Taser use questions as stunned man drops baby

IN A confrontation captured on video, a hospital security guard fired a stun gun to stop a defiant father from taking home his newborn, sending both man and child crashing to the floor.

Now William Lewis says his baby girl suffers from head trauma because she was dropped.

“I’ve got to wonder what kind of moron would Taser an adult holding a baby,” said George Kirkham, a former police officer and criminologist at Florida State University. “It doesn’t take rocket science to realise the baby is going to fall.”

Mr Lewis, 30, said the April 13 episode began after he and his wife felt mistreated by staff at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas and decided to leave. Despite doctors protestations, Mr Lewis picked up his daughter and strode to a bank of elevators.

David Boling, an off-duty police officer working security at the hospital, and another guard can be seen on the surveillance video arriving at the elevators and trying to talk with Mr Lewis.

Mr Lewis appears agitated as he walks around the elevators holding his daughter in his right arm.

Within 40 seconds of arriving, Mr Boling is holding the Taser. About a minute later, he can be seen casually standing near Mr Lewis when he suddenly raises the Taser and fires it at Mr Lewis, who was still holding his daughter.

Mr Lewis drops to the floor. The other guard, who has not been identified, scoops up the baby and gives her to the child’s mother, who was standing nearby.

Mr Lewis said his daughter landed on her head, but that it cannot be seen on the video. He said the baby continues to suffer ill effects from the fall.

“She shakes a lot and cries a lot,” he said, noting doctors have performed several MRIs on the child, Karla. “She’s not real responsive. Something is definitely wrong with my daughter.”

Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Mr Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. Agency spokes-woman Estella Olguin said the infant does not appear to be suffering any problems from the fall.

A total of 11,000 US law enforcement agencies use Tasers, which some experts say are increasingly being used as a convenient labour-saving device to control uncooperative people.

“The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool,” said Mr Kirkham, the criminologist.

“The problem is the abusive use of them. They’re supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They’re overused now.”