# Officer tasers woman twice..for driving on a suspended license **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 20, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399 "2006-07-20T22:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/221 "2006-07-24T01:03:13Z")
Speaking of the whole video…what’s with that woman who _twice_ walks between the suspect and the officer? ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/222 "2006-07-24T01:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=catsix] So you were driving while intoxicated and a cop let you go for whatever reason and this is supposed to be an example of a good cop? [/QUOTE] Giving a blowjob is a lot better than going to jail and losing your license. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/223 "2006-07-24T01:59:38Z")
[QUOTE=Blanche] Giving a blowjob is a lot better than going to jail and losing your license. [/QUOTE] Haw haw haw! That’s fucking _priceless_. I don’t know if I should ask you if it’s dark under that bridge, or just say “no u”. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/224 "2006-07-24T06:15:08Z")
BTW, am I the only one who, when hearing the word “taser” immediately thinks of _Beavis and Butthead_? Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! The taser-zap him! Zap him in the butt! Ehehehehe…yeah! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/225 "2006-07-24T07:54:08Z")
Oh, what the hey, might as well ask these questions. Did anyone else get a laugh out of the driver telling the officer how to do his job? And what about her assertion: “You can’t clock someone while you’re driving!” ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/226 "2006-07-24T08:13:04Z")
Yup, **Monty** , I laughed a lot after I decided I shouldn’t be pissed off at just another entitlment artist. Perhaps it’s a vice of mine, but I sincerely hate people like this silly bitch and have no sympathy when the real world beats on them. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/227 "2006-07-24T08:36:23Z")
**Denis** , When seeing such individuals (“entitlement artist”–good term!) or reading about them, wish to ask them (could I stand being around such a person), “What was the _rest_ of your plan?” ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/228 "2006-07-24T11:01:33Z")
Given the way radar speed detection works, wouldn’t it show the relative speed difference between the two moving vehicles and therefore make it rather difficult to be absolutely sure of the speed of the vehicle hit by the radar gun? If the cop is head on with a car, and the radar gun detects a speed of 100 mph, that means both cars could’ve been going 50 mph, but it also means one could’ve been going 60 and the other going 40. How do you prove to any degree of certainty which car was doing 60 and which was doing 40? We all know that no cop would ever lie about it in court… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/229 "2006-07-24T11:33:12Z")
Your cynicism aside, did you ever think that perhaps (and, yes, I admit this is just speculation on my part) the detection unit is wired along with the speedometer? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/230 "2006-07-24T11:38:18Z")
[QUOTE=CanvasShoes] Wait, wait. I’m utterly confused here. These are men we’re talking about, and in catsix’s world, men can do no wrong and are only “bad” because they’ve been at the mercy of evil femi-nazis. Wow, the power of evil feminazis has spread to the police? [/QUOTE] Wait, wait. I share your confusion. How did you get from “Men, as a gender, are routinely traduced and discriminated against” to “Policemen, being men, can do no wrong”? A–\>?–\>B, but what’s the “?” stand for? ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/231 "2006-07-24T12:31:55Z")
> [@](#): > > **Monty** said: > Your cynicism aside, did you ever think that perhaps (and, yes, I admit this is just speculation on my part) the detection unit is wired along with the speedometer? I have no reason to assume that it is. I Googled, but found only one non-referenced statement that **some** of them are. Which doesn’t seem reason to assume that there’s a high probability that any given radar gun is wired to the speedometer of the police car. Of course a lot of factors can affect whether or not the speedometer in a car is even accurate, such as the size and wear level of tires. It’s possible to not even know that the speedometer is off, and I’ve seen personally speedometers that were off by as much as 11%. Angle of incidence and other factors like rain and reflictivity of the object in the radar gun’s path can also lead to inaccurate readings. It seems to be fairly dubious that, especially since radar guns can be quite inaccurate when they are stationary, the results are even more likely to be suspect when the radar gun and the target are both moving. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/232 "2006-07-24T13:41:20Z")
catsix, I may have missed it, but have you weighed in on this particular incident? I’m not going to argue the ratio of bad cops to good cops, or the efficacy of using radar detection for speeding. As near as I can tell, the stop was perfectly legal, and the officers followed the prescribed course of action from start to finish. At the end, we had two officers unharmed, a suspect subdued with non-lethal force, and a minimum of the public’s tax dollars and time wasted. And on top of that, we have a video documentary of the entire incident. I don’t see where the objection might be other than the usual 'well, they could have done ‘something’ differently. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/233 "2006-07-24T14:06:00Z")
