Can’t. I’m resisting. Per last post by OP. I don’t have to VIOLENTY resist to avoid being cuffed. All I have to do is resist and wait for the cops to escalate, that way I’m in the clear ant they’re the violent bastards. And I get to determine how long I can resist, not them. I’m calling the shots, if they tase me, then it was uncalled for, I was non-violently resisting. Works great.
Yes I can. You are already cuffed and in the cruiser.
Nu-uh! No autohits!
Tasdering someone who is walking away, doing nothing against the law, is assault, pure and simple. Mouthing off isn’t against the law and only a goddamned idiot thinks it’s justification for using physical violence.
The thing is, the guy followed the officer’s order to turn around. He was facing the cop, the cop said “Turn around,” and he did, walking away. Then he was attacked. It was a crime, committed by a shitty cop.
Damn, I’ll follow this advice next time I see a cop and he tells me to do something. I’ll just walk away! What genius!
You’re employing the usual bullshit false-dilemma argument of the cop-worshipper; “Anyone who doesn’t follow a cop’s orders deserves to be assaulted, and if you don’t think so you think people should be allowed to do anything they want.” It’s a classic logical fallacy; one person was in the wrong, therefore the other could not have been.
In the case of the Utah video, the guy should not have gotten out of his car and walked back towards the police cruiser. That was stupid (even if the cop hadn’t Tasered him, you should not get out of a car on the driver’s side on the shoulder of a goddamned highway unless you absolutely must. The last time I got pulled over for speeding I actually had to ask the officer to go to my pasenger window; I just was not comfortable with him standing that close to I-90. Why would he do that?) How does that excuse a police officer Tasering a man who was not presenting any sort of a physical threat, had not committed a felony, and was not in the eyes of any reasonable observer fleeing the scene? He walked back to the cruiser, pissed the cop off by doing so… and so walked back towards his car, which I’m sure is what he thought he was supposed to do. You want me to turn around? Okay, I will. You don’t want me coming back? Okay, I’ll return to my vehicle.
So did the driver handle it well? Well, no, why get out of your car? That doesn’t change the fact that the cop acted like a fucking idiot and assaulted him for no good reason.
Two wrongs don’t make a right; I can’t believe I have to write that to an adult, but it’s the error people seem to make when they get dazzled by police badges in some cases like this. If I were to call you an asshole to your face, that would be an amazingly stupid, rude thing to do. If you were to respond to that by hitting me in the head with a crowbar, you’d be in the wrong, too, irresponsive of my initially stupid act.
You should run for congress.
“Congressman, how will you win the war on terror?”
“I have a bill that will order the military to arrest all the terrorists.”
“Will you give them increase funding for this?”
“What for? They’re just going to arrest all the terrorists.”
“How, sir?”
“By arresting them.”
And 2-6 police officers can’t grab your hands and pull them behind you? Don’t they train cops anymore?
Since when is a club or a knife considered to be a non-lethal weapon?
Marc
Judging from what I’ve seen on COPS, a rudimentary public school course on “how to behave when you’re being arrested” might help prevent a lot of these incidents.
For example: when you find yourself face down on the ground with one or more police officers kneeling on your back, attempting to cuff your hands behind you, do not attempt to wrestle your arms free and turn yourself over as you repeatedly shout “what I do? What I do?” or “aww, y’all ain’t gotta do all THAT!”
Particularly not if you’ve led police on a foot chase through the woods or several residential backyards, having just fled from a stolen car you totaled against a utility pole, as a helicopter overhead shines a spotlight down on you and a snarling police dog is barking its fool head off as it strains its leash for a chance at your jugular.
Add to that the crack baggies, glass stem, and loaded handgun falling out of your pockets, and it’s probably time to admit that your chances of going home tonight with a friendly warning are pretty slim.
Now the problem is funding? What are you talking about?
The OP never ruled out using physical force to handcuff a suspect, so your analogy falls a little flat.
No, just your ‘make it happen’ attitude with absolutley no description as to how it will occur. Snapping your fingers doesn’t put handcuffs on people.
This would be about right. Some officers seem too be using them thinking they give a more joy buzzer like jolt that will get compliance like a cattle prod will get cows to move when they’re being stubborn.
Here is a recent BBC article about a guy who was slumped over in a bus in a diabetic coma who was tasered because he was unable to respond to police challenges.
That’s total misuse. The guy had a medic alert necklace. If someone is unresponsive you find out why. You don’t zap 'em.
ETA: Whoa! I totally didn’t see that this thread was THREE pages. Apologies if that was a repeat. :smack:
Another problem with the tasers is they pierce your skin to deliver the volts. Any bets on how well they clean the probes between tasings?
Put me in the category of tasers=torture.
So in the long version of the video with the Utah guy… the cop tasers him and lets him fall over the white line into traffic, and then leaves him there while he goes to threaten the guy’s wife?
He apparently doesn’t tell the guy how fast he was going, or why he’s being arrested other than his refusal to sign the ticket which he may not even have to do, and doesn’t read the guy his rights.
It also appears, from the long version of the video, that this guy was BEHIND the cop car on the highway, the cop pulls off onto the shoulder very briefly and immediately gets on the highway behind the guy in the SUV and then within seconds pulls him over for ‘speeding’.
It also seems very plausible that there was not a 40 MPH speed limit sign a ‘half mile back’ as the cop claims, because the one and only speed limit sign shown in the entire video is shown as the cop’s pulling onto the shoulder to get behind the guy - which means it seems that the cop has already decided to pull him over. It would also mean that the cop himself was speeding while not en-route to an emergency.
Toward the end of the video the cop who used the taser tells the other cop in a very light hearted manner that this man ‘took a ride with the taser’ and laughs off the fact that it is very painful. Then he tells the other cop that the victim (of police brutality) was ‘jumping around’. It’s hard to hear over the wind noise and traffic, but it’s audible. He clearly lies.
Admirable behavior by a bully with a badge.
I’m fairly certain that they use disposable cartridges, with each one containing a gas charge, wires and prongs. There still would be some danger of the prongs dragging in stuff from the person’s skin or clothes if they’re dirty though, I guess.
Actually, the barbs are single-use only. We transport anyone tased by our local police agencies to the hospital, and typically we remove the barbs and they’re disposed of with our sharps. Also, they don’t necessarily have to pierce the skin (although they often do), the can deliver the current if they lodge in clothing, as well.
St. Urho
Paramedic
That’s good to know. Still cruel and unusual and dangerous IMO, but at least you shouldn’t get Hepatitis or AIDS…
bolding mine
I disagree with you on that count- I think it’s an important less-lethal tool in the hands of a properly trained officer. I think most of the issues we’ve seen are either from officers that are poorly trained (on the taser or in general) or are poor fits for the job.
I will! I’ve had both, and I would much rather be tasered than pepper sprayed. The pain from the pepper can last for hours - the taser stops hurting the instant the juice is turned off.