Why Are Cops Tasering Grandmothers, Pregnant Women and Kids?

There, problem solved !

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It is pretty clear that by far the majority of taser use has had nothing to do with being a substitute for using a firearm to subdue a 'dangerous' person. Clearly the taser is being used as the whip has been used for centuries, to inflict pain and suffering as well as humiliating the victim and establishing the power of the person that wields the whip. Don't move fast enough, don't show the 'proper deference' or, show any form of resistance to an overseer, a master of slaves and, you shall receive the punishment of slaves, the whip. In this case the electric whip that forces you to writhe on the ground in agony at the mercy of your overseer, an appropriate form of submission for a disrespectful slave.

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Illegal post.

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Nikes manufactured by slaves.

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Surely the problem here is law enforcement and in specific the officers involved who are the issue here not the Taser?

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I need to be able to protect myself from the police in the US!

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It would be foolish for an individual to physically challenge the job of a cop. Remember cops are human and in power, if you anger them enough you should not be surprised if you become a victim of tasering. If stopped for a traffic violation the only thing that can be done is to explain your side of the story calmly. Never get out of the auto and start waving your hands and start screaming at the cop. If you do, don't be surprised if you get a bolt of lightning thrown at you.

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Could it be because our society is awash with guns?

Why, yes it could.

Imagine being a cop in a gun-crazy nation like this. It would make anyone taser people.

Get rid of the guns, and the cops will regain their sanity..


Bait & Switch

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The Braidwood Inquiry in Vancouver over the death of the Polish immigrant at the Airport is being questioned by the Taser company. They are going against the Judge Braidwood, saying he did not take into account many pieces of evidence presented, so they are suing him, a JUDGE!!!!
The taser has just taken the place of the old trusty truncheon!!!

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What about the cops that tasered a waiter at the Waffle House for fun in Atlanta, Georgia. They laughed and now they are out of a job with a pending lawsuit. What did the waiter do?
He was at work serving food to the officers who were not suppose to be at the Waffle House while on duty getting free food. Let's just tase everyone.

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Many of the incidents cited show an extreme lack of common sense by the cop. This is also the same cop (In my mind) that will use excessive force to prove he is in charge. This will also be the cop who pulls his weapon when there will be no need for it. For me, any officer who uses the taser in these situations (pregnant mother, child in the head, woman driver pulled over and children abandoned by cop, etc.) should be fired, face charges, lose all rights to be in law enforcement anywhere and face jail time. These are the very people who do not belong in the role of "peace officer".I also agree that all police depts. have gotten sloppy regarding training of their officers, but worse, condoning their conduct when they have crossed the line. Repeatedly these officers are not punished for being stupid and arrogant, and remain on the force. The lesson being for all to see that they have nothing to really fear except an occasional slap on the wrist. Even pay outs to halt a lawsuit from going to trial does not often see the officer fired. That is our tax dollars supporting a corrupt system no better than military one where a soldier can rape,murder and steal and merely be transferred to another post to avoid punishment. The depts. and the officers need to face serious accountability.

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...in general are becoming more brutal, if it wasn't tasers it would be something else. Perhaps more psychological screening prior to putting these people on the street. But of course that would cost more tax dollars that would be suited to buying tasers and pepper spray. Here in Lansing, a 63 year old women was pepper sprayed in the face after she was knocked to the ground and handcuffed for allegedly "bumping" an officer. The officer was trying to drag her 62 year old husband from his car because he apparently was blocking a parking space on private property(apartment complex). The couple are suing.

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they refused to submit to the cop as their lord and master. Anti-social creeps with a dominator complex are attracted to being a cop just as pedophiles are attracted to jobs that put them around children. The only important thing in the world to these pigs is that citizens immediately become their total slaves. When they don't then they have to be taught a lesson.

How about changing the law so that out of control "peace" officers have to pay part of their lawsuits out of their own pockets?

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Things are going to turn nazty in the US and there is nothing anyone can "do" to "stop" it. Karma must run its course. You will understand when you come out on the other side.

No amount of physical weapons will protect you. You must form a strategic enclosure and arm yourself with the knowledge you are so badly lacking:

Ponerology

Psychopathy

You see pregnant women being tasered for sadistic pleasure and you indignantly ask how such a thing is "allowed to happen in the US of A"? You're not living in the land of the free anymore. You're living in a Pathocracy now. The rules there are totally different.

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Mistrust of government and then shitty officers like these.

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I'm glad to see this article today. More people needs to understand what is going on:

http://americaspeaksink.com/?s=Taser+God

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Get ready for tomorrow's alternater doozy,

"Can you read this?"



study, study, study

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this will end with people dropping these crimnal cops like a bad habit.the fist sign of them pulling a taser will result with leathal force being used .wtf has gotten into people

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Why not just arm the cops with an additonal crowd pacifier in an electric cattle prod! Toys for twisted sick power mongering psychos...difference is the other lot are called criminals and hooligans, what do we call the cops?? Sick bastards! Gimme a name somebody please...

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Municipalities and other organizations are hiring these sociopaths on purpose. Why do you see so many PTSD soldiers transition right into police work with all too predictable results?

The aim is fear - fear of authority and not just on the Federal level but on all levels of government right down to the local rural township. As things get worse economically and socially in this country, forward looking government jurisdictions know that they will need a new kind of brutality - unchecked and unregulated - to keep the disgruntled masses in line.

The emergence of the taser at this point in history is no accident either. Tasers have been around for decades, btw. So why now has their use exploded in the USA? Because you simply can't shoot people in large numbers and get away with it - yet.

These law enforcement agencies and the jurisdictions that hire them are perfectly aware of the capabilities and dangers of the taser. But if only one of, say, 100 people are going to die from being tasered than that can be finessed with the proper PR (lying) and attorneys on retainer that defend all of these lawsuits to the end.

The 'relatively' non-lethal aspect of the taser has allowed police to brutalize far more people in far more public ways than ever before - which is, again, the goal. Think back even 10 years ago - a simple majority of Americans may have grumbled about speed traps and cops' attitudes, but they didn't live in mortal fear of them as they do today. Especially now, with the stories about ordinary citizens whose mild protestations that would have made the Adam 12 cops smile, if anything, are now treated to multiple electrical shocks.

