Chicago Tribune | A police officer is on leave, students are puzzled and parents are outraged as the fallout from a Taser demonstration gone awry rippled through the halls of Kankakee Junior High School on Wednesday.Kankakee police said an officer assigned to the school zapped three male students who had volunteered to be part of an unsanctioned, classroom demonstration on Tuesday. Police said the Taser was used on the students for about a second, but long enough to send at least one briefly to a hospital.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave while the Police Department and school district investigate.
The mother of one of the students said the officer entered the classroom yelling, "Who wants a Taser?"
"I was like, 'Let me try it on my finger,' and he was like, 'Let me try it on your thigh,' " the boy, Miles Maiden, told WLS-Ch. 7.
The boy's mother, Alta Young, told Channel 7 that Maiden has a heart mur- mur and that when she found out about the incident, she took him to the emergency room. He was released soon after.
Although police and school officials would not confirm it, Young said this wasn't the first time the officer has used a Taser on students in class.
"This is not a game you play with children," Young said. "That's very dangerous."
That sentiment was echoed by students and parents Wednesday as different versions of the incident spread around school.
Two 12-year-old boys were shocked with a taser gun at Kankakee Junior High School. Today, the boys' families will file a federal lawsuit over the incident.
The suit claims, a Kankakee police officer attacked the boys without provocation, and teachers and school officials failed to report it. The families want the officer fired and brought up on criminal charges.
School officials say, it was just a demonstration, and the boys volunteered for it.
