Posted on 11/21/2007 11:58:07 AM PST by Sopater
An internal police investigation is under way after a formal complaint was filed against a Utah state trooper who was videotaped Tasering a man who refused to sign a speeding ticket.
The officer's conduct has been called into question after a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube.
The video, taken from a Utah Highway Patrol dashboard camera, shows Trooper John Gardner using a Taser on Jared Massey during a traffic stop on State Road 40 in Uintah County on Sept. 14.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Damn, more totally out of control cops.
These are the same type of people who shoot old ladies, kids in the face, women holding their babies, and dogs in neighboring yards. No one, and I mean NO ONE sees a cop on the road and feels relief and safety from the sight. We all feel nervous - we are all now law breakers able to be pushed around on a whim - their whim.
Equal protection and uniformity of the law, IMHO, is what made this county great. We now have a multi tiered system - us little people are on the bottom now.
Do cities get around this by classifying that red light running is a civil offense, not similar to say a cop stopping someone when witnessing first-hand a red light runner?
What a beat down... there's no "winning"... the govt. is ALWAYS right.
Wow. Just wow.
Not about the video or the tazering, but about the varied re actions and how some obviously see what they want and nothing else.
As someone suggested, maybe the video has been ‘cut’ by someone who is trying to use it to unreasonably arouse the public, or just to get hits on the video.
I know that I saw it when it came out, within minutes of the first post, and I saw a very different thing than what I hear being discussed.
I also see that many posters are very unfamiliar with the law, LEO procedures, and what being ‘under arrest’ really means.
People are wondering, ‘oh, how fast was he going.” Well, the officer told him he was doing 65 in a 40 mph construction zone, and had just passed the second sign indicating 40mph. When the officer pulls over at the beginning and the young man’s SUV scoots on by, you can see construction signs in front of the police cruiser.
SO, I kinda think many people are watching this video, intent on seeing a BAD COP tazer an INNOCENT PERSON, and they see nothing else.
Many claim that the officer had no right to try and ‘arrest’ or handcuff the young man, AND give him a ticket.
Well, those people are.....idiots.
An officer of the law can ARREST you, place you in handcuffs, for YOUR SAFETY, and HIS, and after checking things out carefully WITHOUT your interference or WITHOUT your pulling a gun and shooting at him, then, HE CAN LET YOU GO.
Being under ARREST does not mean you have been charged with anything. It means you are UNDER ARREST (constraint).
If you don’t believe me, THIS IS THE FRICKIN INTERNET, GOOGLE IT!
The officer asked the man (who refused to sign, refused to cooperate) to get out of the car and place his hands behind his back, BEFORE HE TASERED him. He even repeated the request before he fired.
SO, I don’t know what VIDEO most of the posters watched, I truly think that they read what a few other posters said, then maybe skipped forward until they found the tasering, and are basically, ..assuming whatever they want to about the truth.
When an officer makes you get out of the car, they get very nervous if you, say, WALK BACK TO THEIR POLICE CAR and act like YOUR NOT LISTENING TO ANYTHING THEY SAY.
What if the young man had jumped into the police car, and then tried to RAM the officer while he was checking on the other occupants of the vehicle.
Speaking of them, someone mentioned, MAYBE HE WAS SCARED FOR HIS WIFE AND CHILD. Yeah, that’s why he walked away from his own VEHICLE, and headed towards the POLICE CRUISER. Because he was afraid for his child....right.
This was a young, unworldly man who thought he could TALK HIS WAY OUT OF A TICKET, and that he DIDN’T DESERVE A TICKET, just because he wasn’t paying any attention to the construction ZONE or SPEED LIMIT SIGNS (which is exactly how construction workers get killed).
I’d bet money if he hit a construction worker, and thought no one saw him, he would leave the scene of the accident.
Cops can tell when someone is lying their ASS off, as this man was. It’s their choice of words, and their incessant WHINING and BEGGING. “Please, sir, let me SHOW YOU”, “I AM TELLING YOU, SIR” , “I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG”, “There was only ONE SPEED LIMIT SIGN, NOT TWO”, etc.