The more these incidents are publicized, the more ordinary people will 'get' what their role is in the new America: slave to the master. Look down, shuffle obediently or be tortured.

The last bastion of unquestioned support for this new policing paradigm comes from the same people disrupting the town hall meetings. They are the ones who believe that the police are the 'thin blue line' protecting them from marauding colored people and hippies AND they also believe (with some justification at the present) that the cops would NEVER taser nice white people like them.

And when you look at the kid glove treatment these tea baggers have been given by the cops, that makes some sense. They are convenient allies - for now. Now think how the police generally would have treated leftist demonstrators who would have protested in like manner at a GW Bush town hall or any conservative politicians' town hall. Have you heard of ANY tea baggers getting tased at any of these town halls? But remembered what happened in Minnneapolis during the GOP convention (largely ignored by the MSM) and the Democrats convention in New York the cycle before.

The dupes on the right believe the cops are their buddies. We should remember that as things get worse, the only allegiance that all police agencies on all levels will have is to the government entities that sign their checks.

What we are seeing is what I would term directed enforcement. It is being done on purpose. Let's not lose sight of why.

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A major problem with the Drug War is that it requires too many police officers. Local police departments must keep expanding to deal with the unending ammount of drug abusers. More arrests = more need for cops = more arrests = more cops = more arrests = ect. ect. ect. However the problem with this is that supply cannot equal demand. There just aren't enough people who desire to be a cop for the right reasons to fill all the positions.

What ends up happening is that departments relax the standards they have used in the past to determine whether someone is fit to be an officer. Forgoing personality tests, interviews, fitness assessments, even background checks in the name of putting "more officers on the streets".

This means that people with anger issues, superiority complexes, even criminal records, not to mention out of shape people who can't chase down an 8 year old girl, are being put out there to "serve and protect".

The result is ever increasing abuse of power, poor descision making, plain incompetence, and more desire to just tase their way out of the situation.

The War on Drugs affects us negatively as a society MUCH MORE than we readily realize, and the epidemic of senseless taserings is just another example of how bad it is for society. If we don't end this phony War on Drugs, and come up with a new system of legalizing and regulating the "dangerous drugs" we will no doubt descend into a fully funded, all out POLICE STATE, far worse than the one we live in now.

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Don't provoke them; they are out of shape and lazy.

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Evidently goes unreported...

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Because they can.

Almost every comment here--cops are lazy, out of shape, sociopaths and so on and so forth--contains a kernel of truth.

Might I add another one-word observation about police behavior and the use of the taser: cowardice.

I mean, how brave does a guy have to be to taser a pregnant woman, an old lady, a belligerent drunk at the ballpark or a misbehaving kid?

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... mental patients.

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toward Americans who are innocent?
Just TRY to post a simple question in this site asking about "why".
They will DELETE your question because they are ALL monstrous bullies;

EMPTY SCROTUMS

Here's another pig sty~~

MORE PUNKS

The second one includes firemen who are actually heroes and NOT bullying punks like the gangsters in blue goon suits.
These are delphi forums and, you can get a free acount to read all the BS there.

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It appears that the police have been taught that the Taser is a nonleathal device and therefor can be used with impunity as they see fit. This is not the case with fire arms where their is some restraint in their use and a review of the circumstances associated with under which they were discharged. The excessive use of Tasers is another example of police brutality and the root cause is in the selection of individuals who are allowed to become police officers. One can only wonder what sort of psychological testing allows such unfit individuals to become policeman. I suggest that qualified review boards investigate every circumstance in which a Taser is fired. The incidents we are reading about indicate that some policeman are literally getting away with murder. A complete review of the training program for the use of this weapon should be undertaken and it should be subject to vetting outside the police department by people who are familiar with the physicoligical effects of high voltage electrical shocks. Most importantly, since the police conside it a nonleathal devise which they can use on grandmothers and pregnant women, every policeman and trainee should be tazed as part of their famaliarization of what it feels like to be subjected to the effects of this device or at least shocked repeatedly with cattle prods .

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That's just what stupid cops do, its what they live for. Its why they are cops in the first place. And they wonder why people rejoice everytime a stupid cop gets clipped in the line of duty!

RT
Online Privacy when it Counts

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Do everything the police say and they likely won't taze you. I mean sure, they do walk up to people and just taze them when they have belief that they may run into some resistance. OR, if they have a tip that the person could be violent they'll taze them straight away as well. Half the problem is they taze you and while your reeling throw you to the ground right on your face. Best thing when you think you might get tazed, just get on your knees stomach, or back, you don't want to fall down and hit your head, that alone can kill you. Also, keep your hands where they can see them, don't invite them to tazer you. What I have seen quite often is when they bring the tazer out they are going to arrest you anyways, and justification of arrest and tazing an individual seem to be connected somehow. And, relax for once, half the reason people are getting tazed is because they are not afraid of the tazer, and tend to obey less of the time than if a gun was pointed at them.

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437 and counting, North Americans who died after a Taser encounter. Names, places and dates, go to -
http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

PS: the number of police gun shootings has NOT declined significantly.

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We have a Police Force that the taxpayers really cannot afford because their wages and benefits are more than our teachers receive. Citizens have been told that nothing can be done because of the Police Union.

When the community had a Chief that was way out of control and really a terrorist the Police Union lawyer-ed him up and put on a defense that outsmarted the village fathers. After that even their boss the Mayor was mute.

The Cops in my hometown are fat, ride around speeding through the village and pick on certain citizens to show their power. They have lots of "TOYS" provided by the Drug Enforcement Groups. A lot of us are just waiting for the Taser Moment to happen and it is only a matter of time. There is little crime here in my hometown but people I know realize that Our Cops are anxious to pull that trigger.

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It's a reflection of our "New Way of Life", largely accepted and supported since it all began to be implemented with such legislation as the Patriot Acts I and II at the beginning of this Great New Century.

Just as standards are being steadily lowered in recruitment for the armed services going overseas to carry out our imperialist programs, police departments all over the country, funded lavishly by all the new "security" and "law-enforcement" funding that's come their way since early 2000's are also lowering their standards in the recruitment and training of officers entering those services. New technologies have to enter the Market somehow, so what better way than this? From tasers to surveillance cameras, to get your money's worth you gotta use 'em.

