Police use of Taser on man, 76, roils town in Wyo.

AP ^

[Chet 99]

GLENROCK, Wyo. — Bud Grose seemed like the last person who should attract the attention of police when the 76-year-old retiree hopped on his antique tractor and rumbled through the annual parade in this small Wyoming town.

But what was supposed to be a day of fun at an end-of-summer festival ended abruptly when police shot Grose with a Taser in a dispute about where to end the parade route.

The incident nearly incited a riot as outraged neighbors rushed to his defense. Now residents of this tight-knit town of 2,400 are seething over what they see as police brutality, and town officials are scrambling to ease the tension.

[Clintonfatigued]

Big government ping

[Steamburg]

It is important to know the community you are policing. That or he asked for a jump start and they misunderstood him.

[crazydad]

Coming to a town near you.

[jesseam]

He is lucky to survive 50 thousand volt shock. I wonder how many people have been electrocuted by taser

[Slump Tester]

Waiting for the usual FR badge lickers who always defend the pig no matter what ...

[goldfinch]

Sweet, who joined the Glenrock police in February, said communication will be key to settling the town's nerves.

"There's a lot of distrust now, and I'm relatively new here, but I'm going to have to build that trust back up," Sweet said. "At some point in time, people are just going to have to trust that we are going to do the right thing and take it for what it's worth."

No, Mr. Police Chief. People are NOT going to just have to trust you. You work for them and your policemen over-reacted badly. Most of the people at that celebration had roots in the community that go back 100 years. They will be staying. You, Mr. Police Chief, have not been there long, but it sounds like it has been way too long.

Either you are a fool or you employ fools. Either way, you end up smelling more like an outhouse than a rose.

[Hillarys nightmare]

I have a simple question. Why didn't he stop for the police like he was supposed to?

From what I read here, the man in question completely ignored the police from start to finish.

Either he feels he's "special" or he's suffering from some kind of dementia.

[ridesthemiles]

Waiting for the usual FR badge lickers who always defend the pig no matter what ...””

I don’t think the cop was correct with what we know in this story.

Wyoming has a number of communities where everyone knows everyone else.

Was this a new cop in town?

Hard to believe he thought he had to taze a 76 y/o in a parade.

I have traveled some in Wyoming, and had nothing but positive experiences.

[metmom]

The fracas at the annual Deer Creek Days arose from confusion over whether members of the tractor club could deviate from the parade route shortly before it ended.

Grose wanted to head directly to the town park for a tractor pull like in previous years. But the police department had a different plan, which apparently was not communicated to the tractor drivers.

And just whose town is it anyway?

[metmom]

I wonder how new the rest of the police force is, like the guy who did the tasing.

You don’t mess with small towns when you’re the outsider.

He has a LOT to learn.

[AlexW]

While I am no longer in the People’s Republic of the USA,
I did notice a rapid change of police, especially in suburban
and rural areas, even in my home area of west Tennessee.
Cops started morphing from good old boys, out to help you, into jack booted thugs.

I owned an old school building in a town of 350 people.
In the 70s, they had a night watchman. By 2000, they had
a swat team of 6 bullies dressed in combat uniforms, wanting to practice in my building.
None of these guys were natives of the area.

[metmom]

Either he feels he's "special" or he's suffering from some kind of dementia.

It could possibly be the latter, however, I'll bet that it never was an issue before, that even though someone had to technically get a permit for something, that it was ever binding.

I'd guess that the folks there just are used to pretty much doing what they wanted and nobody got in a snit about it before.

They're probably used to exercising a great deal more freedom than this (possibly new) police force was willing to let them have.

I sure couldn't see some old timer on the force doing it.

[dragnet2]

Bookmark

[muddler]

At some point in time, people are just going to have to trust that we are going to do the right thing and take it for what it's worth.

Famous last words?

[NVDave]

I read nowhere in that article that he was supposed to stop. The officer wanted him to go one way, the driver’s prior understanding was for another route.

I’ve seen cops from big cities join small town departments. They either get their heads straight fast or they end up leaving town, because pretty soon, word gets around and their wife and their kids start taking the heat for their husband/father.

[Chet 99]

The Jackboot lickers are as predictable as the pit bull defenders. Neither can ever do any wrong.

[Gigantor]

The Police were just doing their job, following standard procedure. There is no record of any policeman violating a citizen.

/s

[4rcane]

police seem taser happy these days. Thinking since its just a taser so no harm done just a bit of pain, they use it alot more than necessary

[goldfinch]

Either he feels he's "special" or he's suffering from some kind of dementia

Possibly. It is more likely he is hard of hearing. Those old tractors were loud and many old farmers, who spent countless hours on the old machines, suffered some hearing damage. He probably did not hear/understand what the police were saying when they first ordered him to stop. After that, with the police acting like idiots and his grandchild on the tractor with him, he probably made a poor decision in attempting to steer around the police SUV instead of stopping.

The way the town rallied around the old farmer makes me think the police were out of line.

I am usually one of those 'badge lickers' that think one should not make a cop's tough job any tougher. But there is no indication this old farmer was endangering anyone except for the Keystone cops...and he certainly was not going to evade them for long so there was no reason for them to react so strongly.