Take the Tasers away from 'em

[patton487]

Police have gotten so accustom to using these "cattle prods" on the public they now apparently use them on the people who call them expecting help.

Both LEO's lost their jobs for this one.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AfKMaDhTjs&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Raw Video: Woman Calls Police, Gets Zapped[/ame]

 

[Ogre]

I'd like to know the backstory on this one.

 

[Cwood]

Is there a link for the full story, cuz there sure isn't enough to form an opinion with this clip.

 

[MinuteMan47]

All I know is that the one officer has arms like twigs....

 

[caddywhompus]

Is there a link for the full story, cuz there sure isn't enough to form an opinion with this clip.

This.

Plus, while most tazer vids deliver truckloads of win, this one is fairly meh.

 

[WillBrayJr]

Tasers tickle

 

[noname1]

Tasers save lives. It isn't like someone is being electrocuted. Pepper spray is far more painful and lasts for hours, plus it doesn't have the added benefit of instant neuromusculiar incapacitation. How many lives have been saved because officers have used tasers in lieu of deadly force. Yes it hurts, but it doesn't damage joints or have any long term effects. If someone is using unjustified force that should be addressed, but the Taser is probably the safest use of force and officer can use.

 

[Gamez235]

Ap Story...

RICHLAND, GA (WTVM/AP) - One officer was fired and another quit after a rural Georgia woman who called police to complain of a prowler was zapped repeatedly with a stun gun.

Ryan Smith of the Lumpkin Police Department has resigned and Tim Murphy, of Richland Police Department, was fired for using pepper spray on the woman, Janice Wells.

Wells, 57, says she feared a prowler was outside her Richland house.

A minute-long dashboard video from Smith's patrol car shows the officer pulling up to assist another officer.

What happens is largely hidden by an open police cruiser door, but Wells can be heard screaming "Don't do that! Don't do that!" as a stun gun is heard repeatedly zapping.

Lumpkin Police Chief Steven Ogle says the video is shocking.

William Nesmith, the city attorney representing the Lumpkin Police Department, says after the stun gun incident an investigation was launched. The investigation revealed Smith violated police policy concerning the use of a stun gun. He was placed on administrative leave.

A letter was written to terminate Smith from the police force, but it was never given to him. Ryan resigned before the termination letter was issued.

In addition the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the District Attorney's office of the Southern Judicial Circuit looked into the case but did not move forward, citing there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Authorities say the April 26 struggle began when Wells wouldn't tell police the name of an acquaintance who had been at her house.

Meanwhile, Janice Wells is threatening to sue the city and has hired an attorney.

News Leader 9 could not reach the Stewart County city clerk for comment

 

[Expat]

Well there we go... she calls the police. They come out. She won't tell them who was at the house with her, so they zap her repeatedly... I can't help but wonder if they ever got the info out of her or if they had to waterboard her back at the office...

 

[ATM]

...Lumpkin Police Chief Steven Ogle says the video is shocking.

Exactly.

 

[patton487]

All I know is that the one officer has arms like twigs....

LOL, that was my thought exactly! He looks like a 12 year old throwing a temper tantrum

 

[jsgolfman]

Tasers save lives. It isn't like someone is being electrocuted. Pepper spray is far more painful and lasts for hours, plus it doesn't have the added benefit of instant neuromusculiar incapacitation. How many lives have been saved because officers have used tasers in lieu of deadly force. Yes it hurts, but it doesn't damage joints or have any long term effects. If someone is using unjustified force that should be addressed, but the Taser is probably the safest use of force and officer can use.

Let me google that for you

 

[mrjarrell]

Here's a link to an expanded written version of the events. The enforcers were way out of line and deserved what they got, and more. Tasers are dangerous weapons and used to force compliance or torture people. They do need to be removed from the arsenal.

