OZARK, Mo. — A family from Branson wants answers about what happened to their son that left him hospitalized. Early Saturday morning, police found Mace Hutchinson, 16, underneath the Highway F overpass over U.S. 65. Mace ended up in intensive care at a hospital. His parents believe the actions of Ozark police officers contributed to his injuries and slowed doctors’ abilities to speed his recovery. “We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit,” said witness Doug Messersmith. Messersmith and his wife were the last known people to see 16-year-old boy walking, shortly before their phone call to 911.
“He looked a little agitated but, other than that, he didn’t look to be falling down drunk or anything like that,” he said. By the time officers arrived, the teen was off the 30-foot overpass, lying on the shoulder below along U.S. 65, with no good explanation as to how he got there. “According to the doctors, all injuries are consistent with a fall,” said his aunt, Samantha. “They tested his system. He was clean of drugs and alcohol. We don’t know why unless just being in shock and the whole thing in itself caused him to forget everything,” said Hutchinson. While he was lying on the ground, she wonders why Ozark police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times. “I’m not an officer, but i don’t see the reason for ‘Tasering’ somebody laying there with a broken back. I don’t consider that a threat,”
“The ‘Tasering’ increased his white blood cell count and caused him to have a temperature so they could not go into the operation.” “He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he’s also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers,” said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset. “It’s a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt,” said Rousset.
Right, how hard could it be to subdue a kid with a broken back. Instead of going into arrest mode, I would think they would be in “rescue” mode. There is something very strange about this story and I’m not buying it.
You’re in pain. It hurts. You’re afraid someone is going to cause more pain by moving you.
Cop shows up. You know they’re a little out of control and enjoy over-reacting to situations with anger and electric pistols. You’re afraid.
Cop sees this as a potential attack situation. Told the stun-gun will stop you instantly, he fires. Still moving? How? Shoot again. Still moving? What’s wrong here?
Shoot again. And again. And again. (Maybe it’s defective.) You’re being repeatedly shocked, which tenses your muscles on broken bones which cause more pain. Officer sees this as a threat and keeps shooting.
19 times and … wow! Guess that was enough? Yeah, okay. “Not an issue folks. People with pain shouldn’t get upset with police around. If they do, we have the right to assume the worst and use whatever means necessary to subdue.”
Lawsuit should be sweet. (Maybe.)
He’s right. Cops should be shot.
“The ‘Tasering’ increased his white blood cell count and caused him to have a temperature so they could not go into the operation.”
CITE please.
The guy was screwed up enough in the head that his parents called the police. There’s no telling what he was doing even with a broken back.
#4
You’re right, and while the cops are tasering a KID with a broken back they should have kicked him, pepper spray him, even ran over with their cars for not being a submissive lil’ drone.
…and so we continue to turn a blind eye to bad cops.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people on this forum come to extreme judgements after reviewing only a minimum number of one-sided facts, presented by family members – obviously not an unbiased source of information. The ‘news’ source of this possibly semi-factual story is not even cited. You have NO IDEA from this mimimal, subjective press blurb what actually went on here. Have you, for example, ever dealt with a person high on PCP or meth? They are unstoppable, broken back or not. They feel no pain. To suggest shooting the police is sociopathic ideation. Every story has two sides – you’re only getting one side here obviously. Wake up or get an education so you don’t continue to embarrass yourself publicly.
[The news source is in red typeface…click on it..its called a link – ed.]
Actually, the usual reason for the “cops hitting a ridiculously large number of times” isn’t really due to the police being mean. Usually it’s because one police orders the suspect to cooperate while the rest of the “backup” aims their weapons at the suspect. If someone feels the first person is in danger, EVERYONE shoots at the same time.
So, when you get a relatively large scene with multiple “backup” officers at the same place, the suspect is hit multiple times.
People usually don’t get that, for some reason.
To #7:
Did you read the details? They tested the kid and he came up clean – no drugs, no booze.
Occam’s Razor would suggest the kid was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time and a car hit him and knocked him over the edge (or maybe a car came too close and he jumped\fell).
