The Star
Cathal Kelly Staff Reporter
11/20/2009

The local police chief in Ozark, Arkansas is standing behind one of his officers who tasered a 10-year-old girl who was refusing to go to bed.

The bizarre story is laid out in a police incident report obtained by website The Smoking Gun.

Officer Dustin Bradshaw was called to the home by a woman complaining that her daughter was being unruly and refusing to go to sleep. Bradshaw wrote that when he arrived at the home, he found Kiara Medlock "balled up in (sic) the floor crying and screaming."

After watching her mother attempt to get Kiara into the bathtub with little success, Bradshaw took the girl into the living room and threatened her with jail. That didn't settle things down. At some point, Bradshaw claims Kiara's mother told him to "taser her if I needed to."

Bradshaw then tried to handcuff Kiara. But he couldn't manage that either.

To hear Bradshaw tell it, he was now in the midst of a full-on brawl on the living-room floor with Kiara, a Grade 5 student. The 65-pounder was "verbally combative ... struck me with her legs and feet in the groin," Bradshaw wrote.

That's when he reached for his holster and delivered a "very very (sic) brief drive stun to her back with my taser."

Unsurprisingly, Kiara's struggling stopped immediately. Bradshaw then cuffed her and carried her to his squad car, since she could no longer walk.

The incident hit the news when Kiara's father, Anthony Medlock, took exception. Medlock does not live with Kiara's mother.

"I want to know how the heck in God's green earth can they get away with this ... If you can't pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don't think you need to be an officer," Medlock told local Ozark 40/29 news. He said his daughter has shown signs of emotional issues, but she "doesn't deserve to be treated like a dog."

The local police chief stood behind Bradshaw and his decision.

"He had no other choice. He had to get the child under control," said Ozark police Chief Jim Noggle.

No disciplinary action is pending against Bradshaw. However, the Associated Press has reported that the FBI has dispatched agents to Arkansas to investigate.

Medlock said he will attempt to gain sole custody of his daughter.



OZARK POLICE DEPT Contacts:
Phone: (501) 662-2233
Fax: (501) 662-2788