The Taser Thread

[Formaldehyde]

It seems that misuse of tasers continue to occur with great regularity in this country. While few of the stories are worthy of their own thread, I think collectively they are very worthy of discussion.

Here are a few of the recent ones:

Don't tase the guy trying to save his home from fire, bro.

As is frequently the case, The Daily Fail has the best photos and even a video.

When Daniel saw the fire jump onto his roof, that is when he grabbed the hose again. That is when the police officer grabbed the taser.

I was laying in a puddle of water being electrocuted.

Don't tase the 10-year-old for refusing to clean your police cruiser, bro.

A New Mexico police officer used a Taser gun on a 10-year-old boy to demonstrate what cops do to people who don’t follow orders, according to a complaint heard by a Sante Fe court Tuesday.

Officer Chris Webb was attending “career day” at Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School when he sent 50,000 volts of electricity into the child’s chest on the playground. The young boy blacked out and has, according to his legal representative, been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder ever since; the officer faces a civil suit.

According to the complaint, Webb shot his Taser at the child (referred to only as “R.D.&#8221 after he said he did not want to join fellow classmates in cleaning the officer’s patrol car. Courthouse News reported:

“Defendant Webb responded by pointing his Taser at R.D. and saying, ‘Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.’”

Webb then shot “two barbs into R.D.’s chest,” the complaint states. “Both barbs penetrated the boy’s shirt, causing the device to deliver 50,000 volts into the boy’s body. “Defendant Webb pulled the barbs out [of] the boy’s chest, causing scarring where the barbs had entered the boy’s skin that look like cigarette burns on the boy’s chest.

“The boy, who weighed less than 100 lbs., blacked out.”Instead of calling emergency medical personnel, Officer Webb pulled out the barbs and took the boy to the school principal’s office,” the complaint states.

Following the May 4 incident, Webb, who claims he accidentally discharged the Taser, was given only a three-day suspension.

I have been an opponent of the overuse of tasers for years now. While I do think they are useful in certain limited situations, such as when the person is threatening cops or civilians with a knife or other similar weapon, they have frequently become a way for cops to punish those who do not immediately comply with their every whim. It is used to subdue others so they don't have to mess up their uniforms and possibly suffer a minor scrape or abrasion.

Being a cop is a blue collar profession. They have numerous ways of exercising their authority to get unwilling people to comply with their lawful orders that don't involve essentially electrocuting someone in a way which is eerily similar to forms of torture.

Your thoughts and other examples?

 

[Crezth]

Webb, who claims he accidentally discharged the Taser, was given only a three-day suspension.

Even if it was an accident, what kind of cop points a taser at a 10-year-old on career day? I don't think you could seriously argue the boy was any kind of threat.

From my (limited) perspective, it always seems like cops are so unwilling to regulate themselves. I mean, this kind of police brutality crap has been going on and on. What is it going to take to end this nonsense?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hmm, so the cops know that you should never point a gun at someone you don't have reason to shoot, but that logic doesn't apply to tasers?

 

[Skwink]

Tasers are terrible. We could save so many Taser-related injuries, and money, if the cops could just stick to their handgun.

 

[Antilogic]

Hmm, so the cops know that you should never point a gun at someone you don't have reason to shoot, but that logic doesn't apply to tasers?

Because the taser is a non-lethal takedown method, the cops are more prone to using it when they would not otherwise fire a gun.

 

[Labtec600]

Just because somebody isnt armed doesnt mean they're not a threat.

The two examples you used are examples of when there is no reason for it, but to put the guideline of when to use one is only when the person is armed isnt a good one.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Because the taser is a non-lethal takedown method, the cops are more prone to using it when they would not otherwise fire a gun.

I was told by a police chief that the proper terminology is 'less than lethal', thought it seems like quibbling, he had a point. They are not always non-lethal; hence they should still be treated as the dangerous weapons they are.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Tasers are terrible. We could save so many Taser-related injuries, and money, if the cops could just stick to their handgun.

I didn't know American police procedure basically boiled down to "handgun or taser". Might be important information.

 

[Skwink]

I didn't know American police procedure basically boiled down to "handgun or taser". Might be important information.

