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November 21, 2009

Cop Tasers and Arrests a 10-Year Old Girl For Throwing a Fit - Taser - Gizmodo

Are idiot cops with tasers in some sort of competition with one another? I think the new record for stupidity belongs to Dustin Bradshaw, the Arkansas police officer who zapped and arrested a 10-year old girl for throwing a fit.

Get this: the mother called police because her child was throwing a fit about showering before going to bed. When the officer arrived the girl was kicking and screaming on the floor and the mother suggested that she should be tasered. Instead of saying something like "I don't have time for this crap lady" and calling out child protective services, the officer picked up the girl and carried her into the living room. At that point the girl was reported to be "kicking violently" and one of those kicks struck the officer square in the balls. The officer then proceeded to taser the girl in the back, handcuff her and drag her off to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.

If that wasn't bad enough, Officer Bradshaw was suspended for a week without pay, not because he tased the girl, but because he failed to use the camera attachment to record the incident. The girl, on the other hand, will face disorderly conduct charges as a juvenile over the incident. Seriously, what is it going to take before law enforcement decides to rein in police abuse of tasers? Or can cops just go around tasering babies and puppies at will? [AP via True Crime Report via Digg Image via Flickr]


Send an email to Sean Fallon, the author of this post, at sean@gizmodo.com.

via gizmodo.com

I really don't know what more to add!

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Filed under  //   Children   Cops   Gizmodo   Taser  
Posted by Khaled AlSaleh 

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November 20, 2009

Google's Doodle: It's Universal Children's Day

Google's DoodleI have a confession to make. I rely on Google for pretty much everything! It's scary, but I actually rely on Google to remind me of Valentine's day, Halloween and a string of other occasions that would wizz by without so much as an acknowledgement from me.

And that's not good... I've learned the hard way, as a young pimple-faced teenager, that girls aren't being serious when they tell you that: "We don't believe in Valentine."

Bu today was a little different. Today, Google's Doodle reminded me that it's Universal Children's Day. In India, the Doodle was designed by a 4th Grader, Puru Pratap Singh, who wants to be a dentist when he grows up. It's titled: "My India, Full of Life."

According to Wikipedia, Universal Children's day has its origins in Turkey, but was first celebrated around the world in 1955. Many countries around the world already celebrate children on various days.

This year is special, however. It marks the the 20th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Convention of Human Rights, the declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Convention.

So, why is this important? Well, despite the advancement in science and technology nearly 8 million children lose their lives from six treatable and preventable causes: diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, premature birth or anoxia (the lack of oxygen) during childbirth. This is by and large a problem that children face in the developing world.

In the developed world Children's Day could take on a different twist. Children today spend way too much time staring at blinking lights on a screen. A friends child uses Mind Manager to draw mind-maps of his plan for the day. The kid has an excel sheet to track his scores on Wii, and plots them on a chart in PowerPoint. This kid is 7!

So, for one day only, why don't we just send the kids out to play?! They could go to a park, slope or field. Anywhere but here. I know it's easy for me to say, I live in Dubai and the weather is beautiful, but hey, I didn't grow up here and getting muddy, wet and bruised was the order of the day!

One thing that does erk me about Google, however, is that it doesn't do remind me of my anniversary!

Puru Pratap Singh displays his doodle
Puru Pratap Singh displays his doodle

First published on The Next Web (www.thenextweb.com)

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Filed under  //   children   doodle   google   UN   UNICEF   Universal Children’s Day  
Posted by Khaled AlSaleh 

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