Florida Woman Zapped Tot With Taser, Cops Say

Using a Taser to play with a 3-year-old boy isn’t the best idea.

That’s a lesson a 30-year-old St. Petersburg woman learned Saturday afternoon when she found herself behind bars, facing a felony count of child abuse.

The St. Petersburg Police Department received a call around 4:15 p.m. from a mother who said her sister had zapped the toddler with the weapon. The mom told police she was in another room of her 5th Street South home when she heard her son cry out. When she went into the living room to see what the fuss was about, she saw her sister standing near the boy holding a Taser.

The sister “was laughing and was activating the Taser several times, but not touching the child,” the department wrote in an email to media. The boy told his mother that his aunt had shocked him on the arm and “that it hurt.”

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While the aunt denied the allegation, police said the boy had marks on his left armed that confirmed his story.

That’s when the mom called the police department.

When officers arrived, the aunt denied shocking the child, but said she activated it near him and did place the Taser’s handle on his arms. The weapon, she told police, belonged to a friend and she was simply “playing” with it.

Cops didn’t seem to buy the story.

Ramona Braswell was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on a felony child abuse charge. She was later released on $5,000 bond.

Braswell is no stranger to the jail it seems. She’s been arrested in the past on charges of retail theft and writing bad checks.

Photo Credit: Ramona Braswell/Pinellas County Jail