Only thing for those of us "ordinary" real citizens is to just plain get used to it. All that can be done is challenge it at every step of the way, but it's still gonna take a long, long time to reverse a growing and expanding process.

Having taken the "bait", we're being reeled in at every turn as the "switch" is developing at a furious (and brutal) pace.

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The real problem is ( and this is nothing new) there are a plethora of psychopaths and thugs on police departments across America. This coupled with the average Americans willingness to allow this kind of behavior (when sued for brutality, cops usually win in court) makes for a police state.

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To start out with, a cop should NEVER tase a child, elderly person, noticably pregnant woman, noticably disabled person, or a person on an elevated platform. This should be written in to the by-laws that dictate the behavior of police in every department in the U.S.
Second of all, if cops don't already have to do it, they should have to fill out a report justifying their use of a taser after each incident.
Third, disorderly conduct laws should be eliminated from the laws everywhere, not only because cops abuse these laws to arrest anyone they want but because they are unconstitutional in my opinion. They are both "cruel and unusual" and represent a government encroachment upon free speech rights.
Fourth, cops should only be allowed to arrest someone when they have committed a serious crime or could reasonably be assumed to be a danger to themselves and/or others. If cops couldn't arrest you for anything they wanted, they couldn't tase you for resisting arrest.
I also think that I should clarify something. Tasers are considered "non-lethal" when in the hands of police officers. If a citizen has a taser in their possession and is wielding it against a police officer it is considered lethal and police officers are authorized to use deadly force if this situation arises. I don't want to see any foolhardy person get shot for using a taser against a cop as a form of protest.

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And the public should know what they are. They know what they can and cannot do, but they also know that if they screw up, there are no consequences. Everything is kept a secret from the public. I think it's time we know exactly what THEIR rules are for Taser use. Following every incident that results in any violence on the part of a police officer, drug and alcohol testing should be done and the results made public. If they did nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about. They are out there to protect us and for the most part that's what they do. But there has to be an explanation for behavior that escalates to violence without reason or provocation. It shouldn't require a five year investigation. Many other businesses deal with violent behavior why not the police. ANNA

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Would love to see the follow up piece to this that shows what kind of punishment, if any, was handed down to these police officials.

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Make it so expensive that Cities and Towns will take the new toys away from the cops. Sue. Sue. Sue. Sue the towns. Sue the cops. Sue the mayors, police chiefs, board of supervisors individually. And anyone else you can think of. Sue the companies that make the taxers. Make it expensive.

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Just like serial killers, and psychiatric techs who administer EST

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...and their manufacturer. The common thread in the horror stories listed is citizens ignoring what officers call "legal orders." In these situations the officers definitely seem to be summarily punishing citizens for insufficient servility. These are cases of free people acting as if they are free people, a behavior that some officers are just unable to deal with due to their sick psychology. The law is simply too easy on police, and so good cops are forgetting their role in a free society, and bad cops are playing sadistic games with impunity. Does Taser downplay the risks of their product? Yes, but police departments should be expected and required to be more skeptical about what a manufacturer says about their own wares. Evidence independent of marketing materials is readily available. None of these incidents is even mostly the fault of Tasers; this is bad cops, bad departments, bad prosecutors, and bad laws. An officer can arrest you and charge you for disobeying a legal order; they may not judge you guilty on the spot and then summarily punish you. If it weren't for tasers, it would be clubs or guns, and the problem would still be bad cops.

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Don't forget the RCMP officers who killed a dazed and confused Polish immigrant who became lost in the Vancouver Airport after a long flight from Europe and couldn't speak any English. The Mounties got their man, alright; too bad he didn't survive and, worse, the cops weren't even disciplined.

Police work attracts people with sociopathic personality disorders to begin with: Packing heat and being able to boss people around gives them a false sense of self-worth. As long as police are armed - with guns or tasers or cattle prods or batons - the job will keep attracting people who like to bash heads for fun and make sure that "civilians" know their place.

The problem is that Tuttle The Taser Trojan promotes his horrid weapon as non-lethal. So, cops feel no compunction against using it anytime, anywhere, on anyone. I doubt if the frail grandmother or the mom stopped for a routine traffic violation would have been shot. But a cop can pull out a taser and zap someone without giving it second thought.

Oh, wait. Sorry. Very few police are capable of a first thought, let alone a second one.

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There are three types of people that become police officers: Those that want to be feared, respected, or just want to better their community. It is just sad that the first two are seen more in the news. I think they need make it easier to be fired or put in jail if you are a cop that uses excessive force. A few examples need to be set to show that harming non-violent citizens will not be tolerated. This type of behavior has made me hate cops. Plus dealing with the ones with an attitude/god complex when I get pulled over or stopped.

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I have never supported the NRA nor gun ownership and possession--until after reading repeated accounts of lunatic police force personnel using tasers, guns, and torture devices on suspected criminals. Now I advocate strongly that everyone carry a weapon and if the person sees a police officer approach with a drawn taser or gun, execute the police officer--then ask questions. Police today are more like Nazi Storm Troopers than guardians of the law--they are like the Revolutionary Guard of Iran--determined to be in control and destroy democracy.

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The government is in final testing stages of a completely new category of weapons called Directed Energy Weapons. These will be available to local police departments and law enforcement agencies. Think crowd control via microwave waves that cook. It's painful, gets your attention, and totally convinces you to stop whatever you're doing. "Freedom of Assembly?" You already need police department permits to rally in any city, which has to be unconstitutional, and even when you get one, it's five blocks away behind chain link fences; where you have no visible impact either on attendees or the press. The noxious problem with these devices is that they can be used from some distance away from the victim, and on a crowd. Whatever side of the political spectrum you're from, you should be very, very afraid. These weapons are categorized as ADS or Active Denial Systems. Go ahead and do your homework on your favorite video or search engine. You'll see. Big Brother has a new toy, and it hurts. This will become another tool in the non-lethal category, right next to the taser. Got an attitude? Well, sonny, we can issue you an attitude adjustment straight away! Goes for the girls, too!

