The key to understanding all this occurs between when Massey first says "I'm not signing anything", and the moment the taser was drawn.
To understand why the officer was guilty of a serious procedural violation, this must be broken down verbatim between these key moments I mentioned.
Officer; "You're going to sign this"
Massey; "I'm not signing anything"
Officer; "OK, hop out of the car"
*Massey exits his vehicle and walks calmly and non-evasively in compliance with the officer. The officer stops at the front of his vehicle, RIGHT NEXT TO A BUSY HIGHWAY. The man stops with the officer and begins pointing at the traffic sign in question, calmly gesturing with his hand. The officer pulls his taser AS he begins to shout "TURN AROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK".
He never said ANYTHING about arresting this man. The man never had a chance to comply before he was threatened with what he thought was a gun. Deadly force because he didn't want to sign a ticket. Flat-out is what Massey saw. He mistakenly took a few steps away from the cop. But I understand his confusion and panic at the fact he was being threatened with deadly force over something so minor.
Tasers should not be pulled on a calm, non-evasive and compliant persons. Yet this is EXACTLY what happened. You don't pull a potentially deadly weapon as a first means to gain compliance. It is a procedural violation. HANDCUFFS first. If he refuses to comply, then you resort to the threat of less-than-lethal means.
Massey was 100% complaint, other than his refusal to get out an ink pen and sign a ticket. 100% compliance and he gets a potentially deadly weapon drawn on him. He had no chance to offer compliance further before being threatened with assault.
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Perhaps, though if he had any thought for the safety of his family he wouldn't be trying to antagonize things further. Was he in the right to do so? Yes. Was it smart? Hell no. If you think a cop isn't all together and willing to draw his weapon on you, it doesn't matter how right you are if you end up shot or tasered. Which, to an individual is just stupid, but when it comes to endangering your family, is damn low.
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I would say imagine yourself standing on the side of the road calmly discussing a ticket that is going to cost you about $100, and all of the sudden, without warning, he starts shouting at you that you are under arrest and he's pointing what you think to be a gun at you.
I would not have walked away and put my hand in my pocket. Dumb. That enabled this pig to electrocute him.
The real issue happened before hand. Why didn't he just say "You're under arrest" and get his cuffs out?
I know the answer; He was angry. That is bad policing.