Plasma application, NOT!

[Franz]

An area Sheriff(maybe just a deputy) went to a school to show and tell day and let some kid put on his handcuffs. While trying to take them off, the kids broke off the key in the cuffs. :confused:
Rather than tell the parents that their kid was stuck in his hancuffs, he took the kid to the local welding shop where they removed them with a plasma cutter. :blob3:
Needless to say, the kid had 3rd degree burns and needed skin grafts. Now the Sheriff is being sued for damages. :gunsfirin
This does sound too stupid to be true but it happened in Burwell, Nebraska--in the sand hills where there are real cowboys, great people and lots of cows. The Sheriff was the teacher's husband and so she is in trouble too. The articles appeared in the Omaha World Herald on 3/12/04 and 3/14/04.:cool2:

[vipermanz]

makes ya wonder what happened to good ol' bolt cutters!!

[enlpck]

The sheriff was doubly stupid. Any cop worth crap knows all of the weaknesses of his equipment, and cuffs have some of the worst. It really shouldn't have taken more than a couple minutes to get them open without the key, and without damage.

[joehobart]

holy crap. the part that boggles my mind is that a) he didnt just fish out the broken key piece and use another key. Dont tell me out in BFE nebraska they dont use standard keys.. and b) the welding shop didnt look at that as a great chance to dust off the hacksaw.

I gotta be honest, normally the litigious nature of people nowadays drives me nuts, but this is one lawsuit that doesnt bother me a bit.

[YJMike]

Considering I was a deputy sheriff before the AF, I would like to take people like this one and string them up! How stupid can you be'?