Your display of anger combined with your ignorance is astounding.
Posted on 03/11/2008 8:05:26 AM PDT by abb
A Vernal man shocked twice with a Taser during a traffic stop last year has accepted a $40,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed against the state and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. The Utah Attorney General's Office announced the settlement between Jared Massey and UHP trooper Jon Gardner on Monday. "We think this is a legally defensible case because Trooper Gardner acted reasonably to avert a volatile and potentially dangerous confrontation on the side of a busy highway," said Assistant Attorney General Scott Cheney, who represented Gardner. "We recognize, however, that this is a close case." The settlement comes on the heels of a decision by Tooele County prosecutors earlier this month that determined Gardner's actions were not criminal. An internal UHP investigation also cleared the trooper. Video of the trooper zapping Massey, taken by the trooper's dashboard camera, came to prominence after Massey posted it on the Internet site YouTube. Since it was posted last year, it has been viewed more than 1.7 million times. Massey's attorney, Bob Sykes, said Monday the offer to settle the case was not the state's first and that his client decided to take it. Massey filed a lawsuit against Gardner in January alleging the trooper violated his civil rights when he zapped him during a traffic stop Sept. 14, 2007, on Highway 40 in Uintah County. Advertisement Click Here!
He was stopped for driving 61 mph in a 40 mph zone. During the stop, Massey argued with Gardner about his speed and then refused to sign the citation. Massey then got out of his car and followed Gardner to his police car where he was asked to place his hands behind his back. When Massey refused, Gardner shocked him. The suit said Massey fell screaming in pain after being shocked while Gardner taunted him by saying, "Hurts, doesn't it?" Massey struck his head against the pavement and was zapped a second time because he was unable to immediately obey an order to turn over on his stomach, according to the suit. "We thought the amount of force used was outrageous," Sykes said Monday. The settlement amount includes attorneys' fees. The Attorney General's Office says Massey has agreed to dismiss his lawsuit, all claims against Gardner and all potential claims against UHP, the Utah Department of Public Safety and the state. jbergreen@sltrib.com
I think the crux of the issue is whether or not the LEO is justified with his first "turn around and ..." at that point. I don't think so. The LEO is just peeved cuz he's being questioned and wants to torture the guy so he gets 'taught a lesson.' Getting po'd is no justification for the use of force.
How about discussion? Or if the LEO wants to make an arrest how about saying, "You're under arrest. Turn around...."
I told you that civil case would never be allowed to go to a jury, because they would be very sympathetic towards Massey.
And, that Massey would be awarded money for his pain.
I expect that he will... I also seriously doubt he was the only person driving 61 in a 40 mph zone that day.. or, any other day. His offense was something he SHOULD (and was) fined for... NOT arrested... and CERTAINLY NOT tasered.
And finally... Here's my problem with you: I freely admitted that Massey did not handle the situation well, that he made mistakes, and was behaving in a STUPID manner.. You, on the other hand, never seem to want to admit any error on Gardner's part. And, well... frankly that just makes you look silly.
Gardner was being the stereo-typical power-hungry cop jerk that nearly all of us have met on occasion. I've been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt... maybe he tired, or in a bad mood. But, he was VERY unprofessional in many ways. There was no rational reason for Massey to have been arrested. There was no threat to the public that demanded his arrest.... only Gardner's ego.
I know, from our past discussions, that debating this further with you is pointless. Suffice to say: the State wanted this to end, because there was NO good outcome for them if it continued forward.
As I said... I think $40k is about right for this relatively minor occurence.
Actually the LEO doesn't own the camera nor it's evidence. It is the property of the 'People'.
They then edited it and Mr. Massey put it on YOUTUBE.
I see a skip after the LEO gets the DL & registration & returns to his patrol car. You think the LEO's time filling in paperwork, pecking keys on a computer or whatever is critical to the evidence?
Don’t ya wonder what they edited out?
I don't think any critical info was edited out. Why don't you use the FOIA and get a copy of the original and check out your claim.
So, in this case, the LE gave the videotape to the ‘victim’.
Again, the video belongs to the 'victim' and the rest of us, not LE.
Doesn’t fit with your discussion on cops ripping the camera out of the victim or bystander’s hand?
I made a comment to another poster regarding something they'd posted and knew about that was unrelated to the specifics of this tasering.
I love dash cams. I love little recorders. I love miniature camcorders. These are good things.
Smile! Your ON!
The video does not show the warning sign a mile away, as the officer alleged. It would have been difficult to slow down in sufficient time if (1) the sign was not there or (2) the driver entered the highway after the first sign was posted. My argument is with the stupidity of the law the officer was enforcing and not necessarily the officer as such.
What the core issue is whether traffic laws of this nature are just, and not the behavior of the driver or the trooper during the incident.
The existence of such laws on the books does not make them just. Whether one wears a seat belt or not has nothing to do with the danger the driver poses. As for speed limits, most European countries have speed limits of 75 to 82 mph (Germany's speed limit is only advisory). Germany has a population density of 593 persons per square mile and Italy 494 per square mile, yet both nations have a 82 mph limit or advisory. OTOH, Maryland, at 593 persons per square mile and New York, at 401 persons per square mile, have speed limits of 65 mph. The lower speed limits in the Eastern states are the result of the nanny state mentality. Look at the fact that a junior high school student was given a three day suspension for buying a bag of Skittles candy from another student. The protection at all costs mentality has got to stop.
If I am misinformed, prove it, don't just say it and expect it to be taken as fact.
I have pointed out to you information in this article that contradicts what you have stated as being fact.
