US cop tasers 11-year-old girl after she is accused of shoplifting

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It is not yet clear what threat the 11-year-old girl may have posed to the off-duty officer as she walked away from him. Or how many steps she took before he unholstered his Taser.

The officer had suspected the 11-year-old of shoplifting on Monday at a Kroger in northern Cincinnati, where he worked another job. He commanded her to stop.She didn't, authorities later said. Then he deployed his Taser and shocked her in the back. The incident prompted an investigation and landed the officer on "restricted duty," Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K Isaac said.

"We are extremely concerned when force is used by one of our officers on a child of this age," Isaac said. The department is also reviewing its use-of-force policies for minors.

Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman, chairman of the Cincinnati City Council's law and public safety committee, demanded a swift response from the department. "It's hard to understand why an 11-year-old would be tased," Smitherman said. The department's use-of-force policy allows using the disabling weapon on suspects between the ages of 7 and 70. But the policy also spells out when officers should avoid deploying the weapon.

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