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I have absolutely no problem with tasers being used as a "use of force" intermediate between firearms and conventional take down methods.
I absolutely, 100% disagree with their use as "compliance tools" or, as magical wands that empower cities to employ sissies as cops with the hope that the Taser will be able to act in place of their own weakness and wimpiness.
In the State of Utah, not signing the ticket is an arrestable offense. Signing it does NOT admit guilt, only promise to show up to court. The man wanted to contest the ticket, which you do NOT do on the side of the roadway. The officer asked him to put his hands behind his back. The man refused, so the Officer drew the taser. The taser is a device to be used where you may go hands on with the person to avoid injury to either person by fighting, especially by the roadway. The officer asked again and the man refused and questioned the Officer. "What the hell are you doing?", asked the Roadside Lawyer, who watches CSI five nights a week. The man began walking back to his vehicle despite the lawful commands of the officer. To prevent the man from retreating back to his vehicle to either gain posession of a weapon or drive off and cause a pursuit, he fired the taser to subdue him. Don't forget the passenger in the vehicle also. Where is the troopers backup? Could be 20 minutes away or more. He gets into a fight, his help may not be close and the taser is a device used to prevent injury to both parties.
Having a wife and child in the vehicle does not mean you won't get arrested, it just means they get to see their husband and father make a fool of himself. The driver was stopped for speeding at 60 in a 40 mph zone, refused to sign the ticket, refused arrest and got arrested. Being tased does not cause cancer or testicular failure, its just another hyped up news term like President Bush uses weapons of mass destruction.
When you resist officers and disobey a lawful command, you're going to the ground.
thank you for your post. The man decided to be a big shot in front of his wife and was one of those people who thinks they know the law better than anyone else. He probably wasn't planning on a dash cam to capture the whole incident on video either which will hurt his case. The trooper was justified.
The officer unecessarily escalated the situation. In the video there doesnt appear to be any indication by the officer that he informed the driver that he can be placed under arrest for not signing the ticket. How quickly did it happen when the officer was at the car with the ticket and then told him to get out after the man refused to sign? It wasnt that long. By informing the driver that refusing to sign can subject the driver to arrest and that by signing you're not admitting guilt to agreeing to appear in court, most people would sign and that would be the end of it. The officer appeared to aggressive and not professional in my opinion. He could have easily controlled the situation without escalating it.
Being tased does not cause cancer or testicular failure, its just another hyped up news term like President Bush uses weapons of mass destruction.
No, but they can cause death (broken link), or gravely exacerbate certain preexisting conditions that ultimately lead to things like cardiac arrest, death, etc. Is it worth risking this just so some testosterone driven, community college educated monkey-with-a-badge can gain faster "compliance" with less effort from an otherwise harmless moron who refused to sign a traffic ticket?
I totally support arming officers with Tasers with proper education and thresholds for use, but I think as things stand, they are hugely abused and used as electric shock collars on the citizenry to gain compliance as opposed to tools to incapacitate an aggressive or actively resisting criminal.
On the use of force scale, I believe the proper place for tasers is above batons but below firearms. I don't think anyone would support cops running up to unthreatening people who were passively resisting and start beating them with a baton, yet we allow them to employ tasers in those situations?
Whenever there are hearings about any given police force adopting tasers (which are becoming fewer and fewer since there are so few departments left that have yet to adopt them) the typical refrain is that they "save lives" because they're used in place of firearms. This is the biggest lie. They're used in place of the officer having to employ conventional, quite possibly safer, more traditional methods to gain compliance.
We the people deserve the slope-brow police forces we have, since we pay them shamefully little and the job only attracts the absolute bottom of the barrel- still, I don't trust them to make philosophically thoughtful decisions when it comes time to employ submission tactics. It's our job to manage them, not the other way around. We shouldn't ever seek their council when deciding what tools we wish them to have access to.
tazering refusal to cooperate in a traffic offense it will all come out in court who did what to who when, the stuff of a good lawyer. if it was me i would just sign the darn ticket but somebody probably wanted to play big shot huh? but then i was not there.
it is doubtful even as a "keyboard lawyer", that a cop was hiding in the bushes with a taser hopin somebody would break the law so he could zap em, especialy if its all on video. but a court of law will decide that. me thinks this entire trip could have been avoided if some people were just thinkin a bit. obviously they were not.
The man was given the option to cooperate. He declined and instead chose to defy an officer doing his job. As someone said the roadside is not the place to cause trouble, to refuse to cooperate. The officer is not a mind reader he has no idea what an irrate man will do when he gets back in his car.
Word to the wise. Cooperate and let the courts sort it out. He made the choice he got what he chose to get.
No big deal, what part of your under arrest, turn around and put your hands behind your back did he not understand?, he could have signed the ticket and disputed it in court. I don't see a problem here.
A good friend of mine who is a lawyer, and handles traffic court stuff all the time... told me that if I ever got a ticket, I should never argue it, etc. on the side of the road. Just go along, and if you choose to take it to court - 90% of the time the cop who gave you the ticket will never show up to the actual court date - and you would end up getting off. I don't know if this is true, I've never had a chance to test his advice... maybe someone else knows first hand? I'm a good boy myself - haven't had a ticket since I was 19. ( I just out run 'em now...)
Secondly - I think this use of a taser in this incident was completely unjustified. I know cops have a tough job to do, they never really know who they are going to be dealing with from one minute to the next - but... given the situation, I think it was ridiculous. I don't think that guy was threatening - he had his pregnant wife and another kid in the car... and I would venture to say this police officer should have been able to handle the situation in a less forceful fashion.
But hey, who knows... maybe that cop... fits the profile of many (not all) police officers that I have known - both before and after they've become cops - that of the kid in high school who got cut from his JV baseball team, rejected at the prom by Suzie Rottenkotch - and now has a chip on his shoulder and vendetta to make 'em all pay... once he got that badge.
And speaking of "keyboard lawyers" that a previous poster mentioned - I'm just playing the role of the keyboard pyschologist for a moment here with the aforementioned comment. And no, I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night. But, I do enjoy staying there - especially when visting in-laws. Wow. I wouldn't mind tasering some of them. Do they have a "Taser-Light" gun available for public use? It's the Holiday season now, and I'm just thinking...
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