Two More Questionable Taserings

This whole business reminds me of A Clockwork Orange, in which the thugs became the cops. Life imitating art? Or just more dumbing down in America. I vote the latter. I sure do feel for the people who get on the receiving end of these goons in uniforms.

"You know, I’ve seen how these things unfold. Once the police start in, the person gets in a panic and tries to fight back—giving them the reason to continue that might originally have been lacking."

I agree 100%. If someone starts attacking and physically hurting me my natural reaction is to protect and defend myself to stop the pain and that means I would fight back. These incidents show that some cops and guards only make bad situations unnecessarily worse. I don't think that's the purpose of tasers, which I consider to be torture devices.

These cops and security guards are not using sound judgement and should be held accountable.

The minister claims that part of the tape is missing. I don't know about that... I do know that if I were tasered a few times in a 10 or 20 second period I would believe that I had been tasered much more and for far longer. When one's mind is in a panic mode, protecting against extreme physical pain, one doesn't always think clearly.

But given the recent cases of cops/guards/hospitals covering up their misdeeds and dismissing the graveness of the situation, it would not surprise me if part of the tape is missing. I tend to believe the minister and not the guards who attacked him using such malice and awful force.

Before giving a verdict on tasering, I think we should consider the nature of our police forces, because that's where the problem lies, IMO. In terms of education and training, they are not an elite bunch. The police and firemen gain a lot of recruits among those who want to or need to forgo higher education. So, many of them arrive on the force with little experience of what it means to be a professional.
Training is often short and inadequate.

Then think of the false ego boost a cop can get from the power over others given to him by virtue of his job title. That's heady stuff for someone mentally unfit to handle it well.

To that volatile mix, add the feeling that many cops have that they are underpaid and unappreciated. They are pressured from above to show results and from outside, by the public to make 100% accurate decisions, even in situations.that are potentially life-threatening to themselves. If you've been for-real scared enough times, you can be prematurely scared when it turns out to be unnecessary. Cops do die on the job, or they are tried in court for making the wrong judgment in situations where life and death decisions have to be made in a nanosecond.

So far, I blame lack of adequate training and lack off adequate mental screening. Then we get into the ambiguous area of the cops being a brotherhood, of protecting their own, of us vs them. Even in the military, the bonds of a brotherhood can be a double edged sword. It's wonderful for performance of duty, but it can also be dangerous in the group think that it fosters.

I am in no way excusing these brutal unnecessary taserings. I do think, that the behavior is likely to occur with or without tasers. Would the victims be better off if the cops had used guns or billy clubs, instead? Sometimes, it may be better to be tasered than to be shot dead.
In the video, I was as much, if not more, disturbed by the kicking as I was by the tasering.

About tasers, though, there is definitely not enough training. If cops have the mistaken belief that it's harmless, they are sure to overuse it. Additionaly, it may give them the excuse they're looking for to act out their frustrasions on whoever they encounter, without fear of being charged for overstepping their bounds. Then, too, it's just the lazy cop's dream to taser someone lying on the ground instead of kneeling to find out what is really worng.

My long winded point is that tasers should not be seen as an isolated problem. They are part of a very complex and problematic situaton.in law enforcement

This incident highlights the difference between left and right thought processes.

Of course there are bad cops and security guards. The very nature of the profession they chose tends to attract a more aggressive personality than accounting or nursing. However, when something happens, we on the right tend to give the police the benefit of a doubt until there is convincing evidence of wrongdoing.

The left, on the other hand, seems to immediately assume that rogue cops are intent on inflicting pain on innocent civilians.

It could be that this group of guards were bored and decided to tase the first 66 year old that walked by. According to his story, the reverend didn’t do anything to warrant the type of treatment he received. As for me, I will withhold judgment until the rest of the facts are known.

jwest,

RE:"The left, on the other hand, seems to immediately assume that rogue cops are intent on inflicting pain on innocent civilians'.

The Rght, however, seems incapable of commenting on any story or any topic without framing it as Right vs Left, and 'btw, did I mention what's wrong with the Left? '

Not everything has to be a political fight. Is it impossible to have a plain old personal opinion without taking a swipe at political opponents?
Don't you have a self-identity other than Right?
Can't you read a comment without immediately putting it in a Left-Right pigeon hole?

That's the amazing thing about commenitng about a very unfortuante incident.
It's not important that a cop was kicking an elderly man when he was on the ground. Let's just get our political prioriteis out there.

“It's not important that a cop was kicking an elderly man when he was on the ground.”

This is the point I was making. You’ve already made up your (liberal) mind who the villain is based on incomplete information and how the story was framed.

It could well be that if you were one of the guards, you might have tased, shot and kicked this guy in response to whatever happened. We don’t know all the facts.

My comment simply points out how people of different political viewpoints form their first impressions of situations differently.

What seems to be missing here in one case is the initial confrontation between the guards and Poisson. He may be only relaying part of the confrontation in the video provided.

Rumasim is right about the possibility of professionalism lacking in these examples, however, I would still like to see the rest of the facts. With only the one video available for review, currently it appears the Rev. has a solid stance. We have only heard his version of the conversation, as well.

I made a presentation in regards to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhl2TRJxWKc