A 16-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has been tasered by police at her school in Townsville in north Queensland.
Police allege the teenager became aggressive and started damaging property while speaking with officers yesterday about a separate matter.
"As police and staff attempted to calm the girl, she lunged at an officer who subsequently deployed their taser," a police spokesperson said.
Paramedics were called to the school and the girl was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Police said the girl and the officer suffered minor injuries.
The girl's mother told the ABC her daughter had cerebral palsy and suffered from seizures.
"I got a phone call from child safety first and they said 'are you up at the hospital? Are you going to the hospital?'," she said.
"I said 'what for? Did my daughter have a seizure or something?'
"They said 'no, we had to taser her'."
The girl's mother said she was angry with how her daughter was treated.
"She said that they tasered her twice, they had her handcuffed to the bed," she said.
"She's got cerebral palsy, she has seizures, and she's only got the use of one hand and she's not very good on her legs, so why taser her?
"I was really pissed off — I wanted to go up there and say things I shouldn't say to them."
'She had a cricket bat'
The girl's mother said her daughter was discharged from hospital hours later with bruises to her stomach.
She said the school went into lockdown because of the incident and her daughter had been suspended for five days.
"They said that she [my daughter] had a cricket bat and she was smashing things with it," she said.
Police said the incident was under investigation and would be subject to an internal review as per standard procedure when a use of force option is applied.
"Police opt to use a taser when they are faced with volatile incidents and where there is risk of serious injury to officers, staff and members of the public," a police spokesperson said.
"The primary focus of officers attending escalating situations [is to] strive to peacefully resolve them with minimum force."
The girl's mother said she would lodge a complaint with police.
"They just can't get away with this — they need to be held accountable," she said.
The school declined to comment, and referred the ABC to the Department of Education.
A spokesperson from the Department of Education said as it was a police matter no further information could be provided.
'Absolutely barbaric', says disability advocate
Children and Young People with Disability Australia CEO Mary Sayers says she is disgusted with the tasering of the teenager.
"It is absolutely barbaric," she said.
"There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for using a taser on a person with disability, full stop."
Ms Sayers said there were well-known strategies in how to deal with a child with a disability who is dealing with trauma.
"The disability royal commission needs to look into why this has happened and what are the systemic failings that have led to police taking such an approach," Ms Sayers said.
"It's quite unbelievable in today's age that we would have police on a school site shooting a taser at a young person with a disability.
"Where on earth is the justification for that sort of barbaric behaviour?"
