A Smithville, Ohio school resource officer, Maryssa Boskoski placed on unpaid leave after using Taser to wake up sleeping junior student after refusing to wake up for principal.
A Smithville, Ohio school resource officer has been placed on unpaid leave after using a Taser to wake up a sleeping student.
WEWS-TV reported the incident happening Aug. 30 at Liberty Preparatory School when Officer Maryssa Boskoski was called to a classroom after a sleeping student wouldn’t wake up for a teacher or principal.
Smithville Police Chief Howard Funk says Boskoski, 32, removed the cartridge from the Taser and ‘arced’ it (meaning she set off a sound but didn’t eject the barbs).
No probes were deployed and the Taser didn’t touch the 16 year old student, identified as Cameron Kosunick.
Speaking to Fox 8 Cleveland, the junior said he fell asleep because he works a job until 10 or 10:30 p.m. after school and has a hard time falling asleep at night.
The teen said he didn’t want Boskoski to lose her job, but hoped she learned a lesson.
‘Like she needs to know that wasn’t right — that she shouldn’t have done that under any circumstance unless she was in danger’ said Kosunick.
‘How I feel about the situation is she didn’t think it through clearly. Her intention was to show off and scare Cameron but really what she did is harm herself,‘ said Chelsea Mills, Kosunick’s sister and legal guardian.
Principal Jenna Parnell, ‘It was not anything malicious’. Or was it?
School administrators responded saying the combination of the sparking noise and ensuing commotion in the classroom caused the student to wake up.
Interim Principal Jenna Parnell said she was stunned by the officer’s actions. The officer did not give any warning before using the Taser, according to Parnell.
‘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,’ Parnell said. ‘It was not anything malicious’.
Reiterated Parnell in a letter she sent to student parents and guardians, ‘At no time was any student in any kind of danger.’
The chief said Boskoski violated the use of Taser policy and what she did in the classroom could put her job in jeopardy.
‘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 incident follows an earlier episode this year in which Boskowski was also said to have also acted improperly when she deployed a Taser at close proximity to another officer when she failed to remove a cartridge from the device before conducting a spark test. At the time, News 5 reported the school resources officer was warned further misuse could result in disciplinary action.
A review of her personnel file shows Boskoski served in the United State Air Force Reserve.
As a Smithville officer, she was given a letter of recognition for a giving a homeless man clothing from her cruiser and taking him to a shelter.
Funk will meet with the Smithville solicitor to determine if any charges should be filed. It continues to remain unclear why the resource officer chose to use overt display of force.
Earlier this year, Officer Maryssa Boskoski, improperly deployed a Taser in close proximity to another officer when she failed to remove a cartridge from the device before conducting a spark test. At the time, she was warned that further misuse could result in disciplinary action pic.twitter.com/AO7ukZVt8w
— Jane Smith (Karma) (@Jane_S1970) September 7, 2018
