05/19/08 - Beat The Press - The Greenwich Citizen, The Greenwich Post And Cablevision News 12 Have Their Heads In The Sand

On Tuesday May 13th A Greenwich High School Student Gets 50,000 volts and a $50,000 bail and by Friday May 16th The Greenwich Citizen, The Greenwich Post and the Greenwich Time have all sat on the story.

There were photo opportunities - On Wednesday May 14th Greenwich students came to school wearing "Don't Tase Me" t-shirts on the school campus and parents are asking the school and press for answers.

The Greenwich Time eventually decides to release the story at 1 am Saturday morning on its website.

But many school parents wonder why it took the Greenwich Time five days to report the story.

Eventually, The Greenwich Public School spokeswoman Kim Eves released a statement that said Greenwich High School student Victor Londono was shocked three times by the officer using the taser in the "drive stun" mode.

"The SRO repeatedly requested cooperation and warned the student that he would have to be 'tasered' if he did not cooperate," the statement said. "Ultimately, and as a last resort, the SRO used the taser on the 'drive stun mode,' a low current, 'touch' lasting less than one second."

Of coarse, the ever so compliant Greenwich Time accepted this "one second" school statement with out asking one independent student witness in the school cafeteria.

And as usual, Greenwich High School Headmaster Alan Capasso and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Betty Sternberg did not return calls for comment. And that's the of story as far as the Greenwich Time is considered.

However, Greenwich Public School spokeswoman Kim Eves once again forgot to see that this information about police using a weapon at the High School was put up on the school website.

Did Greenwich High School Headmaster Alan Capasso send a letter home informing parents that a student was tased three times in the school cafeteria over water balloons?

Does the Greenwich Public Schools have a policy requiring that parents be immediately informed if a weapon in used on school grounds?

It is clear that Greenwich Public Schools are trying to keep parents in the dark over the use of a weapon on school grounds.

Worse yet, the weekly papers are in hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil mode. As far as the Greenwich Citizen and the Greenwich Post are concerned the Greenwich High School Taser never occurred last Tuesday.

Perhaps that the Greenwich Citizen and the Greenwich Post have chosen to sell out it's readers out of fear of upsetting the local police department.

Maybe, the Greenwich Citizen and the Greenwich Post are both afraid that if they cover the fact that 3 Greenwich Police Officers Tased a 140 pound student over being suspended over a senior prank involving water ballons, because they depend on the Greenwich Police Department as a major source of information for their publications.

It is easy to look the other way in order to keep a major news source a happy camper.

Even Cablevision News 12 looked the other way.

As usual, it has been up to local bloggers and citizen journalists to highlight and cover the story. More and more Greenwich readers are having to go to the blogs to get local news and commentary.

Here is another report about the high school taser incident from the blogoshere:

Greenwich High School Student Tased

By Chris at Station Stops

I am not one of those people who gets all up in arms when someone gets tasered (my opinion: you had to be there to know if it was appropriate), but this one sounds pretty lame. I have seen kids get off the hook in school before, the best approach is usually to let them go and deal with them when they are calmed down later.

But in 2008, High Schools have their own police force, so, if a student gets out of line, they can just nip it in the bud by tasering them. Oh and then they get arrested. That would have never happened back in the day - schools dealt with stuff internally - their goal was to *prevent* kids from getting arrested....

Via The Advocate

Please see:

05/19/08 - Even More Comments About Greenwich High School Taser Incident (updated #3)

Comments About Greenwich Student Getting Tased Three Times In The Greenwich Cafeteria (Update #6)

3 Greenwich Cops Give 140 Pound Boy 50,000 Volts And A $50,000 Bail For not Going To A School Office Over Water Ballon Incident: (Updated)

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