If the young man had told the officer, YOU ARE RIGHT, I WAS SPEEDING. I’m NOT FROM HERE, WAS IN A HURRY, DIDN”T NOTICE THE SIGNS, BUT I SHOULD HAVE. IT’s MY FAULT, I should be paying MORE ATTENTION, and I WILL..... then it is likely he might not even have gotten a ticket. Or might have gotten just a warning.
BUT cops don’t like bullsh*tters and this guy was one, right from the start.
I know many missed this as well, but when the officer FIRST PULLED HIM OVER, the officer asked for LICENSE and REGISTRATION. The young man sat silent a minute, and then responded, “Oh, you want it right now?”
That was about as SMARTASS a remark as you can make when being pulled over.
There is no doubt there are many LEO’s who have misused their powers as an officer, their weapons, their tasers, but each case should be judged on it’s own merits , just as you are when you have to ‘go to court’.
So, either someone is manipulating the video (gee why would they do that) or there are a bunch of band-wagon jumpers on FR who just wanna form a lynch mob and hang a cop.
WHICH IS IT?
“the cop should never have tasered the guy, All he had to do was tell him sign or go to jail and than arrest the kid, not taser him!”
I agree. I hope the cop loses his job and is sued by the driver.
“Would’ve been nice to hear the discussion at 7:10 of the video. Based on cloud movement, it’s missing ~10 minutes.”
There is a short and long version. The short version was used because Youtube limits film to 10 minutes and the original was 20 minutes. It is available online somewhere.
good post, and frnkly common sense.
the officer failed to manage the situation both to the citizens and the officers deteriment
the oficer should find another line of work asap
“100% incorrect. Please view the video again.”
I already stated that I saw the ORIGINAL VIDEO, which was much longer than this “CUSTOMIZED” version.
So, do you think maybe I could be right, and that certain ‘essential elements’ have hit the cutting room floor on the version you have seen ?
So, viewing the EDITED version of the video won’t do either of us any good.
BTW, do you think the cop was wrong? Beyond the Law? Out of control?
Do you think the driver of the vehicle was listening to a word the cop said?
the officer did ask him to sign the ticket.
He refused.
The officer asked him to get out of the car.
(If you do not understand that when you refuse to sign a ticket, that they will handcuff you and take you to jail, then you have no business driving)
The officer asked him to stay by the car.
He refused to do so.
The officer asked him to turn around.
He refused to.
The young man walked towards the police cruiser, and may have been intending on getting in it and ramming it into the police officer. Is that what you would like to have happened?
Oh.Oh. The young man was scared for his wife and kids. BS.
He walked AWAY from his wife and kid (if there was one, I have seen no proof of that)
This young man KNEW that a TICKET in a construction zone is AT LEAST DOUBLE the fine, and that he was GUILTY AS HELL, and HE WAS TRYING TO WHINE HIS WAY OUT OF IT.
If he wanted to ARGUE about the existence or none existence of the 40mph speed limit signs (which one of was seen in the video, as well as the CONSTRUCTION SIGNS), then that is something you DO IN COURT.
The OFFICER does not have to LISTEN to any of that. IT is not his job to JUDGE your claimed DEFENSES.
It is his duty to ARREST (again, look it up if you don’t understand the definition) you, WRITE YOU A CITATION, and HAVE YOU SIGN IT, if he IDENTIFIES YOU VIOLATING THE LAW, as per his TRAINING in LAW ENFORCEMENT.
He is PERMITTED to HANDCUFF YOU, PUT YOU IN THE BACK SEAT, or TASER you IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE ABOVE, especially if you are running off at the mouth, trying to LIE your way out of it, and WON’t LISTEN, and WON’T STAND STILL when ASKED, or SHOW YOUR HANDS, or TAKE THEM OUT OF YOUR POCKETS.
This young man, when first asked by the OFFICER for his LICENSE and REGISTRATION, sat there for a few seconds, and then said, “OH, YOU MEAN RIGHT NOW?”