2 officers out of jobs in wake of repeated Tasering of woman  | ajc.com

Janice Wells called the Richland Police Department when she feared a prowler was outside her clapboard house in the rural west Georgia town.
The third-grade teacher had phoned for help. But within minutes of an officer coming to her backdoor, she was screaming in pain and begging not to be shocked again with a Taser. With each scream and cry, the officer threatened her with more shocks.
"All of it's just unreal to me. I was scared to death," Wells said in an interview with the AJC. "He kept tasing me and tasing me. My fingernails are still burned. My leg, back and my butt had a long scar on it for days."
The officer in question is Ryan Smith of the Lumpkin Police Department. Smith was called to back up an officer from the Richland Police Department because the sheriff's office in the county, Stewart, had no deputies to send.
Smith resigned as a result of the incident. The other officer involved, Tim Murphy of Richland PD, was fired for using pepper spray while trying to arrest Wells.
Wells is considering filing a lawsuit, according to her attorney,.
The details of the altercation between Wells and the officers have been fodder discussions in the two towns, which are only 10 miles apart. Some have speculated there was a racial component to the altercation between Wells and the policemen; Wells is black and the officers are white.
Stewart County Sheriff Larry Jones, who came to the house seconds after the last electric shock was administered, suspects the outcome would have been different if the woman had been white and the officers black.

More at the source.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I won't make any claims for how safe a taser is, and I won't say it doesn't get abused, because it obviously does. I will agree with noname1, however, that it is a good tool in the officers' use-of-force continuum, because it doesn't normally do lasting damage (like getting hit with a baton tends to do); the affects are usually short-term (unlike pepper spray); it can be deployed rapidly; it is usually immediately incapacitating; and it is usually not as fatal as using a firearm. As far as I can see, the issues with its misuse are training- and discipline-related, not intrinsic to the devices themselves.

 

[Prometheus]

I As far as I can see, the issues with its misuse are training- and discipline-related, not intrinsic to the devices themselves.

THIS!

Tasers have a great place in an officers tool kit. That said, they fall into a quasi category. "less than lethal" is BS, just as throwing it into the "lethal" category. A third category needs to be created.

I also think that anytime a taser is used, it should be treated the same as an officer firing his handgun. Mandatory investigation and admin leave. Termination and or criminal prosecution for misuse.

Tasers CAN kill and do people. Millions of Americans of every age and fitness level have cardiac issues, many of whom have no idea until it's too late. They are dangerous weapons and should be used with that realization.

 

[dross]

Tasers save lives. It isn't like someone is being electrocuted. Pepper spray is far more painful and lasts for hours, plus it doesn't have the added benefit of instant neuromusculiar incapacitation. How many lives have been saved because officers have used tasers in lieu of deadly force. Yes it hurts, but it doesn't damage joints or have any long term effects. If someone is using unjustified force that should be addressed, but the Taser is probably the safest use of force and officer can use.

Gosh and golly, I sure hope I get tased someday.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Gosh and golly, I sure hope I get tased someday.

Why?

 

[Expat]

Why?

google sarcasm sometime.

He was responding to the post on the health benefits of a good tasing...

Electronic Village: 88 Taser-Related Deaths in the United States

 

[Denny347]

They can take my Taser. If the situation is lethal...go to the pistol. If it is less lethal, spray them/strike them and they will feel it for the next several days. Tasers are unreliable. They work great if the prongs are in the right position, they rarely end up correctly in the field. I took the 5 sec hit in the certification class and it was over in 5 sec...I felt fine. They should NEVER be used as a lethal replacement...too unreliable. There are officers that are "Taser happy" and they should be dealt with on a case by case basis. ALL of the less lethal options can cause death in a small percentage of the population. An asthmatic might have issues with OC/CS and place them in respiratory distress. Strikes can cause internal damage that could cause internal bleedouts. I carry bean bag rounds. They are the force equivalent of being struck by a major league fast ball pitch...ouch. I have to aim for the belly for it to be safe. A hit over the heart can stop it, a hit in the head can do the same. They all must be used properly to be considered "less-lethal". That is why they went away from using "non-lethal"...there is no such animal.

 

[Expat]

Denny, glad you are in this one. It appears to me that they are being used more and more just because of non-compliance. Not actual aggressive behavior. The person won't put their hands behind their backs or drop their joint. That doesn't seem like a suitable use to me. Are there guidelines for that use?