Yes, that’s right.
The guy with the badge is the guy who makes our laws work. Ultimately, all the lawyers and judges and juries and legislatures are NOTHING if there isn’t a dude who’s job it is to MAKE you follow the law. Those guys should also not have to enter into a mano a mano battle with every drunken asshole who decides the law doesn’t apply to them.
Give me a nudge when someone gets tased while cooperating with the police.
What about this case, in which a 17 year old girl was tased while in handcuffs in police custody?
Beats shooting them.
This is in response to what, and could you possibly be serious? I started this thread in a forum I thought was less accepting of drive-bys like this.
The question of wether tazers are deadly or even dangerous is entirely beside the point. I don’t care if they’re less likely to cause injury than physical restraint or even if they are entirely harmless. Heck I wouldn’t care if they were good for your health!
The problem is police have become street judges, doling out corporal punnishment as they see fit. The man in this video is required to obey the officers, but the officers are NOT required to force compliance. They didn’t use the taser to restrain him. They have no reason to restrain him since he is not a threat to anyone. They used the taser to assert their dominance. They weren’t protecting anyone. They were protecting their egos. To put it simply, they were trying to proove their dicks were bigger than his. Which from what I see in the video gives me reason to feel very sorry for those officers. 
The only problem I have with what occurred is that due to officer porkiness they were unable to effect a physical take down and were forced to prematurely rely on the taser.
If they had been in good shape and aggressively attempting a take down and still failing then I would have had no problems with them tasing the guy.
I mean, the guy is naked in a public place and refusing to get dressed so he’s gotta go. The cops were very patient and tolerant. Nekkid guy is resisting arrest. What the hell were the cops supposed to do? Hit the treadmill, that’s what.
If a cop walked up to me for whatever reason and said, “Put your hands behind your back, you’re under arrest.” do you know what I would do? Here’s the amazing part: I’d do it. Then, when I got to the station I’d phone my lawyer.
Who are these people who think they can fight cops right there on the spot and win? They should just do what they’re told or they’re going to get a knee in the back of the neck or they’re going to get tased. They should just do what they’re told and sort it out later.
Cops have always been street judges. Cops are constantly deciding what to enforce and what to ignore. They make endless judgment calls all day long. Have you ever been pulled over when you were speeding, struck up a rapport with the officer and then been released with only a warning? What would have happened if you had acted like a dickhead? They pick and choose punishments all the time.
They have every reason to restrain him as he is not complying with them in their effort to enforce the law. They’re not protecting their egos or their dicks, they’re doing their jobs. What else were they supposed to do? “Oh, you don’t want to put your clothes on? Ok, well, enjoy the concert then. Sorry to disturb you.”??
Ok I’ve no love for many police tactics either, and there are some just plain rotten officers, but in this case the tasering isn’t my biggest concern. My big problem is the idea that a naked person is deserving of arrest in the first place. He isn’t harming anyone, the environment wasn’t a dangerous one and nobody there seemed especially offended at his open display. I’m sure plenty of guys there went home that evening a bit more secure with their own endowments.
But fine, the law is what it is and this guy knew and repeatedly defied it, even through the many very reasonable attempts to get him to cover up. What could the cops do, just walk away? His continuing refusal to obey the law warranted a response. On top of that, he WAS resisting arrest. He was struggling and, though he didn’t throw any punches, he certainly wasn’t allowing them to cuff him. The police had 2 options. The three of them, big guys they are, could have struggled with him a bit and through sheer overpowering strength gotten him to submit to arrest. This risks not only injury to themselves, but also could seriously injure the naked guy. I’ve never been tasered but it’s designed as a temporary subduing device, not intended to cause lasting injury or pain. I’m quite sure it sucks horribly at the time, but I’d take it over a broken rib which can be excruciatingly painful for months on end. They definitely should’ve warned him first, hoping that the fear would’ve caused him to give up. But even after the first round of electricity, the guy STILL was resisting.
IMHO the cops did what they had to do. I don’t agree they handled the situation exactly right, but the guy won’t have any lasting injury and the cops do their job of enforcing the law, as ridiculous as it is.
ETA: I pretty much just repeated what Shamozzle said, only with much less brevity… 
Ok, you saw the video. This guy was more than a couple sheets to the wind* and just didn’t seem too open to reason or negotiation. He was feeding off the crowd’s response and just generally closed off completely to the idea of even getting dressed, let alone submitting to police custody. Yes, negotiation sounds wonderful and I’m sure it works in plenty of situations with someone trained in the art, but getting a very stubborn drugged-up naked ‘wizard’ fueled by a crowd of intoxicated, “fuck the establishment” retard adolescents through words alone seemed a bit beyond hope. The police were patiently trying over and over to calmly talk him into getting dressed and he was throwing his clothes back at them and even said “I can do this all day”. And we don’t even know how long the cops were there before the video started. I didn’t like watching him get tasered any more than the rest of you, but I’m with the cops on this one.