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Abolish gun control and tasers will go away
Taser the 21st cetury Electric Whip
Nikes are manufactured by slaves. Don't go here.
They zap these poor folks because
Just another reason the guns and ammo sales keep shooting high through the roofs
Law Enforcement Long out of Control
It is called the police state after the states united for an america. JING !!
Cattle prods!
Quite obviously, the police hate us for our freedoms.
When is the last time you saw a Nazi tasered?
Police Judgement is an Oxymoron
Just do what they say..
It's the endorphine rush

Above is a selection from the current comments to the post titled … Why Are Cops Tasering Grandmothers, Pregnant Women and Kids? …By Scott Thill, AlterNet. Posted August 17, 2009

As I read the comments I observed that “we” – that’s you and me – while aware of the gross injustices being perpetrated in our name, feel helpless and powerless the stop it.
Why is that…? Might it be that for the last 40 years we have become incessantly bombarded 24/7 with elevating the power and authority of the interplay of government and corporations…? Today, the government and its sponsors – corporations – willfully exercise near absolute domination over every aspect of our life.

For many prior millenniums mankind it appears has pursued policies whereby the self-promoted strong have chosen to willfully exercise their alleged power and hubris over all those deemed inferior, weaker, less able to in part because of declining health to defend themselves.

The paramount message delivered today by the government and corporate amalgam is … do only as we say, not as we permit ourselves to do…

Respectfully submitted,

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These law enforcement officers we have today are not of the type of andy taylor as we used to have . where as when yu used to grow up under officer.friendly when yu were a child days are gone bye-bye so to say . majority of them are verterans of foriegn affairs such as desert storm and iraqi storm troopers we have today ,"God bless our troops" i am in no way disrespecting those who fight for freedom , for our country or the "Democracy of Others" and the stopping of Genocidal freaks that have come to where we need world peace .. true there is a time and place for use of extreme force when the officers safety is questioned . I have noticed in the past that they have and are over stepping their bounds . i have read 2 books on what i see is happening today 1.the unseen hand 2. new world order.. this country is heading towards total humanist and marxist also communist control of its own radification's ..if yu need the cops they are to busy sumtimes to help yu and damm if yu are being beat on by an assailent in florida there is what we have "Castle Doctrine" if sumone is in yur home threatening yur life as to being in yur home in an invasion attempt or yur car or at yur work yu have the right to use deadly force to protect yurself , but on the street yu are not in that category of defending yurself "i know" i am a person recieving the benefits of payment to the GREAT FUCKING STATE OF FLORIDA for defending my life and another "other words i got fucked "metaphorically" . the judicial system could care less about yu or wat was going on all they want is the money "YOU ARE" going to pay them ..thats it in a nut shell ..cops are here to enforce that obligation to the court systems that is how yur street got paved and yur fire hydrant got painted.. they are not here to protect yu unless yu have plenty of money..even with Mr.Gates the officer did not have the right to arrest him at his own home "The COP" was in the wrong thats just another way to get the man in the system and do D.N.A.swabs on him "listen to the news" read and learn its money and communism ....

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All very nice & erudite, but there's someone being wrongly tazered as you read this and what are you doing to save them?

Write to the LOCAL PAPER.

Call your friendly neighborhood shock jock.

Call for a moratorium LOCALLY & PUBLICLY

This is just a giant vomitorium of clever thinkers and will not save a single grandmother. The real criminals go unquestioned & unanswered and YOU need to ACT.

And while you're at it, tell the world you are pissed about the public option. We are being screwed BUTT ROYAL AGAIN & this is all diversionary horse shit.

And don't try to put this off on me, you know you're just not doing enough & projecting is not the answer.

Evil reigns when good men DO NOTHING (much)...

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The abuse of tasing Americans by police is more about creating a submissive and fear-filled populace that will submit to facist rule than 'non-leathal' force used against criminals; especially since so many average citizens are being murdered by police with tasers.

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Officer so and so called to address and has taser administured to him by group until defecation occurs.

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The time is way overdue for people to take their heads out of their collective asses long enough to realize that Tasers are a lethal weapon and take action to have this weapon removed from all law enforcement agencies.

That tasers are being falsely marketed and portrayed as a non-lethal weapon, is the root cause of the more than 400 deaths that have occurred as a result of this so-called non-lethal weapon. Every justification in defense of taser deaths quotes the false portrayals that this weapon is somehow "non-lethal".

The so-called "excited delirium" displayed by taser victims is also being used by law enforcement agencies as the basis for taser deaths. However, this assertion doesn't seem to support the body of professional opinion regarding that diagnosis. "Excited delirium is not recognized by professional medical associations, and you won't find it listed in the chief psychiatric reference book." Also that "police officials are using the diagnosis 'as a means of white-washing what may be excessive use of force and inappropriate use of control techniques by officers during an arrest." And that "The International Association of Chiefs of Police hasn't accepted the diagnosis, either, saying not enough information is known. But every year, excited delirium is showing up on more and more medical examiners' autopsy reports."
From: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7608386

Taser International’s central marketing claim that its device is “safe”.
As stated on their website, tasers are “safe and easy to use.”
Nowhere on their website is the phrase "less-lethal" used.
If “less lethal” were used in conjunction with their claim that the device is “safe”, that would be an oxymoron. They know the track record of deaths resulting from their weapon and they are currently under litigation for many of the deaths resulting from their misrepresentation of this weapon as being “safe”. A lack of adequate testing and independent medical evidence supporting the company’s bold marketing claims have been cited by such diverse critics as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and a consulting electrical engineers as reasons for removing the stun guns from the market until more extensive testing is done especially with respect to how the device affects pregnant women, people on drugs, or those with heart conditions.

Because the number of deaths resulting from tasers is publicly available knowledge, both the manufacturer of tasers and any law enforcement agency that causes a death from use of this lethal weapon are culpable for those deaths and should be held accountable.

Congress needs to investigate the false claims relating to this weapon as they did with false claims which resulted in deaths that were caused by the tobacco, pharmaceutical and auto industries.

