How do you deal with an aggressive political protester??

unknown aerosol

I have always wondered about the protestors throwing paint on furs or whatever and if they are charged with assault civil or criminal charges ect. It does not seem corect that an adult could afford to repeat this behavior considering legal cost of defense even if backed by some group?
It amazes me more thrashings don't result from this behavior?:confused:
 
It kind of scares me that a lot of people are looking for reasons they WOULD shoot someone versus ways they could avoid shooting someone. Makes us look a little blood thirsty doesn't it?
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Sigma,

When I got (voluntarily) recalled for the first Gulf War, several of my missions were inside Bagdhad and then west of Bagdhad. Every time Hussein would launch one of his damned Scud missiles, the chemical fallout some of us were exposed to did irreparable damage.

Some of the Israeli commandos I worked with were scared to death of Hussein's threat to use bio weapons--and trust me, I've worked with a lot of Israelis and NEVER seen them scared like that before.

I've done some hairy things and been in some even hairier situations, but NOTHING scares me more than bad, unknown chemicals being used on me or against me.

Talk about triggering an instead flashback/delayed stress syndrome reaction.

If the hairy hippie punk had told me it was just water and then doused me or my wife, I would've hurt him right then, right there. Your fist ends where my nose begins.

But if--as the reports are saying--he was dressed up in anything resembling a MOPP suit and claiming he had poison and pointed his sprayer at me, I would've shot and killed him instantly and without a second thought and never lost a minute's sleep over it.

There are some things and some people you just don't mess around with. Idiots with, or claiming to have, dangerous chemicals and threatening you with them fall into both categories.

Jeff
 
There are some things and some people you just don't mess around with. Idiots with, or claiming to have, dangerous chemicals and threatening you with them fall into both categories.
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Like Saddam Hussien ;)

WildgladsomeonehereseesthelightAlaska TM
 
Is this not akin to shouting FIRE in a theater?
I have no sympathy for this citizen the police reaction to "I am spraying poison" a quick take down is appropriate.
When an accidental breaking of a mercury thermometer in a school gets a haz mat team response, this should have goten no less untill the unknown substance was identified. All the protestors should have been arrested on the spot as co-conspiritors to creating panick.
 
TexasSeaRay,

Well said.

My only quibble is that if I can see people reacting to being sprayed and the only distress they show is one of getting wet, I may not resort to lethal force right away.

Sigma40 - I don't think it makes us look blood-thirsty at all.

If, in a public place, you have one person dressed in a bio suit (protective gear) who is spraying people with an unknown substance, preparing to draw on such a person is not unwarranted. If one has time to observe the reaction to being sprayed and sees no immediate harm the threat-reaction drops a bit. But if the person turns towards me as his newest target, he'll get to inspect the muzzle. If he decides not to abort his actions he will reap the result of his folly.

LanceOregon
Well, since people are already condemning the local police force for having used a taser on the fellow to subdue him, I think that if one of the civilians he sprayed had shot him, that these same folks would be demanding that person's hide
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Perhaps, but not with much legal basis. This is equivilant to the protester holding a rubber knife painted to look real and uttering "I'm going to kill you". It's a credible threat that must be dealt with immediately based on limited information.
 
It kind of scares me that a lot of people are looking for reasons they WOULD shoot someone versus ways they could avoid shooting someone. Makes us look a little blood thirsty doesn't it?
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Considering that shooting the BG is most folks last resort and only to avoid getting sprayed with a claimed poison, I think you are way off base here.
 
Not knowing the full details and not having been there myself, a couple of things spring to mind:

1. Assuming this was a large demonstration involving lots of people, banners, placards, bull horns, chanting and provocative costumes, wouldn't it be pretty obvious to a passer-by that the guy was pulling a prank?

2. Assuming (1.) was the case, wouldn't it be rather easy to stay away from the spectacle (and this clown)?

3. In the event that the guy did get close enough to you, would pepper/OC spray have helped? The guy was wearing some kind of protective gear; would that have included face/gas mask?

Pulling silly stunts like that certainly warrants a good hiding, but hardly deadly force, in my book. The guy is immature, ignorant and stupid and has a twisted idea of political expression, but doesnt necessarily need shooting.
Good on the cops and I dont see any police brutality in the way they handled it. Just imagine how he would have been treated if he pulled a stunt like that in an airport. Or on an airplane!
 
