There was a case in Canada a few years back where several trained prison guards tried to subdue and out-of-control inmate and ended up with a lifeless body for their efforts. I know a couple of guards and these guys are amazing at being able to render a person helpless without inflicting physical harm, but even with all their tricks, physical confrontation is difficult and dangerous and can escalete to catastrophe in the blink of an eye.

I'm not trying to excuse the police for their actions regarding the 14-year old, but I'd also be cautious about condemning them. It sounds to me like the youth has had a psycologically damaging past and it's extremely unfortunate that he has to add this to his personal history, but by tasering him the police may well have avoided a fight that could have gone very badly for any of them, including the boy.