Posted on 11/22/2007 7:37:13 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Was a Utah Highway Patrol trooper acting within policy when he used a Taser on a driver who refused to sign a traffic ticket?
That is the question UHP internal investigators hope to answer after Trooper John Gardner - a 14-year UHP veteran - zapped Vernal resident Jared Massey with the device for refusing to sign a speeding ticket or submit to being arrested during a traffic stop about 10 a.m. on Sept. 14.
The incident placed UHP on the defensive when the officer's dashboard video of the emotional confrontation found its way onto Internet site YouTube.
"We are doing an internal investigation to see if the trooper's actions were warranted," said Trooper Cameron Roden, a UHP spokesman. That investigation is expected to be completed this week or sometime next week.
The 10-minute video begins as the officer passes a sign clearly showing a speed limit of 40 mph on U.S. 40 in Uintah County.
Gardner - who remained on active duty as of Wednesday - then proceeds to pull over Massey's Dodge SUV.
The trooper approaches the driver's side window and twice asks for Massey's driver's license and registration. The second time, the trooper is audibly frustrated, saying, "Driver's license and registration, like now."
"How fast did you think you were going?" the officer asks.
"I was going 68," Massey could be heard saying.
"OK, there's a sign right there that says 40 miles per hour," the officer says, shortly before returning to his squad car.
When Gardner returns to the SUV with the traffic ticket, Massey refuses to sign the citation, insisting that Gardner show him the 40 mph sign.
"Well, you are going to sign this first," Gardner said.
After refusing, Gardner asks Massey to exit the SUV, which at 2:23 minutes into the video, he does.
The pair walk to the front of the officer's car, where Gardner points his Taser at Massey, ordering him to place his hands behind his back.
''What the hell's wrong with you?'' Massey asks, while turning and beginning to walk back to the SUV. Gardner tells the driver to turn around, but he refuses and continues walking away.
The officer aims the Taser, and at 2:37 minutes into the video, fires it into Massey, who falls backward onto the pavement and can be heard screaming. Massey's wife then comes out of the SUV screaming and is ordered back inside the vehicle by Gardner.
''Ma'am, do exactly as I say or you're going to jail, too,'' the officer says.
After the incident, off camera Massey can be heard repeatedly asking to be read his Miranda rights, but it remains unclear from the video, which cuts in and out, whether the officer complied with that demand.
Roden said he was unaware whether the man was given his Miranda rights, but noted Massey could have been read them when booked into the Uintah County jail.
In the video, Gardner repeatedly states he tasered Massey because the man failed to comply with his instructions and demands.
A short time later, an unidentified officer strolls up on scene and Gardner tells him that Massey "took a ride with the Taser."
Gardner then states that Massey was "jumping around, making me nervous as hell. I was like, nah, we ain't playing this game."
"Good. Good for you," the unidentified officer says.
Massey, who was not available for comment on Wednesday, is scheduled to stand trial for the speeding ticket Jan. 14 in Uintah County Justice Court.
When drivers sign traffic tickets, they are not necessarily admitting guilt but merely acknowledging they will show up at court or to pay the ticket, Roden said.
In the event that a motorist refuses to sign, a trooper can simply write "refuses to sign" on the citation, which is then given to the driver, or they can chose to arrest the motorist, Roden said.
"I can't speculate to this incident what was going through officer's mind," Roden said. "The officer has to weigh a lot of different things."
Troopers that carry Tasers must take a four-hour certification course outlining how and when to use the devices, according to UHP's nine-page policy. They are taught to use them in three circumstances:
* When a person is a threat to themselves, an officer or another person.
* In cases where the physical use of force would endanger the person or someone else.
* When other means of lesser or equal force by the officer has been ineffective and a threat still exists.
"There's a lot that goes into it," Roden said.
UHP requires an officer file a report any time a Taser is used, noting, among other things, how many warnings the subject was given and where the electric probes hit on a person's body.
