Kansas City teen suffered brain damage from cop Taser shot, lawyer says
By RYAN GORMAN
A Kansas City teen has suffered brain damage after being shot by police with a Taser gun during a routine traffic stop.
Bryce Masters, 17, was pulled over Sunday in the suburb Independence and argued with an officer after being told to exit the vehicle when the cop smelled marijuana, authorities said. He was Tased, became unconscious and has not woken up since.
An attorney for the Masters family told KMBC that the boy suffered much more serious injuries than originally thought by doctors.
"Bryce has suffered brain damage and the therapists and physicians are in the process of determining the extent and long term effect of that damage," said lawyer Daniel Haus.
An Independence Police Department spokesperson reached by AOL News said that it was the first he had heard of the claims and declined to comment pending a medical report.
The spokesperson did say that both the officer and the department are deeply saddened by this whole incident" and added that several officials have visited the unconscious teen at a nearby hospital.
Officer Tim Reynolds, who fired the Taser at Masters, has been placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted into the incident, the spokesperson said.
He is a two-year veteran of the force and has had nothing in his past -- no disciplinary action -- to suggest such an incident would occur, said the spokesperson.
Reynolds claimed in a written report that he pulled Masters over because the tint was too dark on his vehicle and then smelled marijuana when he asked the driver (Masters) to roll down the window.
He then ordered Masters out of the vehicle but the teen refused, the report said. The officer repeatedly warned Masters he would shoot him with the Taser if he did not exit the vehicle.
Masters refused and the Taser was fired, according to Reynolds.
The FBI is also conducting parallel investigation with the IPD's internal affairs bureau while looking into Sunday's events.
"We're expending a lot of our time and energy into making sure it never happens again," said the spokesperson.
Doctors are now reportedly trying to determine the extent of the 17-year-old's brain injuries.
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