Pine Bluff Police are continuing a use of force investigation that began Tuesday when an officer used a Taser to subdue a burglary suspect, and one prong struck the suspect in the back of the head.
Pine Bluff Police Department Lt. David De Foor said the 14-year-old suspect was one of three juveniles who had allegedly broken into a house on South Richard Drive, and who ran when officers arrived. The other two suspects were 9 and 10 years old.
The 14-year-old ran to the back of the house next door, being chased by two officers, and was ordered several times to get on the ground. He was also warned that he would be tased if he did not comply.
De Foor said the boy bent over, then straightened back up and started toward one of the officers, who fired his taser, with one prong landing in the back of the boy’s head and the second in the boy’s back.
The boy was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, then to Arkansas Children’s Hospital at Little Rock, where the prong was removed. He has since been released.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
De Foor said officers are trained to aim from the shoulders down the back, and from the abdomen down the front, but one of the factors affecting the movement of prongs was the movement of the suspect.
The officer who used the taser is still on duty while the investigation continues, De Foor said.
Anytime a suspect is injured in any manner, it triggers a use of force investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Standards.
De Foor said that because of the age of the juvenile, police are limited as to what they can say or release about the incident.