(*can that mean intoxicated on substances other than just alcohol? Ahh… whatever, I’m keeping it)
And more:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B8CY1-4RV1K17-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=28772c2f1d4904459b3dd6df1374ca11 - 45 deaths in 14 years (in one state)
That’s assuming the guy with the badge is following the law himself. Or the simple guidelines laid down re. taser use : it’s a weapon. It’s not non-lethal. Don’t use it before soft or strong empty hand techniques, period.
I have family members who are cops, so I’m not trying to blindly pick on all cops, but these officers seemed to me to perhaps have had less training in negotiations than they should have.
I mean, let’s be blunt: this guy was tripping balls. Whenever you are dealing with someone who is having as much fun as the Naked Wizard, you have to have some patience because they are NOT seeing things clearly. IMO, I could have gotten the naked wizard to walk voluntarily over to the police car and even get in. It might have taken 2-3 more minutes, but there was no harm being done by the guy being naked; it’s a nuisance violation at worst.
Demanding compliance thru pain, causing subjugation through pain… well, isn’t that close to torture? It should be a last resort, and IMO these officers didn’t try very hard to persuade Mr. Naked Wizard to just walk away with them, or anything other than trying to forcibly dress a grown man. Then they decided to get rough. They could have asked him “Why don’t you come over and let me talk to you?” and walked him to the car. He was tripping balls; he would have gone if they had been nice. They could have asked him “if you don’t want your clothes, is there anything else that you need?” and then “oh sure, we have that right over here, come with me and we’ll hook you up. Now just sit here while I get that for you.” Close the door, take him away.
My point is only that the officers, IMO, didn’t try very hard to remove the man before they resorted to violence. And the taser, since it leaves no marks, is considered innoccuous by many but I’ve been shocked and I kid you not it sucks worse than any other pain I’ve felt.
Police are NOT judges, btw. They are not empowered to inflict punishment on people. If you think that is the role of police, or are just okay with it happening, please tell me what state you live in, so I can be sure to never move there. Police can arrest you and make a case for bringing you to trial, but they cannot summarily declare you guilty and inflict punishment. That’s not the way the laws in the US are written. And some of what I saw in the video seemed to be clearly excessive.
Why was the cop at the end telling NW to “calm down”? He had never been very excited, and had just endured quite a few tasings, is clearly so disoriented on drugs that he is incoherent… why in the world would the cop think that the guy is going to percieve and be able to follow his instructions, which are clearly unnecessary… the guy isn’t resisting so much as he has lost motor control due to the shocks and the drugs.
Ok, not my best post, but it’s very late and I’m very tired… still, IMO, unnecessary and excessive use of force. Bad cops. No donuts.
I swear I heard naked wizard shout: Don’t taze me, Frodo!
The cops didn’t inflict punishment on the Naked Wizard with the taser. Unless you’re also going to say that manhandling, using their night sticks, or shooting a suspect is also punishment.
Odesio
Actually, I’m pretty sure cops aren’t allowed to tonfa or shoot suspects whenever they feel like it. And that there are words for cops who do, you might even have heard about them : police brutality. Unlawful shooting. Disproportionate response.
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.
The truth is, cops are not holy knights from some Arthurian legend, following a cast iron moral code that goes against their best interest. They’re actual humans, and as such tend to follow the path of least resistance - both re. the immediate situation and what’s less likely to get them in trouble from their superiors. So if you give them a tool that is likely to generate instant total compliance in the subject by virtue of horrendous pain, doesn’t leave a mark, requires no skill nor physical exertion and isn’t monitored at all, 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 ?
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.
Cops should be armed with stun-sticks or cattle prods. No need to be as incapacitating as a Taser, just enough (severe, non-permanent) pain for them to induce compliance/movement as they see fit. 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. There should be minimal regulation, as it would only hamper the effectiveness of the officer’s function – keep the peace. Listen to the police, follow their instructions, and obey their orders and you’ve nothing to worry about. If you disagree, the time to complain is to the judge or a civil review board, not the police.
Oh, and Manhattan should be renamed city 17.
Ditto this. I’m not sure where this was taking place, but is public nudity an arrestable offense? A quick search on the web shows that in some jurisdictions public nudity can be punishable by jail time, and in others it’s just a fine.
There are some violations where an officer can’t arrest me, right? Like mild speeding on the interstate.
I’m first amazed that . . .
. . . er, wait. I just changed my mind on this. 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; not so in a speeding situation, where you stop breaking the law when you stop your vehicle for the officer.
So, I agree that some sort of force was necessary. I am surprised as others have been that three cops couldn’t physically get cuffs on and subdue a non-violent non-complier.
I think that they were intimidated by his nudity and felt uncomfortable getting close and physical with him.
Police from 5 states are suing Taser manufacturers for damage cause in the “harmless” demonstrations. A couple weeks ago ,I read 400 people have died from police tasers. they should be treated with a lot more restraint than they are.