Prove me wrong.
Passivity?
Excuse me for expecting people to show some manners and common courtesy.
Next time you get pulled over by a cop try the Massey approach: Don't do what the cop tells you to do.
Argue with him.
Walk away from him after he tells you to stop.
Demand that he go back up the road and prove his case to you to your satisfaction.
Contradict your story, while you continue arguing with him.
Let me know how it works out for you.
I don’t need anything to say he’s a “bad cop”. That’s pretty apparent that’s he a bad cop. I have followed this since it happened and I’ve read a couple of dozen articles, and seen various cuts of the video. So don’t sit there and tell me I’m making something up. I’m not, there are good, logical reasons to believe this was a speed trap.
There’s more in the video you’re all missing. I’ll give you some links to other folks’ opinions on the subject and you can see why I said “speed trap”. The man also questions the signs... and guess what, there was a temporary sign up.
The space of 200 yards the speed dropped from 70 to 40 mph. You can see the officer pulled DIRECTLY into the front of the sign and there was no way the man could have seen the sign being blocked by the cop car. There wasn’t any sort of construction... so why was the sign there again? For construction that didn’t exist?
Sounds a lot like a speed trap to me.
The point here folks is that there are others who have seen the area and believed this to be a “temporary sign”, that was put up for the day. One of the links I put below has almost the entire stop, NOT just the short segment most people are seeing and saying “The cop was right”. The man got out of his car at the officers request and he was trying to point to a sign and question it’s existence.... The man ALSO stopped immediately, there was no high speed chase, and from all I could here the whole time the man was being completely reasonable with the cop - up til the point he said he wasn’t going to sign the ticket.
As far as the officer being a “bad cop” he had a piss poor attitude. That is sufficient to me to say he’s a “bad cop”. I’m sure he has other things on his record probably similar complaints against him, and this is one way to HIDE that fact since it won’t go to court that way.
As far as a “speed trap” - I can’t say it WAS for certain, as I was not there, but other folks have looked it over and I’m repeating some things others have stated about the situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-cop person. To quote an old cliche, “some of my best friends are cops” - and many of them that looked over the video said the cop was in the wrong as well. At least one that JUST watched the video with me wanted to know where the construction zone was in relation to the sign. Different states have different laws about that, but temporary signs in most regions are put out by the department of transportation for the state (or county depending on the work). There is usually a set distance according to the guy who was just in my office. He should know, he’s a state trooper...
Here is what most people are seeing:
http://www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=33fb7027-f63d-4414-9a9f-f815f4d4f302
Here’s more blogs on the story as well as some longer videos:
http://steven-war-ran.blogspot.com/2007/11/utah-state-police-taser-speed-trap.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqtxSM-73_E
http://www.spike.com/video/2914254
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=14704
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/02/13/speeding-ticket-taser-utah/2
“So what was the officer to do, allow Massey to knife, hit, shoot, kick, spit on him before defending himself?”
That might be a valid argument if Massey actually had one or acted in a threatening manner. Otherwise cops could go around tazing and shooting anyone they wanted to. I know that sounds like nirvana for some but most freedom loving people want controls on the use of force.
First off, I’ve been working all day. We all work for a living, and so do I - I really don’t have the time to go and reprove something over and over. Let me make something perfectly clear to you... the COP was IN THE WRONG. The STATE is settling OUT OF COURT. They are paying the make 40 thousand dollars. THAT speaks volumes about who was right and who was wrong after the videos were reviewed and the public got to see first hand what kind of ass the cop was.
Sonny, I don’t have to prove my “claim”... I made an opinionated statement of “I told you so”.
I actually was working on putting some stuff together just because you’re apparently too ignorant to know how to do your own research. So, I just noted this smart assed remark after I had already posted some more information.
Tell you what, why don’t you go pound some sand for awhile since we all know you won’t even bother to go look over anything I posted anyway.
How typical - bet you’re a cop, huh? LOL
“Heated rage” is a little too strong for what we saw on the video, don’t you think?
True. How about:
Confused ignorance?
Willful disobediance?
Argumentative?
Refusing to listen to reason?
Setting a bad example for his children?
All of the above?
Let me see.. yeah the cop wasn’t listening to reason, the video shows he set a BAD example for his children, he was argumentative, and the man obviously didn’t know there was a law to “sign the damned paper”... so being confused isn’t the issue here, and confusion is NO reason to taser someone.
Furthermore, whats wrong with “wilful disobedience” on occasion? Screw that crap, we’re all FREE PEOPLE. It’s only some jerks that want to muck around with freedoms that think we all should cow-tow to some jerk cop.
“The driver got out of his vehicle and followed the cop to his patrol car. “
The cop told him to “hop out of your car”. He didn’t say, sign or I will arrest you. He didn’t say sign or I will taze you. He said “hop out of your car”.
“I’m with the cop, fully on his side. I want my law enforcement officers to know that they can do their job and not worry about living to see the next day.”
If the average day for cops was similiar to the TV show I could agree with you. As it is there are many jobs more dangerous than being a police officer.
“Cops being investigated by other cops are almost never found to be guilty of any wrong doing. “
You mean like that recent story of the cop who crossed the center line and killed two bicyclists? His fellow cops allowed him to leave the scene without testing him to see if he was drunk.
yeah baby!
Your display of anger combined with your ignorance is astounding.
The cop lost control of a routine event, mismanaged once he had lost control, and then used excessive force to finally retain control. And then he was unprofessional with his comments about giving the guy a ride and so forth.
He doesnt need to be a cop. Period.
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