Parent unhappy with Taser incident

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset on Monday defended an officer's decision to use a Taser on a 15-year-old boy during an altercation Friday night outside a basketball game at Flathead High School.

"If a suspect presents enough of a threat, then age isn't a consideration," Nasset said. "It appears to me the officers acted very appropriately."

The boy's father, however, said Monday the officers used excessive force in a situation that should never have been allowed to get so far out of hand.

"What happened to my son was wrong. Period," said Jeff Mortenson, whose son, Hunter, is a freshman at Glacier High School. "He was Tased at least twice while he was down and not resisting."

Mortenson said he is considering legal action against the Kalispell Police Department.

According to police, Flathead High School Principal Peter Fusaro asked two police officers to remove a Glacier High School student attending the game.

That student, also 15, left but later returned. Mortenson, who was the banned student's ride, left the game as officers and school officials were asking the other boy to leave a second time, according to Jeff Mortenson.

Fusaro asked Mortenson for his student identification - which he either didn't have or refused to provide - and then realized the boy had a tin of chewing tobacco in his pocket.

Police say Mortenson, who reportedly had knocked the principal's hand away from his pocket when Fusaro tried to reach for ID or the tobacco, tried to run when an officer got involved.

Fusaro did not return calls for comment Monday.

When one of the officers put her hand on Mortenson's arm, he began struggling, Nasset said.

The other officer on scene deployed his Taser, and Mortenson went down to the ground but refused to remove his hands from under his body, Nasset said. Mortenson was contact-shocked again, and he complied.

"In this instance a six-foot three-inch, 180-pound healthy young man is a formidable opponent," said Nasset, who added that Mortenson was bigger than either police officer. "He was big enough and strong enough that they couldn't subdue him."

But Jeff Mortenson said the only behavior that could have been construed by officers as resisting was when his son knocked away Fusaro's hand and then later batted one of the officer's hands off his arm.

Neither action warranted the use of a Taser, he said.

"There were so many opportunities for this to be avoided. None of this ever had to happen," Mortenson said. "This whole thing's insanity. It's stirred up a hornets nest."

A witness, student JC Polston, said Mortenson did not attempt to strike officers or flee before police first shocked him with the Taser. He had simply thrown up his hands to catch his balance after slipping on ice, Polston said.

And when Hunter was shocked a second time, he was on his side and couldn't remove his arm from under his body because an officer had him pinned to the ground, Mortenson said.

"[Hunter] said he could hear the words and everything, but he couldn't really hear them because of the effects of the Taser," Mortenson said. "If we don't have an officer on the force who can subdue a 170-pound boy without using Tasers, we need new officers."

Mortenson acknowledged his son, who has been suspended from school for a week, had been disrespectful to school officials, but also said that doesn't justify the level of force used.

After the incident, Mortenson was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, trespass, and possession of tobacco, all misdemeanors. He later was released to a parent.

Using a Taser actually can minimize injuries to both suspects and officers, Nasset said.

In Mortenson's case, using a Taser "definitely fell within [the department's' use-of-force police," he said.

Nasset said he believes there may be video footage of the incident, possibly from a bystander's camcorder or cell phone.

"Please bring it forward because that's something we'll use in our internal review of the situation," he said.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com