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Ohio school resource officer uses Taser to wake up sleeping student. Now she's on unpaid leave.
A school resource officer in Smithville, Ohio, was placed on unpaid leave after she allegedly activated a Taser to wake up a student who fell asleep in a classroom.(ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images)

Ohio school resource officer uses Taser to wake up sleeping student. Now she's on unpaid leave.

A Smithville, Ohio, school resource officer was placed on unpaid leave after she allegedly activated a Taser to wake up a student who fell asleep in a classroom.

What happened?

The incident unfolded when a male student, a junior, wouldn’t wake up for the teacher or an interim principal on Aug. 30 at Liberty Preparatory School, a community charter school, WEWS-TV reported.

Officer Maryssa Boskoski, 32, allegedly activated a Taser a few feet away from the sleeping teen.

The Taser did not contact the student and he was not hurt, the report stated, but the combination of the device's sparking sound and the resulting commotion in the classroom woke him up.

"[The officer] did take her Taser, remove the cartridge from it, and arced the Taser," Smithville Police Chief Howard Funk told WEWS.

"I was a little surprised by it. Our interest is in the safety of our students so hearing that go off was a little alarming," interim principal Jenna Parnell told the TV station.

The officer did not give any warning before activating the Taser, Parnell said.

According to Funk, Boskoski violated department's policy for Taser use and her job could be in jeopardy.

Funk is working with the village solicitor to determine if any criminal charges should be filed, according to the report.

"It's unfortunate and I'm disappointed that this took place. It's something I would not have expected from any of our officers," Funk said.

The TV station obtained information from Boskoski's personnel file, which showed she was given a letter of recognition for a giving a homeless man clothing from her cruiser and taking him to a shelter. She had also served in the Air Force Reserve.

Has anything like this happened before?

A performance log in her personnel file from earlier this year said that she failed to remove the cartridge from a Taser before a spark test. The device deployed in close proximity to another officer.

Boskoski was warned that similar problems in the future could result in disciplinary action.



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