ST. THOMAS — The mother of a 13-year-old girl is now facing several felony charges after repeatedly using a taster on her daughter during an argument, police say.
According to court documents, officers were dispatched to the Schneider Regional Medical Center last Wednesday evening to meet with a girl who was there with her grandmother. The teenager told them that earlier in the day, she was at her grandmother’s apartment, hanging out in the bedroom with her sister and some friends.
She said that she was texting on her phone when her mother came into the room, arguing about a fight that had taken place days earlier. The mother, whose name we are withholding to protect the identity of the teenager, reportedly mistook her daughter’s shrugs over the text messages for disrespect. She reportedly grabbed a small black taser from another room and returned to pin her daughter down on the bed, striking her about three times in her right shoulder with the weapon while everyone else ran out of the room in fear.
When the grandmother returned home about 6:00 p.m. that day, the teenager told her what had happened and asked to go to the hospital because she was in pain.
The grandmother told police that although she was not at home at the time of the incident, she was in possession of a seventeen-and-a-half minute audio recording, in which the mother’s voice can be heard, increasing in volume. At one point she is reportedly heard telling her daughter to “shrug again!” Police were able to hear the teenager’s response that she was “texting somebody” before the mother’s voice is heard repeatedly telling the girl to shut up. Officers then heard “what appears to be an electrical pop” about three times, followed by the screams of multiple people who then shout the mother’s name and plead with her to stop.
Police contacted the mother last Friday, who reportedly complained of feeling tired and unappreciated, saying that she had been seeking professional help for her mental and emotional challenges. She agreed to meet with police to hand over the taser that was used in the incident, and was subsequently arrested and charged with child abuse, parental neglect, disturbing the peace, and using a dangerous weapon during a crime of violence. She was also charged with third-degree assault and aggravated assault, both as crimes of domestic violence.
The woman was then remanded into custody to await her advice of rights hearing, which was scheduled for Monday. There is currently no information available to the public to indicate the outcome of Monday’s hearing, however a second court appearance for the woman has been scheduled for April 5.
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