PASQUOTANK COUNTY, N.C. — Sabrina Simpson said her 15-year-old son is recovering after a School Resource Officer Tased him at Pasquotank County High School Thursday.
"I actually got a call from a student that's a friend of my son's, and basically he told me my son had just been Tased," said Simpson.
The sheriff’s office says an SRO responded to a report of the student threatening to "slap and shoot" a teacher. Simpson said her son was wrong for making that threat.
"I don't hold my son up in wrongdoing. If he's wrong and he really did it, then he was wrong," Simpson explained. "I plan to tell him, 'Don't ever let your anger get to this point.'"
The Sheriff's Office said after an SRO and other staff members tried to diffuse the initial situation for about 45 minutes, they called in another SRO to help with the situation.
The Sheriff’s Office said the student struggled with the officers as they tried to escort him off the property and that he "lunged" at one officer’s duty belt.
In the press release, officials said the SRO warned the student he would use a Taser and when the student still didn't listen, the officer stunned the 15-year-old.
Simpson said her teenage son doesn't weigh more than 120 pounds and isn't large compared to most adults. She said she's upset with the way the officers handled the situation.
"There is such a thing in procedures as far as restraining a child," said Simpson. "I didn't feel like it was needed to Tase my son. He didn't have no weapons and he was not a threat. He wouldn't follow proper procedure, basically... and I feel like it's not a good enough reason to Tase a 15-year-old."
Simpson said an EMS crew immediately came to the high school to evaluate her son and remove the pieces of the Taser from his body. She said the school suspended her son for 10 days.
13News Now reached out to the Sheriff's Office and Pasquotank County High School for comment, but we have yet to get a response.