Atlanta high school student just wanted to get home to his autistic brother. Instead he gets blasted with a taser

A high school student in Atlanta was hit with a Taser at point-blank range during a terrifying confrontation with a school resource officer right on the bus. The whole disturbing encounter was caught on camera, and frankly, it’s awful to watch.

The incident involved 18-year-old Lanier Johnson-Hunt, a student at Langston Hughes High School. Video footage shows things escalated incredibly fast. Lanier was refusing to get off the school bus, even after the school resource officer repeatedly warned him that he would be Tased. After a very brief struggle, the officer deployed the Taser, hitting the teen right in the chest and leaving him screaming in pain, per TMZ.

You have to wonder how a situation gets this out of control over a bus ride. According to Fulton County Schools, the whole mess started because there was a new bus driver who thought Lanier didn’t belong on that particular bus with the other students. The school district has confirmed that it is fully investigating the confrontation, which occurred last Thursday.

It is hard to justify tasing a child

This situation is incredibly frustrating, especially when you consider Lanier’s side of the story. His attorney, high-profile civil rights lawyer Harry Daniels, explained that his client wasn’t being stubborn; he was just trying to get home. Lanier was refusing to leave the bus because he needed to get back to his family to help care for his autistic brother. This wasn’t some minor delinquency. This was a kid trying to fulfill a crucial caretaking duty.

I can only imagine how scared Lanier must have been when he realized the officer was serious about the threat. Lanier has spoken out about the incident, saying he’s furious. He rightly slammed the officer for tasing kids when these officers are supposed to be there to protect them. It’s hard to see a situation where using a taser on a student, especially one who hasn’t physically attacked anyone, is the appropriate step. You just don’t expect school security to jump straight to tasing.

The school district has taken action following the viral video. The unnamed officer involved in the incident has been taken off active duty while the comprehensive investigation proceeds. Given the severity of the video evidence and the context that Lanier was trying to get home for his brother, I think the school district needs to take a really hard look at their use-of-force policies. It’s not like the kid pushed boundries.

Deploying a taser on a student who is simply refusing to exit a bus seems like a massive overreach, regardless of the initial dispute over who belongs on the vehicle. Lanier Johnson-Hunt and his attorney are clearly prepared to fight this, and I don’t blame them one bit. When a student is trying to get home to help his family and ends up being shocked on a school bus, something has gone fundamentally wrong.