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A Branson teen was Tasered after Ozark police found him lying on the side of the highway, seriously injured from a major fall.
His father says it was unnecessary and that using the electroshock weapon multiple times on the already-injured teen has delayed his son's recovery. But law enforcement officials, who are reviewing the incident, say the Taser was used to protect the teen from further injury.
Mace Hutchinson, 17, is at Cox South hospital recovering from a broken back and heel and a punctured lung. He was listed in stable condition on Friday afternoon.
About 2:30 a.m. July 19, police found the teen lying on the shoulder of a roadway underneath a U.S. 65 overpass in Ozark. He was battered and bruised, and it appeared that the teen had fallen from the highway above.
Neither police nor Mace's parents, Don and Stephanie Hutchinson, know what happened or how he ended up on the shoulder of the roadway.
What happened after the fall is contested as well.
Police officers were initially dispatched to the overpass because of reports that a man was banging on cars. Then, they came across the teen, who they say had already fallen from the overpass.
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The incident is under internal investigation at the Ozark Police Department, but Police Chief Lyle Hodges said he believes officers used the Taser to stop Hutchinson from running into the path of oncoming cars.
"From preliminary reports I've seen, I'm convinced this young man would have darted into traffic without this officer's intervention," Hodges said.
The police report indicates that Hutchinson was repeatedly shouting statements such as "cops, kill, shoot" and "smoke crack" and trying to move toward the road.
However, Don Hutchinson said he believes his son was trying to cooperate with officers but was unable to do so because of the extent of his injuries. He also believes his son was incoherent due to shock from the fall.
"They said he was noncompliant and thought he was going to try to lunge out into the road," Don Hutchinson said. "He was delirious. He was in shock. He just fell 35 feet, so you're going to have some shock. ... I don't think being Tasered 19 times is the solution."
A total of 19 shots were fired at Hutchinson from two Taser stun guns, although Hodges said it's still unclear how many actually made contact with the teen.
A Taser shoots two probes out that stick in the target's skin, and an electrical current is passed from the Taser to the probes.
Hutchinson's dad said surgery was delayed for two days because Mace's white blood cell count was too high -- a fact he blames on the Taser.
However, a spokesman for Taser International said he has never heard of a stun gun causing an elevated white blood cell count.
"This issue has not been described in any of the several hundred research exposures nor in the several hundred thousand volunteer training exposures," said Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser International.
Stephanie Hutchinson said her family plans to press charges against the Ozark Police Department over the incident.
"I've been sick about it," she said.
