It's ok to tase the bro!

G

Glenn E. Meyer

New member
University Of Florida Police Cleared In Use Of Taser On Student

POSTED: 12:10 pm EDT October 24, 2007
UPDATED: 3:19 pm EDT October 24, 2007


GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- University of Florida police were justified in using a Taser against a student who refused to stop questioning Sen. John Kerry on campus last month, according to a state investigation released Wednesday.

http://www.wftv.com/news/14413428/detail.html

I got to get a DTMB tee-shirt! :D
 
"Officers decide not to escalate to hard empty hand strikes, kicks, knees or baton ... (it) would have looked like the officers were beating Meyer into submission," the report said.

Yeah it looks much better for PR when you electrocute them into submision:)
 
I'll just say this this is unsurprising, and a good thing. Not every use of a taser (or force by police in general) is inappropriate simply because it was caught on film. In fact, nearly every argument I heard against the police in this incident had more to do with their initial handling (how quickly they elevated the situation at the microphone, for instance) than the use of the taser...by the time the taser came out, it was definitely the most appropriate option.

I thought tasers were the non lethal alternative.
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Less-than-lethal. It's obviously unlikely, but it is possible for somebody to die from a taser hit. Usually I believe it requires some kind of medical/physical condition for it to happen from the taser itself; other instance I believe have involved secondary injuries, such as head injuries from the fall.

Of course, I don't think either of those are an issue in the drive-stun mode, which is the mode used for general pain compliance (and I'm pretty sure that was the mode used here).
 
taze_store3.jpg
 
Whether the police have been absolved is irrelevant. What is going to happen in the civil suit is, and I don't think this is as cut and dried as some think.
 
Civil Suit? Nuisance law suit that will be settled out of court. That's a sorry statement on the abuse of our judicial system.
 
Why didnt they just cut off his microphone and end it there? That would have ended his ranting, and the rest of the problems also, until the police decided to escalate.
 
Why didnt they just cut off his microphone and end it there? That would have ended his ranting, and the rest of the problems also, until the police decided to escalate.
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They did cut his mic. He then turns around, starts into some "great, go ahead and cut my mic" BS, then the police proceed to physically escort him out.

The most common criticism of this handling of the situation (and the only one I find credible) is that the police should have waited longer before going hands-on. Given him maybe 10-15 seconds to leave on his own (after cutting his mic). But I wouldn't consider this a huge mistake or anything; just something that, if I were running things, would have been done differently. The kind of thing you might bring up in an AAR. As it is they did absolutely nothing "wrong" that I could see.
 
I know they cut his mic, but think that after they did he would have stopped his griping in a few minutes if they had left him alone.
 
My problem with it was this...

Several cops already had him subdued, on the ground, and handcuffed. Although yelling "I didn't do anything wrong!" will undoubtedly make you look like a jack***, I don't believe it gives police the right to taze you. At that point he wasn't resisting, he wasn't a threat, he was simply being loud and obnoxious.
 
My problem with it was this...

Several cops already had him subdued, on the ground, and handcuffed. Although yelling "I didn't do anything wrong!" will undoubtedly make you look like a jack***, I don't believe it gives police the right to taze you. At that point he wasn't resisting, he wasn't a threat, he was simply being loud and obnoxious.
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Was he actually handcuffed at that point? Hard to tell from the two angles I saw, but he seemed to have full motion of his arms. Also, he was physically pulling his hands/arms away from the officers (again, suggesting he wasn't cuffed yet) and yelling at them to "get the f*** off me!"...it's not much of a stretch to call that "resisting."

Link to a video where you can see him physically pulling his hands away from officers seconds before being tased. Approximately two minutes in (maybe a few seconds earlier).

EDIT: And if you look at my posts in other police-related threads (including at least one taser-related thread) you'll see that I'm not exactly "neutral" on this issue.
 
I know they cut his mic, but think that after they did he would have stopped his griping in a few minutes if they had left him alone.
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Not likely. This kid makes a habit of such behaviour. His chooses his actions specifically to cause an escalation. This kid would not have given up. There are plenty of reports of his antics prior to this one.

Several cops already had him subdued, on the ground, and handcuffed. Although yelling "I didn't do anything wrong!" will undoubtedly make you look like a jack***, I don't believe it gives police the right to taze you. At that point he wasn't resisting, he wasn't a threat, he was simply being loud and obnoxious.
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No they didn't. There was one cuff on him. As soon as the first went on he became very physical in his resistance. When on the ground he was pruposefully refusing to comply with the order to release the arm held under him, leaving it uncuffed. He was told he would be tased if he did not comply. He did not comply but instead yelled "Don't tase me bro!" He might as well have been Briar Rabbit yelling not to be thrown into the briar patch! HE WANTED that incident to happen.

Now they could have beat on him physcially or forced his arm free, possibly dislocating it and resulting in lingerring injuries, but they didn't. They gave him an option to comply or be tased. He CHOSE to be tased.
 
I'm 100% with LawDog's assessment so I'm going to repeat Pax's link for emphasis... READ THIS

I've also been there, done that, got the bumps n' bangs to prove it. Never, NEVER, wrestle with the cop on the scene.
 
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