Officials are then required to get the person arrested checked by medics. Massey was later taken to Uintah Basin Medical Center in Roosevelt, Roden said.
ngonzalez@sltrib.com
“The cops in my beloved home town of Indy are focused, seemingly exclusively, on traffic tickets. It’s ridiculous - but you can get more $$ from a soccer mom in a Lexus than from a crack head rapist.”
True in many communities. Police Officers are used in a revenue generating capacity. Specially in smaller cities and towns.
Besides that... I’ve been at that McD’s MANY times... between Slot ‘O Fun and the Stardust motel rooms.. which are all gone now.
Thanks for posting that video... I love it. Great memories of that area... and a nifty piece of police work by a cop who IS in control, of himself and the situation.
Law Enforcement Officers-—LEOs-—they like to use that acronym when referring to themselves-—note the implied allusion to lions and you get the picture.
Big charge handed out by our Federales is ‘incorrect answer on federal paperwork’.
I posted the code on another thread. Pesky details for the gestapo lovers out there.
How much trouble is someone in who admits to the speed he’s going?
LEO: Public servants
Citizens: Authority
They have to do more than get their shirts wrinkled when dealing with us.
“How much trouble is someone in who admits to the speed he’s going?”
I was thinking that myself. Seems that was his first mistake and also shows he started out cooperating.
Getting tasered for a speeding ticket? That cop needs to do some jail time for a) reckless endangerment and b) terroristic threats (to the wife).
And the dude gets a wad of $. Maybe then UHP will learn to screen their candidates better.
Who are you, a mind reader?
All the decent public servants out there wearing a uniform should rise up and make sure that these kind of ego trip officers are no longer on the payroll because these types make all of them look bad. Citizens need to rise up too and see that their EMPLOYEES are doing their job properly. Thank God the dash board cameras are being held as evidence and these officers aren’t going out and erasing them. We’ve all heard these types of stories before.
I think from several threads evidence that there are a few 12 yr olds here.
Thank you VR, I did later on figure it out in the wee wee hours!:)
Why did the cop escalate the situation by asking the driver to abondon his wife and child on the side of the road, for a civil citation?
Apparently (from earlier on this thread) the cops scrambled this tape and his lawyers had to undo it.
Well at least they are feeling the heat, because a representative is out there talking about expediting the investigation.
Sometimes we employers have bad employees. In this case the citizens of Utah have a bad employee who must be dealt with and considering the severity of the offenses requires the officer(EMPLOYEE) to lose employment. Plenty of openings at Wendys.
I would not have gotten tasered because I know when it’s appropriate to submit to appropriate authority.
This cop is has legitimate authority delegated to him by the State, which has been delegated authority by God and affirmed by our society.
The cop’s requests were neither unreasonable nor unlawful. Add to this his reasonable fear for his own safety, and he was well within his rights to do what he did.
I would not have gotten tasered, because I would have submitted to his reasonable requests.
Of course, the anarchists among us can argue against authority all you want. Your rebellion does not negate legitimate authority....
Not quite right. We’ve delegated authority to LEOs. They have authority, legitimately.
When you are commenting on someone’s post, it is considered polite to include them in the REPLY.
Those who don’t, are obviously in the category of ‘12 year olds’, which would mean you.
Have you seen the original video, before it was edited?
Did you actually listen to what was said, and when, in the video?
I have read many,many comments that make negative comments about the attitude, demeanor, past and future actions of the officer, yet you are not asking any of them if they are mind readers.
SO, apparently, you went into this thread with your mind already made up, pre-judged the situation, and the officer.
Now. If the driver of the vehicle had run over a construction worker, and that worker was your brother, how might you feel.
Remember, this driver was doing 68 in a 40 mph construction zone, and posted this video on YOUTUBE so he can try and get public sympathy to help get him out of the ticket.
He did not cooperate with the officer, from the very beginning.
Maybe you should even try READING the article that is at the beginning of this thread. Even the REPORTER admits that the driver was being uncooperative. That is, if you are old enough to read.
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