The police showed up and thought he was going to run them over with his bicycle, so I assume the kid will be charged with assault and resisting arrest.
they pushed him off the bridge,
an used tasers as a cover up
…um…multiple hits… how many cops were there in response? 19? wait…thats right …nope…so there was more than one tazer firing per cop… If he was laying down, how was he resisting? If the muscle spasms from the tazer worsened any of the injuries I hope they get the crap sued out of them. And he wasn’t on Meth or PCP…he was tested…so…he wasn’t able to have “super human strength” from either of those. The cops screwed up. No mention of a weapon or of him getting up and coming at the officers. Just verbal threats, last time I checked in most states that is not enough to use potentially lethal force…and anyone that says a tazer isn’t potentially lethal is an idiot. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=engamr510302006
Handing someone a weapon and saying…”it’s non-lethal” only encourages someone to take the weapon out and use it.
Lets look at it another way…
Boy is going along the overpass, Is ABIT weird..and you arnt SUPPOSEd to walk the over pass.
They stop him,
he is Pissed, and is near the side/edge..
COPS dont THINk and STUn the kid for NOT wanting to be arrested for WALKINg on the overpass.
Kid FALLS..
CRACK..
Why didnt the cops PLAY NICE, and be friendly…
THEY CANT..THEY ARE STUPID.
#7,
Your post really sickens me. Not because you took the side of the police and claimed everyone else is an idiot. But because you couldn’t even take the time to read the story. You have no explanation for the 19 tasers other than “wait, there might be more information coming”. The guy had a broken back and physically could not have hurt anyone. Like a typical wing nut you ignore the truth right in front of your face and start with the fabrications.
Moran !!!
Here’s the local TV report:
Mr. Fusion:
Apparently you can’t read. I took the side of nobody. I stated that as usual, people form opinions with a minumal amount of evidence, and most of the implicating statements are from relatives who may or may not have a grasp of the situation and are certainly not unbiased. Do normal, sane, unintoxicated people wander over highway overpasses during the night? Maybe. Doubtful. Does “19 tasers” sound verifiably true to you? Highly doubtful. Normal people who are tasered one time say the pain is unbearable and that they would never, ever do anything to get tasered again. I don’t know what happened. It’s possible that a rogue cop was involved; it’s also possible that an emotional family is cooking up a lawsuit like every other jack-pot seeking idiot out there in lala land.
#11, ECA, please FIX you bROKen keyBOarD. The Caps-lock key is either defective. Or the keyboard operator is.
Montanaguy:
LOL, talk about lack of evidence, you didn’t even read the article or look closely enough at it to find the link you asked for.
Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me that you claim to need more information when it is easy to see… the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.
Yeah Dingman, I saw the ‘source’ of the story which was some pretty-hair local TV news show. That’s your idea of critical news reporting? Some infotainment channel in HowdyDoodyLand? Again, most of the comments were the sensational, unscrutinized quotes from family members. Is that all you need to form an opinion about an event? WOW. No wonder we have a massively uninformed voting population.
COPS are not there to solve problems..
THEY are there to arrest someone.
someone CALLED the cops, to check on the kid as he was in the road. Cops showed up, and wanted to ARREST someone…
I have a reasonable theory. The guy was suicidal.
One minute “He looked a little agitated” and then “By the time officers arrived, the teen was off the 30-foot overpass”.
Maybe he was distraught over the suicide hotline shutting down.
P.S. “His aunt says he is undergoing major surgery for a broken back and broken heel”.
Who cares what his AUNT says? I want to know what the DOCTOR says!
His aunt continues: “While he was lying on the ground, … Ozark police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times.”
How does she know? Was she hiding in the bushes, and if so, why didn’t she help?!
This is just another non-story about an attempted suicide and a family in denial.
#14,
By the time officers arrived, the teen was off the 30-foot overpass, lying on the shoulder below along U.S. 65
Gee, what did the police say?
“It’s a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt,” said Rousset.
And to further justify their actions?
“He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he’s also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers,” said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset.
The kid was laying on the ground with a broken back !!! How did he need subduing?
Police say although there are several unanswered questions; the reason for the use of a stun gun is not one of them.
So using tazers on injured people who fell / jumped from a 30′ overpass. Then morans like you have the audacity to say there has to be more to the story? Ya right. Like how much the Police Commission will settle for.
BUT, what did you write back in post #7?
