HILO — The state Department of Education and Hawaii County police are conducting separate investigations into a disturbance Tuesday at Keaau High School that led to the arrest of six students and one 17-year-old student being subdued with a Taser.

Puna police are investigating the 9:25 a.m. fight and have arrested an 18-year-old subject for terroristic threatening in a related incident, said Puna police Capt. Steven Guillermo.

Police say the use of the stun gun on the student was appropriate. But some parents and at least one Board of Education member are questioning the use of force.

"I'm having one of my staff analysts investigate how often this (stun gun) is being done. We want to get to the bottom of this," said BOE member Mary Cochran.

"If this kid engaged in activity violent enough to warrant the use of a Taser, I don't know. That's what we're trying to find out," Cochran said.

Privacy laws surrounding juveniles limits how much police can discuss the case, Guillermo said.

A Taser gun shoots two tiny barbs at the end of wires that deliver 50,000 volts of electricity, freezing a person's neuromuscular system.

æWe do have a procedure in place as far as the use of Tasers," Guillermo said. "The officer felt that in this situation, it was appropriate to use the Taser."

"From my understanding, this was one officer trying to break up a fight that involved multiple participants. It reached a level where the school had to lock down," police Chief Harry Kubojiri told the Tribune-Herald yesterday. "All indications are the officer followed our protocol in use of the device."

Noting that he hadn't yet read the officer's report, Kubojiri said it appeared that verbal commands hadn't worked and the student had continued to be aggressive.

"It all happened so fast," said Keaau High vice principal Barbara Riley. "We're still trying to figure out how it got to this point. It wasn't planned and we don't expect it to happen again."

Riley said the officer who responded to the fray happened to be on a random patrol of campus. She said there will be more police on campus as officers watch for truancy and fights. The school has drafted a letter to parents notifying them of the increased police presence.

Andrea Shaw, the grandparent guardian of a Keaau High student, learned of the incident as it happened. Shaw was headed to Oahu for a doctor's appointment and had borrowed her granddaughter's cell phone for the day when the device started vibrating.

"It was a text message from one of her friends; it said 'OMG, I just saw someone get Tased,' " Shaw said. "I almost jumped out of my seat."