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 ...
I remember that - IIRC one agent said take your seatbelt off and put your hands on your head, the other one said "hands on your head" and when he reached down he got shot in the face with an AR15, then waited 45 minutes for an amubulance. It seemed to me like they were waiting for him to die, but finally called for medical help when it was apparent he wouldn't.
Glad to see you/your brothers comments. This cop was a complete jerk, and it really bothers me to see so many people supporting his actions in this thread.
“I wouldn’t want to be watching myself on video performing the way he did when I’m sitting at the defendant table after this guy sues me.”
Hear, hear!!
Careful bud. Your brown shirt and jack boots are showing. You current or former LEO (kicked out for beating up old ladies)?
You might consider following up on one of those enlargement emails. Your attitude may get a badly needed boost, and you may not need to compensate for lack of ..... wellllll, you know of course.
Jerk!
In America, the people are sovereign, i.e. we are the authority and gvt employees (inc LEO) are public servants.
They always find the price point to make the stop worthwhile; never say you are 10 miles over. The Revenuers know their game.
Did the cop say “If you don’t sign this, I will place you under arrest”?
If the guy walked away after the cop said “You are under arrest”, the cop had to do something. He chose to taser.
Also, the wife comes to see what is happening, and the cop orders her back in the car.
The cop overreacted. The guy should pay for the ticket.
Unless you bow down before the great power of the police, you are in trouble. A calm, submissive attitude gets you out of trouble.
That's the fantasy, anyway.
Too true, sadly.
Remember, the police are now being used to enforce PC laws about speech. The police have guns, nightsticks, handcuffs, mace and tazers. If you resist you will face one or more of those. For speech.
When? When did the officer tell the guy to stay where he was? This officer made so many mistakes on this stop it's not even funny, the most glaring of which was that he told the guy to get out of the car, then proceeded to turn his back on the guy and acted surprised when the guy was right behind him when he turned back around. But he NEVER told the guy to "stay where you are" prior to pulling the taser on the guy.
I support the police, as you will see in another post, my brother was a 15 year member of Asheville PD. But I don't BLINDLY support the police, and I can see when an officer has crossed the line. This was most definitely such a case.
I don't know where people are getting this "the officer asked him to stay by the car" stuff. It never happened. The officer said "Hop out of the car" and then as he's reaching for his taser, says "Turn around, put your hands behind your back." He NEVER said anything about "stay by the car".
Listen to it again. The officer says "You were going kinda fast. I need to see your license and registration." The driver says something like "I just have some questions" and then says "How fast was I going?"
Then, it is the OFFICER, not the driver, who uses the words "RIGHT NOW". Those words are definitely not in the driver's voice - they are the officer's words. My question is, at what point did police officers lose the ability to explain their actions to those they are ticketing? Why does a guy's question about how fast he was going get answered with such a gruff response? This was not some thug in the SUV, he was by all indication a relatively normal, decent young man driving a nice car with his wife and was able to hold an intelligent conversation about the circumstances surrounding his ticket. That's not the kind of "perp" that most cops worry about when they wake up every day, and this cop unnecessarily escalated the situation beyond reasonable limits.
The advent of the taser in law “enforcement” work has given police officers a wonderful fun tool which they can and do use ever more indiscriminately. It is a real gas to see some citizen flopping around like they do. And you can use it anywhere, any time. Police parties may start getting more interesting when some of the guys get drunk and look for giggles.
And with a taser the officer doesn’t even have to discuss it with you. He doesn’t have to take the chance that you won’t cooperate quickly enough in being arrested. With tasers police don’t need to be trained to take a person down non lethally and without damage. Just go to the door to ask a citizen about a complaint and taser the citizen as soon as he opens the door. He will then certainly answer all your questions if he can stand back up. This is a bit extended here but at the rate the trivial use of these things is progressing I don’t think that is too far “out there.”
This officer could have tackled the idiot and given him the opportunity to overpower the officer, take his gun and leave his children orphaned. He chose to bring the suspect under control by the use of some harmless high voltage electrical persuasion.
The officer did nothing that I would not have done. He tried to be nice to the guy and was greeted with disrespect and ultimately the subject turned the situation into a dangerous situation for both of them by his juvenile disrespectful attitude.
The officer should be commended for keeping a cool head and diffusing a potentially dangerous situation. The driver should spend some quality time behind bars for resisting arrest.
Like I said in a previous post, what video did you watch?
The trooper asked the young woman for permission to search, she consented and then the trooper searched.
But, answer my question from my previous post. What do you think that trooper should have done when the perp turned his back on him, ignored his command to halt, and began walking back to his car? Answer that?
I think you're a cop hater that would probably be more comfortable over at DU..........
This cop is all too obviously interested in being in charge.
Anyone who watches the video long enough to hear him say to the speeder “Painful, isn’t it?” should wonder about sadism.
That's it.
We used to be citizens, now we're all suspects.
Did the woman fear tazering if she refused? Did she understand her rights or was she too afraid of this nutcop to think? I have always stood by cops, I work with them, but this guy was pulling over someone in a 40 MPH zone....honestly - was he going five miles over the speed limit? The driver asked him and the cop refused to say. The cop was a JERK. He got caught by his own tape. Doesn’t matter that he is the MAN, he needs to show respect and proper discretion with ordinary citizens. He didn’t.
And for the record I am in EMS I know cops and am on scenes with cops. I like them. THIS guy was over the top. He needs a vacation.
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