Ride With The Taser

[CORed]

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So, the cop is driving along the Utah highway, and is coming up on a temporary speed limit sign and pulls to the side of the road. After one car passes, he pulls the guy over for speeding, and they come to the side of the road a few hundred yards into the new speed limit zone. This is dirty and the sort of [censored] that should not be condoned on the force. Way to work towards the investigation of suspected criminal activity and the referral of the results of investigations and of suspected criminals to the courts.

The cop is super out of line in the way he handles the situation he creates also, but I thought the manner in which he pulled the guy over to be almost as bad.

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I think he's a state highway cop, so traffic enforcement (generating revenue by writing speeding tickets) is his primary duty. Yes, staking out the temporary speed limit sign is kind of sleazy, but pretty much standard. I have a lot more problem with his poor handling of the clueless speeder than with the fact that he ticketed him. Temporary speed limit signs are usually there for a reason (construction most of the time). If you don't watch for them, you're probably going to get a ticket sooner or later. If this sign was placed for no reason other than to issue tickets, I agree with you 100%.

Edit:
What is not apparent from the video is whether there is a "reduced speed ahead" sign or something like that a reasonable distance before the temporary speed limit sign. If there is, I have no problem with the cop issuing a ticket.

[CORed]

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I don't know if you're referring to this incident, but most of the news accounts say this officer is a 14-yr veteran.

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It's pretty sad to be in a job for 14 years and suck at it that badly.

[AngusThermopyle]

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Yes, staking out the temporary speed limit sign is kind of sleazy, but pretty much standard.

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Early on, the cop states that there is a sign a half mile before the one where he was stopped and the driver disputes it.

[CORed]

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Yes, staking out the temporary speed limit sign is kind of sleazy, but pretty much standard.

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Early on, the cop states that there is a sign a half mile before the one where he was stopped and the driver disputes it.

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I must have missed that. if this was the second sign, I see nothing wrong with the cop ticketing the guy. It was the way he dealt with the situation after stopping him that sucked. If this guy hasn't figured out how to handle idiots after 14 years, he should probably change careers.

[CORed]

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compare with the video here, eh (most ppl have probably seen this before): no tazer here

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Now that guy was good. He kept his cool, and even got the clown to pick up the ticket he threw on the ground. I know I would have been either laughing or totally pissed off (depending on my mood that day). But I know I'd be a lousy cop. Good cops sometimes amaze me at how they keep their cool in insane situations.

[brendanb438]

So has anything come of this yet? Cop in trouble? Guy being charged with assault or resisting arrest or something crazy? I really wish the cops threw a bag of crack into the car for good measure. I thought for sure they would pull some drugs out of no where.

[bwana devil]

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So has anything come of this yet? Cop in trouble? Guy being charged with assault or resisting arrest or something crazy? I really wish the cops threw a bag of crack into the car for good measure. I thought for sure they would pull some drugs out of no where.

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Utah Highway Patrol

[cpitt398]

This is a post of mine from another forum. The first part has been covered here already:\
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A lot of the time things can be handled much better by all involved, this being a prime example. The police officer should understand the law better than the average motorist and therefore should have explained it. All the police officer had to say is, "signing the ticket is not an admission of guilt, it is only proof of receipt. If you refuse to sign the ticket I will have to take you into custody to formally book you to prove that you received the citation."

This should have been the case whether he was tasered or everything went smoothly and he was cuffed and taken in. The whole taser incident is another argument within itself. The whole para militarization of policing has taken away from the original intent of peace officers. So many of them seem to have something to prove.

I think a lot of it has to do with a certain percentage of the population that is attracted to the profession for the wrong reason. But I really feel that it somewhat has to do with the shift in training to a more military model. More and more small towns are forming swat teams when they really are unnecessary and turning everything into a "tactical operation". And to a somewhat lesser extent TV shows like "COPS" set a bad example.

Being nice and explaining things calmly is usually the easiest route for all involved. I think Dog Chapmen sets a pretty good example of what being nice and less threatening to people will accomplish

[Spidar]

The advent and use of the Taser is the direct result of anti-cop/ignorant/Liberal "cause seekers" aghast at the thought that a cop might have to put his hands (or baton) on someone to effect an arrest. The suspension of belief required to adhere to the presumption that all suspects comply with the legally binding commands of a peace officer is similar in magnitude to the belief that man never landed on the Moon or that the mafia killed JFK.


Edit: The aforementioned parties wanted a tool that rendered a suspect unable to resist and subsequently did away with TV images of cops fighting uncooperative suspects...because it’s ugly. States, cities, and towns faced increasing civil liability because it is impossible to find a jury or public official that had not been unfairly influenced by a media controlled...........by the aforementioned parties

[cpitt398]

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The advent and use of the Taser is the direct result of anti-cop/ignorant/Liberal "cause seekers" aghast at the thought that a cop might have to put his hands (or baton) on someone to effect an arrest. The suspension of belief required to adhere to the presumption that all suspects comply with the legally binding commands of a peace officer is similar in magnitude to the belief that man never landed on the Moon or that the mafia killed JFK.


Edit: The aforementioned parties wanted a tool that rendered a suspect unable to resist and subsequently did away with TV images of cops fighting uncooperative suspects...because it’s ugly. States, cities, and towns faced increasing civil liability because it is impossible to find a jury or public official that had not been unfairly influenced by a media controlled...........by the aforementioned parties

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can you point me to where I can read about this? I looked up the history of the Taser and found some stuff about the invention and subsequent sale to police departments but did not find anything as far as reasoning to adapt to police use. It wasn't invented for this reason though.

Like I said in my post I think there are two separate issues in this case. The taser could have been a non issue here very easily but should be discussed anyways as a separate issue.


The million dollar question is what level of force justifies its usage? How far below permissible deadly force should the taser be used?