Naked Wizard Tased By Reality

[brainpanhandler]

I think the manner of the tassering needs to be brought into question also. one in the back, two directly on the chest, one over the heart (ffs) and one at the base of the brain, one in the neck and back to the heart again.

sick.

Exactly. Sadistic.

[beeline]

They are not trained this way, nor should they be.

Yes, they most emphatically should be and these guys had all the time in the world to consider their options.

Really? And in which branch of the armed services / law enforcement did you serve?

[brainpanhandler]

I hope your not saying it should have been used to -prevent- the Wizard from taking off his clothes...

Obviously not. That's why I included the qualifier "as a general rule".

If it we me in that "at risk" position, I think I'd prefer the 9mm.

You would have shot the guy?

With regard to the statement BPH references above, that was probably more a gut reaction response to the notion put forth by her and Chigs that because the Cops in this case were Homophobic, they somehow feigned trying to restrain the guy so they could make use of the Tase. To put it bluntly, that just sounded a bit to R.I. "ish" for my taste.

Niether of us said they pussyfooted around "so they could make use of the Tase."

I think they showed as much restraint as they did because there were so many witnesses and cameras.

And I don't think it is too much of a stretch to observe that the officers seemed reluctant to get ahold of the guy and that that reluctance might have had something to do with homophobia. Admittedly, that is pretty much pure conjecture, but I'd put money on it. An alternative explanation is that they were just concerned about getting cooties.

[brainpanhandler]

They are not trained this way, nor should they be.

Yes, they most emphatically should be and these guys had all the time in the world to consider their options.

Really? And in which branch of the armed services / law enforcement did you serve?

None, but that does not disqualify me from expecting that police officers be trained to use the appropriate level of force for a given set of circumstances.

[beeline]

They are not trained this way, nor should they be.

Yes, they most emphatically should be and these guys had all the time in the world to consider their options.

Really? And in which branch of the armed services / law enforcement did you serve?

None, but that does not disqualify me from expecting that police officers be trained to use the appropriate level of force for a given set of circumstances.

Sorry I'm grumpy today.

So, you're probably right, they should be. But just because something should be doesn't make it happen. I should be rich beyond my wildest imagination.

Anyway, if I were a cop, esp. a cop here in Philly, I wouldn't waste a whole lot of time thinking about appropriate levels of force. I'd be more concerned with an expedient end to the situation. Let the review board dock my pay, if they see fit. That's their concern. My concern would be keeping my life intact another day towards retirement.

[posting tulpa]

A video of a guy getting hit with a potentially lethal weapon in response to his very much non-violent crime draws a bunch of fuckin' dick-size jokes? At RI?

And I was no where to be found......shucks. Not often a thread comes around with my level of humor and wit........

[chiggerbit]

Anyway, if I were a cop, esp. a cop here in Philly, I wouldn't waste a whole lot of time thinking about appropriate levels of force. I'd be more concerned with an expedient end to the situation. Let the review board dock my pay, if they see fit. That's their concern. My concern would be keeping my life intact another day towards retirement.

beeline, it is exactly attitudes like that which accept that level of incompetance that burdens cities with the kind of cop that people like Op Ed and others distrust. ANY state worth its salt DOES indeed train and expect their cops to be able to assess and handle that kind of situation competently. That's what they're paid to do. This tasering was crass incompetence. If these cops aren't willing to do their jobs competently, it's time for them to consider a career change, like maybe to teaching.

[Cosmic Cowbell]

You would have shot the guy?

Obviously not. My point is that the positions held by some here that suggest that Taser use is only appropriate in a situation that prevents someone from committing a violent act against another is simply naive....and potentially dangerous. Maybe I'm just not getting it.

I may have gone too far in some of my comments in this thread. The thing that irks me though is that when the 'cuda advocated inciting a riot and potential serious injury and/or death to the officers involved, and no one seemed to mind but me, it was a tad unsettling..-and- pissed me off. Not an excuse, just a fact.

The lesson I've learned? Stick to your passions and leave the rest.

And I'm out (this time I mean it...)

~C

[OP ED]

You would have shot the guy?

Obviously not. My point is that the positions held by some here that suggest that Taser use is only appropriate in a situation that prevents someone from committing a violent act against another is simply naive....and potentially dangerous. Maybe I'm just not getting it.

clearly.

we call it the doctrine of proportionate response. its been pretty much S.O.P. for, well, pretty much as long as we've had a country, on paper, at least.

violence is never an appropriate response to non-violence. how difficult is that to understand?

[who would jesus tase?]

...

I may have gone too far in some of my comments in this thread. The thing that irks me though is that when the 'cuda advocated inciting a riot and potential serious injury and/or death to the officers involved, and no one seemed to mind but me, it was a tad unsettling..-and- pissed me off. Not an excuse, just a fact.