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It's just very unfortunate that more often than not ...we're seeing the criminally minded in a uniform,w/badge and gun,not to mention,they really ''don't'' get a good education on how to deal w/people...who said you needed to shoot to kill a criminal w/their back to you running away?...and now w/the tazer...everybody and anything is viewed as a threat,and what's worse is they do have to answer for their actions....you want to see a good cop?...watch a tv show ,not reality but the fictional ones...strictly fictional,do not in any way represent the real Mc-Coy!....as a kid living in the 50's I met good cops!...when I came home from VietNam in the later '60s the tide began to turn...I simply keep out of their way,not giving them the chance to be the criminal hiding inside...and I'm handicapped....shit what a target I'd make!!.....welcome to the new police state!!

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Taser employs a large law firm whose mission is to keep stories like this out of news and out of the public eye. The things are known to cause a potentially fatal arrhythmia in some people within the first 48 hours after being tased. They've done really well keeping that out of view. And cops clearly think they're harmless physically; they're "just" humiliating. Some cops like to aim for the neck and head, too. People have been known to lose bladder and/or bowel control. They're were at first for use in place of firearms within the short distance of a Taser's range, but more and more lately, cops use them to enforce quick, respectful (groveling) obedience without questioning.

To cops as they are now, large groups of civilians are a danger the public (by that they mean to arrogant cops), so law or no law, cops break groups of people up. They could be dangerous! ANd lack of "respect" shows that this person might be planning something nasty, so better not to take a chance, and just tase 'em.

Welcome to Amerika, which I wrote for the first time almost a decade ago along with many other writers, and nobody believed it then. Thanks to lawyers keeping things like this out of the news, people still think it's "just an isolated incidence." Yeah, right.

Ian MacLeod
Activist PRN. Nonprofit, Nonpartisan, 501(C)(3) Corporation.
Progressive Political Activist.
Veteran, Disabled, Chronic Intractable Pain Patient, 25 years
Primum, non nocere!
Illegitimis non carborundum!

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Its everyone.....i know i know we expect that cops should be morally upstanding and not impulsive or downright evil......but look at the bigger picture.....this is what entertaining on tv, in movies, video games and music. when your society is fed bullshit continuosly, should it not resemble bullshit as well???

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A high percentage of cops here in the US have been surpressing the urge to abuse the public for years but have avoided doing so [in the numbers we see now] because of the finality of using their pistol. Aah, but now they can kick ass with "fewer fatalities" with their new taser toys. On the other side, we love to criticize the police until we need them. Well, i live so far out in the boonies that it takes a minimum of twenty minutes for them to respond,so, therefore i don't need them and am happy to conclude with a hearty FUCK YOU.

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...Captain Renault replied, "I'm shocked, shocked!!!!

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"There's a learning curve when departments get tasers," Tuttle concluded. "Cops aren't perfect. They're human, but we expect them to be Robocop."

Then why are you giving tasers to cops at all?

In the beginning, they promised not to abuse tasers, then lo and behold, they abuse them! What a surprise!

What fun toy will these out-of-control alpha males decide they need next?

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why do cops love to taser the defenseless? why is a scorpion alwayas a scorpion?

20 years ago, i read of a study by SFU into 'what do bullies become in later life.' it found that serious schoolyard bullies of multiple violent incidents will be found in these careers later:
1. police
2. lifers in the military
3. prison guards
4. mental hospital attendants
5. nursing home attendants
in other words, any job in which they can be violent with most anyone and get away with it, even rewarded for it. my guess would be that many bullies also love jobs as animal testers...

back in 1995, after the so-called 'republican revolution' led by gingrich, there were two immediate results of this 'revolution' and as happens more and more, these votes also included many by the democrats, too.
1. drastic cutting of federal school lunch programs budgets
2. the reversal of the nursing home act of 1965, (which took 12 years to pass in the first place in this grand government.)

as has been recently reported, since the nursing home act was repealed, the stats on violent and other abuses of the elderly in nursing homes has tripled. at the same time, if an unfortunate elder happens to be in a home receiving government funding; lawsuits are made virtually impossible, in the same way that the government later excluded itself from any prosecutions under the RICO Act...

so we see that another great job for a bully is to go into 'public service,' where millions can be tormented with impunity.

btw... can we buy tasers to protect ourselves from cops and other attacking bullies or should we just use an old fashioned machine gun for self defense? with automatic weapons now going for $400, guess those are still cheaper, eh? i just read that there are now multiple tasers in case a cop or soldier wants to use it on several persons at once. something like a walking electrifying octopus.

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the average IQ of a US soldier is now down to 98 but police are even stupider, at an average IQ of 96. new electronic, non-verbal means of testing IQ have shown that dogs, some breeds like jack russel fox terriers in particular, have IQs as high as 78. frankly, i'd trust a dog with a weapon farther than an officer of the law. three jack russels are smarter than two cops or soldiers, mind you. einstein in one of his tart moments asked, "why waste a brain on a soldier?"

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So I'm wondering... Why do police get to use a toy that is dangerous, but I can't smoke a joint legally? People die from being tasered. Nobody dies from smoking pot. Where ARE the priorities and how did they get so f'd up?

Police should be monitored and treated as criminals. They can not be trusted, and that is a real shame. They break the rules and run around like they own the place. That must stop. Speeding; never use a turn signal; tasering; pointless arrests made just to prove they CAN.

They CAN because we LET them. Until the people of this great nation learn how to TAKE BACK THE POWER, we are sitting ducks.

Go run for office. Fast.

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If tasers are so harmless I don't see why I can't taser a cop who is encrouching on my safety and privacy. If used correctly, tasers could actual be the citizens' way of keeping police in check.

http://www.beststungun.com/taserc2.html

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...for laughing at a guy yelling " Don't tase me bro! " Karma is a bitch and the joke is now on society.

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One is to be directly involved instead of being a bystander in certain regards.

I once saw a elderly woman in a wheelchair who was clearly rambling crazy, no hysterical, but needed to be escorted off the premises as she was not in a sound state of mind. Police were called (this was San Diego), and she feebly swatted away their hands when they tried to wheel her out. Blows that a housefly would recover from and keep buzzing.

In response, one officer went into the next room and began charging his taser. I witnessed this, so I went up to him, looked him in the eye, and simply said, "Don't."

The message was clear, man to man, absolutely no electricity was needed to subdue this grandmother, and he would be less of a man if he had to take such a extreme resort, showing bad tact, and reprehensible judgment and moral fiber. He put his taser away. Grandma was wheeled out.


