LEO Uses a Taser

[{TEX}Hawaii((]

So, how's this for a LEO encounter? What do you think, was his use of the tazer legit? I think he had a great deal of patience for sure.

LiveLeak.com - New Video:Trooper uses taser on uncooperative woman

 

[newindy05]

She needed that LOL................

 

[Red Hat]

She needed that LOL................

Yep,LOL, she sure did! Every time she opened her mouth I probably would have pulled the trigger on the stun gun. He sure had more patience that I would have had...

 

[wolfhunter]

The alternative would have been physically taking her down, and that would put the officer at risk of injury. He did the right thing and used more patience than I typically use.

 

[Cooter]

I personally think that tasers should not be used by police, or anyone for that matter. The fact that they are thought of as a 'less than lethal' weapon, yet have killed thousands of people. The user has it in thier mind that the taser is non-lethal, so will use it as such. Fact is, human bodies are not designed to take that kind of electrical shock, and occasionally people die from a taser.
That woman obviously needed some "persuasion" to put her hands behind her back, and I believe the officer had the right to use a non-lethal weapon. But I personally hate tasers, and I would have probably pepper sprayed her, or called for back-up and used physical force.
(Cop did the right thing, but it's the system's flaw for issuing him the taser, and making it an acceptable weapon.)

 

[rrc1962]

Regarding the taser stats, just about all departments who have deployed taser technology have reported at least a 50% reduction in officer and suspect injuries. Most of those were not directly attributed to the Taser but stated that the Taser could have been a contributing factor. Heart attack is usually the official cause of death. Someone on drugs will have a lower tolerance to the electric shock.

Now consider the thousands of people who were taken down by the Taser and walked away in cuffs who would probably have been shot and killed. This video is a perfect example of how the Taser helps reduce injury to both parties. Without the Taser this cop would have had to wrestle this woman to the ground probably injuring her and possibly himself. It almost looks as though she was resisting in hopes of getting beat up so she could sue.

 

[{TEX}Hawaii((]

I personally think that tasers should not be used by police, or anyone for that matter. The fact that they are thought of as a 'less than lethal' weapon, yet have killed thousands of people.

I've heard of some rare taser deaths, but not "thousands". Do you have any proof of this? I think the police sometimes use the taser too freely or not when warranted, but I am glad it's an option.

 

[rrc1962]

I think the real numbers are less than 200, but I can't remember where I got it from. We are state certified to carry and use Tasers so it could have come from the Taser certification class. One problem can be that the Taser can act like a defibrillator if the electrodes connect in such a manner as to send electricity across the sinoatrial node of the heart. If that happens it can have the same effect as a defibrillator and stop the heart. The difference is that the defibrillator is more controlled. It stops an abnormal heartbeat and jumps starts it into normal rhythm. The Taser would just stop the heart. In those cases, CPR or the use of an AED probably would have saved the suspect.

I think the use of the Taser is far less risky than the use of a gun. If I had to be shot, I'd rather it be with a Taser.

 

[rmarcustrucker]

We all want law and order....except to us. Not fallowing the lawful ORDER of a LEO is against the law. Somewhere in this poor ignorant womens life she got the idea that she was empowered and above the law. I love tasers and I will taser someone over getting into a physical altercation where I may get hurt every time.

LEO was very justified in use of taser. She was in a passive state of not wanting to be arrested and the time had come to make the arrest. Had he layed hands on her she would have stuck back at him or ran away from him or into her vehicle. She was not complying with his order so he was very justified. He could have maced her,too. But then you have to decontaminate your suspect and you usually get some of it on you.

 

[OldOwl]

Taser safety issues - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia <--- 180 deaths as of 2006.




YouTube - Police Taser death Robert Dziekanski Vancouver Airport

 

[Boomboy007]

Different types of resistance require different reactions.

I think the police sometimes use the taser too freely or not when warranted, but I am glad it's an option.

I agree with Tex. It should be an option of (next to) last resort. I believe that it is justifiable to use one defensively. However, to use one offensively as a tool of compliance is risky and wrong.

We all want law and order....except to us. Not fallowing the lawful ORDER of a LEO is against the law. Somewhere in this poor ignorant womens life she got the idea that she was empowered and above the law. I love tasers and I will taser someone over getting into a physical altercation where I may get hurt every time.

LEO was very justified in use of taser. She was in a passive state of not wanting to be arrested and the time had come to make the arrest. Had he layed hands on her she would have stuck back at him or ran away from him or into her vehicle. She was not complying with his order so he was very justified. He could have maced her,too. But then you have to decontaminate your suspect and you usually get some of it on you.

I understand your point, Marcus, but I think that there is a vast gulf between active and passive resistance. Obviously this woman was a wack job. She was ignoring his lawful directions. However, I do not believe in drawing a taser in a situation where there is passive resistance. It should not be a tool that can be used to make someone do something (like getting up), just stop doing something, like attacking an officer.

 

[Cooter]

I've heard of some rare taser deaths, but not "thousands". Do you have any proof of this? I think the police sometimes use the taser too freely or not when warranted, but I am glad it's an option.

