Police officer who tasered girl, 10, 'has case to answer for gross misconduct'

A Met Police officer who tasered a 10-year-old girl should face gross misconduct proceedings, a watchdog has found.

The officer fired the weapon at the youngster in southwest London following reports she was threatening a woman with garden shears and a hammer.

After the incident in January last year, the force said it had reviewed what happened and “no misconduct was identified”.

However the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed on Tuesday it had found the officer “has a case to answer for gross misconduct”.

An IOPC spokeswoman told Sky News: “Our investigation into this matter has concluded and we have found a Metropolitan Police Service officer has a case to answer for gross misconduct in relation to the tasering of a 10-year-old girl.”

Sky News has contacted the Met Police for a response to the IOPC’s finding.

Details of the incident emerged in March last year after a complaint was passed to the police watchdog.

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The Met Police said it was called to a property shortly after 5pm following “reports of a girl threatening a woman with garden shears and a hammer”.

A force spokesman said at the time: “Officers attended the scene and entered the property. A police Taser was discharged.

“The girl was uninjured but taken to hospital as a precaution.

“The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards carried out a review of the incident and no misconduct was identified.”

The police spokesman added that a formal complaint about the incident was received in February last year and it was referred to IOPC.

Sky News revealed last year that children as young as 10 and an 87-year-old pensioner had been tasered by police amid a sharp rise in officers firing the devices in the last three years.

They included a 10-year-old boy in Gloucestershire who was tasered after he approached officers with a large knife and refused to drop the weapon.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council defended using the weapons on youths, saying they commit “a lot of violent crime”.

But the Children’s Rights Alliance for England has called for the use of Tasers on children “to be eliminated”.

Louise King, the organisation’s director, told Sky News that Tasers “inflict intolerable pain” and the government’s own advisers had warned youngsters are at greater risk of injury from the devices.

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