Huge Accountability Solution Using Technology

Have a video and audio capture device installed into EVERY officer's weapon, gun or taser, that turns on and records whatever it is pointed at (and audio from all angles) the instant the safety is off or being charged, or withdrawn from holster.


I'll even withdraw patent claims if such devices/recording accountability policies were immediately instituted in all police departments.

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American policing tactics are pure barbarism inflicting deliberate terror to achieve total control of the masses by the ruling elites. Anyone who disputes this should really take a close look at police responses to problem solving , the prison population, size and treatment of prisoners.

We are closing schools but hiring more cops and building more prisons, it really is a sad thing. If we continue on this path we will not only be the most violent and barbaric nation on earth if not already, we will be the most backward and weak and poor nation as well. People and their knowledge are our true assets

Unfortunately the American public are one of the least informed on the planet, yes even a Bangladeshi taxi driver knows more about economics, food policies, banking and political events than an American with higher education. We are increasing our school tuition, closing mental care units, elderly and children's services labeling it socialism.

Well, socialism shouldn't be a dirty word because the rich benefit from socialism by the poor every day, however the poor are too stupid to realize it.

All the government subsidies, charity organizations, highway systems, postal, water, schools, even your neighborhood communities are socialistic in nature. Not to speak of bail outs and government contracting, taxation, the military, the congress, etc, etc...

We are social beings how can we not be socialists?
Even the bible promotes human collaboration, compassion and sharing of ones everything, so slam those damn evangelicals with their own Bibles, Torahs and Qurans. All intelligent being are socialists, even many not so intelligent ones such as an ant colony a bee hive, crows, wolves, etc... but humans, are we really advanced or just a bunch of germs destroying the planet?

Socialism is an advanced form of human society where everyone takes responsibility for the good of the whole community and the common environment.

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Fire the sadistic morons posing as cops, first time around.
Sound simplistic? I, for one am willing to bet it WORKS.

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If we all drove around in this years BMW's. were white and had BushCheny bumper strikers, and were prominent members of the same clubs that the Chief of Police and half the department golfed at, we would not have this kind of problem.

Ladies and Gentlemen, lets win friends and influence people.

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"When the only tool you have is a hammer," a grandfather told me when I was about seven, "every problem becomes a nail."

This morning, I watched still another video of a gang of cops piling onto a helpless man, pounding him with fists, kicking him, and seemingly trying to hammer him into paste. It resembled nothing so much as a pack of dogs gone wild.

As I related elsewhere here, I was once a cop for seven years, during which time I made many resisted arrests. I refused to carry chemical sprays, nightsticks, saps, or the like - wearing only handcuffs and a sidearm. Even against resisting professional football players - to say nothing of drunken (even, on occasion, nude ones) - I never once injured anyone. Never. Skilled at judo (twice a national champion), I preferred the restraining technique of what people call a martial art (it isn't). For several years, I demonstrated the method to law enforcement officers across the U.S., but for some reason, police departments prefer weapons.

Certainly, these things happen because cops are poorly trained. They happen more often, though, because the "arresting officers" are overweight and out of shape. A cop who is twenty, thirty, or forty pounds overweight quickly panics quickly when resisted, and the only way he can regain ascendency over the "subject" is a weapon of some kind.

The one thing favorable about the "Taser" is that the alternative would have been a gun.

One other thing: cops react this way because they know that the only help coming is a woman. That's absurd, of course, but it's how we are. The Taser is only one example of a nation demented by ideology, ideology sustained only by technology like that which makes a woman appear everywhere equal to a man.

You bought it folks. Stop complaining when the chickens come home to roost.

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You can take the pig out of the sty, but you can't take the sty out of the pig.

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Law enforcement face so many challenges that most are not aware of.

For example, women (mothers) are responsible for the majority of child murders in the United States (1200 per year).

Children are killing each other over game-boys and PSP's and gang violence in LA County alone kills over 7500 people per year.

What do you expect them to do? Tazering is a NON lethal way of protecting themselves against a possible onslaught of a criminal, regardless of age or gender.

Women, children, and grandparents are no longer safe to be around. Today a child once again killed his father, then killed himself. Two weeks ago, a grandmother in Alabama was manufacturing meth in the same home as her custodial grandchildren. A woman in California is sitting in jail awaiting trial for the rape and murder of a female child. Everyone knows about the Anthony case....and yet you want law enforcement to coddle them?

You put lives on the line by your double standards.

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Before the Taser was even released there was a video made that was meant to show the usefulness of the weapon and how it would give police a NON LETHAL option in cases where their safety was in jeopardy.What was really interesting was that one of the originators of the weapon explained how the company was putting as much money aside to fight possible law suits as for product development.There was never any doubt in their minds that this weapon was going to cause a lot of litigation.That it causes a medical condition that can kill was never mentioned and now that a B.C. court has found the weapons to be lethal in some cases and their use to be far in excess of what should be permitted,the company is actually filing a lawsuit claiming that the judge didn't look at all of THEIR evidence.The judge did wade through 100 of Tasers 125 briefs.Taser claims the other 25 might have made the difference.This company has gone so far as to release a personal purse size taser to be sold to the general public.It may get away with selling such a travesty in Amerika but other countries have more sense.These weapons have been proved to be fatal to people with an irregular heart beat.To allow people to purchase personal Tasers is going to accelerate the death toll.This is a company that makes claims of being there to save lives but which is killing people by the hundreds.Taser is well aware of it's fatal flaws.What makes it such an unconscionable entity is that it hires a legal team before it hits the market that is financed to the tune of 100% of the weapons cost.

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Resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failing to obey a police officer are the "trash can," bullsh*t charges any police officer can use without any fear from the courts. These, like traffic tickets, are the "guilty until proven innocent" charges which depend upon nothing more than the word of an often lying "peace" officer, and which give that officer the government-sanctioned green light to act like anything from a common thug to a Nazi Brownshirt. Today, police make up reasons to pull over cars whose occupants they don't like the look of, hassle them, and then when asked why by the victums ... er... "perps," charge them with reisisting arrest and more, tase or smack them around to boot, and then pile on more charges to force them to cop a plea in a kangaroo court and then take their place in the chokingly-overcrowded-but-highly-profitable incarceration business. Whatever happened to the Fourth Amendment?

