# The tasing of the naked wizard **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264 "2009-04-24T20:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/61 "2009-04-25T19:44:12Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Police from 5 states are suing Taser manufacturers for damage cause in the “harmless” demonstrations. [/QUOTE] I hesitate to ask…but do you have a cite for this? I found [this](http://www.janes.com/news/lawenforcement/pr/pr071011_1_n.shtml): > [@](#): > > Officer injured in Taser demonstration > > A police officer in the US who volunteered to be the subject of a Taser demonstration has suffered possibly lasting damage, including spine fractures after receiving a five-second discharge, according to a respected medical journal. There are several articles on this case, but I see nothing that claims that police in 5 different states are suing manufacturers for damages…I see a bunch of articles about one officer who was hurt in 2007. [Here](http://www3.acep.org/pressroom.aspx?id=29862) is another article on the same thing: > [@](#): > > “Although rare, vertebral fractures as a result of severe muscle contractions induced by the Taser are a possibility, as this case makes clear,” said Dr. Winslow. “Medical personnel and law enforcement officers should recognize that these weapons are still associated with injuries.” What this tells me is that tasers aren’t 100% safe…I mean, well yeah. Nothing is. BTW, do you have a cite that 400 people a year are killed by tasers as well? That seems like a pretty low number (less than the number of people shot accidentally by guns per year, less than a third who choke to death on foreign objects, only a fraction of the number killed falling off ladders in their houses a year, etc etc). -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/62 "2009-04-25T19:56:19Z")
I misunderheard what you said…you claimed 400 deaths total, not 400 deaths per year. I can’t find anyone claiming 400 deaths total…Amnesty International seems to be claiming 200-300 deaths since 2001. I found this on [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser): [QUOTE=[Taser - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser)] Taser International claims that Tasers are safe, but critics disagree, citing the number of deaths occurring after Taser use. Amnesty International has documented over 245 deaths that occurred after the use of Tasers. Amnesty International Canada and other civil liberties organizations have argued that a moratorium should be placed on Taser use until research can determine a way for them to be safely used.[30] [/QUOTE] This seems to be a world wide figure from what I can tell. So, unless I’m mistaken here, we are talking about approximately 245 deaths due to tasering world wide since 2001… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/63 "2009-04-25T20:04:58Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > This seems to be a world wide figure from what I can tell. So, unless I’m mistaken here, we are talking about approximately 245 deaths due to tasering world wide since 2001… Worldwide? This cite suggests 400 deaths involving tasters occurred in just the US and Canada: [http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sold\_as\_nonlethal\_Tasers\_killed\_400\_1213.html](http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sold_as_nonlethal_Tasers_killed_400_1213.html) Here’s another interesting, if slightly unrelated stat: > [@](#): > > While the last Taser study we came across found that the devices were safe and caused only a few trips to the hospital, a joint investigation by CBC News and the Canadian Press has now turned up some decidedly different findings, with about one-third of people shot by Tasers reportedly requiring some form of medical attention. **910 of the 3,226 people** shot between 2002 and 2007 had to go to a medical facility, and that “many more” people had minor injuries but never saw a doctor. > **[Probe finds one-third of people shot by Tasers need medical attention](https://www.engadget.com/2008-06-19-probe-finds-one-third-of-people-shot-by-tasers-need-medical-atte.html)** > > While the last Taser study we came across found that the devices were safe and caused only a few trips to the hospital, a joint investigation by CBC News and the Canadian Press has now turned up some decidedly different findings, with about one-third... ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/64 "2009-04-25T20:13:27Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > what could \*possibly \*make you think they’re unlikely to abuse the shit out of it, especially when this video and countless others make it explicit and plain that they, in fact, do ? While plenty of cops have been plenty guilty of abuse, there is no police brutality occurring in this video. They are exercising the bare minimum force needed to provide lawful arrest of a non-compliant, drunk naked guy in public. If you have a problem with what occurred in the video, then you have a problem with the law, not those enforcing it. The only thing these cops are guilty of is scarfing down too many jelly donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/65 "2009-04-25T20:23:39Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Society reluctantly allows the use of those devices when strictly necessary, and each shooting is closely investigated to make sure it was justified. I believe the same is true of harsh beatings (Rodney King ring a bell ?). The same isn’t true of tasings. Why ? I have no idea, because they scare me a whole lot more than actual guns, batons and pepper spray. I think this is changing. I have no cites, but I am under the impression that the use of tasers is moving towards greater monitoring and documentation. And I have to ask, tasers scare you more than guns? Really? The potential for shock treatment scares you more than the potential for having the back of your head blown off? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/66 "2009-04-25T20:26:25Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > And I have to ask, tasers scare you more than guns? Really? The potential for shock treatment scares you more than the potential for having the back of your head blown off? I think his point is that tasers are being used in situations that guns would never be. For example, had this ‘naked wizard’ incident occurred before the advent of tasers, he (well, hopefully!) almost certainly would not have been shot. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/67 "2009-04-25T20:47:03Z")
