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Tasered for a Speeding Ticket??

Oct 16, 1999
10,490
4
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Cop told the guy to put his hands on the police car, guy turned around and started to walk back to his own car. Maybe the cop was being an ass, but the tazer was justified IMO.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Cop told the guy to put his hands on the police car, guy turned around and started to walk back to his own car. Maybe the cop was being an ass, but the tazer was justified IMO.

Yep. Don't resist arrest and you won't be tazed.

-edit- also, dude passed a cop. You NEVER pass a policeman.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,984
55,389
136
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Cop told the guy to put his hands on the police car, guy turned around and started to walk back to his own car. Maybe the cop was being an ass, but the tazer was justified IMO.

Is force of that sort justified in your mind in order to compel acceptance of a civil citation? Unless that guy was going super fast or doing something else dangerous the speeding ticket was likely just a civil infraction, ie. on the same order as a parking ticket. Should meter maids carry tazers to zap people who rip up their parking tickets?
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,293
14,712
146
This was posted and reposted over at OT, and argued both ways. many people thought the cop was an ass abusing his power, while others thought the cop was within his legal rights to do it. Personally, while I think the cop may have been a bit "quick on the trigger" with the taser, he's right...the side of the road is NOT the place to argue the ticket, and if you refuse to sign one, they can (and usually will) take you to jail...
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,984
55,389
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Originally posted by: BoomerD
This was posted and reposted over at OT, and argued both ways. many people thought the cop was an ass abusing his power, while others thought the cop was within his legal rights to do it. Personally, while I think the cop may have been a bit "quick on the trigger" with the taser, he's right...the side of the road is NOT the place to argue the ticket, and if you refuse to sign one, they can (and usually will) take you to jail...

The basic thing is that the police officer is supposed to use the minimum level of force necessary to resolve the situation. I don't think a reasonable person can say that he did that in this situation. It also depends on the state if they can arrest you for refusing to sign the ticket, and if the cop was being a responsible law officer (protect and serve anyone?) he would have notified the driver of the consequences of refusing to sign before he escalated the situation.

I think the best you can argue for the cop in this situation is that he's exceptionally poor at his job.
 
Oct 16, 1999
10,490
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Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Cop told the guy to put his hands on the police car, guy turned around and started to walk back to his own car. Maybe the cop was being an ass, but the tazer was justified IMO.

Is force of that sort justified in your mind in order to compel acceptance of a civil citation? Unless that guy was going super fast or doing something else dangerous the speeding ticket was likely just a civil infraction, ie. on the same order as a parking ticket. Should meter maids carry tazers to zap people who rip up their parking tickets?

Force of that sort is justified to counter resisting arrest. Which is exactly what the guy did when he tried to walk back to his car. At that point a cop's proper resonse is either tazer or tackle. Or should cops just let people walk their way out of an infraction?
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,984
55,389
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Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
Cop told the guy to put his hands on the police car, guy turned around and started to walk back to his own car. Maybe the cop was being an ass, but the tazer was justified IMO.

Is force of that sort justified in your mind in order to compel acceptance of a civil citation? Unless that guy was going super fast or doing something else dangerous the speeding ticket was likely just a civil infraction, ie. on the same order as a parking ticket. Should meter maids carry tazers to zap people who rip up their parking tickets?

Force of that sort is justified to counter resisting arrest. Which is exactly what the guy did when he tried to walk back to his car. At that point a cop's proper resonse is either tazer or tackle. Or should cops just let people walk their way out of an infraction?

How is he walking his way out of the infraction? It's not like its not going to be assessed to him anyway by the cop's copy of the ticket. Again, it's a civil infraction... the speeding ticket in and of itself (in most states) isn't even an arrestable offense. It is a confrontation that was blown hilariously out of proportion from the nature of the offense largely due to poor conduct on the officer's part.

The guy was being a pain in the ass, but the cop did an incredibly bad job of handling it. If nothing else he should be reprimanded/fired for poor performance of his duties.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,810
10,101
136
Physically stopping the man via tackle or whatever isn?t life threatening. A taser can be lethal. This is abuse except in cases to stop violence.
 

1EZduzit

Lifer
Feb 4, 2002
11,833
1
0
"Officers" like that are what gives the police a bad name. If I was his boss I'd can him but the reality is that this incident will probably net him a promotion for being "tough on crime".
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,293
14,712
146
Originally posted by: Jaskalas
Physically stopping the man via tackle or whatever isn?t life threatening. A taser can be lethal. This is abuse except in cases to stop violence.

You think the cop should tackle the jerk and roll around on the side of the freeway trying to cuff the guy? No thanks. CAN tasers be lethal? Sure, but so can a good punch in the nose...I saw no abuse in the video, but I DID see the cop make the decision pretty quickly. I'm not arguing that he made the wrong decision, just that he decided to taser the guy pretty quickly. MIGHT not have been necessary with a bit more talking...but then again, even after he was tasered, the guy kept trying to argue...I'd be VERY surprised if the cop gets any kind of reprimand for what happened. I'd be interested in seeing the outcome of the court case however.
 

1EZduzit

Lifer
Feb 4, 2002
11,833
1
0
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: Jaskalas
Physically stopping the man via tackle or whatever isn?t life threatening. A taser can be lethal. This is abuse except in cases to stop violence.