You are right, I had my figures mixed up. It is more like 400 deaths, and approximately an additional 1000 heart related deaths after being tasered. The real problem is people see them as non-lethal, but they are in fact occasionally lethal.
Our bodies are systems of electro-chemical reactions. When you introduce a high voltage current into that system, sometimes it fails. There are other methods of "behavior modification" that are much less dangerous. I think pepper spray is a better alternative to tasers.

 

[Landavazoaj]

Hey guys, I thought it important to point out that tasers are NOT NON LETHAL they are LESS-THAN-LETHAL which means they are not intended to be lethal. Same way "rubber bullets" are less than lethal...they're not supposed to be lethal BUT the rubber bullet may cause internal bleeding leading to death, etc...

 

[Landavazoaj]

Oh, and the officer was very patient- personally I beleive that pepper spray would have been the way to go...complications from pepper spray are less than those that COULD be suffered from taser use.

 

[wuzfuz]

LEO uses a Taser

To Cooter and others who speak agaisnt the TASEr, I have one question. Have you ever been in the situation of beig a police officer and needing to use it? When I was on the job, we had no TASERS. Ww had a side handle baton and a can of pepper spray. I have seen many instances of pepper spray totally having no effect whatsoever on a subject, and the feeling you might as well be spraying them with a squirt gun. The side handle baton requires considerable training and use of martial arts stchniques. This was demonstrated by the video of the rodny King incident. The officers in that incident were not using the batons effectivey. Mr. King ripped the probes for a TASER out, and I don't think the second shot hit him with both probes. Accorddinng to the news article featuring the spokesperson for Amnesty Intl stated 286 deaths, there are not a thousand heart related deaths after using the TASER. The officer was far more patient than I, and the use of the TASER was proper. She was not seriously injured, as evidenced by her babbling about a lawsuit. In this country, anyone may sue anyone else. I don't think she would ever prevail, especialy if the jury sees this tape.

 

[sav10le_308]

Its Buger King and she got it her way. I'll bet there will smoke coming off her a** next time shes asked for DL & Reg.

As far as Taser vs OC in this case. If she had been sprayed I imagine she would have become more aggresive and there would have been a higher risk, for both, of one of them being injured while subduiing her.

 

[Glockster20]

The officer was very professional and courteous and showed tremendous patience! Here you have a an unruly subject that defiantly disobeyed repeated commands from the officer. I thought he showed plenty of restraint... when it was time to put the cuffs on she began to fight. He correctly deployed non lethal force. And notice after the tasing, he was very polite and went out of his way to make sure she had all of her belongings sqaured away.

 

[{TEX}Hawaii((]

You are right, I had my figures mixed up. It is more like 400 deaths, and approximately an additional 1000 heart related deaths after being tasered. The real problem is people see them as non-lethal, but they are in fact occasionally lethal.

Again, where are you getting these bogus "facts" from? I think it's already been said, but Tasers are not "non-lethal" they are "less-lethal".

 

[rrc1962]

I think pepper spray is a better alternative to tasers.

Each have different uses. Pepper spray is not all that effective unless you are close range and even then some people will not be as affected as others. I see the TASER as a less lethal alternative to a gun. If the situation does not warrant drawing a gun, I wouldn't draw the TASER either. I'm not a cop and it's not my job to arrest. If the BG stops and leaves the scene, I'm happy. Now if it turns into a life threatening situation for me, I may use the TASER instead of my gun.

More than one cop has said that the biggest baddest BG's they've seen who would stare down the barrel or a 45 will drop to their knees when they see a TASER.

If you shoot a BG with a TASER and he dies and it goes to court, it would be pretty clear that by using the TASER you did not intend to kill him. If you shoot him with a gun, that's a bit harder to prove.

 

[Boomboy007]

To Cooter and others who speak agaisnt the TASEr, I have one question. Have you ever been in the situation of beig a police officer and needing to use it?

Well, not only have I used one defensively, I have also been shocked TWICE!:cray:
Once during certification, and then once when a BG moved and my partner shot me instead.:wacko: It friggin HURTS!

I will say again that, used instead of a firearm, Tazer use is a fantastic alternative to a firearm. The few times I have used one is when there were multiple BG's and I was waiting for backup, once with a knife wielder, and a few times on big guys who were attempting to attack me (I warned them first). I do think that, given any other option besides a firearm, these devices belong on the belt.

I had fellow officers who used them weekly. Net result was that one of them lost his to the chief, while the other two had cameras put on their units. Their subsequent use went WAY down.

The officer was very professional and courteous and showed tremendous patience! Here you have a an unruly subject that defiantly disobeyed repeated commands from the officer. I thought he showed plenty of restraint... when it was time to put the cuffs on she began to fight. He correctly deployed non lethal force. And notice after the tasing, he was very polite and went out of his way to make sure she had all of her belongings sqaured away.

I will agree that he was very patient and polite. This guy is definitely not a "police thug" in any way. In fact, I think that he was TOO nice, in that he let her argue for too long. After a minute or two, I would have called for backup, and then pushed the issue after another officer had arrived.