Officer Used Stun Gun on 9-Year-Old Boy: Report

Mom never thought officer would use his Taser on her son, lawyer said

A 9-year-old boy was reportedly shocked twice with a stun gun for refusing to leave his home with an Ohio police officer.

The boy’s mother said she never expected Mount Sterling police officer Scott O’Neil would use his Taser on her child during a truancy arrest last week, her lawyer said.

“She certainly never wanted this to happen,” lawyer Tracy Comisford told The Columbus Dispatch.

According to a police report of the incident, O’Neil wrote that he went to Michelle Perry’s home Tuesday to serve a truancy complaint against her son Jared, who then refused to cooperate.

He described Jared as between 5’5” and 5’8” inches tall and weighing up to 250 pounds, the Dispatch reported.

The boy “dropped to the floor and became dead weight ... flailing around” and lay on his hands to keep from being handcuffed, according to the police report.

After O’Neil fired his Taser into the air in a “show of force,” Perry told her son to cooperate or else he would he would be shocked next, according to O’Neil’s account.

The officer went on to shock Jared two times and the boy showed no signs of injury, he wrote. Jared's mother signed a medical waiver and the boy was hauled to the sheriff’s office, according to the report.

Mount Sterling’s police chief was put on paid leave for not reporting the incident, which is now being reviewed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Dispatch reported.

The paper reported early Tuesday that the police chief had resigned, citing budget issues. The town’s part-time police force has also been suspended.

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