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
Get out of the car NOW women!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfkQcb45Lo
“It seems like you are projecting things that you THINK should be there.. but, aren’t.”
I chalk it up to years of careful post incident report editing.
IMO, thats a case where the tazer was warranted and properly administered.
Unless one is threating officer the tazer should never be used!
Even if the person is a jerk!
They are not robbers, rapist, or murders, it a traffic violation for goodness sake!
I don’t know who this new breed of officers are but it is not the America I grew up in and two wrongs don’t make a right.
If he was, why did he have to lie? or is that too "within policy"?
“Unless one is threating officer the tazer should never be used!”
In the case of the link they were trying to take that woman into custody and she was resisting. Started out as a traffic stop but she immediately called someone and would not hang up.
At least the officer in her case warned her.
Why did the officer pull the taser out in the first place?
He did and Massey said he didn't see the sign. When he said that, Gardner told Massey there was another some distance back and Massey said he neither saw that one and asked Gardner to take him back and show him the first 40MPH limit sign. That's when the officer got all bent out of shape. If I were on a jury, the traffic ticket wouldn't stand.
Gardner is one individual in need of a swift retirement or UHP will face huge civil lawsuits - and might just yet.
Because he (correctly) suspected the driver would not comply otherwise? That’s not a guess.
Because he engaged in an act with the driver commonly known as “speech.” You are being silly, go bother someone else this morning.
“Saying put your hands behind your back is not clearly stating that one is under arrest...”
Some jurisdictions ‘cuff everybody for “officer safety” regardless of whether they’re under arrest or not.
That being said, the driver struck me as the type who was used to pointing out where other people were wrong and that being the end of it. He apparently didn’t realize that cops are never wrong because they have badges and tazers.
The officer had not finished saying “turn around put your hands behind your back” before he started to pull out his taser gun. That is a fact.
"Are you making a point, counselor? Is there an issue of a matter of law? I'm afraid if I look at your tie any longer I will begin to feel ill."
“I look at your tie any longer I will begin to feel ill.””
too late, you already made me ill with your insults and condescending comments.
Just watch, maybe in a few moments I’ll make the latest “expert” on this story start whining also.
You might be right... but, I'd like to see some more of that tape. This case IS different, for two reasons...
1) The woman was driving with a suspended license... that's a real problem, and
2) The officer did at least warn the woman that she was about to be tazed.
Still though... he seems awfully excited... I'd like to see what transpired before this to get him so worked up.
The situation needs to be pretty damn serious for a tazer to get employed... I have to believe that TWO male officers could have found a way to make this woman comply without shocking her. They strike me as just lazy, and choosing the "easy way".
This driver could seriously use some training on what NOT TO DO to piss off, or scare cops.... He’s going to get shot some day if he’s not careful.
However... after yet another day of seeing this video... for about the 20th time... and, now reading some feedback from several friends I sent it to.... including several of my detective neighbor’s co-workers... I’m starting to believe that this Massey video might just serve a greater purpose.
When various kinds of people watch.... ONLY people who SHOULD NOT be cops seem to want to defend this officer’s actions. This tape may end up being the best tool we have to identify BAD cops before they hurt people!
True. But when they are on revenue patrol, they have a general idea they are not in danger.
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