Comments on: Trooper Caught On Tape Tasering Motorist

Officials Speed Investigation Into Trooper's Behavior After Clip Appeared On YouTube

[closethippy1]

Posted by sadIndeed at 11:58 AM : Nov 24, 2007

It''s the ultimate conclusion in this sorry episode.

[redbarron73]

I hope everyone in this country enjoys living in a police state. In Tx., more & more police are being put on the streets in response to a high crime rate. This will have no effect on the crime rate, it will simply result in more honest citizens being harassed for trivial traffic violations. Since when have police ever prevented a crime from occurring. There are a lot of these little power hungry pricks on the force. I will personally continue to take responsibility for my own protection and take orders from no man, badge or not.

[redbarron73]

I still think that''s the same cop from the movie, "Meet the Fockers."

[laurenb81]

Screen_ident
If a police officer demanded i put my hands behind my back for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, i would not. I take sh*t from no one. I''ve been through a similar situation about a year ago. I was pulled over for ''speeding'' from the same cop I passed as he was pumping gas at 1 o''clock in the morning. He said I was speeding which I definitely was not and I told him just that. He let me go. He was ***********. I have rights. This man from Utah wasnt intenionally disobeying the law, he did nothing wrong. Speak up! Use your brain! Step outside the box! Dont be one of the ''follower'' herd because you are scared to acknowledge what is truly right!

[sadindeed]

From the video it appears that the police officer intended to arrest the man from the moment he told him to "hop out of the" vehicle. Unfortunately, he did not explain this to the man. He also did not explain the implications of not signing the ticket (which in Utah apparently means that you are subject to arrest), or that by signing he was not actually admitting guilt. It appears that the situation went from "I am not signing this," to "hop out of the car (with an unspoken ''I am going to arrest you'')," to being tasered and arrested. If the police officer had explained the situation carefully at the beginning, all of the subsequent events would have probably never happened. Sadly, it appears to me, that the police officer intended to purposefully escalate the situation, or, at least, the officer''s lack of common decency and respect to the motorist resulted in a confusing sequence of events that mostly arose from misunderstanding on the part of the motorist.

[laurenb81]

When I first watched this video I was filled with horror. Watching in action as a police officer abuses his power on an innocent family really brought to light how sick and twisted some people are. Not only to bring violence upon an innocent civilan, but to POINT A GUN at his PREGNANT wife while she is screaming and pleading for him to stop while her husband is lying on the ground!!! I myself am pregant, and if a police officer were to play that game with my husband I would have his badge. I also would have immediately explained everything to the cop that showed up near the end of the video, letting him know exactly what transpired. This officer deserves everything evil that comes his way...

[name_verify]

When a cop instructs you to put your hands behind your back and you dont, a judge is probably going to back up the cop, absent other evidence. If you want to be a ******* Liberal with an authority figure complex that gets humiliated in front of your family, thats your choice.

[ssm9451]

Go to ''tridellutah.com''. There are telephone numbers and a web site, to post or state your concerns regarding this incident.

[klingon69]

My uncle was the DEAN of Admissions at a very liberal NE University .. and he had a saying ... the more educated the more DUMB people got ... and he was a PHD''''d Doctor !! So put that in your pipe and smoke it !!

Get in the real world people ... or get zapped or shot its your right!!
Posted by Dowjones20k at 01:04 PM : Nov 23, 2007

So, does that mean he was really stupid?

[finalflights]

I listen to the reporting on CNN and watched the video on the internet. The young man had the right to disagree but not to put the officer in a potential dangerous situation. The officer only stopped him for a traffic violation and issued a ticket. He had no way to know if the couple could have been armed.
I believe that the officer did not use excessive force and was fully justified in his actions.

[badboy6992]

This was a setup by the trooper from the start,he had no intentions of a warning or anything else,it was more of a "I''m a cop,I can do what I want,and I think he wanted to try out his taser on somebody and this guy just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time,I worked in law enforcement for years,they''re are 5 levels of resistance and restraint you go by,well this cop started at about level 4 or 5 which is wrong in every situation that I have ever seen,or was taught to go by,he should have never evr used that taser in that situation,there was to many options he had,it wasn''t like the guy just commited roberry or killed someone,it was a traffic violation(Even if it was)He could have even let the guy get back in his car,even leave,followed him,called for assistance and then pulled him over if he was that scared,and as far as him pulling the gun on his pregnant wife,he should be fired,there was entirely to much Rambo" action here for a traffic stop, how many othe people has this guy muscled" around,just because authority went to his head,get rid of the guy,the state will be better off and there bank account will too,because I think this guy will win a big settlement before this is all over and his wife will too, the days of ruffing up civilians don''t fly anymore in this country,that stopped back in the fifty''s.All in all,I think the trooper "overkilled" in this situation..

[gramto7]

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/traffic_tickets/traffic_tickets.html

[undermyboot]

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired."
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775

[dmhphils]

Posted by ALASKARED3 at 04:32 AM : Nov 24, 2007
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I agree and also when he fell, he fell out into the traffic lane. That would of been good ......suppose a semi was passing by at the time. This cop was way out of control.

[undermyboot]

The lying fascists who excuse the legalized torture by police are nothing more than supporters of a police state. They are the same as the apologists in Germany who supported the Nazis, or the weaklings in Russia who allowed Stalin to execute millions- because these tyrannies "brought order".

