INDIANAPOLIS -
An Indianapolis mother is demanding answers Friday night after her 13-year-old son was one of three students tasered by police at John Marshall Community High School earlier in the day.
"Kids was screaming and stuff," says 14-year-old Brandon VanDamme.
That's how this 7th grader at John Marshall High School describes the scene Friday when police stormed the auditorium to break up a fight between several students. VanDamme says it started when some students tried to jump him and his friend 13-year-old JaWan Thompson stepped in to defend him.
"I heard somebody say, 'Break it up now. Break it up now. Then JaWan, he was already down, but then I heard a tase, that's when I just stopped,' " says VanDamme.
VanDamme says police used a stun gun on three students, including JaWan.
"He was sweating real bad when I seen him. His face was red and stuff and I didn't know what to do," remembers VanDamme.
Another of the tased students, "He was having trouble breathing, cause I seen it. He was like, 'Gasp. Gasp,' " says VanDamme.
"If there's a boy laying on the ground, why would you tase him," asks JaWan Thompson's mother Trisha Gunn.
Gunn says it hasn't been easy for him at John Marshall High School.
"The kids pick on him. They talk about his shoes and they talk about the way he dresses," Gunn says.
"I'm not trying to make him seem like an angel. He's not. You know. He has problems, but he did not deserve to be tased," she adds.
According to I-P-S, their school police officers don't even carry stun guns and they say the officer that tased the students was with IMPD.
IMPD says their officer gave a different story, saying the assistant principal was trapped in the middle of three kids fighting.
IMPD says an EMT checked the students out after tasing them.
Gunn still wants to know why it had to come to that.
"Nobody has any answers," says Gunn.
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