Originally Posted By jonvn This time, the guy getting hit is actually walking away, doing what he is told, and is headed away from the cop. So, naturally, he gets assaulted by the genius cop. They're all going power crazy. Maybe "going" is the wrong word to use. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/11/22/aqui.youtube.taser.cnn" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/video/#/vid eo/us/2007/11/22/aqui.youtube.taser.cnn</a>
Originally Posted By Jonny626 Walking away I agree with but he wasn't doing what he was told. If a cop tells you to put your hands up and you don't you have to be a real moron. Not saying he deserved the taser but he was resisting.
Originally Posted By jonvn He wasn't resisting, he was doing what he was told. He was asking why he was getting a ticket. Here's an article about it. It's international news. Our status as a bastion of freedom crumbles further. The best part is they say "We were investigating this, but now that it's gotten out, we'll expedite the investigation." Which means, of course, that if the video had not gone out, they would have "investigated" found the cop not at all at fault, and probably pinned a medal on the jerk's chest.
Originally Posted By jonvn Oh heck, here's another fun story I found while looking at this one: Cop comes up to someone's house, demands to shoot the dog. Does he have proof? "I don't need any proof." So he ties up the dog, shoots it and drives off. In the meantime, there is no report that the dog had bitten or attacked anyone. <a href="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58826" target="_blank">http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n ews/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58826</a>
Originally Posted By Jonny626 The cop told him to put his hands on his head and he didn't do it, his hands were near his waistline where a weapon could've been carried. In not putting his hands on his head he was resisting.
Originally Posted By jonvn Oh, and to show just what would have happened if there was no video, there is this exchange heard on the tape: In the video, Gardner repeatedly states he tasered Massey because the man failed to comply with his instructions and demands. A short time later, an unidentified officer strolls up on scene and Gardner tells him that Massey "took a ride with the Taser." Gardner then states that Massey was "jumping around, making me nervous as hell. I was like, nah, we ain't playing this game." "Good. Good for you," the unidentified officer says. <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7531125" target="_blank">http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_ 7531125</a>
Originally Posted By jonvn "The cop told him to put his hands on his head and he didn't do it, his hands were near his waistline where a weapon could've been carried" When you don't sign a traffic ticket, the cop can do one of two things. First, he can simply write "refused to sign" on the ticket, or arrest him If he arrests him, the use of a taser is restricted to: * When a person is a threat to themselves, an officer or another person. * In cases where the physical use of force would endanger the person or someone else. * When other means of lesser or equal force by the officer has been ineffective and a threat still exists. That is clearly not the case. Cops are not supposed to torture people with electricity. We are clearing rushing headlong into an outright police state. Our rights are being eroded bit by it. It will soon come to pass that people are going to realize that the cops are not your friends or law enforcement but a petty bunch of power crazy enforcers who any decent person would avoid.
Originally Posted By Moon Waffle While I'm not about to make the sweeping statement that all cops make all the right decisions, every single time (I don't believe ANYONE can say that), could it be at all possible that you DON'T know exactly all the circumstances that led to the cop's actions? Could it be at all possible that the report is biased or possibly is just missing some of the facts? The old "cops are idiots, cops are bad" argument is played.
Originally Posted By jonvn You can find the entire incident on video at youtube. Time to stop defending these guys. It enables them to become even worse in their behavior.
Originally Posted By dshyates My guess is he will get fired, sued into poverty, and end up on Fox News beside Mark Furman discussing how the liberals have ruined the planet.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder But generalizing about "all cops" doesn't do the argument any good at all.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Yeah. I have no doubt that there is a slimy fraternity of cops who do immoral/unfair/illegal things and cover for each other. But this thread provides no evidence of that. Here we're presented with an edited videotape of one encounter. There's not enough footage to give us a fair overview of the situation. I'm not convinced the cop was wrong. I'm convinced that Reggie Aqui is a hot news anchor.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <The best part is they say "We were investigating this, but now that it's gotten out, we'll expedite the investigation.". Dr. Freud, your slip is showing. That said, it makes no sense to extrapolate from this one incident to cops in general. That's a huge number of people. Yes, some of them are petty, power-hungry jerks. And yes, if our civil liberties continue to erode, that will allow larger numbers of them to be that, with greater degrees of impunity. But it's not fair to say it of all (or most) cops. I had a friend in grade school that I'm still in touch with who comes from a cop family. His grandfather was a cop, his dad and uncle were cops, and he and both his brothers are now cops. His middle brother is exactly the kind of petty, would-be Napoleon you're talking about. But the thing is, he was that before he ever became a cop. He was a bully in grade school. I used to hate being around him. And he didn't change. But my friend and his other brother weren't like that then, and they aren't like that as cops. I do think that power tends to corrupt, and we need to be watchful and hold cops (who are given a lot of power over us on the "street" level) accountable. And that departments that look the other way, and the general eroding of civil liberties we've seen this decade contribute to the problem. But it's neither fair nor accurate to say that most cops are like this. Those that are, we need to prosecute.
Originally Posted By dshyates The problem lies with the prosecuting attorneys. Denver has the worst reputation for police brutality. They had a prosecuting attorney named Bill "I Don't Prosecute Cops" Ritter who allowed the cops to literally get away with murder. This one cop shot and killed 5 people in 5 years, the last 2 before he was given a desk job were 2 mentally challenged kids the last of which he shot through a screen door because the kid wouldn't drop a butter knife. The Denver cops beat a disabled man because they said he was drunk not disabled. The beating dislodged the stint in his brain that allows fluid build up to drain. Then the best one was when Channel 7 news helicopter caught a cop beating a man with the butt end of his revolver. Bill Ritter went on TV saying that that is standard operation procedure. The next day the Commandant of the police academy resigned saying that they would never teach someone to use a weapon in that manor, it could easily discharge and kill a by-stander. Bill Ritter's response was ""The Commandant is mistaken." That said, I'm in the news business and deal with cops all the time. And it varies from department to department. But by far the best, most honorable cops I have ever met are the WV State Police. Every one I know, (besides cheating on their wives) are top notch. It seems to me that cheating on their wives is deeply ingrained in cop culture.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "The problem lies with the prosecuting attorneys." SOME prosecuting attorneys, possibly, not all. "But by far the best, most honorable cops I have ever met are the WV State Police. Every one I know, (besides cheating on their wives) are top notch. It seems to me that cheating on their wives is deeply ingrained in cop culture." SOME cops cheat on their wives, not all. Just as SOME people cheat on their wives in the news business. Cops don't have a monopoly on this. Sometime, if it hasn't already been done, I'd love to see a study on why people feel the need and/or are so quick to generalize about police, attorneys, and the law.
Originally Posted By Mr X **I'd love to see a study on why people feel the need and/or are so quick to generalize about police, attorneys, and the law.** I think it's obvious. Throughout history there have been tons of examples of nations and areas where police and the law have been corrupt and brutal. America is hardly immune, U.S. history is riddled with government sanctioned crimes and misdeads.
