Surveillance video shows Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies deploy a Taser on an 11-year-old boy at his Pompano Beach home back in January.
The child’s mother, Samantha Hinton, shared the video with NBC6. She says her son has suffered since that day.
“He’s so pale, he doesn’t sleep, he just stares at you at night, he can’t function, he’s failing in homeschooling, where he was getting all A’s,” Hinton said.
Deputies arrived at the scene on Jan. 20 after a 911 call from the boy’s stepfather and 10-year-old sister.
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“He has a knife,” the girl says on the call.
“Is anyone injured?" the 911 operator asked.
“Nobody is injured yet,” replies the girl.
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“The juvenile male, according to deputies, continued to reiterate he had intentions to harm himself and ran that large knife over parts of his body, his wrists, stomach and held it at his chest,” said Carey Codd, a spokesperson for the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
The surveillance video shows the boy put the knife down and then appear to reach for it again when a deputy deployed the Taser.
“It looked like I tried to grab it again, but I was about to do this and then — shot,” Wesley Hinton said.
The incident report says deputies have encountered the child in crisis several times before. His mother says she calls 911 when she needs help with her son.
“They were able to sit down and talk to him at this level and re-direct his mind and then he would calm down and talk with them and go willingly. They deescalated the situation every time,” Hinton said.
“This was a challenging and gut-wrenching situation,” Codd said. “The deputies utilized their training and were able to save the juvenile's life and prevent injury to anyone else.”
Hinton says her son has been in therapy, but she struggles to find lasting mental health for him.
The boy wasn’t arrested and no one was charged in the encounter.
