By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer

MIDDLETOWN - A police officer here was fired because she used a Taser to punish a prisoner accused of attacking a sheriff's deputy, officials said Thursday.

Police Chief Bill Becker said patrol officer Kathy Jones, 37, was about the eighth police officer he has fired during in his nine years as chief - and the first fired for using excessive force.

Jones used her Taser on homicide suspect Estell Wayne Buck "to get even" for his attack on a Warren County sheriff's deputy during a failed escape attempt Aug. 18, Becker said.

The escape attempt occurred at a dentist's office in Middletown. After Buck was subdued, Middletown police took him to that city's jail. An internal investigation found that Jones shocked Buck without provocation as she was taking him into the Middletown jail.

Buck required no medical treatment as a result of being shot with the weapon, Becker said. "She's lost her career because she let her emotions get in the way of good professional police work," the chief said.

Jones, an officer for 14 years, did not return a call Thursday, nor did her union president, Steve Winters. She has seven days from her firing to appeal, Becker said. She was fired Tuesday.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com