United Press International | November 24, 2004

MIAMI, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The superintendent of Miami-Dade Schools, where police Taser-gunned a 6-year-old first-grader, has asked police to stop using stun guns against children.

Superintendent Rudy Crew made the request in a letter to the police chief, the Miami Herald reported Saturday. His letter followed an incident in October when a Miami-Dade officer zapped a 6-year-old first-grader at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School, who was wielding a piece of glass in a school office.

"The Pharr student was agitated and injured," Crew wrote in his letter. "However, police officers have dealt with other children in this condition without resorting to a Taser."

In a second incident, an unarmed 12-year-old who was playing hooky was felled by an officer using a Taser Nov. 5.

Crew asked that the department "refrain from deploying or discharging Tasers against elementary school students in Miami-Dade Public County Schools."