Katy ISD use of taser on special needs student drawing heavy fire

KATY, Texas (FOX 26) - Watching a teenager on the wrong end of 50,000 volts is a difficult thing to see and hear.

As FOX 26 was the first to report, it happened to Jevon Washington, an intellectually challenged student at Katy ISD's Mayde Creek High School.

The controversial Taser takedown by a KISD Resource Officer happened less than 30 seconds after an agitated Jevon tried to leave his school building after being bullied by classmates.

"Big kid. I got tired of wrestling with him." The words of officer Elvin Paley who, along with Katy ISD, has been named in a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit.

A FOX 26 review of Paley's body cam footage revealed the officer deployed his Taser even though Jevon Washington broke no law.

"You have any charges on him?" asks a KISD Police supervisor.

"I don't have any charges on him," answers Paley.

Legal analyst Chris Tritico has reviewed the body cam video for FOX 26.

"The use of force was never necessary here because if the officer had just left him alone all that would have happened was that a young man would have gone outside," said Tritico.

Citing the capacity of Tasers to cause occasional "cardiac arrest" the American Civil Liberties Union and others have unsuccessfully sought a ban on Tasers in Texas public schools.

In the wake of the latest potentially life-threatening take down of a disabled teen, student advocates have tempered their outrage with a call for training.

"It's training, training, training. I think that this officer either didn't use his training or didn't have enough training. This guy has given Katy ISD a black eye that they did not need," said Dr. Bob Sanborn of Children at Risk.

"They don't have the adequate training to deal with this population. This kid has been traumatized. Yea, he's on a second grade level, but he has fears, he has feelings like everyone else," said Special Needs Advocate Louis Geigerman.

In the meantime, Jevon's mother is praying her family's ordeal will force cops on campus to think twice before forcing other mentally challenged children to "ride their lightening".

"My son is sitting there on the concrete in duress. That could have been my last time, my last moment to see him. My son," said Lori Washington.

Katy ISD again declined to offer comment, citing the pending lawsuit.