Boot Camp Investigation: Mother of Victim speaks to KRBC
By: Megan Dobbs
Updated: February 11, 2013
The sound of a stun device -- not something you want to hear if you've been on bad behavior. But, April Kimbler says she understands why the Reality Invasion drill instructors had to use a device on her three children.
"It was going to be a physical altercation."
While her kids had only been in the boot camp for about a week, Kimbler says all three of them -- ages 11, 12 and 14 -- had the stun device used on them more than once.
"They did taser her...They did taser him...And there was a couple times before they were actually tased."
At each of those house calls, she says, her kids -- all of whom have a history of assault -- had become combative, threatening the instructors.
"She did come towards one of the drill instructors with her fists balled up like she was going to deck him."
April says she was present and gave verbal permission before the stun gun was ever used, each time.
"I was standing right there...I'm very observant with my kids and just cautious; I'm a cautious mom."
She feels certain the device was only used in self-defense, never as a disciplinary tool.
"To protect their self and everybody else in the home...(The stun gun use) Wasn't for very long. It was like, they put it on and took it right off."
The very behavior she says preceded her kids being zapped is what led her to enroll them in the boot camp in the first place.
"To help them channel their anger and learn to respect authority, learn to respect adults."
Those were changes April says came after just a week in the program.
"Everything was, 'yes, ma'am.' if i asked them to do something, they would jump and do it. It was, 'yes, ma'am.' they'd do it, no argument."
Even being subject to stun gun use, April says, actually helped her daughter initially.
"She'll even say now that it did help her realize, 'hey, i can't talk to an adult like that. That is very inappropriate.'"
But that improvement, April says, has changed since the investigation started and her kids taken out of the boot camp, something she hopes to somehow reverse again.
"I love my kids. I mean, they're my world...They're the reason why i wake up everyday, why i go to work."
That, she says, is why she put her children in the camp to begin with -- to keep them out of trouble with the law, not knowing they would end up being at the center of a contentious police investigation.
"It was going to be a physical altercation."
While her kids had only been in the boot camp for about a week, Kimbler says all three of them -- ages 11, 12 and 14 -- had the stun device used on them more than once.
"They did taser her...They did taser him...And there was a couple times before they were actually tased."
At each of those house calls, she says, her kids -- all of whom have a history of assault -- had become combative, threatening the instructors.
"She did come towards one of the drill instructors with her fists balled up like she was going to deck him."
April says she was present and gave verbal permission before the stun gun was ever used, each time.
"I was standing right there...I'm very observant with my kids and just cautious; I'm a cautious mom."
She feels certain the device was only used in self-defense, never as a disciplinary tool.
"To protect their self and everybody else in the home...(The stun gun use) Wasn't for very long. It was like, they put it on and took it right off."
The very behavior she says preceded her kids being zapped is what led her to enroll them in the boot camp in the first place.
"To help them channel their anger and learn to respect authority, learn to respect adults."
Those were changes April says came after just a week in the program.
"Everything was, 'yes, ma'am.' if i asked them to do something, they would jump and do it. It was, 'yes, ma'am.' they'd do it, no argument."
Even being subject to stun gun use, April says, actually helped her daughter initially.
"She'll even say now that it did help her realize, 'hey, i can't talk to an adult like that. That is very inappropriate.'"
But that improvement, April says, has changed since the investigation started and her kids taken out of the boot camp, something she hopes to somehow reverse again.
"I love my kids. I mean, they're my world...They're the reason why i wake up everyday, why i go to work."
That, she says, is why she put her children in the camp to begin with -- to keep them out of trouble with the law, not knowing they would end up being at the center of a contentious police investigation.
