Originally Posted By Mr X That, in a nutshell, is my opinion on the taser issue as well. Sure, people will jump in and talk about how it was fine in THIS situation or THAT, or how this or that subject was "out of control" (aren't many?), or in the case of William try and turn the argument around and accuse me of being "anti-cop" or whatever. But yes, it certainly does seem to me that these things are overused, and in some cases it almost feels like they WANT to use the things, or use them as a punishment rather than for subduing a person for arrest. Coupled with the increasing powers of cops in our "criminalized" society, it seems very dangerous to me.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains Don't know enough about the girl and the article seems one sided - I will say this though - The little girl on my DD softball team turned 11 about 3 weeks ago - she is 5'8" tall and looks like she could be 17!
Originally Posted By pecos bill I see a general lack of patience in law enforcement. Have you ever heard a cop say please? Regarding the incident with the girl, tough call. I remember when teachers were allowed to use physical force when dealing with unstable kids, and there was a hell of a lot more respect then.
Originally Posted By Mr X Actually, I don't know if my experience has been rare or not, but by and large any situation I've ever had with cops (usually something vehicle related) has been reasonably polite. I'm not sure if I recall a "please" or whatever, but in general they've been polite enough imo. However, I have some friends who have different stories. By and large I'd say the cops become much less polite when confronting people on minor drug charges. Like it's really important to throw that guy with the dime baggie of pot to the ground and wrestle him into cuffs lest he attempt to escape (those crazed druggies! dang them!).
Originally Posted By mater4 I think the situation with this girl was handled the best way possible considering the circumstances. My DH is a cop. He always says you can say what you would have done in that situation but have no clue unless you have done the job and understand it. His job can be scary. One of his good friends was shot and killed making a simple traffic stop. So now when he makes traffic stops he thinks is this a citizen that was just speeding or is it a drugged out criminial with a gun. I sometimes think how I will go on if anything happened to him. Just for the record my husband is great at his job and is not of the gung ho superman mentality like some cops you guys talk of here. I just thought I would give you my perspective as the wife of a cop. Let's not forget that even 11 year olds are capable of violent behavior that is typically a result of their home life or other reasons.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 or in the case of William try and turn the argument around and accuse me of being "anti-cop" or whatever.<< You make no secret in your dislike for all forms of law enforcement , and going from your 1st post you were obviously acting like the cops were wrong....
Originally Posted By Mr X I don't dislike "all forms of law enforcement", and I've said many times that I think there are some good cops out there who do a good job.
Originally Posted By dshyates I'm liue of the little girl not having a weapon, I find if difficult to believe that a group of grown men couldn't subdue a little girl without the use of potentially deadly force. I have an 11 year old daughter, and I'm pretty sure I could prone and restrain her in a heartbeat. Of course I did work at a house for autistic adults, and I had to restrain full grown adults all the time without the use of a teaser. Maybe I'm just better trained than the cops.
Originally Posted By Mr X Next we'll probably hear about the six year old who is dangerously big for her age, and was wielding a pencil.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 <a href="http://580wdbo.com/includes/news/indepth/09256_11-Year-Old-Charged-with-Deputy-Assault-Released_180320.html" target="_blank">http://580wdbo.com/includes/ne ws/indepth/09256_11-Year-Old-Charged-with-Deputy-Assault-Released_180320.html</a> I think it's safe to say she quite possibly outweighed the officer....
Originally Posted By Mr X Why, because of the picture? Any particular reason you find it funny to insult an eleven year old girl? Oh, interesting to note that they mention she has a learning disability. Maybe she's even retarded. Yup, break out the taser on THIS dangerous individual. As many have pointed out, cops are very trigger happy with these things. There are other methods. Certainly whether she was fat or not isn't all that relevant to a competently trained officer (do they tase EVERYONE who outweighs them?). She wasn't wielding a weapon, that's another valid point. It just doesn't add up, imo. Out of control or not (I'm not saying, and have never said that she wasn't). I'd sure like to hear more about pushing some other girl out into traffic though. That could be anything, from really bad (yes, attempted murder as William or someone else mentioned), all the way down to a playground fight, where they happened to end up fighting near a street. All said and done though, shouldn't a cop that needs to tase a little girl feel a little ashamed of himself? That's pretty pathetic, imo.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 She is huge, I am not trying to make fun of her, she is a large 11 year old. Plus how in the hell are the cops supposed to know she is mentally retarded, does she wear a sign around her neck?
Originally Posted By Mr X ***She is huge, I am not trying to make fun of her*** You don't see the hypocrisy here? She's not "huge", she's an overweight pre-teen. Geez...have an OUNCE of compassion will ya!?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Jesus, you are acting like she is some scrawny little girl who was viciously attacked by an officer when in actuality she probably weighed close to 150 and broke an officer's nose....What did you expect them to do , sit her down and have a stern lecture with her about how it's not right to hit a policeman... The cop was justified in using a taser, and if he didn't have a taser on him, he would have been justified shooting her in the leg.... In all honesty she might have outweighed the officer, looking at the picture, I only weigh 145 and am in decent shape....I don't know if I could have wrestled her down.
Originally Posted By Elderp I think the cop was justified she tried restraining her and got a broken nose. It was after the initial attempt that she deployed the tazer.
Originally Posted By pecos bill From the cops perspective, wrestling with an agitated and deranged person is always a dangerous proposition, no matter what their stature. Have you ever had a cat go bonkers when you were holding it? Say he does tackle her and she reaches up and gouges his eye out. Can the guy bop her with a billy club or put a knee to her throat like any other dangerous person? It really was a no win situation.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Next we'll probably hear about the six year old who is dangerously big for her age, and was wielding a pencil." Just how sharp was that pencil?
Originally Posted By jonvn "I think it's safe to say she quite possibly outweighed the officer...." Wait a second, what are they doing releasing this kid's information? What kind of thing is that to do? That's really not right at all.
