Posted on 11/14/2012 8:00:59 PM PST by Altariel
PINELLAS PARK -- The fire was all around Dan Jensen.
He could see it. He could smell it. He could hear it.
It was close enough to touch. It was burning down his neighbor's house. It was creeping toward Jensen's own fence 10 feet away, and he started spraying the fire with his hose.
Police ordered Jensen to get back, and he complied.
But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.
That's when he heard the order.
"Hit 'em! Take him down! Tase him!"
Within moments, Jensen was on the ground. He felt electric.
"It was all over me," Jensen said. "Crawling all over me."
The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.
Jensen's family, friends and neighbors have been quick to defend him and accuse police of crossing a line.
"It was wrong," he said. "There's no way around it. … I was fighting a fire. I wasn't fighting police. I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me."
Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.
Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.
Jensen's attorney, Heidi Imhof, said she believes authorities are trying to deflect attention from their actions that night. She called the Taser use "excessive force."
"They can't just Taser anyone," she said. "He's an unarmed person on his private property trying to fight a fire."
Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.
The agency's policy says officers must issue a warning before using a Taser, "except when such warning could provide a tactical advantage to the subject."
Imhof said her client was never warned.
Jensen said he's "disappointed" in police.
He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren't getting there soon enough.
Officials told the Times it took six minutes for fire fighters to respond.
"That's my home," Jensen said Monday, his voice breaking. "That's my family."
Wannabe cops....not real ones.
Gee, I can’t imagine why anyone would hate the pigs. He must not have had a dog they could shoot.
He’s lucky they didn’t shoot him in order to save him.
Pretty sure I’d be in jail for punching out the cop.
I don’t care if it was a week later.
Try to find a jury to convict me!
I used my garden hose on a fire while waiting for the fire dept. once. I got a brief honorable mention in the newspaper for it. No tazers. Of course, I live in the good old U.S. OF A unlike the guy in this story.
” Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.”
Warren v. District of Columbia
Police do not have a duty to provide police services to individuals.
Published: June 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 27 – The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation.
How are they in danger when they know they have no duty to protect him, according to SCOTUS?
If it only took 6 minutes for firefighters to get there, how were the police there first?
This story makes no sense.
I misunderstood. I clicked because I wanted to learn more about this special garden hose. I was thinking "American ingenuity... the Republic will surely survive."
Sigh.
There was a time in American history when the liberal use of tar and feathers delivered a very clear message. It is long past time that this tradition was revived.
All citizens are suspects. Suspects will comply or be tazed. Welcome to the New America.
I hope that guy sues the hell out of those pigs.
It is because he isn't an "official" government agent. Only "official" government agents are authorized to fight fires.
Simple. The police have a system worked out, so when they get a code over the radio that means they don’t have to run around or put themselves in any danger, they rush over to those calls so they can stand around and drink coffee. Then, they take their sweet time getting to the tough calls, hoping the suspects will have fled already, so they can stand around and drink coffee.
I detest these small-brained idiots with a little authority. They don't know it's not enough to SAY that he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to continue fighting a fire that threatened his property.
How exactly, you morons?
Obama may get away with that crap, but you incompetents can't.
Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.
Then charge him, pea-brain! I relish the thought of a trial and the decision of a jury.
Or be prepared to lose a suit for abuse of power under color of authority. I would contribute to this victim's defense.
I can’t wait for the day that citizens start paying these thugs with badges back, up close and personal. Like when they are shopping, or at the movies, or...
Just walk up behind them and WHAM!
Would that be in California recently?
Snip: Cities throughout San Diego, south Orange and southwest Riverside counties must enforce the law, and set up 24-hour hot lines for people to report violations by their neighbors.
I am glad that I don’t work there. Around here the police assist homeowners with anything that they have got to help keep fires under control until we arrive. They worry us because they often run into burning rooms with extinguishers or garden hoses and no protective clothing. The police that I work with are determined to protect people and property. I have been to dozens of incidents where the police and/or residents have put out or kept fires from spreading using garden hoses. I thought that I worked in a screwed up liberal part of the country... but at least a little common sense still prevails around here.
"You fool!" [/Gilbert Gottfried]
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