It is not yet clear what threat the 11-year-old girl may have posed to the off-duty officer as she walked away from him. Or how many steps she took before he unholstered his Taser.

The officer had suspected the 11-year-old of shoplifting on Monday at a Kroger in northern Cincinnati, where he worked another job. He commanded her to stop.She didn't, authorities later said. Then he deployed his Taser and shocked her in the back. The incident prompted an investigation and landed the officer on "restricted duty," Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K Isaac said.