3 Black (African-American) Teenagers Tasered While Black in Missouri Mall

"Our officers had to use their Taser guns on at least three of them."


This Blog,Tasered While Black, collects information on tasing involving blacks. Here is a case involving some young black kids from Kansas City, who traveled to Independence, MO. Who were arrested recently. Police and news agencies are attempting to piece it all together regarding how teenagers fighting in a mall became an incident in which at least 3 teenagers got zapped by an officers taser. However it happened, one of the teenager's relatives is speaking out.

H/T to our source, The Blue Springs Examiner which reports:

The mother and grandmother of one of the Kansas City teens involved in a fight Wednesday at Independence Center said Friday they believe officers from the Independence Police Department and a mall security guard are the ones responsible for precipitating the brawl that was reported in the media.

Robin McDonald, the teen's mother and the teen's grandmother, Rhonda McDonald, told The Examiner that although the teen was involved in a one-on-one fight Wednesday evening outside the mall's entrance near Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant, the teen was hardly a participant in a brawl.

"From what I understand, they keep saying it was a group of 20 kids brawling. It was a one-on-one fight." Rhonda McDonald said.

Independence police officers used Taser guns after a mall security guard used pepper spray to break up the fight, which police officials said involved 20 to 30 teenagers.

Independence Police Chief Fred Mills said he has been briefed, but has yet to see the full reports because he is on vacation.

"There is no dispute that there was a fight, but I don't know what their (the McDonalds) analogies are," Mills said. "I haven't read the reports to know what happened with everyone involved. I'm at the same disadvantage as the mother and the grandmother because I wasn't there."

Independence Center officials, who rejected the description of the fight as a brawl, declined to comment Friday, referring to a statement released earlier. Ryan Oester, director of mall marketing for Simon Property Group, which operates Independence Center, wouldn't comment on whether surveillance video captured the incident. He denied The Examiner's request for of a copy of surveillance video.

"Whenever an incident like this occurs in our community, our primary concern is always for the safety and wellbeing of our shoppers and mall employees," Oester said. "We are committed to providing a safe, quality environment for our shoppers."

Police officials said Thursday two female officers responded to a call from security guards at 6:53 p.m. When the officers arrived and warned the teens to leave or face arrest, officials said, close to 20 teens became unruly, surrounding the officers, who put out a call for assistance.

"They (the teenage girls) were just flailing away at each other," Independence Police spokesperson Tom Gentry said Thursday. "Two of our female officers tried to break it up, but about 20 of the girls' friends surrounded our officers."

Gentry said mall security used pepper spray on the crowd, setting off pandemonium.

"Our officers had to use their Taser guns on at least three of them," Gentry said. "They were literally out of control." More HERE