The lesson I've learned? Stick to your passions and leave the rest.

And I'm out (this time I mean it...)

~C

last time i was in a riot it was started by cops. forgive me if i fail to share the mayberry worldview wherein they are somehow always the good guys.

[two days ago, in a small town in SE Ohio a cop shot an acquaintance of mine, twice. because as he ran from them he had pulled his pants up, because of his gangsta-no-belt-baggy-pants-style, and they shot him. twice.]

[supposedly because he MIGHT have had a gun]

[he did not have a gun]

OP ED will be suprised if anything happens to said cop(s).

...

i regard your arguments re: naked wizard = potential threat to be remarkably akin to very familiar arguments which have led my country into at least one very misguided war.
[preemptive strikes: not just for armies anymore!]

...

btw, my panties aren't bunchy. and even if they were, i'd be comfortable with that.

...

several things, in brief:

1. if you thought a rock festival is an appropriate "family venue" regardless of advertising, you're an idiot. do you think GE is going green to save the earth, too?
anyone who takes their children to coachella, where i've been, is one of two kinds of a parent:

a. those with young kids = bad parents. they should take your kids.
b. those with older kids= lame parents. you should kill yourself.

sorry. rock festivals may feature nudity. frankly, if i went to coachella and didn't see at least one naked girl, i'd ask for my fucking money back.

...

if your kids are old enough to go to a rock festival but not old enough to see naked people, you should stop breeding before you fuck up the entire gene pool.

(not sorry)

...

btw...cuda and other californicators...wtf happend to california?

i saw RATM at coachella, and this shit would not have gone over well at a show like that....

when did this become cool?

i don't care what uniform a motherfucker wears, ain't no one has ANY right to torture a non-violent offender. EVER. NO EXCEPTIONS.

just because a violent criminal dresses up as a cop to make his aggro-fetish more realistic is no excuse for this sort of degrading nonsense.

when did americans become okay with people being punished BEFORE their trials?

[mentalgongfu2]

fuckin A

[barracuda]

I pray that the lack of more caustic crowd response is an aberation that won't permanently sully the reputation of my beloved Republic, which has, sadly, suffered sullying since well before the statewide median value of a home when north of half a mil. I think we can safely blame the entire incident on the presence at the festival of Paul McCartney.

[OP ED]

ha.

you win.

[RomanyX]

OP ED, I'm very, very sorry about your friend. You didn't say, so I must ask: is he still with us?

[AlicetheKurious]

I probably shouldn't chime in at this point, but... I'm old enough to have caught the dying gasps of the 60s, when there were still things like Sunday in the Park rock concerts, free-for-alls where clouds of marijuana smoke wafted through the golden sunlit skies and mixed with the scent of charcoal barbecues, freshly-cut grass and incense. Children and toddlers were free to run around and play, and there was a sort of languid anarchy that is nearly impossible to find today. Inevitably, someone would disrobe and gyrate to the music. I was never traumatized by any of this, in fact these are some of the nicest memories I have of my childhood.

I also recall going to the island of Mykonos in Greece when I was small, where almost all the women were topless and half the people were nude. My parents took me to the Folies Bergeres in Paris when I was eight -- loved it.

Not that today I'm comfortable with public nudity -- I'm not, simply because I am unaccustomed to it (and feel no need to change). I just want to say that my exposure to public nudity certainly did not damage me in any way.

On the other hand, I would have been severely traumatized by the sight of those policemen tazering an unarmed and naked man (or a fully-clothed one, for that matter).

As a parent, there's no question in my mind that the policemen's behaviour was incredibly ugly and damaging, not only for the immediate target of their brutality, but for the witnesses as well, especially children.

Op Ed said:

...doesn't suprise me tho' really. i've become fairly used to living in a world where acts of violence and torture are preferred to nudity as viewing choices of parents for the childrens' eyes.

If so, then these parents are irresponsible and dangerously lacking in empathy -- not only for the victims of violence and torture, but for their own children.

[OP ED]

OP ED, I'm very, very sorry about your friend. You didn't say, so I must ask: is he still with us?

[not my friend, but close enough]

he is alive, and will probably not be permanently damaged.

and yes, he is responsible for his injuries as well. he was a dumbass.
[he will likely be in more trouble for fleeing than for his alleged crimes -- misdemeanors--therefore he deserved at least a slap on both wrists and to sit in the corner with the dunce cap on for an hour]

however, it is extremely unlikely that shooting him was a valid response to his attempts to flee, whatever the proposed rationale.


[incidentally, i have met the police officer in question before as well, and he probably is not an individually bad person based on my limited observations. that said, it appears that he is clearly unprepared for the realities of his chosen profession and/or his institutions have instilled in him an inferior code of conduct]
...
that is off-topic though, so i apologize for my digressions.
...

my point:

innocent until proven guilty includes "failure to comply".