Law enforcement: What does it mean

[sideeki]

Sheriff's Deputies accused of Taser rampage
BY ROBERT PATRICK
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Jul. 18 2009

An Illinois agency has sued two sheriff's deputies in Southern Illinois,
alleging that they handcuffed, threatened and Tasered teenage foster children.

The suit, filed in federal court in East St. Louis by the Illinois Office of
State Guardian on behalf of the children, says the deputies used excessive
force and violated the children's rights. The suit also names Jefferson County,
Ill., Sheriff Roger Mulch, his department and the county.

According to the suit, Deputies David Bowers and Lonnie Lawler were sent to the
Southern Thirty Adolescent Center near Mount Vernon on July 4, 2008, because of
staff concerns about the behavior of three other children, ages 11 and 12. The
center is an emergency shelter for children ages 11-18. Boys live there. Girls
stay in foster homes but go to the center for day activities.

The suit says that without any physical provocation, Bowers used a Taser on one
boy multiple times, including at least once on his neck. Bowers pushed another
boy down on his bunk and threatened to sodomize him before shocking him
multiple times and causing him to urinate and defecate, the suit says.

Lawler then handcuffed another boy before Bowers shocked him multiple times
with the Taser. A 17-year-old girl who was pleading with the deputies to stop
was then handcuffed by Lawler, choked and threatened by Bowers and then tossed
into a closet, the suit says.

The suit accuses Mulch of either knowingly, or with deliberate indifference,
tolerating a "pattern and practice of unreasonable use of force by (his)
deputies."

Mulch, Bowers and Lawler did not respond to multiple phone messages left in
recent days seeking comment.

Gene Svebakken, president and CEO of Lutheran Child and Family Services of
Illinois, which runs the center, declined to comment. "I'm prohibited from
making any comment on the situation. Although I'm certainly aware of it," he
said.

Phil Fowler, one of the lawyers who filed the suit, referred a reporter's
question to the Department of Children and Family Services.

A spokesman, Kendall Marlowe, said Friday: "Our job is to protect children.
Experience across the country has shown that shocking children with Tasers can
result in serious physical and mental injury. Use of these weapons is
especially troubling in cases where the children involved have committed no
crime and have not even been charged with wrongdoing. We cannot comment on this
suit specifically; the complaints speak for itself."

An Illinois State Police spokesman said police investigated the allegations and
turned over their results to the Jefferson County state's attorney.

Jefferson County State's Attorney Jeff Bradley said Tuesday that the State
Police determined "that there was not any evidence of criminal activity."
Bradley, who was elected last year, said his predecessor decided not to
prosecute.

The FBI did not begin an investigation after learning that the State Police
were looking into the case, an FBI spokesman said.


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/D8F2946CFAEB63A6862575F70007D1E5?OpenDocument