A follow-up to the Utah taser incident - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Cali Coug · 12-01-2007, 04:17 PM

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695232297,00.html

il Padrino Ute · 12-01-2007, 04:52 PM

Both parties were in the wrong here.

I tend to think the officer just should have written that the guy refused to sign the ticket and let him go on his way. The judge most likely would have told Massey that he didn't want to hear his sob story and hit him with the maximum fine.

Reading that it was Massey who posted the video on youtube, I have less sympathy for him. Yes, the officer should have not let it escalate, but Massey was just as much to blame for refusing to comply. If he doesn't turn and walk away and had kept his hand out of his pocket, the officer wouldn't have tasered him.

Archaea · 12-01-2007, 08:18 PM

I anticipated this response. A better description may be that the usage was technically lawful, but it was NOT reasonable. However, when you have law enforcement agencies reviewing themselves, they protect their own. Hopefully the ensuing lawsuit causes changes in the use of tasers.

This quote about Gardner disturbs me:

Quote:

After the Tasering, when a backup officer arrived and asked what happened, Gardner replied: "Oh, he took a ride with the Taser."
"That comment was inappropriate," Davenport said Friday.

I believe it shows what the troopers intent was all along.

12-01-2007, 04:17 PM	#1
Cali Coug Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 5,996	A follow-up to the Utah taser incident http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695232297,00.html

12-01-2007, 04:52 PM	#2
il Padrino Ute Board Pinhead Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: In the basement of my house, Murray, Utah. Posts: 15,941	Both parties were in the wrong here. I tend to think the officer just should have written that the guy refused to sign the ticket and let him go on his way. The judge most likely would have told Massey that he didn't want to hear his sob story and hit him with the maximum fine. Reading that it was Massey who posted the video on youtube, I have less sympathy for him. Yes, the officer should have not let it escalate, but Massey was just as much to blame for refusing to comply. If he doesn't turn and walk away and had kept his hand out of his pocket, the officer wouldn't have tasered him. __________________ "The beauty of baseball is not having to explain it." - Chuck Shriver "This is now the joke that stupid people laugh at." - Christopher Hitchens on IQ jokes about GWB.