Baseball fan tasered for running onto the field

[bengangmo]

@Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party

The use of the taser was completely disproportionate to the offence. The idea that a streaker or pitch invader should ipso facto be considered a threat to players on the pitch is absurd. Virtually every other nation on Earth manages to handle pitch invaders by tackling them to the ground and escorting them away, yet the American response is to presume he’s a mortal threat and electrocute the guy.

Well yeah, but then look how protected they need to be to play a simple game of football, and how many players exactly are there per team for all of what 7 minutes of actual play per game? Are you really surprised?

BTW - you a happy hooker or a prop?

[Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party]

Loosehead prop now. Played hooker for a few games at start of the season but my legs are too long and can’t throw straight to save my life.

[RTFirefly]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

I’m in favor of it. Otherwise shit like this can happen: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2002/09/19/royals_whitesox_ap/

How would a taser would have stopped that?

[RTFirefly]

@Joe Frickin Friday

Wikipedia:

“Tasers were introduced as less-lethal weapons to be used by police to subdue fleeing, belligerent, or potentially dangerous subjects, often when what they consider to be a more lethal weapon would have otherwise been used.”

The Chicago PD, for example (and plenty of others from what I’ve seen), abides by that as their rule of engagement for taser use:

“According to the rules of engagement for Tasers, police may use the weapon if they are under attack or if a suspect is fleeing or otherwise resisting arrest.”

The bozo on the field was fleeing and/or resisting arrest. If the other option is hand-to-hand combat that puts the arresting officer at risk of injury/death, I’ll give him plenty of latitude when it comes to using a standoff weapon like the taser.

Yeah, and he was on a playing field with walls and a very limited number of field-level exits. He was going to have trouble fleeing in a meaningful sense, and if by ‘resisting arrest’ you mean ‘running away from the cops within the confines of the playing field,’ you’re talking about tasering someone simply because they’re a nuisance and an aggravation.

I think you need better reasons than that to zap 50,000 volts through people. While as Marley23 pointed out, most people killed by tasering were apparently on drugs at the time, the fact is it can still kill people.

[What_Exit]

The kid is lucky he was only Tased and not tackled and sporting some broken ribs.

[ivan_astikov]

The cops are lucky they wasn’t in this stadium.

[what_do_I_type_here]

You guys can argue all day about morals and cite supreme court decisions but the simple fact of the matter is, it’s awesome when drunk jackasses get hurt by the police. I’m totally glad this happened and I hope it happens again.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@what_do_I_type_here

You guys can argue all day about morals and cite supreme court decisions but the simple fact of the matter is, it’s awesome when drunk jackasses get hurt by the police. I’m totally glad this happened and I hope it happens again.

Would it change your opinion any to know that this kid hadn’t been drinking?

[silenus]

Then he’s just stupid, which carries its own penalty.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@silenus

Then he’s just stupid, which carries its own penalty.

As they say, it’s too bad stupid isn’t painful. Sometimes it is.

[Peremensoe]

So, some of the pro-taser people are arguing that getting zapped is not as bad as getting tackled, and the rest are reveling in how bad it is. :rolleyes:

[Magiver]

@RTFirefly

How would a taser would have stopped that?

Point at subject, pull trigger?

[RTFirefly]

@Magiver

Point at subject, pull trigger?

If the cop’s close enough and his reactions are that good, he could probably just tackle one of the two of them. Which is the number he’d be able to taser, too.

[RTFirefly]

@spark240

So, some of the pro-taser people are arguing that getting zapped is not as bad as getting tackled, and the rest are reveling in how bad it is. :rolleyes:

I don’t know about reveling in it, but the fact is that people do die in the immediate aftermath of taser shocks - over 300 in the U.S. in the past decade. I doubt that anywhere near that number have died after being tackled by the cops.

If the taser *doesn’t *fatally mess up the electrical currents that control your heartbeat, then as far as I can tell, it’s unlikely to do you any permanent harm. But given the numbers, that’s a pretty big ‘if.’

It certainly shouldn’t be used in any situation where a cop isn’t concerned that anybody’s in danger. The cops certainly shouldn’t be allowed to use the taser just to control someone who’s making their life difficult, but no worse than that.

[Translucent_Daydream]

@RTFirefly

The point of tasering people is to avoid having to shoot them instead. It’s not something that was intended for subduing people who didn’t represent a meaningful risk to life and limb.

So if there’s no reason to shoot someone if you don’t have a taser in hand, there’s no reason to tase them either. So yeah, this is excessive.

I came in here to say the same thing. When the Taser started being used by law enforcement, it was supposed to be a direct replacement for the service pistol.

I don’t think they would have shot the dude in the same situation unless he was running with a knife. The line that you cross to shoot someone the juice is getting pushed closer and closer and closer, to the point where an argument with a police officer can get you Tazed. I don’t think you would get shot for arguing with a cop.

[Larry_Mudd]

@Magiver

Yes, I think a 17 year old is quite capable of hurting someone. You obviously never played roshambo as a kid.

Is South Park corrupting your childhood memories?

In real life, “Reaux! Sham! Beaux!” is another name for “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and injuries sustained during this form of competition are exceedingly rare, even amongst juvenile males.