That's what happens when your mama does acid while pregnant with you.

I would expect nothing less from someone named Planet... or Leaf, Star, Whisper, or any other blatant tree-hugging hippie name. Too bad they haven't heard of the name Shower.
 
I'm getting too old, fat, and slow to wrestle with protesters. Can I just kick him in the balls???
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Haha!

Or step on his toe, he's probably wearing Birkenstocks.

I love the pepper spray idea though!....I wonder if they make Organic Pepper Spray...


Like Johnny Lydon said:

"Never trust a hippie" :D
 
I'm with BillCA, leaning towards TexasSeaRay. The sumbitch is not walking away unscathed, that much is guaranteed. If I don't know what's in that tank, he's being stopped.

Lance, thanks for the updates - now write a letter supporting your local coppers!

Cheers,

Bob James
 
According to the article, the protester was already handcuffed and on the ground and clearly subdued by 4 police officers BEFORE he was TAZED 2x's.


According to the article, the protester was clearly wearing a 'mock' exterminators outfit...and only claimed he was spraying 'poison' AFTER the confrontation with police... It wasn't poison and it wasn't presumed to be poison...and in the role of demonstrating...it was 'MOCK POISON.'
Poison wasn't the 'issue' inasmuch the 'confrontation' became the escalating issue...

If the protester was a right winger screaming in front of some clinic...
and resisting arrest, I would say the police would NOT be right to TAZE the
protester 2x's after beeing subdued. In the case of this left winger, I would also say the police are not right in TAZING the protestor 2x's after being subdued.

This is not a situation where you want to use a firearm. TAZERS are frequently misused. I think part of the problem is that because TAZERS are deemed nonlethal, some police tend to use them a bit too recklessly and hotheadedly without the same restraint or respect they might otherwise
show when using a fiream.

Not all police officers are good people, and not all protesters are good people. It could be a case of 4 below average police officers abusing a below average protester. Chose sides if you like, but no matter what side you chose, the use of a TAZER after someone is already subdued - is wrong no matter what the protester might have said or even alleged to have done.
Start recklessly tazing people at protests, and you will soon have a riots instead of protests.

:rolleyes:
 
300H&H -

I'd generally agree that someone on the ground in handcuffs does not need or deserve to be subjected to a Taser hit. There are exceptions, of course.

I've seen & handled guys in handcuffs who just won't quit. They try to kick, spit, bite, claw and anything else they can. Before stun devices were available, the SOP was just pin him to the ground with a knee in the back and let him exhaust himself. If he was too unruly for that option, you'd resort to "benediction by Mace®" and let that cool him off. :D If the suspect is kicking and flailing about hard enough, even in handcuffs, where officer's legs can be injured then tasing him might be appropriate.
 
Yeah...there's a judgement call... and I too have seen firsthand some difficult situations in trying to subdue someone...and have written a few incident reports. I remember a situation years ago when I was helping escort someone to another wing of the building<an institutional building:D>when the person in custody<who was high as a kite and crazy>suddenly smacked the security guard in the back of the head. The security guard whirled around and reflexively smaked the person back in the face with his fist. I couldn't blame him ie. it was instinctual and reflexive, but it went waaaay against policy and there were many many witnesses. Had to be written up and the security guard lost his job. I've had an 'ugly perp' walk up to me and spit at me<he missed becaused I ducked well in the nick of time>but it's up to me to be the one who keeps cool.Like Barney Fife once said after a lesson from Andy: 'This badge just doesn't represent me; it represent the people...'


Personally, I don't like TAZERS, but it's not the tazer's fault; they're just so easy to misuse. If used properly, the tazer is a good thing to have...but there are some folks who seem to want an excuse to use one...and when 'group think' kicks in ,it seems the tazer gets used a bit too much... It's
a judgement call, but when the alleged perp.is already down and handcuffed,
that's not the time to start tazing him. It's almost as if the tazer becomes a kind of psychological validation for having taken the person down. Ya see we had to even taze him!:rolleyes: Unfortunately, witnesses and cameras might tell another story.

What disturbs me though is that some folks seem to think a firearm was needed to handle the situation. :barf:
 
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