Tasering in America – right or wrong??

@Frood:

Like I said, I haven’t seen the video. Just seemed from people’s comments that he deserved this because he was “just trying to get attention”.

How about this for right/wrong - at political protests in Montreal, the police dressed up three guys as protesters who deliberately tried to get rioting and rock-throwing started. The protesters called them on it though and caught it on videotape - these guys had police boots on! The police later admitted it but tried to pretend that the officers were just there to protect people. However, these officers were holding rocks in their hands!

i’ll bite - that’s wrong.  I don’t understand what the Montreal PD’s point was, or why they thought they could get away with it in the era of “everyone’s got a camera”.

Oh man, I saw this video like a million times today!  I couldn’t stop laughing my ass off.  LOL  Stupid kid deserved it….for being an attention whore.  I especially like the part where hes pleading, “Dont taze me!”  Then like 2 seconds later…buzzzzzzzzzzzzz…tazed!  Denied!  Hahaha

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sE76LQwT6qA

I think it’s pitiful a half dozen cops couldn’t take down 1 college student.  Time to lay off the doughnuts, piggy.

QFT.

And it seems quite excessive in this case……

In cases like this the guy that creates the problem is alway the “moral” winner, while police is always shamed.

If police block him in a rude manner then the cops are blamed for being violent and for having abused of a weak person.
If police do not intervene and the guy is able to create a problem then the cops are blamed for being incompetent and inefficient, leaving the delinquent making alla that he wants.

Every thing they do there always be someone that will have something to say.

@Romulus:

In cases like this the guy that creates the problem is alway the “moral” winner, while police is always shamed.

If police block him in a rude manner then the cops are blamed for being violent and for having abused of a weak person.
If police do not intervene and the guy is able to create a problem then the cops are blamed for being incompetent and inefficient, leaving the delinquent making alla that he wants.

Every thing they do there always be someone that will have something to say.

And that is what this punk was tying to capitalize on.  It wasn’t the fact that he was trying to get attention that was caused him to be tazed, it was what he was doing to get it.  If you watch the video the cops tell him to cooperate or he will be tazed.  They tell him a number of times and he continues to fight…

Paying tuition at a University doesn’t make you part owner.  You still have to obay the rules or suffer the consequenses. Buzzzzzzzz

How come my Canadian dollar thread got locked and this didn’t?  :?

Well whatever. Yes, paying tuition does not make you part owner. It probably makes you a licensee or an invitee though - you have either license or an invitation to be on the property. However, that license or invitation will have limits. For example, the cable guy might have license to enter my property for the purpose of repairing the cable line running over my property. However, he is not entitled to swim in my pool or otherwise avail himself of my domestic comforts (nudge nudge wink wink).

So, paying tuition might get you a license to be present on the campus, but not the right to do anything you want.

@Frood:

Since when is “trying to get attention” something you should get tasered for?

When that becomes law, let me know.  I want to get two tasers for my boys!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

@seth4god:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

I wonder if this guy was drunk or high.  He reminds me of these really aggressive guys who are brought into the ER with a head injury or after substance abuse or not taking their anti-psychotics.  They pretty much sound and act like this guy when we need to “5-and-2” them (5 mg haloperidol, 2 mg ativan) - although they are much more peaceful afterwards :)
oh yeah - the guy is clearly a stupid and whining little bitch.  I hope that they nailed him in the nads and destroyed his reproductive ability . . . i mean presuming he could find a woman to procreate with (“were you and George Bush members of the skull and bones secret societies”???) it would be nice to know that he couldn’t.

six cops coulndt subdue one college student? they ought to hang up their badges.

@seth4god:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

That video makes it even more pathetic. At 1:11 on the vdieo, hes on the ground, with the woman cop talking to him and pointing at him. they had hiom on the ground for at least thirty seconds and you can see the woman cop by his head even waving handcufs around.

six cops can’t get cuffs on a kid in thirty seconds? pathetic

@cystic:

@seth4god:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

I wonder if this guy was drunk or high.  He reminds me of these really aggressive guys who are brought into the ER with a head injury or after substance abuse or not taking their anti-psychotics.  They pretty much sound and act like this guy when we need to “5-and-2” them (5 mg haloperidol, 2 mg ativan) - although they are much more peaceful afterwards :)
oh yeah - the guy is clearly a stupid and whining little b****.  I hope that they nailed him in the nads and destroyed his reproductive ability . . . i mean presuming he could find a woman to procreate with (“were you and George Bush members of the skull and bones secret societies”???) it would be nice to know that he couldn’t.

kind of ironic your calling him stupid and youve never heard about one of the most secret organizatons in America?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

yes, kerry and bush are both members: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576332.shtml

@Smacktard:

@cystic:

@seth4god:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

I wonder if this guy was drunk or high.  He reminds me of these really aggressive guys who are brought into the ER with a head injury or after substance abuse or not taking their anti-psychotics.  They pretty much sound and act like this guy when we need to “5-and-2” them (5 mg haloperidol, 2 mg ativan) - although they are much more peaceful afterwards :)
oh yeah - the guy is clearly a stupid and whining little b****.  I hope that they nailed him in the nads and destroyed his reproductive ability . . . i mean presuming he could find a woman to procreate with (“were you and George Bush members of the skull and bones secret societies”???) it would be nice to know that he couldn’t.

kind of ironic your calling him stupid and youve never heard about one of the most secret organizatons in America?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

yes, kerry and bush are both members: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576332.shtml

Kind of ironic calling me out for not having heard of one of the most secret organizations in America . . . .
Anyway, i had heard of it, but it really seemed like a stupid and aggressive question, but that was obviously his right to ask it.