Ideally it would boil down to Shotgun but that would be a little too violent.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Don't think that's such a good idea. If they can't even keep a taser from discharging accidentally then they'd blow their heads off by accident with a shotgun. That can't be too good for the departmental budget.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I didn't know American police procedure basically boiled down to "handgun or taser". Might be important information.

There's also pepper spray, pepper spray bullets, rubber bullets, clubs, fists and handcuffs at their disposal. Oh and flashbangs. Gotta love the flash bangs with a side of tear gas all washed down with a nice swig of 200psi firehose water.

 

[azzaman333]

On the bright side, being trigger happy with a taser is extremely preferable to being trigger happy with a gun.

 

[Eat_Up_Martha]

I don't have much to say that hasn't been covered already, but I remember watching this TED talk a while back and thought it might be relevent:

http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_coleman_the_moral_dangers_of_non_lethal_weapons.html

 

[Skwink]

Don't think that's such a good idea. If they can't even keep a taser from discharging accidentally then they'd blow their heads off by accident with a shotgun. That can't be too good for the departmental budget.

Well they won't be storing the shotguns facing their head. Duh.

 

[Antilogic]

I was told by a police chief that the proper terminology is 'less than lethal', thought it seems like quibbling, he had a point. They are not always non-lethal; hence they should still be treated as the dangerous weapons they are.

Oh, definitely, I don't mean to underplay the health risks to be electrocuted, especially for people with pacemakers, heart conditions, etc.

On the bright side, being trigger happy with a taser is extremely preferable to being trigger happy with a gun.

But they used to be a lot less trigger happy because the only thing they could shoot was reasonably lethal (I'm assuming the ordinary street officer isn't issued a rubber bullet shotgun or any of the other special weapons listed above). And that was probably a good thing.

 

[Arwon]

This isn't just a US thing either

Mr Curti, from Sao Paolo, died at the scene after officers discharged Tasers at him 14 times, used capsicum spray, handcuffs and a baton and knelt on him after a chase through Sydney's CBD.

Ms Jerram said Mr Curti, who had been studying English in Sydney, was acting bizarrely on the night, almost certainly in reaction to a dose of LSD he had taken earlier.

He stole biscuits from a convenience store and some police officers mistakenly believed they were dealing with an armed robber.

Ms Jerram said officers had clearly used excessive force in an abuse of police powers and were "in some instances even thuggish" and "out of control".

She was scathing in her criticism, saying at times officers' evidence to the inquest involved a suspicious "similarity of wording" and inability to remember events.

Ms Jerram said it appeared officers, many of them inexperienced, had been swept up in "an ungoverned pack mentality, like schoolboys in the Lord of the Flies".

She was particularly critical of Inspector Gregory Cooper, a sergeant at the time, whose evidence she rejected as "self-contradictory, self-serving and obscure".

Ms Jerram said he failed to prevent excessive use of force and his attempts to blame more junior officers after the event was "little short of contemptible".

"Pushing his entire weight on the back of a man prone, who was handcuffed and had just been tasered was hardly the action of an experienced, senior officer," she said.

The coroner said four constables should also be disciplined.

She recommended that police review their Taser use and training procedures, including whether the "drive-stun" mode should be banned and whether Tasers should be issued to probationary officers.

I don't understand why she didn't recommend criminal charges for the cops who tased a guy to death.

 

[Yeekim]

Tasing someone who is resisting arrest (no matter whether armed or not) or attempting to escape is imho entirely justified. EDIT: although 14 times is definitely excessive.

These two cases on the other hand... yeah, guys, your police is just mental. No other words to describe that.

he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

- are you *** kidding me?

 

[Formaldehyde]

Just because somebody isnt armed doesnt mean they're not a threat.

The two examples you used are examples of when there is no reason for it, but to put the guideline of when to use one is only when the person is armed isnt a good one.

Cops seemed to be able to perform their jobs quite well prior to being given an instrument of torture to force everybody to comply with their every whim.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Well they won't be storing the shotguns facing their head. Duh.

It can be their fellow officer's head. Or they might end up damaging their squad car. Poor trigger discipline is terrible like that.