Mo. Teen in Coma After Cop Uses Stun Gun

FBI is launching an investigation
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2014 9:00 AM CDT
Mo. Teen in Coma After Cop Uses Stun Gun
Law enforcement and park rangers train to get their certification as stun-gun instructors during a two-day course in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tenn. on Aug. 29, 2014.   (AP Photo/The Mountain Press,Curt Habraken)

The 17-year-old son of a veteran police officer was rushed to the hospital Sunday after a cop used a stun gun while arresting him during a traffic stop in Independence, Mo. Both the FBI and Independence Police Department have launched investigations while Bryce Masters' family holds vigil at an intensive care unit, where he's being kept in a medically induced coma following apparent brain trauma. Witnesses say the officer dragged the teen from the car, which belongs to a woman with an outstanding warrant, used a stun gun, and stepped on him, and that the teen's head hit the pavement when he was in handcuffs, reports KCTV. Police counter that Bryce "physically resisted," exiting the car on his own, and "fell at some point," says a spokesman, per NBC News.

"It appears that the use of the Taser was in policy," he says. The arresting officer is a three-year veteran of the force and has been placed on paid administrative leave. Bryce's family said in a statement that they requested the FBI investigation because of "significant inconsistencies between public statements made by the Independence Police Department and information made available to the family in the form of statements of eyewitnesses and video and audio footage of the occurrence." Bryce's father, Matt Masters, is a veteran Kansas City Police Department officer. (Cops in another Missouri town took a lot of heat for stun-gunning a father trying to save his son from a house fire.)

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