“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?
“Exactly how many times did he have to repeat himself????”
He said turn around. The driver turned around. Then he said turn around, turn around.... What did the officer want?
The driver wasn’t threatening the cop as the cop had turned his back on the driver. IMO, when he said “hop out of your car” he had made the decision to tazer the driver. He walked back to the police car and put his clipboard on it. He immediately went for his taser.
“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.”
Advising the person they are under arrest is not a ‘claim’; its the law. I’ve posted the Utah code in this thread. The law states the officer is supposed to inform the person they are under arrest. There are exceptions which clearly were not met prior to the turn around commands. If I were on a jury they wouldn’t be met at any time during this encounter. The only possible excuse was the driver was trying to escape. If the driver were running it would be different but he was moving slowly.
“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?”
He had already turned around once. Do you want him to stand there and turn around in circles?
The driver was rude. The officer over reacted, handled the situation poorly, lied to a fellow officer, risked this guys life and abused his authority. I hope he loses his job and the county has to pay. Perhaps they will train their officers to be more careful in use of force. Properly handled this would have been a ticket and possibly some revenue from the speed trap. Instead its a huge black eye for Utah.
Yes, right along a busy highway with both of them facing away from approaching traffic. I'd like to ask again:
1. In your opinion, did the officer have only two reasonable options - tasing or a struggle - when the driver walked away?
2. Does tasing someone along a busy highway put his life at increased risk beyond walking along the highway in full control of his faculties?