I don’t know if that is on this SHORTENED VERSION of the video, but this young man did everything but BEG the officer to TASER him.
He should have listened to the officer and followed his instructions.
“Before the guy gets out the officer steps back and looks like he pressed his radio on his left shoulder. I have no audio though. See if that is what it looks like to you.”
There is a portion cut before that. When the cop goes back to his patrol-car and presumably writes out the ticket, then exits the patrol-car. He could have called then. But I doubt it. No reason to at that point.
Allow me to explain.
YOU MISSED PLENTY.
Did you hear the officer ask the young man for LICENSE and REGISTRATION?
Did you hear the young man’s reply?
(If the new ‘shortened’ version of the video doesn’t contain this, I apologize)
The young man refused to SIGN the citation. Now, what happens when you REFUSE to sign a TICKET?????
Do you think the cops just walk back to their car, and go, “Well, that guy was too smart for us!”
The officer told him to STAY WHERE HE WAS,and yet the man walked right past the officer and headed directly for the police cruiser (which usually contains a shortened SHOTGUN).
IF YOU were standing there, trying to keep an eye on him, the person(s) in his vehicle, and search for contraband, would you want him within reach of a SHAWED OFF SHOTGUN?????
If you say yes, please change your FREEPER NAME to DEAD-Fighter.
“What right did the officer have to pull a weapon and point it at the driver, who at that point HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG?”
Good Question.
First, the officer told him he was doing 65 in a 40mph CONSTRUCTION ZONE, and that there were TWO SIGNS stating 40mph.
The kid wanted to argue over whether there was ONE or TWO 40mph signs.
WHAT if you were one of the men working construction? Would you be for the COP or the kid who KNEW he was GUILTY and wanted to LIE his way out of it????
SO, first off, HE WAS SPEEDING in a CONSTRUCTION ZONE, risking the lives of CONSTRUCTION WORKERS. (POTENTIAL MURDER)
Officer pulls him over, asks for his LICENSE and REGISTRATION. The kid ignores him for a while, then says, “OH, YOU MEAN RIGHT NOW?”
THE OFFICER SHOULD HAVE TASERED HIM RIGHT THEN.
SO, he was being uncooperative BEFORE he ever got out of the SUV.
When he did, the officer asked him to STOP. He didn’t. He kept walking toward the police cruiser, (where usually a sawed off shotgun is kept in front).
QUICK. There is at least one other person in the car. They may have a bomb, drugs, or guns, you don’t know, as you haven’t had time to search.
Now the driver won’t listen to your request to stay by his vehicle and is heading towards your police cruiser where there is DEFINITELY a WEAPON.
YOU Can’t keep your EYES on EVERYONE, WHAT DO YOU DO?????
1,2,3, YOU’RE DEAD!
Have you been watching the 10 minute long version????
If so, you have no ground to stand on.
The cop was totally professional. The guy refused to sign the ticket, so he was subject to arrest. The idiot resisted arrest. I have absolutely no problem with tazering an idiot like that and hauling him off to jail. The other choice was to tackle him and risk an injury to himself.
Yes, I have. The portion that you and I are commenting comes from the 10 minute version.
The officer simply asks the guy to “hop out of the car”. That’s it. Driver has no idea that he is about to be arrested. He just thinks that they are going to go talk about the speed sign.
Then the officer pulls his weapon out and points it at him, out of nowhere!
Oh, I guess you two live on Sesame Street and play with the Sesame Street cops, Bert and Ernie.
The young man was rude and uncooperative right from the beginning. He repeatedly ignored the requests from the officer, and put the officer at risk.
The young man also, (speeding in a construction zone) risked the lives of construction workers, and tried to lie his way out of it.
I think maybe you two should go stand along side that highway, where the CONSTRUCTION SIGNS and 40MPH speed limit signs were, and let the little SMART ASS in his SUV go flying by you at 65mph (which is what the officer told the young man he was doing, and the young man denied).
Had that young man RAN OVER a construction worker, I have no doubt that it he thought no one had seen it, he would have just KEPT GOING.
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