These ignorant lowest-common-denominator hillbillies are always ready to bow to power because they are too stupid to do otherwise. So they can type. Big deal. These products of inbreeding have no understanding of what their obedience to a police state means to liberty. They just mouth their inanities and think that they are actually intelligent. They are exactly the ones the 2nd amendment was designed to protect the thinking ones of this country against.

Ignore their empty words. Defend against their threat to us all.

[newton221]

More stupid pigs. Hopefully this pig gets shot in the face soon. What an idiot.

[alaskared3]

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE PROFESSIONAL DECISION WOULD HAVE BEEN TO , (WRITE REFUSED TO SIGN), ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TICKET AND SENT THE FAMILY ON ITS WAY.THIS IS THE WAY MOST STATES HANDLE THIS SITUATION, RATHER THAN TO RESULT TO THE VIOLENCE WE HAVE SEEN HERE. PEOPLE ARE''NT ALWAYS HAPPY TO RECEIVE A TICKET AND IT DOES AVOID THESE KIND OF SITUATIONS.THIS IS WHAT WE SEE WHEN THERE IS EXCESSIVE USE OF AUTHORITY.IT WOULD BE A GOOD THING IN THE FUTURE TO TRAIN OFFICERS IN THE USE OF NON-ESCALLATING TACTICS, HOW TO PROPERLY DIFFUSE SITUATIONS SO THAT THEY DON''T COME TO THIS POINT, FOR THE SUSPECT OR FOR THE OFFICER.THIS WOULD ALLEVIATE A LOT OF PROBLEMS FOR THE PUBLIC AND THE POLICE. ONE THING I AM SURPRISED ABOUT THOUGH, IS THAT THE MAN DID NOT SPLIT HIS HEAD OPEN FALLING BACKWARDS ON THE ASPHALT LIKE THAT. IT COULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH MORE SERIOUS SITUATION IF HE HAD, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO HAVE DIED FROM SUCH THINGS.AS TO THE WOMAN STEPPING OUT OF THE VEHICLE, I BELIEVE ANY REASONABLE LOVING PERSON WOULD HAVE, AFTER HEARING THOSE SCREAMS ESPECIALLY COMING FROM SOMEONE THEY CARE ABOUT.

[zeezedzee]

E-911willie said "The officer is supposed to be a professional. He made a bad decision to draw his weapon and an even worse one to discharge it. Aiming it at the pregnant wife was unjustifiable in any event."

So E-911willie, are the police not supposed to be concerned when someone tells them "no" when they%u2019re ordered to put their hands behind their back, that they''re under arrest only to watch them start walking back to their car disobeying their orders? Get real dude!

Also, police officers watch training videos of others offers who have died in the line of duty from people jumping out of the passenger side of vehicles while arresting another passenger or the driver, that was a horribly stupid thing for the guys wife to do, and more than once. She''s lucky she didn''t get shot, not only did she do it once but she went back to the vehicle and renturned again, how in the world could that officer have known if she was going for a weapon or not? You guys need to wake up and get off this, "I hate cops" trip!

Gregbrich said, "What is the quality of America police force coming to? Officer Gardeners job was to protect and serve the driver and he failed to do that."

And he''s not supposed to protect his own life? He didn''t know who these people were, he didn''t know why the guy isn''t obeying his orders and telling him "no" and not putting his hands behind his back as ordered, or why he kept trying to walk back to the vehicle. OMG why can''t you people see this?

[e-911willie]

Like any Citizen, the driver wants to know why he is being ticketed and when he doesn''t get an answer, he refuses to sign the ticket. When the officer orders him out of the car he calmly complies and tries to point out the location of the sign (sure this is no place to defend yourself, but hey...) Now the officer tells him to put his hands on the car and pulls the taser (which looks like a gun) The driver is confused and obviously scared. Who wouldn''t have been? Quite frankly I would have tried to get away from this guy too! He had already issued the ticket. Unless there is some weird law in Utah, signing the ticket is irrelevant to the issuance. The guy could tear it up if he wanted to.

The officer is supposed to be a professional. He made a bad decision to draw his weapon and an even worse one to discharge it. Aiming it at the pregnant wife was unjustifiable in any event.

It is truly amazing that the citizen seemed to maintain his head throughout while the officer seems more than just agitated. After the tasing and cuffing the citizen tells the officer that he needs to calm down, I fully agree. He needed to calm down well before the "situation" was created.

Tasers are dangerous weapons. They have killed, and their use in anything short of a situation where a person is a physical threat to himself or someone else, should never be justified. Drawing a Taser, like drawing a gun, should only be done in the most extreme circumstances. This situation wasn''t even close.

[e-911willie]

I worked in Public Safety for 20 years and this video sends shivers down my spine.

This officer has already viewed the interior of the vehicle twice. He has presumably called in the license plate and the Driver''s License to his Dispatcher or if he has an MDC (Mobile Data Computer) in his car, and assuming Utah State Police have an NCIC link, he already knows the driver has no priors and the vehicle is properly registered.

Now you tell me what action the officer should take when he knows all this and that the man has a small child (presumptively secured in a child seat) and a very pregnant wife in the car with him.

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