Obvious and silly perhaps.  But let’s remember, Kerry’s GPA was less then Bush’s GPA and they were members of the same Fraternity.  I think the Student Reporter was attempting to get Kerry to admit it verbally so he could quote him for the school paper.

And yes, it is ridiculous that six police officers were inept at silencing the press, silencing an adult citizen of this nation from speaking and then physically abused a non-aggressive protester with a taser. (How’s that for political spin?)

Anyway, boys’ll be boys, it’s the way it is.  Tasering is very useful in very specific circumstances, this was not one of them.  It shed bad light on the police and John Kerry (a professional protester himself, mind you.)

@seth4god:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE&mode=related&search=

This is a good angle for a the action. You can clearly see him trying to get away from the cops. Even when they had him on the ground, he was still telling them to “get the F*** off of me” and squirming around. You can also here the officers tell him to stop resisting or they would taser him. He didn’t listen and zap.

Hahaha OMG.  That one was even better!  If you notice to the back there is a kid in orange (light orange not the one in dark orange), who is just laughing his ass off while watching the poor bastage get tazed.  Laughing at poor idiot kid FTW!  :lol:

I agree with Jennifer on this one… my problem is with neither the police or the man, but the politician. Shut up, listen, and if you can’t answer it truthfully, then deny it and don’t mess my country up for the next couple years… But since that is political, consider that I never wrote it… :|

I watched the video… There were mistakes made on both sides. The Student’s line of questioning was presented in an Accusing manner, which is definitely not the standard communication method of a reporter. I don’t know quite why he did that, and it was a mistake, although I am not going to jump on it and say it is disturbing the peace. It’s definitely awkward, but if your a politician and your not used to “awkward” you shouldn’t be in office.

The police should not have tasered him though, he produced no threat, except aggressive resistance, which they could have dealt with (6 officers, most of his body weight and strength?) But I am not in the Blue so I’m not going to judge them too much. Even if it seemed like a violation of rights.

Also For some I give you the case of Roger Holyfield:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,226417,00.html

And my point is not whether he needed to be tasered or not, my point is, for those who just randomly run around saying, “Taser the $#%@#$&!” May I remind you that it is a deadly weapon, and not just a fun new toy in the law enforcement to extract non-lethal action.

GG

Why couldn’t they just drag him from the room?

OK, I watched the video.

At the time he was tasered, he was BEING HELD DOWN BY MULTIPLE OFFICERS.  He was not physically resisting, he was verbally resisting asking why he was being put under arrest.

One of the officers did threaten to Taser him if he did not shut up and leave.  HOWEVER, Tasering is significant (and potentially deadly in some cases) force, and the individual was NO physical threat to ANYONE at the time he was tasered.

Had he been “loose” and moving around, had he be moving toward the stage, had he been physically assaulting the officers, then yes, taser him, cuff him, and haul his ass out of there.

But NONE of those things were the case.  He was being held prone by multiple officers, and only his mouth was still functioning.  The Officers already had ample opportunity and time to cuff him and lead him out.

The Taser was excessive force, and the student WILL win a lawsuit, probably in 7 figures, over this incident.

And I would imagine the guy has a few thousand attorneys trying to get him to let them handle the case so that they can take 1/3 of his certain settlement.

It doesn’t really matter that he was being warned that he might be tasered. A threat does not automatically justify an action. eg. “Give me your wallet or I’ll blow your brains out” - guy refuses and gets his brains blown out. Would the killer be acquitted on the grounds that he had warned the victim and the victim brought it on himself by refusing to comply with the threat?

I don’t know about this guy’s lawsuit though. In Canada I don’t know if it would be worth much. For one, what’s his damage? If there’s no lasting injury, at most he could get a nominal amount. Damages are compensatory, that is, they should put the victim back to where he was. If all he had was some temporary tingling, what’s there to compensate?

There’s the possibility of punitive damages (designed not to compensate the victim but to punish the wrongful behaviour), but in today’s security-conscious age I think cops get a lot of leeway in dealing with potential security threats.

In the U.S. though I think damage awards tend to be a lot higher than in Canada, which is why you see a lot more ambulance-chasing lawyers in the U.S. There’s bigger money for lawyers, and one of my friends moved to Chicago for that reason, but the lifestyle and that kind of practice does not appeal to me.

@ncscswitch:

OK, I watched the video.

At the time he was tasered, he was BEING HELD DOWN BY MULTIPLE OFFICERS.  He was not physically resisting, he was verbally resisting asking why he was being put under arrest.

One of the officers did threaten to Taser him if he did not shut up and leave.  HOWEVER, Tasering is significant (and potentially deadly in some cases) force, and the individual was NO physical threat to ANYONE at the time he was tasered.

Had he been “loose” and moving around, had he be moving toward the stage, had he been physically assaulting the officers, then yes, taser him, cuff him, and haul his a** out of there.

But NONE of those things were the case.  He was being held prone by multiple officers, and only his mouth was still functioning.  The Officers already had ample opportunity and time to cuff him and lead him out.

The Taser was excessive force, and the student WILL win a lawsuit, probably in 7 figures, over this incident.

And I would imagine the guy has a few thousand attorneys trying to get him to let them handle the case so that they can take 1/3 of his certain settlement.

The student could win a lawsuit, but he also responsible of some infractions himself.
Moreover, I agree with Frood, there are not injures from the action to be repaid.