Thanks to our own Q.E.D [this](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mradar.html) is how a radar gun works. Heres a quick quote: > [@](#): > > Police radar uses this same principle to measure vehicle speed, only it uses microwaves instead of sound. The radar is aimed at traffic, and the control unit measures the difference between the frequency of the emitted signal and the frequency of the return signal. It figures in the speed of the police car and displays the result on the front panel as the speed of the car being targeted. It makes no difference with most typical speed radars if the car is moving towards or away from the radar–the system merely needs to know the difference in frequency between the transmitted and received signals plus the speed of the police cruiser in order to calculate the target’s speed. Damn **Catsix** you must have had some terrible experiences with the law. Do you go through life this bitter and distrustful of everyone, or just a choice few? I guess a better question is when you first meet someone; do you give them the benefit of the doubt and not immediately assume they’re a jerk? If so, do you extend the same courtesy to police officers? If not, why? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/234 "2006-07-24T14:17:45Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Your cynicism aside, did you ever think that perhaps (and, yes, I admit this is just speculation on my part) the detection unit is wired along with the speedometer? [/QUOTE] If I may rephrase your question to "Does radar work in a moving vehicle?, [Q.E.D.says yes.](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mradar.html) > [@](#): > > There are three main modes of traffic radar operation. Continuous, or CW, radars are always on and are mostly used nowadays for unattended operation, such as in those roadside trailers with big LED speed displays that tell you how fast you’re going. They’re also used in automated speed traps. Pulsed-mode radars emit a brief pulse every few seconds, with the timing being variable by the operator. The intermittent pulse provides a level of countermeasure against radar detectors. **Pulsed radars are most often used for continuous, light-duty traffic monitoring while the police cruiser is in motion, and are also frequently used in unattended operation.** Instant-on radar is manually triggered by an officer parked at the roadside, and is often in the form of a gun-type device that can be carried virtually anywhere. Radar detectors are rendered virtually useless by instant-on radar, unless you’re fortunate enough to catch a radar reflection from a car being targeted ahead of you. (My bolding) **catsix** , I get it that police are evil, sadistic, bullying brutes, but do you really think that they are stupid enough to stop a motorist for speeding if they do not have the proper type of radar and are not certified to use it? What would be the point? It would be thrown out of court. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/235 "2006-07-24T14:28:31Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] If I may rephrase your question to "Does radar work in a moving vehicle?, [Q.E.D.says yes.](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mradar.html) (My bolding) **catsix** , I get it that police are evil, sadistic, bullying brutes, but do you really think that they are stupid enough to stop a motorist for speeding if they do not have the proper type of radar and are not certified to use it? What would be the point? It would be thrown out of court. [/QUOTE] Are you suggesting that nobody ever got a speeding ticket prior to the invention of radar and that all speeding tickets must be proven by radar? If so, you are wrong. Cops without radar units give out speeding tickets all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/236 "2006-07-24T14:33:51Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] Are you suggesting that nobody ever got a speeding ticket prior to the invention of radar and that all speeding tickets must be proven by radar? If so, you are wrong. Cops without radar units give out speeding tickets all the time. [/QUOTE] They do, and it doesn’t matter if the person was really speeding or not, anyway. The police officer can give you a ticket based on whatever guidelines they are supposed to use, and you can fight it in court if you think that the guidelines weren’t followed or met in some way. On the side of the road with the officer is not the place to argue about it. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/237 "2006-07-24T14:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] Are you suggesting that nobody ever got a speeding ticket prior to the invention of radar and that all speeding tickets must be proven by radar? If so, you are wrong. Cops without radar units give out speeding tickets all the time. [/QUOTE] Uh, no, not at all. How the hell did you get that from my post? I was responding to \*\*catsix’\*\*s comments about radar. Radar was the topic. Radar was used in the video. You know, the one in the OP? The one this thread is about? The one where he clocks her going 51 in a 35? ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/238 "2006-07-24T15:07:19Z")
[QUOTE=Uvula Donor] Haw haw haw! That’s fucking _priceless_. I don’t know if I should ask you if it’s dark under that bridge, or just say “no u”. [/QUOTE] It was a lame joke, but I didn’t think it warranted troll accusations or AOLspeak. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/239 "2006-07-24T15:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=Blanche] It was a lame joke, but I didn’t think it warranted troll accusations or AOLspeak. [/QUOTE] Well, then we’re back to whether the definition of “good cop” covers one who gives a pat on the hand to a female driver who was too drunk to keep her car on the road. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399/240 "2006-07-24T15:31:50Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Well, then we’re back to whether the definition of “good cop” covers one who gives a pat on the hand to a female driver who was too drunk to keep her car on the road. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Well, he was good to me. Didn’t even flirt or imply that we might be able to ‘work something out’ like some do. My car was totalled, I guess he figured I’d suffered enough that night, and I was already out of the car and wandering around when he picked me up so he might have had trouble getting the DWI to stick. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officer-tasers-woman-twice-for-driving-on-a-suspended-license/365399.md?page=13)