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 watched the video. Couldn’t understand everything that was said prior to the officer walking up with the ticket. Understood everything after the officer re-contacted the driver with the ticket.
The officer was out of line. His reaction to the event was ridiculous. His use of force was excessive. I would fire him. Now.
No, he didn’t.
The tape, properly explained to an unbiased jury, is pretty much a neutral item. He may sue, anybody can sue anybody for anything. Though, if he keeps talking and contradicting himself he's going to end up with so many conflicting stories that he'll have a hard time prevailing. My guess would be, he'll sue, and the state will pay him a few grand to go away. Most of that dough will go to pay his lawyer.
How are you familiar with the size of his penis?
Well, we also have a clear example of just how TV has affected the public's understanding of reality in the person of a kid who thinks he can't be arrested unless he gets a Miranda warning first. So, I don't know... maybe it's an even push.
“The officer was out of line. His reaction to the event was ridiculous. His use of force was excessive. I would fire him. Now.”
I don’t find the officer’s reaction ridiculous or excesive. The guy was being a totally non-compliant, argumentative and kept reaching for his pocket - which it looked like there was something (possibly a gun) in there. He was possibly reaching for a gun. The officer made the right decision to taser the guy, imo. He was walking away but partially turned toward the officer and could have pulled a gun out of his shorts pocket in a second and shot the officer.
Ok. I stand by my earlier statement.
Uh...ok.
Many, many years ago I received a ticket from a Santa Monica cop. After I signed the ticket, he handed the pad back to me and told me to write my name legibly, because he couldn't read it. All four of us in the car burst into laughter. I refused, and told him "I could put an X on the line, if I wanted to". He was clearly angry, but knew I was right.
You are correct, you never used any derogatory terms at all in your posts.
I apologize.
It goes further than that: this generation is a generation that needs discuss things, learn why things are the way they are.
I commanded a battalion a few years ago of about 835 of these kids and leading them was a challenge in that they really needed to know why something was going to happen before they would really get behind it. It took a bit of adjustment to my leadership style, but if there was time to explain things, I found that they were as good as or better than any other Marines I'd known. Their record in Iraq stands on its own and I'm very proud of them.
This young man in this incident was asking for an explanation and he ran into a cop in a hurry to give him a ticket, then in a hurry to hurt him. We can make all the excuses we want to because he's a cop or we can see the situation for what it was - a cop with a lousy attitude that shamed himself and wronged a citizen and his family
I protest against the "them and us" mentality that has shown up among some police officers because we all need each other, cops and civilians.
In 1977 when I was a 1st Lieutenant and I was traveling through the L.A. bus station when I saw an LAPD officer in a hand-to-hand fight with an African-American man and the cop was starting to lose the fight because the suspect was grabbing for his gun. I intervened and helped the cop to subdue the suspect and get him into cuffs - then I got on my bus when the cop's partner arrived.
I am still more than willing to support where I can but officers that see us all as the enemy to be tasered at the smallest excuse make that difficult.
This generation is as good or better than mine - all you gotta do is explain a bit more.
You don’t taser someone for a traffic violation this is a new generation who were raised on violent movies.
Years ago the officer would say you were going 50 mph in a 40 mph zone let me see bla bla etc.
This officer never said that he said let me see your L&R and the driver wanted answers which is reasonable.
The officer should have explian I need you to sign this it has nothing to do with your plea, only that you will show up at court.
The officer was a more a jerk than the driver if that was my husband I would want to witness what the officer was doing!
The officer was a bully and a wimp!
Had he encounter a 6 ft 200 lbs man his demeanor would have been much different!
Given the fact that many if not most people who get themselves tased are on large doses of crack, meth, PCP or what have you, I have to say that it amazes me that this statistic isn't much higher.
One of these days the wife/other passenger is going to get out of the car, see her husband in a potentially life threatening position not of his making, pull out a gun and take out the cop. From her perspective, and that of a rational person, the cop is acting irrationally and could be jacked up on meth and she has a reasonable right to protect her husband's life. Who knows what the cop would do next? She would be justified based on the facts and circumstances. The uniform does not automatically mean he's not a threat, nor is he God. I'm not saying this is what she should do, by the way, just that this could be the tragic end result of the cops undefendable actions.
If that guy died, the cop should have been charged with murder, plain and simple.
Thrown out of the department for use of excessive force, huh?
Watch it again, Mr. McGoogle. Just before he walked to the drivers side he was on the passenger side and asked the woman to exit the vehicle so that he could search it.
It's that nuance thing again.
I always explained the situation(if given time by the violator)the consequences, and always, if possible, gave the citizen a face saving out if he had gotten a little blowhardy, if you will.
A lot of the posters seem to think that the officers and the rest of us should exist as separate entities but the truth is that we have to depend on each other. A little respect goes a long way, both ways.
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