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Let me try again.

DURING the discharge (and Ill grant that some people MAY have a lingering effect) the person tased cannot respond. After the discharge, he (usually) can.

Let's look at the, ahem, "theory": When you tase or use pepper spray, you're pretty much expecting that the citizen will be cuffed. The citizen has already notched things up.

In the force continuum, it's very hard to "ratchet" down. That is, once I decide to put my hand on you, if you still resist, I'm probably going to notch it up.

Now ONCE, the guy said, "GIT yer hands OFF me!" And I said, if I do, can we talk reasonably? He said, "Yeah," so I chanced it. If he had run, I would have been in BIG trouble. But he stayed and we settled the problem amicably. But I took a risk doing that.

If you say, "Oh wait, I didn't mean it, I don't want to fight," well, you've already shown a willingness to make things awkward. I'd be a fool to say, "Well, okay then, let's go," and NOT restrain you somehow. You've achieved "Resisting" or "obstruction" or "disobeying a lawful command" or something of the kind, and I have to be on alert to see how far you want to take it. I don't know you from Adam, and most of the guys who notch it up after I put a hand on their arm are not people I'd like babysitting my children. Some people LIKE to fight!

I haven't seen the video. As I said, I'm on dial-up and life is short. But I gather that the officer asked for ID, the citizen did not comply, even though, I am told on this thread, after a certain hour it's a library rule that you have to show your ID when asked.

From the officer's POV this guy is already trouble, it's a question of how much trouble he wants to be in.

I am told he then starts mouthing off about "police state" and "profiling" and such. HE notched it up and continued to fail to comply.

So if he won't show me his ID and he won't cooperate when I put my hand on his arm, we are now at some kind of pain-compliance level. It's pretty much dealer's choice.

What do I have at my disposal that will get the citizen to allow me to cuff him without too much thrashing around and people getting hurt and all? Well, people don't like it when pepper spray is used indoors, even though there's usually no problem. But pepper spray is not always reliable. And if somebody starts hollering about police state or whatever, I have to wonder if he isn't junked up -- and therefore MAY be resistant to pepper spray.

So I'm pretty much left with tussle or tase.

Remember: I don't know the guy from Adam. If we tussle and he bites me, I have to have blood tests, vaccinations, quarantines of some kind lasting for as long as a year. Once I got a needle stick. You have no idea what that cost ME in money, anxiety, and changed life style (no communion wine, no blood donations, etc. for a year, for example)

Further, if he hurts me, then he's up for felonious assault. That's not good for anybody. and If I were to hurt him then he's hurt, and that's not my goal in life.

So tasing is looking pretty good at this point. The immediate purpose will be to impress upon the guy that I can cause him severe pain and that I will continue to do so until and unless he complies and lets me cuff him. If hurting him lessens the chance of damaging him, then hurting is good.

Now Binstence will no doubt yammer about "blood lust" (which, for him, is powerful and effective prose, while what I write shows that my post graduate degree means my education is inadequate and my argument weak. Fine.) That's not it at all. I'd just as soon go back to my dough-nuts. Having done this, I have to take the guy to the lock-up. I have to hang around there and deal with the magistrate. I have to write umpty-ump forms and then wait until the powers that be get around to telling me if I did right or I did wrong -- always assuming that they remember to tell me. This is NOT my idea of a good time. Oh yeah, and then I get to give up a day off or something to hang around court. Whoopee.

Personally I'd just as soon the citizen showed me his ID.

Anyway, the use of the taser in this case is to persuade the citizen that life will be better for him if he complies and lets me cuff him, or, at the least, allows me to escort him quietly out of the building. It's a pain compliance technique in this context NOT a disabling technique. TEMPORARY disabling is a side effect.

Is that better.

Oh, and of course I'm not going to yell at him to get up and walk out of the building WHILE I'm tasing him. Duh! HE escalated the encounter above that level and we are now talking about a trip to the magistrate. in cuffs, and shackles if necessary. He's SHOWN himself to be a jerk, and this isn't a game. We respond to the level of violence shown by the citizen. The citizen is in control, until HE notches it up.