One thing I don’t see people discuss much is the danger of head injury. It’s not relevant in this case where they’re on grass, but when a person is tasered they fall down and they’re unable to break the fall with their hands. That can be dangerous if the person is standing on pavement or concrete. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/68 "2009-04-25T21:19:50Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > One thing I don’t see people discuss much is the danger of head injury. It’s not relevant in this case where they’re on grass, but when a person is tasered they fall down and they’re unable to break the fall with their hands. That can be dangerous if the person is standing on pavement or concrete. Yes it can, but what do you do? There is potential for injury either through manual, forceful take-down or through tasering. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/69 "2009-04-25T21:21:13Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Your fist link seems to be down, and this one requires a paid subscription to access anything more than the less-than-specific front page. Unless I’m mis-reading, “review of the records at Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner indicates that 45 persons died suddenly and unexpectedly in the custody of the police, between 1990 and 2004” isn’t necessarily indicative of death directly as a result of police brutality. We aren’t talking about “brutality”. The point was that people who are ready to die, pretty much anything can kill them. Regular “safe” procedures can be deadly. The second link below includes pepper spray, hog-tying, making people lie prone on the ground, or holding a person down anywhere on the upper half of their body as causes of death. So I mean if making a person _lie prone_ is just as apt to kill someone as tasering them, I’m not real convinced it can be labeled a lethal weapon. [http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL28860920080902](http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL28860920080902) [http://www.rickparent.ca/PDF/FBI2006.pdf](http://www.rickparent.ca/PDF/FBI2006.pdf) (PDF - same as the one you said was down) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/70 "2009-04-25T21:23:25Z")
No, I don’t think he should have been tasered, nor do I think that knee to the ribs was justified, either. It’s not like he was [armed with a stapler](http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/02/25/bc-airport-taser-rcmp.html) or anything… There haven’t been enough studies of tasers yet, but there are [questions](http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/04/taser-tests.html) raised about their safety. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/71 "2009-04-25T21:29:45Z")
On a slightly different note, what is wrong with that guy’s penis? Seriously, I had no idea a penis could be that small. It’s about 1/2 inch in length. Is this natural or some sort of… defect? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/72 "2009-04-25T21:40:32Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > On a slightly different note, what is wrong with that guy’s penis? Seriously, I had no idea a penis could be that small. It’s about 1/2 inch in length. Is this natural or some sort of… defect? I’ve been trying to figure this out too. I wonder if he is transgendered. I apologize if that is the wrong word. I’m meaning when someone is born without an obvious gender. His scrotum looks off too. While looking up transgendered, I stumbled upon micropenis, it might be that. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/73 "2009-04-25T21:46:55Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I think this is changing. I have no cites, but I am under the impression that the use of tasers is moving towards greater monitoring and documentation. > > And I have to ask, tasers scare you more than guns? Really? The potential for shock treatment scares you more than the potential for having the back of your head blown off? Yes. **Red Barchetta** ’s correct. Cops, even rent-a-cops, even slimy untrained power tripping rent-a-cops will think twice before shooting at you, heck they’ll think long and hard before they even pull their weapon. Tasers ? Not so much. In my experience, a cop will put more thought into whether or not he should lay into you with a baton than shocking your nuts with his shiny new painbuzzer. Again, and again, and again. ETA : > [@](#): > > While plenty of cops have been plenty guilty of abuse, there is no police brutality occurring in this video. They are exercising the bare minimum force needed to provide lawful arrest of a non-compliant, drunk naked guy in public. If you have a problem with what occurred in the video, then you have a problem with the law, not those enforcing it. The only thing these cops are guilty of is scarfing down too many jelly donuts. I do have a problem with that fat prick drive-stunning that poor naked bastard over and over as he’s writhing on the ground helpless, yes. Think about it for a second : imagine you’re seeing the exact same vid, but instead of tasing the git, the cop’s just kicking him in the stomach as hard as he can. That wouldn’t be OK, right ? That would be the sort of thing you’d see in a WW2 movie, with the evil German kicking the old guy who’s not strong enough to get up, right ? Well, repeated tasing is actually _worse_. Oh sure, it looks innocuous, it’s sanitized violence. And that’s the whole idea. That’s why tasers are really, really not a good idea to put in the hands of poorly trained people. