[ruksak]

Quote by: xyzer I'm reminded of scenes of riot we see on the tube...cops trying to maintain order as bottles are thrown, cars torched and windows broken...why? Because rioters think they are right and have done nothing wrong? There is a similarity here zee.

No there isn't!

There is no similarity between what happened on the highway that day in Utah, and a violent riot. Other than the fact that one of the people on the scene in Utah was using violence to get his way.

Sure there are chances for a cop to use different approaches to subdue a suspected law breaker who refuses to comply and refuses to submit to being placed in custody.

He didn't have a chance to comply. He had about .002 seconds to comply with an order that was projected down the barrel of a weapon. As Massey turned to the shouting officer, I genuinely believe that he thought it was a gun, not a taser. I think his bizarre actions afterward were a manifestation of panic. Apparently Mr Massey doesn't cope well with extreme stress.

Given officer Gardner's freakish overreaction, I would have at that moment seriously questioned whether or not he was even a cop. "Is this bozo gonna rape me in the backseat of his stolen police cruiser"?

Honestly, that was very bizarre behavior for a venerable police officer.

I'll add that sometimes a cops judgment might not suit the U-Tube viewers version. But he/she has to make the decision, most often in a few minutes.

Actually they usually have but a sliver of seconds. But that is what separates good police from bad police. Every profession has people that are sorely unqualified to handle the duties of the job. Perhaps if officer Gardner's first reaction to having a man defy his ultimate authority by refusing to sign a meaningless signature, is to point a weapon at him and threaten to electrocute him if he doesn't comply with an order that he is just now giving, than he should consider other employment options.

All this that I have said about Gardner's overreaction with the taser being said, I would like to point out a very valid point.

Judging by Mr Massey's behavior, psychologically one could see a pattern developing. He was defiant in handing over his license. He was defiant in accepting the ticket. He was most likely going to be defiant with an arrest procedure. Officer Gardner would likely have had to pull his taser out anyway. You can actually hear Massey say "NO" when Gardner first starts to shout his arrest commands. I caught this the last time I watched the vid. My opinion; Massey wasn't going to comply with the arrest no matter if Gardner asked him very politely several times to put his hands behind his back.

However, Gardner f*cked himself when he chose to pull his taser and show force before having ACTUAL reason to feel it was necessary. This man was not a threat. No order had been refused BEFORE the taser came out. This will be the main point of contention with the Utah State Internal Affairs Office.