Pierre (S.D.) PD police are being sued by the mother of an 8-year-old girl, claiming police used excessive force when they used a TASER on the girl during a 2013 incident at their home.
According to a CNN report, The reason the police were at the home was to keep the girl from hurting herself; the babysitter had called them because the child had a knife in her hand. All parties agree on this point -- the girl's mother, Dawn Stenstrom, as well as the defendants: the city of Pierre, South Dakota, its former police chief, Robert Grandpre, and the four officers at the scene on October 4, 2013.
But their opinions about the responding officers' actions diverge from there.
The girl's mother says the police used "excessive force" when they used a TASER on her girl. But Grandpre disagreed, telling CNN affiliate KSFY after the incident that the police "might possibly have saved this girl's life."
