Deputy Mark Leubscher , probably best known for his tasering of a 12 year old girl with her hands handcuffed behind her in a patrol car, strikes again!
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Orange County deputy uses stun gun on high schooler
By Dave Weber
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
ORLANDO - An Orange County deputy sheriff used a Taser on another high-school student this week as a debate continued on whether stun guns belong in schools.
It was the seventh Taser incident at Colonial High during the past two years and the 18th in Orange County schools during that time. All involved deputy sheriffs.
Details of the incident came to light Friday, shortly before a task force appointed by Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary released a report urging more Taser training for deputies but saying they have shown restraint in using the devices.
The deputy working at Colonial High and the student disagree on when the Taser was used during a lunchtime scuffle Thursday outside the cafeteria.
Deputy Mark Leubscher reported that Phillip Planteny, 17, attacked him when he tried to break up a fight. A second deputy held Planteny to the ground while Leubscher gave him two shots with the stun gun, according to the officer's report.
Planteny told his mother he stepped in to break up the fight, which about 300 students gathered to watch. He told her he already was handcuffed when Leubscher used his Taser. She was outraged.
"When you are handcuffed, there is no reason you should be Tased," said Olga Hernandez. "And in school, a Taser is not called for."
Another student, Luiz Ortiz, 15, said he saw the fight and could not understand why the Taser was used.
"They put him in handcuffs, and then they Tased him," Ortiz said.
Leubscher would not comment on the incident Friday, but sheriff's officials spoke in his defense.
"The student lunged at the deputy and pushed him into a picnic table," said Crystal Candy, a sheriff's spokeswoman, who noted that the boy weighs 197 pounds. "He was not handcuffed when the Taser was administered."
Planteny is facing felony counts of battery on a law-enforcement officer, threatening a public official, and violation of probation for a previous offense, as well as a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the school, the sheriff's report said.
Leubscher previously used a Taser on an emotionally handicapped 12-year-old at Gateway School whose hands were cuffed behind his back, and on a 17-year-old boy at Colonial High who had been placed in the back of a patrol car.
Officials said a review of both incidents found the Taser was justified to keep those students from hurting themselves.
