Man Tasered For Refusing To Lift Hand Off Quran
POSTED: 10:10 pm EDT September 21, 2007
UPDATED: 10:12 pm EDT September 21, 2007
Nipped from here.
Posted on 09/22/2007 3:11:12 PM PDT by Stoat
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Jeffrey Shields, 49, of Ocala, filed a complaint with the Ocala Police Department alleging an officer used a Taser to force him to hold up his right hand, police spokesman Lou Biondi said. In a complaint filed Tuesday, Shields said he did not want to raise his right hand from under his shirt because he did not want to drop the Quran, but the officers said they could not tell what he was holding, Biondi said.
"The officers didn't have a clue what he had under there, regardless of what he was saying," he said. Officers were dispatched to the scene on Aug. 31 after authorities received tips that a man matching Shields' description was armed with a gun and stashing drugs inside a book, Biondi said. Neither drugs nor a gun was found after the incident.
Shields was shocked with the Taser for 15 seconds before he removed his hand from the book, Biondi said. He filed the complaint against four officers ---- Phil Hazel, Doug Russell, Bernard Smith and Jamie Buchbinder -- though no police records show Russell was on the scene when the Taser was deployed, Biondi said. All four will remain on duty while the incident is reviewed. "It is odd that he waited so long to file a complaint, 19 days or so," Biondi said. "Normally when people feel they've been wronged, it's something that happens almost immediately." A phone number for Shields could not be located.
Biondi said a police dashboard camera did not capture the incident. Shields was initially given a court notice for resisting arrest without violence, Biondi said, but charges were dropped at his Sept. 10 appearance.
Don’t tase me sahib!
Self control prohibits me from saying what flashed through my mind as I read this.
All your Taze are belong to us, bro.
“under his shirt because he did not want to drop the Quran, but the officers said they could not tell what he was holding “
Did it have wires too?
“under his shirt because he did not want to drop the Quran, but the officers said they could not tell what he was holding “
Did it have wires too?
Maybe they should have just taken his word for it that it wasn’t a weapon (you know, sort of like if you were to walk into an airport with some odd looking device strapped to your back and you claim it as “art”). Man, these selfish po-po’s that want to go home to their families every night, jeeeez.....
Perfectly legitimate use of a taser, in my opinion.
There was a famous murder trial in the Old West, in which two men were arguing in a bar, one coughed then reached inside his shirt and was pulling out something shiny and metal, so the other one shot him. It turned out to be a silver case with tuberculosis pills in it.
The jury acquitted.
I can’t understand why this man was so worried about dropping his toilet paper.
They should have just shot him.
But if he was tapping his foot....
Hiding his good book just like their women hide their identity behind their costume. Halloween coming soon—new costume idea!!
Why not? He should have dropped the Quran and then filed a complaint for being forced shit on the sidewalk.
Two taps from the Glock. Story ended.
Glock 45’s need to replace tasers. There wouldn’t be so much protesting afterward.
This is a completely misleading, bogus headline by the TV station.
By saying why he was tasered, the newswriter purports to know why the LEOs used the taser, and that reason was that refused to “lift his hand off (a/the/his) Quran.
However, in the body copy, the same writer says that the complainant admits he had his hand under his shirt. This is at a time when the LEOs were responding to a report of a felony and were wholly justified in taking protective action as they did.
Now, class, please see if we agree on the following.
Under one’s shirt is not a place most people keep their Qurans.
Under one’s short is a place many felons keep handguns.
This perp admits, that despite police requests, he would not remove his hand from under his shirt.
Would a reasonable police officer assume that a person who was told to “show his hands,” and kept one hand under his shirt, was protecting his Quran or going for a gun?
So the question becomes, why did they even waste time tasering him? Why didn’t they just shoot his butt.
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