The reason I threw in the admittedly-reaching Brownshirt reference, the problem that worsens day-by-day, is that a growing number of police no longer understand that they are supposed to be only the administrators of the law. Increasingly, they think that they ARE the law. This dangerous alteration of the role of police in society was an equally troubling sign so many decades ago in a European country far, far away ... and we all remember how THAT turned out ....

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One of the elements historically identified with fascism is obsession with crime and punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even forgo civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

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Because they're a bunch of sick sadists who enjoy causing other people pain, and because they can get away with it.

Taser International has its underpants in a bunch right now because a report out of Canada is very critical of them. They keep claiming that their product is completely safe and no one has died from its use. Those dead people are for some other reason. Their position is that if it doesn't electrocute people, then it can't kill them. They deny that cardiac arrhythmias can exist or can be connected with Taser use.

It would be a good idea to get a bunch of old pigs whose breeding days are over and are headed for market, and taze half of them and stick all of them on cardiac monitors to see if cardiac arrhythmias occur primarily in the zapped group and if they do, how often. I specify old pigs because they would have heart function more similar to adult humans than young market hogs.

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The root of the problem we are having with our cops behaving so violently is that the criminal justice system has decided not to obey the law. For cops have the authority to violate the right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches and siezures at their own discretion. They merely have to claim after the fact that they had reasonable suspicion that an offense would be discovered by searching anyone they meet in the course of their duty to violate a citizen's personal security in order to continue in their behavior with impunity.

The fourth amendment denies cops the authority to violate our personal security with force according to their own discretion by statute. It requires cops to have probable cause for conducting a search or siezure, supported by oath or affirmation. They must specify in their petition to the court what will be discovered and where it is located as well as who or what will be siezed. The court must determine whether reasonable cause exists to conduct the search or siezure on a case by case basis, and it is the issuing of the warrant by a court that opens the door to the authority to conduct searches and siezures.

Law enforcement and court officials have both demonstrated a lack of respect for the rights we have as citizens in this country. We established this government in a common effort to secure our rights as individuals that we may enjoy these privileges together in our society. If government authority supercedes the rights we enjoy together as citizens, then the government has become destructive of the ends for which it was established. For we established this government with power to secure our rights, but we find our rights have become subject to that authority through abuses, usurpations, and maladministration.

The question is how do we bring the cops under control. The criminal justice system has become established like a business enterprise. I like to call it the "Assembly Line of Justice," for the people working in the criminal justice system earn a living by charging people with offenses, trying them for crimes, and punishing them when they are found guilty. They produce nothing and destroy the integrity of the citizenry through the process they have created.

The courts circumvent Constitutional guidelines established to ensure citizens are given a fair trial before punishment is inflicted in several ways. Plea bargaining cases allows courts to prosecute people accused of crimes without a trial. Over 90% of criminal actions are settled by plea bargains. This reduction in trials allows courts to conclude ten times the number of cases it would be able to try if the Constitutional guidelines were followed. The Sixth Amendment states that, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial..." The process requires a trial to conclude criminal prosecutions, so the practice of plea bargaining in the courts is unconstitional and unlawful.

How do we get the courts and law enforcement officials to obey the laws which the claim to enforce? The government is too powerful for anyone to force them to obey the laws. We can complain, but our complaints have no power. We can resist, but resistence is futile. There is nothing we can do to stop them from exercising power according to their own pleasure. They have established a pretty good future for themselves with their authority, and they enjoy the entitlements they have established for themselves for their whole life. As long as their future is secure, and they continue to enjoy the benefits of participating in the process, they will refuse to change anything. They will not care when they bankrupt the country and the states with their practices.

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Cops don't get paid worth a darn. They are in their jobs for the POWER, power's all they got. So give them a toy that they can use indiscriminately and they'll sure by gosh use it, because it's the ultimate feeling of power to see someone writhing on the ground in front of them.

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is all about fear just like their "off shore secret prisons". They use our money against us.

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The general consensus is that we are no longer free in this country, and trust in the police force is ebbing, to their very detriment.

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I purposefully do everything I can to assure that I don't ever have a conversation with a cop which is not on my terms. (which is all of them) I drive cars which don't attract attention, and then drive them the speed limit. I don't commit crimes in public. I make friends with my neighbors so they will come to me when my music is too loud instead of calling the cops.

When confronted by a cop I speak calmly, but I also make sure that he/she is completely aware that I understand the nature of our relationship with each other...that I'm not going to pretend that there's any sort of equal footing, and that I am being detained for the duration of our conversation.

Ayn Rand may be a nutjob, but she wasn't wrong about everything. The idea, put forth in Atlas Shrugged, that "Logic ends where the barrel of a gun begins" has always resonated with me. This can include tasers, but the point is that it's not the gun, it's the authority to impose their will onto you regardless of whether or not they're right or whether or not you broke the law. And the law is set up to give them the benefit of the doubt when they do so. This is a power that I am not the least bit interested in, but it tends to draw people who are not intellectually predisposed to use it responsibly.

I'm not saying that there aren't good cops..I'm friends with a couple, but unfotunately you have to plan for the other kind, and there's a lot of them.

This kind of cop was the kid who liked to tattle on the other kids over actions which didn't even personally affect him, just so he could exert control. He's grown up, and he's found a way to further this behavior. And any cop who would taze a man or a woman who they could easily apprehend with their hands should be beaten with their own nightsticks like the bullies they are. What a bunch of worthless cowards.

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to abuse there power, why don't they go after and abuse more really bad guys. They always seem to kill people that aren't much of a threat. They feel the need to use such force on these more mild mannered folks, then how come the really scum sucking evil bad guys don't get killed more? It would seem that they will hire anyone to be a cop. Even the guys who are on the jagged edge.

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Too many cops don't like to be questioned or sassed...neither of which are against the law, by the way. To be a cop is to incur an "us versus them" mindset. Everybody is a potential "perp", even including, apparently, children, pregnant women and old ladies. Yes, cops are human, too, and make mistakes. And sometimes they're psycho power junkies who are personally inclined toward intimidation and violence. The violence that has been recorded by home movies and dashboard cameras is the tip of the iceberg compared to what cops do when they think no one is looking.

