Mental Health Awareness Month: After son tased by police, Long Island family using event to spread message [Video]

GARDEN CITY, Nassau County (WABC) — A family on Long Island is using a real-life event, to help spread a message about mental health awareness.

Claudia Hutchinson-Stewart’s16-year-old son, who has behavioral issues, was tased by Suffolk County Police during an incident at Islip High School.

“The officer comes out and he says ‘I apologize, but you know your son was tased but he did not tell me that he had any IEPs or emotional or any type of things happening,'” Hutchinson-Stewart said.

She blames the school, not the police, for not following the proper protocol for dealing with students in the event of a mental or emotional disturbance.

“The security guards were called, principal, assistant principal tried to tell him to get back to class. He said, ‘please give me a moment no, give me a moment,'” Hutchinson-Stewart said.

“If they were to just leave me alone and gave me a minute to just process my …