To Stun or Not to Stun [for the kid's entertainment]

Take your Child to Work Day can be so boring for the kids. Unless you visit the District Court in Clark County, where the bailiffs will taser a court employee for your entertainment [or education?]


The Las Vegas Sun reports:

It must have been the most entertaining five seconds they spent together — this crew of grade-school kids, sitting in a courtroom on Take Your Child to Work Day at District Court in the County Courthouse, watching a square-shouldered bailiff draw his Taser, steady his aim and zap a volunteer with 100,000 volts of learning. . .

[Bailiff Tom Lemke] “tased” a 23-year-old man, an employee of the court, who . . . “stood up and waved to the crowd” after his electrification in the name of education.

Apparently, not all County officials were enthusiastic about the demonstration:

One little pull of the Taser trigger set off volleys of angry e-mails between
elected officials — and blew up into a bitter accusation.

Specifically, Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith, boss of the bailiff in question, contends that Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine, the most vocal critic of the Taser demo, is making a fuss not because of safety concerns, but because of political
motivation.

“The marshals are in for a raise and she doesn’t want to give it to them, so she is trying to use this to make them look unprofessional,” Smith says. Not so, Valentine says. It’s just that she and her colleagues in the county don’t think it makes sense to stun someone with a Taser for quasi-entertainment purposes. Not only could someone get hurt, someone could get sued. Taxpayers would be on the hook for the liability.

Sure, it could have left the county liable for an injury that arose. But, c'mon, it's better solution to Take your Child to Work Day than giving the kid a crayon and a sheet of paper and sitting them behind a desk.