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I knew a guy who drove a van for Temple University. He was a black muslim, and he told me that he never got a speeding ticket. I asked why. He said because he carries a registered firearm at all times and when a cop pulls him over, he calmly says, "Officer, just so you know, I am carrying a registered firearm." At that point, the cop forgets all about the speeding and asks for the gun and runs a check on it to make sure it's registered and everything is legit. When he gives the gun back, he is satisfied, knowing that a) he has already shown his authority by taking the guy's gun to check it, and b) he has made it out of this situation alive and should count his lucky stars.

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So many perspectives. Do we need to be policed? Yep. Can the tools used by the police be improved upon? Yep. Give a person a violin and he can make music, give a person a gun and he can kill someone. Give a person a tranquilizer dart gun and he can hit the subject on any part of his body, without killing him, and subdue him, without all the blood and mess. The police are very much like humans in other careers, they just shouldn't be given the tools of an executioner. Let a designated court decide that fate. Of course, we must take into account the psycological factor, when dealing with people in our daily lives, like the courtesy of other drivers, people in the check out line, family, etc. If it's a choice between improved policing techniques and everyone arming themselves to protect us from each other, well, you know how I feel. Also, the woman, alone, at home, would, more effectively, protect herself from an intruder, with a tranquilizer projectile, than by using lead to put holes in him. It would certainly reduce the deaths by children in the home and irate spouces.

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The abuse of the taser was a foregone conclusion. And I believe most of us knew the 'fringe' cops would unleash this horrible, barbaric torture devise under the circumstances mentioned in your article. I have always utterly hated the very thought of these weapons and I question how my body would react to the electrical charge having 4 large steel rods inserted alongside my spine from a major back surgery! Although I would never put myself in such a position to be tasered, but after seeing the TV News video footage of the poor Polish fellow at the Vancouver airport, I wouldn't have a chance to explain anyway! That was the most upsetting piece of footage to watch but thank God for the guy who had the vision to capture it on his phone/camera. I wish people would rise up and DEMAND they be outlawed. I'd sign on.

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I think this is part of a perfect storm that includes more than just cops: almost across the board, among every subculture I've interacted with, there has been an obvious increase in anger, frustration and stress. Cops happen to have tasers, and that makes them the "canary in the coal mine" because their actions immediately affect other people. But we are all part of the wave, and we all find ways to unleash what we can't contain any longer, the most common being verbal objectification (labeling etc), gossip or verbal abuse. It's up to the few who channel their own stress and anger in positive ways to teach the rest of us how to avoid inflicting it (verbally, economically or with a taser) on others. When cops lose control of themselves, it's a sign that they're afraid. If so, they're not alone, just lucky enough to be in uniform, which gets them the benefit of the doubt in disputes.

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Three weeks ago at a Baptism party in Virginia, Prince William County police tasered the grandfather of the boy being Baptized. Here is a local news report on the incident:
The grandfather was tased multiple times for the crime of being drunk on private property while trying to show his I.D. Tasering has become routine. Cop thinks you're being mouthy: you're tased. If the charges are later dropped, which they often are, the tasing was your punishment for the crime of not being deferential enough. An internal investigation concluded procedures were followed.
A New York mom was tasered in front of her kids because she questioned why she was being ticketed for driving with a cell phone when she didn't have one. She filed suit this week. Take a look at the video:
In this case our "heroic and manly" officer, embarrassed at his own mistake, tries to save face by tasering the mom in front of her crying kids. All charges against her have been dismissed and police are conducting an internal investigation to see if they can find a way to justify what happened.
In Michigan, two teenage boys died this spring in separate incidents. These and many other cases are detailed inside.


In March, 15-year-old Brett Elder died after being tasered by Bay City police who were trying to arrest him. Witnesses say he was handcuffed at the time of the tasering. Police say he was not. One month later, 16-year-old Robert Mitchell was killed by a taser operated by police in Warren, Michigan. He was a passenger in a car pulled over for expired tags and had fled the scene, apparently fearful of police there.
Apparently Warren police use tasers routinely; here is another case from that department:
You've probably seen the case of the 72-year-old woman who was tasered after a traffic stop in Texas but here it is if you haven't:
Couldn't the cop handle this elderly woman without tasering her? If 15 and 16 year olds are dying from being tasered don't you think elderly men and women might be even more likely to die? Here's a case from 3 years ago in Georgia (complete with European mockery):
You think race might have been a factor in that one? Tasered for asking questions while not being white. Here's a case from Florida of a woman who tasered at Best Buy:
Tasering has become the preferred method for handling mouthy suspects. Shoot them and you are guaranteed a lengthy investigation. Beat them enough to leave marks and, again, you're facing a long suspension or reassignment to desk duty, possible lawsuits. But the taser is a great option for the angry cop because:
1. In most cases it doesn't leave unsightly physical damage that a jury might find objectionable.
2. You don't have to use your own body to subdue the suspect. This is perfect for the more cowardly cops. You can inflict pain without any chance of incurring pain.
3. You can be "Judge Dredd." So what if the suspect isn't really guilty of anything. They're guilty of not being deferential and you get to inflict the punishment without the mess of "courts" and "rights" and stuff.
4. Your supervisors think it's just fine.
But it's not a laughing matter. At least 200 people have died by taser. And the trend seemed to really pick up during the Bush administration; the culture of torture and "guilty until proven innocent" coming to your neighborhood.

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......and some guy with a Charlie Chaplin Mustache to lead them.......

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Enough said

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I can't comment on the individual situations in which these tasings occurred because I wasn't there, but in general grandmothers, pregnant women, and children can be as dangerous as anyone else. Any of them could be carrying a gun and many cops die during routine traffic stops. All you need to do is be calm and courteous to the cops and you likely will NOT be tased.

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It's just applied differently, and to varying amounts, to certain people. If you do something real bad, but your brother gets punished for it, even though everyone knows you did it, is that going to change your perception of doing bad things, the next opportunity you get to do something bad, and knowing your brother was going to get punished, not you, would you do the right thing, or the cop thing? If these cops were subject to the same laws the citizens are, and were held accountable for their own actions, instead of getting a paid vacation, during the "investigation", which, always turns out the same,

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