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/74 "2009-04-25T22:14:52Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > On a slightly different note, what is wrong with that guy’s penis? Seriously, I had no idea a penis could be that small. It’s about 1/2 inch in length. Is this natural or some sort of… defect? Obviously this is just a WAG but there are many men, of normal erect length, who have penises that are hidden inside a suprapubic fat pad while flaccid. The actual flaccid length when measured with the fat pad depressed is normal also. This is medically occasionally referred to as an “inconspicuous penis”. Urologists often like to operate on these people but from what I can gather they function just fine and obtain normal length when erect. That is in clear distinction to a “trapped penis” in which the skin of the shaft is adhered to suprapubic skin in which it is recessed or a “micropenis” which is measurably small when measured with the fat pad depressed. FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/75 "2009-04-25T22:35:11Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Yes. **Red Barchetta** ’s correct. Cops, even rent-a-cops, even slimy untrained power tripping rent-a-cops will think twice before shooting at you, heck they’ll think long and hard before they even pull their weapon. Tasers ? Not so much. In my experience, a cop will put more thought into whether or not he should lay into you with a baton than shocking your nuts with his shiny new painbuzzer. Again, and again, and again. I see. > [@Kobal2](#): > > I do have a problem with that fat prick drive-stunning that poor naked bastard over and over as he’s writhing on the ground helpless, yes. Think about it for a second : imagine you’re seeing the exact same vid, but instead of tasing the git, the cop’s just kicking him in the stomach as hard as he can. That wouldn’t be OK, right ? That would be the sort of thing you’d see in a WW2 movie, with the evil German kicking the old guy who’s not strong enough to get up, right ? Well, repeated tasing is actually _worse_. Oh sure, it looks innocuous, it’s sanitized violence. And that’s the whole idea. That’s why tasers are really, really not a good idea to put in the hands of poorly trained people. Well, it’s not a good idea to put _any_ tool in the hands of the untrained. While I do accept that that one cop was a bit heavy-handed, I don’t accept your analogy. We are not talking about sadistic nazis beating on helpless people, we are talking about police enforcing a law. That dude in the video was not helpless. _He placed himself in that position. He was there by choice. He chose to get tased. All he had to do to avoid getting roughed up and then tased was to put his hands behind his back. That’s it. He chose against that._ ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/76 "2009-04-25T22:35:32Z")
[QUOTE=Red Barchetta] Worldwide? This cite suggests 400 deaths involving tasters occurred in just the US and Canada: [/QUOTE] Ok…but even if I accept that data (and I haven’t been able to find any corroborating cites…you?), that’s a minuscule number of people killed. I think more people died in air craft accidents since 2001 (not even counting 9/11) than that. From your other cite: > [@](#): > > 910 of the 3,226 people shot between 2002 and 2007 had to go to a medical facility, and that “many more” people had minor injuries but never saw a doctor. Again…this is a minuscule number of people hurt. Compared to just about anything else this is hardly a blip on the radar. As with accidental gun deaths this is getting blown WAY out of proportion. When I get home tonight I’ll see if I can dig up some figure on police related non-taser deaths/injuries…I’d be very surprised if it’s not double or even triple these figures over that same period of time. Heck, I’ll be mildly surprised if the yearly figures for non-taser deaths/injuries involving police aren’t greater than the entire 2002-2007 range. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/77 "2009-04-25T22:42:10Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > One thing I don’t see people discuss much is the danger of head injury. It’s not relevant in this case where they’re on grass, but when a person is tasered they fall down and they’re unable to break the fall with their hands. That can be dangerous if the person is standing on pavement or concrete. You mean like [this woman, who was also tasered while handcuffed and confined](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M42sw8cXCHQ)? Or [this guy who fell onto the travel lane of the highway](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqbmasNeOmM&feature=related)? (altho he wasn’t hurt, thankfully) Or how about [this guy who fell to his death when some numbnut officer tasered him while he was in a precarious position](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg5RVq4m8xg)? How about [when police tase blind people](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zt9_Uve_Bc&feature=related)? And then say that they were justified and “followed procedures” so no mark, no foul? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/78 "2009-04-25T22:48:56Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I see. > > Well, it’s not a good idea to put _any_ tool in the hands of the untrained. While I do accept that that one cop was a bit heavy-handed, I don’t accept your analogy. We are not talking about sadistic nazis beating on helpless people, we are talking about police enforcing a law. That dude in the video was not helpless. _He placed himself in that position. He was there by choice. He chose to get tased. All he had to do to avoid getting roughed up and then tased was to put his hands behind his back. That’s it. He chose against that._ Oh, come on. You’re being disingenuous at best. The man was clearly too impaired (inebriated… ok, ok he was tripping balls) to make any rational conversation OR CHOICE about what he was doing. He was too out of his gourd to even be able to rationally comprehend what was going on around him. He didn’t _choose_ to resist or be tased or even have a conversation with those officers. That’s just a silly attempt to rationalize and justify what happened. ---
