“When I watch the video closely, I believe Gardner had already decided to pull his Taser out before he even set his clipboard down. The decision to USE it.. once pulled, was WAY too quick.”
If Gardner believed Massey to be a threat why did he turn his back on him? Gardner turned around, walked back to his car and put the clipboard on the hood. All with his back to Massey.
He could not have perceived Massey to be a threat if he did this. I agree that he had already decided to taze Massey though. Because as soon as his hands were empty he pulled his tazer.
“The decision to USE it.. once pulled, was WAY too quick.”
The officer said “Turn around and put your hands behind your back”, “Turn around and put your hands behind your back”, “turn around”, “Turn around”, then he fired the taser.
Exactly how many times did he have to repeat himself????
When the officer fired, the driver was not standing in place, he was facing away from the officer, and moving towards his vehicle.
Again, this whole thing involves Judgment call/snap decision by those on the scene, and UTAH code, and UTAH HPD policy.
None of which I am an expert in.
Those defending the driver state that the officer was in the wrong because he never uttered the words “you are under arrest”.
Others defending the driver claim that UTAH code specifies you have the RIGHT not to sign the ticket, and that if you refuse, the officer is not required to take you to jail.
They make this claim with the implication that the driver was aware of this fact, and that is why he didn’t understand why the officer was ‘arresting’ him.
Now, which is it? He’s smart and knows the UTAH HPD CODE, but not smart enough to understand the words “Turn around and put your hands behind your back”, repeated four times?