Don't tase me Mr. Conductor!

[Jon Miller]

I wonder what would happen if while I was walking down a street, if I sawa police officer I started running?

JM

[KrazyHorse]

And I've already seen what you consider justification. Do I need to dig up the thread where you were defending the ******* Texas cop caught on video who pulled some dude over, acted like a total dick and then tased the guy for no good reason?

Those actions and your defence of them made me lose a great deal of respect for police officers.

[Colon™]

Sure it's annoying if an arrestant is holding onto a railing, but does that mean it's alright to use weapons out of convenience? I'm pretty sure the idea used to be that tasers are a good alternative to lethal weapons and I don't think a headshot would have been applied in such a situation.

[Colon™]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I wonder what would happen if while I was walking down a street, if I sawa police officer I started running?

JM

I once did something similar when I was a teenager, for no good reason, and sure the cops did got suspicious and searched. They did not, however, jumped on me, maybe popped a few caps while at it, because acting dumb near cops sanctions unrestricted violence.

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Yes, it's one line. And given what's NOT there, it's enough to judge.

This is where people make mistakes. What isn't there? Things need better definition. When I see the term "Fare Blitz", I see a bunch of people getting their tickets checked all at once. The next part of the line say he fled. Based on that, it looks like the officers anounced their intentions of checking fares and the guy took off when he heard it (which can be akin to an admition of guilt). Given this situation, would I tase the guy? No (I would probably stand there being mildly amused as I watch this guy go dodging through pedestrians as if the world was about to end all over a $15 ticket.). It would be unreasonable; but since the guy did get tased, I'd be inclined to bet that there is more info to the situation (which leads us back to the whole "I'd need more info before I make up my mind" deal).

[KrazyHorse]

since the guy did get tased, I'd be inclined to bet that there is more info to the situation

What, he broke a bottle over the cop's head? He had an old lady at knifepoint? The journo just forgot to mention that?

The other blurbs were quite clear when there was further information than simply attempting to flee or not having a valid ticket.

Why the conspicuous absence of further justification than a minor violation and fleeing?

[Donegeal]

Because hitting a fleeing target with a taser is not common practice. Tasers have a maximum range of 20', and the further the target, the harder it is to hit with both probes (the top probe is line of sight; the bottem one is angled down 10 degrees). To me, that means that the taser would already have been drawn (and probably aimed) prior to the subject fleeing as any attempt to hit moving target with both probes before he got 20 feet away from a holstered taser is highly unlikely. There is far more to the story than is said.

[Spec]

Tasering forum!

Spec.

[Donegeal]

So long as I'm mod...

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
And I've already seen what you consider justification. Do I need to dig up the thread where you were defending the ******* Texas cop caught on video who pulled some dude over, acted like a total dick and then tased the guy for no good reason?

Those actions and your defence of them made me lose a great deal of respect for police officers.

Don't bother digging up anything. I've said, and will continue to say, that the best course of action is to do as told by an officer of the law. Argue about it later. Running, under any circumstances, is an act of sheer stupidity.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Don't bother digging up anything. I've said, and will continue to say, that the best course of action is to do as told by an officer of the law. Argue about it later. Running, under any circumstances, is an act of sheer stupidity.

Everybody agrees about that Sloww. In fact, that's actually the problem in every conversation everyone has with you on the subject. You keep brining up this strawman to which everyone agrees as though it actually is an argument on your side.

The question is not whether running away is ok, the question is WHAT IS AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE FROM THE OFFICER OF THE LAW in such a situation?

For example, do you think that if someone runs from the police (yes this is an act of sheer stupidity etc.. etc.. ), the police should be allowed to rape him and maybe his children too? How about torture his descendants?

My point is, you probably have a line somewhere. That is, some response you consider appropriate and some others not. Some think that in some of these situations (and it depends on the circumstances) tasering is NOT acceptable.

You may not agree where others place the line but you also have such lines so the only disagreement is about where to draw it. Hence, your repeated statements of "Running, under any circumstances, is an act of sheer stupidity. " don't support your position anymore than the opposite one.



You're not the only one, by the way.
Every time a discussion about police brutality or "over-zealousness" comes up, on any forums I've seen, there's always a bunch of people repeating "but what the guy did was wrong" or "if you don't want that to happen to you, don't do whatever" like a mantra.

[SlowwHand]

Offer an alternative. I know, same thing I always ask.

[Ninot]

Alternative: The police officer chase after him? It's probably too much to ask that cops be in shape for that though.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Offer an alternative. I know, same thing I always ask.

That's irrelevant to the point I was making : that your mantra of "I've said, and will continue to say, that the best course of action is to do as told by an officer of the law. Argue about it later." which you seem to think is an argument in favor of tasing is actually agreed on by everyone and doesn't answer the question of what conduct is warranted by the officer.

In other words, your most common "argument" in this debate is not an argument.

Whether I think an appropriate alternative would have been to do nothing, run after the guy or shoot him in the back is irrelevant to my point that your earlier "argument" was a fallacy.

Basically, you made your usual non-argument, I pointed this out and you deviated with an irrelevant question. This is actually symptomatic or your arguments.



Let me (sort of) answer your question anyway:
From my point of view, the alternative depends on the situation of course. Although tasing IS justified sometimes, I can't think of situation where it's not, even situations involving some kind of resistance.


What about you?
Do you think that ANY form and ANY (and I mean ANY) level of not doing as told by an officer of the law (to reuse your terminology) warrants tasing?

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Lul Thyme





That's irrelevant to the point I was making : that your mantra of "I've said, and will continue to say, that the best course of action is to do as told by an officer of the law. Argue about it later." which you seem to think is an argument in favor of tasing is actually agreed on by everyone and doesn't answer the question of what conduct is warranted by the officer.

In other words, your most common "argument" in this debate is not an argument.

Whether I think an appropriate alternative would have been to do nothing, run after the guy or shoot him in the back is irrelevant to my point that your earlier "argument" was a fallacy.

Basically, you made your usual non-argument, I pointed this out and you deviated with an irrelevant question. This is actually symptomatic or your arguments.



Let me (sort of) answer your question anyway:
From my point of view, the alternative depends on the situation of course. Although tasing IS justified sometimes, I can't think of situation where it's not, even situations involving some kind of resistance.


What about you?
Do you think that ANY form and ANY (and I mean ANY) level of not doing as told by an officer of the law (to reuse your terminology) warrants tasing?

I guess he could have been clubbed into stopping.
See? That's an example of an alternative. Your alternative is that the cop fight the guy. WTF is wrong with you?