You think the cop should tackle the jerk and roll around on the side of the freeway trying to cuff the guy? No thanks. CAN tasers be lethal? Sure, but so can a good punch in the nose...I saw no abuse in the video, but I DID see the cop make the decision pretty quickly. I'm not arguing that he made the wrong decision, just that he decided to taser the guy pretty quickly. MIGHT not have been necessary with a bit more talking...but then again, even after he was tasered, the guy kept trying to argue...I'd be VERY surprised if the cop gets any kind of reprimand for what happened. I'd be interested in seeing the outcome of the court case however.

Ask yourself what would have happened if the cop didn't have his handy dandy taser to abuse? They would have talked it out instead of it ending up with the "put you hands behind your back" power trip he was on.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
I cant understand half of what was being said leading up to the situation. So i cant pass judegement on the use of force. But there does seem to be a scary rise in the use of these devices by the police for minor infractions. Just the other day in Minneapolis state troopers tasered some guy who crashed his car and he died from the taser.

 
Oct 16, 1999
10,490
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If the cop didn't have his tazer it would have either been a tackle or a pursuit. The guy was not cooperating and attempted to leave the scene. In fact he was being such a dumbass he was probably either wasted off his ass or had something he was trying to hide. Things can go wrong with a tazer, but it's still the most effective way to disable someone with the least chance of serious injury to the cop or the perp. Moral of the story: If the cop is an asshole, don't give him an excuse to tazer you.
 

Kalvin00

Lifer
Jan 11, 2003
12,705
5
81
Originally posted by: 1EZduzit
"Officers" like that are what gives the police a bad name. If I was his boss I'd can him but the reality is that this incident will probably net him a promotion for being "tough on crime".

In reality, you're a fvcking moran who doesn't know anything about how law enforcement works.

In reality, it gained an investigation into the incident (the outcome of which I'm not certain) which could have ended up with either a demerit or firing of the officer.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,873
10,668
147
I see TWO people, both behaving poorly in that video.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,984
55,389
136
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
If the cop didn't have his tazer it would have either been a tackle or a pursuit. The guy was not cooperating and attempted to leave the scene. In fact he was being such a dumbass he was probably either wasted off his ass or had something he was trying to hide. Things can go wrong with a tazer, but it's still the most effective way to disable someone with the least chance of serious injury to the cop or the perp. Moral of the story: If the cop is an asshole, don't give him an excuse to tazer you.

I think the mistake you are making here is that both parties are equal here, they aren't. It's the cop's JOB to use the minimum force required. It's his job to protect and serve that guy he is giving a ticket to on the road. He made no attempt whatsoever to deescalate the situation, he was confrontational, and he used extremely poor judgement.

Simply put the cop failed in his responsibilities as an officer, and he deserves to be reprimanded at a minimum.
 

JD50

Lifer
Sep 4, 2005
11,918
2,883
136
Originally posted by: Jaskalas
Physically stopping the man via tackle or whatever isn?t life threatening. A taser can be lethal. This is abuse except in cases to stop violence.

You are dead wrong. Physically stopping someone via tackle can be just as life threatening as using a taser. Just because you tackle someone doesn't mean that they just give up and you can hook them up. Thats basically the whole point of the taser, they give up much quicker.

Having said that, there is no way that I am getting into yet another Cop bashing thread by people that have absolutely no clue what the hell they are talking about, especially when the OP states that the guy was tasered for a speeding ticket, what a moron. You'd think that the cop pulled the guy over and tased him because he was speeding....:roll:
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,984
55,389
136
Originally posted by: JD50

You are dead wrong. Physically stopping someone via tackle can be just as life threatening as using a taser. Just because you tackle someone doesn't mean that they just give up and you can hook them up. Thats basically the whole point of the taser, they give up much quicker.

Having said that, there is no way that I am getting into yet another Cop bashing thread by people that have absolutely no clue what the hell they are talking about, especially when the OP states that the guy was tasered for a speeding ticket, what a moron. You'd think that the cop pulled the guy over and tased him because he was speeding....:roll:

Do you believe that the cop behaved appropriately in this traffic stop from beginning to end? Do you not see several ways in which this could have likely been avoided if he used better judgement?
 
Oct 16, 1999
10,490
4
0
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
If the cop didn't have his tazer it would have either been a tackle or a pursuit. The guy was not cooperating and attempted to leave the scene. In fact he was being such a dumbass he was probably either wasted off his ass or had something he was trying to hide. Things can go wrong with a tazer, but it's still the most effective way to disable someone with the least chance of serious injury to the cop or the perp. Moral of the story: If the cop is an asshole, don't give him an excuse to tazer you.

I think the mistake you are making here is that both parties are equal here, they aren't. It's the cop's JOB to use the minimum force required. It's his job to protect and serve that guy he is giving a ticket to on the road. He made no attempt whatsoever to deescalate the situation, he was confrontational, and he used extremely poor judgement.

Simply put the cop failed in his responsibilities as an officer, and he deserves to be reprimanded at a minimum.

As part of the citizenry that cop is protecting and serving I am glad he didn't let that douche up and leave without completing the stop and properly processing the guy, which is clearly what the perp was determined to do. The cop might have been rude and quick on the trigger, but the perp was the one that escelated the situation beyond just a jerk cop giving a speeding ticket.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
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Tasers are just crutches for police officers with poor judgement.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Originally posted by: Perknose
I see TWO people, both behaving poorly in that video.

But only one of them carries a taser, a gun, and has the force of the state behind him. I expect that person to behave better.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Not another fucking taser/cop abuse thread. Sheesh.

Maybe when Quick-Draw McGraw pigs stop using tasers like cowboys prodding cattle the taser threads will stop.