The Shocking Truth

Jason Shepherd:

A series of institutional failures - by court employees, police officers and school officials - led to a Madison student being shot with a Taser stun gun in a school parking lot early this year, according to an independent investigator whose report the school district has tried to keep secret.

No one comes off unscathed in the report, issued last month by attorney Eileen Brownlee, whom the district hired to investigate the incident.

Some background: On Jan. 21, Madison Police Officer Tim Harder shot Dalarence Goodwin, a 14-year-old freshman, in the back with a Taser in the parking lot of Memorial High School. Goodwin had broken free from Harder's grip while Harder was attempting to handcuff him after arresting him inside the school. The arrest itself was based on a warrant apparently issued in error by a juvenile court.

Brownlee's eight-page report concludes in no uncertain terms that in the hours before and after the shooting, Harder and school officials violated district procedures.

"It is clear," Brownlee notes after recounting various versions of the events, "that the policy was violated."

Brownlee's Report on the Taser incident [PDF]. Ed Blume's notes.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 7, 2005 7:00 PM
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