**Author:** ![NoJustice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecb155/32.png) [@NoJustice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoJustice)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/79 "2009-04-25T23:01:15Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > … doesn’t leave a mark, requires no skill nor physical exertion and isn’t monitored at all To be fair, I’m pretty sure they are monitored. Most tazers keep a record of every time they are fired. The problem is the cops just lie and say that their victim was violent/threatening. As long as there are no permanent injuries, nobody cares enough to bother questioning the word of the police. Only when it’s caught on tape do they have to resort to this nonsense idea that they are required to force complience with their orders. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > If you disobey the officer at any point, he or she should be free to enforce compliance as they deem necessary, as long as the goal is to gain compliance with their order. Once again, they don’t actually _have to_ force complience if there is no danger to anyone. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > There should be minimal regulation, as it would only hamper the effectiveness of the officer’s function – keep the peace. Is that their function? How are they serving that function by initiating a violent confrontation just because some guy dares to ignore their orders? I suppose if the cops hadn’t proven their ability to get their way, the puiblic would have seen it as a sign of weakness and erupted in chaos and anarchy right? > [@Eonwe](#): > > If a person is violating the law on public nudity, and he or she refuses to get clothed upon request of an officer, then he or she is continuing to violate the law Agreed completely. I don’t think that excuses their behavior at all. > [@Eonwe](#): > > So, I agree that some sort of force was necessary. Just because someone is breaking the law does not make force neccessary. It is not neccessary for police to assert their athority whenever they encounter defiance. It is not their job to prove how tough they are. It is their job to keep the peace. That purpose is not served by using force when the only danger is to their own ego. > [@Shamozzle](#): > > The potential for shock treatment scares you more than the potential for having the back of your head blown off? I know you weren’t asking me but… I have no reason to expect a police officer will use a lethal weapon just to assert his dominance. The same cannot be said of a taser. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264/80 "2009-04-25T23:15:47Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I see. > > Well, it’s not a good idea to put _any_ tool in the hands of the untrained. While I do accept that that one cop was a bit heavy-handed, I don’t accept your analogy. We are not talking about sadistic nazis beating on helpless people, we are talking about police enforcing a law. That dude in the video was not helpless. _He placed himself in that position. He was there by choice. He chose to get tased. All he had to do to avoid getting roughed up and then tased was to put his hands behind his back. That’s it. He chose against that._ I’m not disagreeing with the fact that the guy was being uncooperative, and made a poor decision. Drunk’ll do that to you. But you know what ? A cop’s entire job consists of dealing with uncooperative people. And I’m sorry, but if three strong cops can’t throw a tarp on and haul some naked, out of shape, baked out of his wits guy off to the drunk tank without using a weapon, they shouldn’t be cops, period. He was being an ass, yes, but at no point is he overpowering or threatening anyone. He’s not throwing punches, he’s not even yelling at them ! And they had ample time and opportunity to cuff him as they were twisting his arms to try and force him to get dressed - they’re clearly on top of him. So yes, when I watch that video, I interpret the knee-drop jerk’s actions as losing patience and using a completely inappropriate amount of force on a helpless moron. Again, a major part of a cop’s job is to be patient and calmly deal with irrational, hostile people with as less violence as possible. And one of those 3 cops failed to do that, big time. ETA : [QUOTE=NoJustice] Is that their function? How are they serving that function by initiating a violent confrontation just because some guy dares to ignore their orders? I suppose if the cops hadn’t proven their ability to get their way, the puiblic would have seen it as a sign of weakness and erupted in chaos and anarchy right? [/QUOTE] You have been whoooshed, my friend :). City 17 is the name of the city where Half Life 2 takes place - an oppressive, 1984-like police state with aliens enslaving humanity with the help of lots of big brutes with stun batons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tasing-of-the-naked-wizard/494264.md?page=5)