Fla. Deputy Tasers Unruly 13-Year-Old Girl

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – A deputy Tasered an intoxicated 13-year-old girl who was kicking and scratching two hospital nurses, officials said.

April Rene Burleson, who is 4-foot-9 and weighs 90 pounds, had a blood alcohol level of 0.175 percent and was under the influence of marijuana and the prescription drug Xanax (search), according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office (search).

"You have to understand, she was lashing out, kicking and scratching," sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi said. "She was acting like an adult who needed to be restrained. Just because she's 13 doesn't mean she can't harm somebody."

Burleson was charged with loitering, disorderly public intoxication, battery by a juvenile on health services personnel, battery on an officer and resisting an officer. She was sent to the Lee County Juvenile Assessment Center (search).

Burleson was walking on the street at 2:50 a.m. Thursday when a deputy picked her up on the loitering charge. She was first brought to her mother, who agreed to have the girl medically cleared at Lee Memorial Hospital before being processed.

According to sheriff's reports, Burleson had been combative with Deputy Chad Edwards before they reached the hospital, then screamed at the hospital staff and injured the nurses and Edwards.

Burleson was shocked with the Taser (search) in the chest, then held in four-point restraints during her exam, deputies said.