Originally Posted By RoadTrip This guy ended up dieing because he was "uncooperative". I think it is time Tasers were outlawed. <<Authorities are investigating the death of a 29-year-old Fridley man shot with a Taser by state troopers, who said he had become "uncooperative'' after a rush-hour crash Tuesday evening.>> Source: <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/north/13841301.html" target="_blank">http://www.startribune.com/loc al/north/13841301.html</a>
Originally Posted By pecos bill When I was a kid, teachers could still swat a kid with a paddle for any little infraction. Our teachers got to the point where they were swatting kids for walking into class three seconds late, and these were extremely painful swats with big wooden paddles. Kids were going home with bruised and near bloody back ends. One kid had his finger hurt when he tried to block the paddle with his hands. The teachers acted like it was a big joke, and tried to outdo one another with their ability to inflict pain. They had become brutal tyrants to some of us. This is exactly the behavior we are seeeing with the police. They are resorting to these things in place of having to display a little patience and involvement. Among themselves, the act of tazing is almost a comical matter. I dont think they should be banned, but do believe that strict rules regarding their use need to be implemented and enforced. They need to take some of these zap happy punks and make examples of them! Our teachers learned that fast when parents began filing law suits against them for brutalizing their kids.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I dont think they should be banned, but do believe that strict rules regarding their use need to be implemented and enforced. << I agree. When they were introduced, tasers were presented as the non-lethal alternative to shooting someone. To me, that means "last resort" situations when the only other option would have been to shoot a person. There was a video we discussed here a couple months ago, where a guy got mouthy with a highway patrol officer over a speeding ticket and wound up tased. He wasn't advancing on the officer, was arguing and marching off, but the guy decided to zap him to get control. Then the backup officer and him can be heard joking about how the guy "took a ride on the taser". The backup officer asks the arrested man "How was that?" in a snarky tone. I understand that police officers are under incredible stress much of the time, and have to deal with some real scum. But still, they can't just be zapping people except as truly a last resort.