You have NO IDEA from this minimal, subjective press blurb what actually went on here
Actually we do. A 19 yr old kid was laying on the shoulder of the road, a possible suicide victim. He had a broken back and broken heel. Unable to comply with their demands, the police tazered him up to 19 times. The police later justified their tazering because he was unable to comply. The police Captain did not specify what he failed to comply with.
You then wrote:
Have you, for example, ever dealt with a person high on PCP or meth? They are unstoppable, broken back or not. They feel no pain.
Which has nothing to do with the incident. IF YOU had of read the story you would know that. HE WAS CLEAN !!!
Every story has two sides – you’re only getting one side here obviously.
Wrong. The police were quoted as acknowledging the use of the tazer. They also denied that was a problem as he did not comply with their demands. The police could have told us how many times he slashed at them with a knife (0 times) or shot in their direction (0 times) or punched an officer (0 times) or kicked one of them (0 times) or wrestled with them (0 times). They chose not to. Their loss.
Wake up or get an education so you don’t continue to embarrass yourself publicly.
Words you would best consider for yourself.
I am getting tired of reading stories like these. They simply cannot be true…. they are unbelievable, totally out of any form of human concept, civilized behavior and ‘serve and protect’. These stories are simply not done in real life. Period.
If you have law officers that behave this way…. I mean, where do you find this scum? The community hire the lowlife to protect? We rely upon the neanderthals to judge when to use enforcement, firearms and tasers… The situation is more for us ‘normal’ people to consider. How the hell did we allow this to happen????
Well at least I haven’t seen anyone call the idiot cops in this screw up “goons” or “thugs” which is good, because that’s what the cops WANT. Assholes like these cops were probably the high school wrestling team whipping boys for whom “thug” is a badge of honor. And it just makes the other cops want to circle the wagons. Call them what they are…a bunch of cowardly pussies. Don’t attack them…make fun of them. Mock them. It’s the only way you are going to get the decent cops on the force to turn on them.
Mr. Fusion – should be Mr. ConFusion. You restate quotes from non-witnesses as facts. Now you have him dressed up as a suicide victim. Where did you learn that fact, ConFusion? Is the addle-brained white-trash aunt (watch the video) your idea of the ultimate conduit of truth and knowledge? WOW You have no idea if he was “clean” unless you read the E.R. chart; it’s highly unlikely, given the circumstances. Do you just take the aunt’s statement as a fact and not wonder if she is biased? Go work in an ER as a volunteer one night. Almost every trauma has a component of stunning stupidity and extreme drug/ alcohol involvement. These people come in badly injured but are commonly extremely combative with people who are trying to help them. Even with all of their injuries, they are totally mindless of how much harm they are causing themselves and others – police, nurses, MDs, paramedics, chaplains and even family. Police and ER personnel have to deal with these crazies every night across the country. You didn’t hear what the police had to say – only the part that was edited by the local infotainment station to create a ‘buzz’ Don’t you get that? Why are you so eager to bash the police on the basis of almost no real knowledge whatsoever about what actually happened to this poor kid? Get educated. Learn to seek out both sides of the story. Don’t try to make every story fit your politics by suspending your thinking capacity.
#24 for the win!
“Go work in an ER as a volunteer one night. Almost every trauma has a component of stunning stupidity and extreme drug/ alcohol involvement. These people come in badly injured but are commonly extremely combative with people who are trying to help them.”
There are broken backs and then there are broken backs. We don’t know in this case. (Sorry. I could not view the video.) Without more info, there is no reason to suspect the police knew he was injured. What we DO know, according to the police themselves, is that he was lying on the ground and, other than some verbal assaults, was not trying to injure the cops or anyone else. Nor was he attempting to escape. Therefore, tasers seem to me to be excessive. There was a time when, in a situation like this, the cops would have called an ambulance (I speak from experience).
By the way, although the initial reports show he was drug and alcohol free, some of these toxicology results take several days to return.
Tasing someone 19 times is excessive. Tasing someone after a 30 foot fall 19 times is insane. I don’t care what they are saying. Delirious people say all sorts of things.
If your police department shows up guns drawn ready to shoot for a call like this there is a problem. They will eventually do something stupid and open your community up for a really expensive lawsuit. So the money for routine patrols and schools gets diverted to a settlement.
