An Ohio town's police department has been closed down amid claims an officer used a Taser to subdue a nine-year-old boy who was playing truant.

The investigation into the use of a Taser on a minor has been handed over to the Madison County prosecutor.

The 2,000 residents of Mount Sterling, Ohio, have been left with no police force after their chief of police, a full-time officer and a part-time officer were suspended during investigations.

Investigators are looking into the incident in which a part-time officer was called to an apartment where a child was refusing to go to school, according to initial reports.

Prosecutor Steve Pronai said the officer used the Taser gun to subdue the child who had become "unruly".

Residents accused police chief Mike McCoy of covering up the incident, He was suspended for three days.

"Chief McCoy failed to notify me of this incident and the nature of the use of force. I had to find out from somebody else. That made it bad," said Mayor Charlie Neff.

Resident Jay Rapp told NBC: "This has happened before and the sheriff's office did a fine job taking care of the village while the PD [police department] was closed down for a few months so I think we'll be okay."

The child is reportedly well and is in custody.