened when an officer shot 17-year-old Noe Nino de Rivera with a Taser.
He had come to break up a fight. Instead he was knocked to the concrete floor. Police said he disobeyed their orders. His head hit so hard he required emergency surgery for a severe brain hemorrhage, and then spent 52 days in a medically induced coma.
"He cannot talk the way he used to talk, he cannot walk the way he used to walk, he cannot think the way he used to think," said his brother, Jesus.
"Tasers and pepper spray are being used to break up school fights or to de-escalate school fights," said Deborah Fowler with Texas Appleseed.
Her legal aid group supported a Texas bill that would have banned the use of Tasers in schools.
"There are other opportunities to de-escalate that don't pose the same dangers that certainly Tasers pose," Fowler said.
Charlie Wilkison is the union's executive director.
Asked whether his group had studied the potential hazards of Tasers or stun guns on adolescents and their bodies before opposing the legislation, Wilkison said, "No, we studied what would happen to cops if you had open season on them, without all their weapons."
"We're not advocating on behalf of children, we're advocating on behalf of real live licensed trained peace officers, who risk their lives every day," he said.
But Noe Nino de Rivera's family believes students face a greater risk. The teen is now in a brain rehabilitation center, where he is expected to stay another six months.
