UCANSEE2: No. I think that the driver put himself at that risk by not following the officer's instructions.
Are we in agreement that tazing in those circumstances did indeed put the driver's life at increased risk? (regardless of who was responsible)
The driver had walked back and forth and was walking close to the edge of the shoulder, and could have gotten hit by passing traffic, regardless to whether he was ever tazered or not.
Oh, come on now. You cannot compare the risk of walking along a highway in full control of your faculties, with the risk of being tazered in the same setting.
The driver could have easily fallen into the traffic lane and he would have been pretty much helpless.
“Are we in agreement that tazing in those circumstances did indeed put the driver’s life at increased risk? (regardless of who was responsible)”
No more at risk than the life of the officer. (who had to stand just as close to traffic as the driver, in order to handcuff him)
If the officer had not used the taser, and had to physically subdue the driver, it could have been the officer hit by a car.
The driver’s wife could have been like her husband, gotten back out of the vehicle to argue with the officer, and gotten hit by a car, killing both her and her unborn child.
I suppose that would have also been the fault of the officer. As it was, he told her to stay in the vehicle.
For his safety, but especially for hers. Do you not recognize this as a fact? People involved in a situation like this have a tendency to be so focused on one thing, and completely ignore the fact they might be backing out into traffic.
It is possible that had the officer NOT tasered him, that further struggling physically could have gotten the driver killed by the passing traffic.
So, maybe the officer actually saved his life. You just never know.