Tasers and Children in NSW Australia.

UCLA students protest taser incident, November 17, 2006. Photo: Michael Linder, KNX. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Police can set Tasers on children 

EXCLUSIVE JANE HANSEN 
POLICE are free to use Tasers on children as young as 10, against the explicit warnings of the manufacturer of the device.
Stun guns have been deployed 149 times against juveniles in NSW alone since 2008 with the youngest offender just 10 years old.
Nearly half of the juveniles were under 17, one quarter were under 16, 18 were under 15 and six under 13.
Anna Brown, a solicitor with the Human Rights Law Centre, said the death of Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, who was 21 when he died after being hit by numerous Taser shots in February last year, highlighted the fact Tasers can be deadly and called for police to enact stricter controls on their use on children.
"We are talking about weapons that are highly dangerous and there should be extreme limitations and warnings when it comes to certain groups like young people, the elderly and pregnant women," Ms Brown said.
Police confirmed there was no reference to Taser use on juveniles in standard operating procedures.
"In short, the Taser can only be discharged in accordance with the criteria for use," a police spokesman said.
"This relates to the nature of the threat as opposed to the age of the person involved. There are no specific age restrictions."
Police Minister Michael Gallacher confirmed through a spokesman he supported police in their use of Tasers on juveniles. "We have some of the strongest best-practices in the world with regards to Tasers," the spokesman said. "It is hard to ask age when someone is running at you with a knife."
Taser International, the manufacturer of the device, warns in the product manual that Tasers can cause "physiological and/or metabolic effects that may increase the risk of death or serious injury," and that use near the chest of children can cause extra heartbeats, or cardiac capture, which can be fatal and more likely in children due to their size.

English: Police issue X26 TASER (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Taser International also advises Taser use on a "pregnant, infirm, elderly, small child, or low body mass index person could increase the risk of death or serious injury".
A 13-year-old boy from Casino claims police used a Taser on him in an arrest for an alleged car theft on February 5 - a claim denied by police.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told The Sunday Telegraph he felt a shock and fell over as he tried to run away. "I felt a big shock into my body and I couldn't walk after that," he said.
Police took the boy to his mother's home at 2am after the alleged Tasering.
Police said Tasers were not deployed at all on the day in question.

• The Sunday Telegraph
• March 24, 2013 12:00AM