I think tazers a great idea as an alternative to using a firearm (not sure how it works in America, but in the UK, police only use a firearm if the police/public are in danger — so if someone is brandishing a knife, you can shoot ’em, but if someone is refusing to stand up you use your billy club and muscle). What seems wrong is when police are using as a coercive/punitive tool. I mean, if a cop is too lazy/scared to do anything other than stand behind a weapon, maybe they should reconsider their career choice…
after 2 SHOTS FROM A taser…
call FOR BACKUP, AND grab YOUR GUN..
otherwise…
try TO FIGURE OUT WHATS GOING ON..
TRYING TO arrest someone, “JUST because” ISNT a reason.
COPS are not hired to THINK..
THATS for the judge to do..
#22, Moran
You restate quotes from non-witnesses as facts. Now you have him dressed up as a suicide victim.
Perhaps you could point out where I said he WAS A SUICIDE VICTIM.
Is the addle-brained white-trash aunt (watch the video) your idea of the ultimate conduit of truth and knowledge?
What the fuck is wrong with you? The Aunt spoke for the family and the kid and you relegate her as “white trash”??? What the fuck do you call the comment from the Police Captain? Fascist propaganda?
This is where contrary to your neutral claim, you have automatically sided with the very cops that tried to kill the kid.
You have no idea if he was “clean” unless you read the E.R. chart; it’s highly unlikely, given the circumstances.
You claim I have no “evidence” then you turn around and decide your belief he has drugs in him is more plausible. Why? Morans like you are so fixated on proving the cops are justified you will discount the truth and fabricate your own bullshit.
Do you just take the aunt’s statement as a fact and not wonder if she is biased?
Yes. Until more compelling or verified evidence is presented that contradicts her. It is accepted that her relationship makes her biased. The same as the Police Captain is understood to be biased. If her facts are incorrect then the police can repudiate her. They didn’t deny the kid was tazered.
Almost every trauma …
The key word there is “Almost”. FYI, My wife is the Supervisor of Nursing at our local Hospital. Most of their cases are for heart attacks and car accidents. People may be crazier in your neck of the woods.
Police and ER personnel have to deal with these crazies every night across the country.
I notice the sly insinuation, without the slightest bit of evidence, that the kid was on drugs. He wasn’t. Unless you can prove he was which would mean you have access to his medical records which would put you in violation of the law.
Not every person coming into an ER is on drugs. Most are just injured or sick.
You didn’t hear what the police had to say – only the part that was edited by the local infotainment station to create a ‘buzz’
Do you have any evidence that the TV station edited out any culpable statements by the police? They justified tazering the kid !!! Every TV station or newspaper in this country will take the word of the police over that of a civilian. It takes a lot of proof to get them to publish / broadcast police misdoings.
Why are you so eager to bash the police on the basis of almost no real knowledge whatsoever about what actually happened to this poor kid?
Because I accept the uncontested story. The police repeatedly tazered a kid with a broken back and heel. By your view, no one would be able to believe anything unless it came from the police.
So why are you so gung ho to ONLY believe the police story that he needed tazering?
Don’t try to make every story fit your politics by suspending your thinking capacity.
What the fuck? There is a story of a kid that fell / jumped / whatever from a bridge. His back and heel were broken and he was unable to stand. The police tazered him several times while he was unable to comply with their demands. The police did not offer any evidence they or the public were in any physical danger or that the kid was even under arrest. The tazering may have complicated his medical treatment.
Now, do you have anything to rebut those facts? Fuck you with “he probably” or “drugged up wackos” or “she looks like white trash” bullshit. That only shows you own myopic view.
I have only contempt for assholes like you that blame the victim.
#25, Meyers,
This just shows your ignorance. Very few patients in ER are combative. Those that are, are generally very injured and confused.
When ambulances bring in cases, they are usually restrained already for the patients own safety. If the police bring in a case the patient will already be restrained. If they are combative, they usually are seriously injured. There are exceptions, but exceptions are not the norm.
Go ahead, work in an ER and find out. Don’t just take my word for it. Of course I don’t know any hospitals that allow volunteers to work in an ER. Every one I am aware of use only trained professionals near patients.