Teen falls 30ft; breaks his back, gets tasered 16 times by police.

[Khamsin]

You do know that there have been over 300 taser related deaths in the United States since they were issued to police in 2001 right?

300 taser deaths over 7 years out of how many total people?

[Cyn]

Does it matter? That's 300 lives snuffed out by what's supposed to be a safe and nonlethal solution.

Is it better than the alternatives? I don't know, it would bear some looking into. It seems as though clubs and holds probably had a lower fatality rate than tasers though.

300 deaths is way beyond excessive, especially when you take into account that many of the people these were used on were unarmed, and many were non-violent. It's probably not even the tasers themselves that are the problem. It's the increasing frequency in which they're deployed for no good fucking reason.

[Churchill]

You do know that there have been over 300 taser related deaths in the United States since they were issued to police in 2001 right?

Edit: That's 300+ people killed by what's increasingly being seen as a first resort solution to any hesitation in obedience. I mean fuck, just google taser, I promise, you'll see plenty of footage of cops using tasers with almost no provocation. Basically like "Do this now!" /wait 3 "Ok buddy, you were warned!" /zap. Cops have been using them on suspects ALREADY IN HANDCUFFS. I mean... wtf?

That's true and all, and I agree cops are insane. I'll make the point again that I doubt these cops did this for fun and it's either a truthful explanation or they're covering their asses, I don't care which because I'm not in the position to judge. If nothing ever happens in Branson and this kid was acting like a psychotic fool because of his pain, who knows what some JV lolcops would do.

As for cops who do it after one warning, I think that's where you get a mix of a few factors coming into play.

Areas that are normally dangerous making cops feel more threatened or exposed when taking down suspects, racial profiling, drug use making suspects crazy as shit, and the basic fear of not going home after work that night because of all of the crazy shit you see criminals doing like cutting off peoples heads on buses lol.

It's hard to have a perfect system when you have men involved and you're caught between cracking down on the cops and having less good men want to be cops for fear of prosecution, or letting them go free and having some innocent or guilty people get more injured than is necessary.

[jmc]

Does it matter? That's 300 lives snuffed out by what's supposed to be a safe and nonlethal solution.

Is it better than the alternatives? I don't know, it would bear some looking into. It seems as though clubs and holds probably had a lower fatality rate than tasers though.

300 deaths is way beyond excessive, especially when you take into account that many of the people these were used on were unarmed, and many were non-violent. It's probably not even the tasers themselves that are the problem. It's the increasing frequency in which they're deployed for no good fucking reason.

People don't care about the deaths from tasers....

What they would care about, is the amount of tax payer dollars going to a officer who is off duty from a injury he/she received trying to control someone in a hold! (BTW, here.... we use holds and OC spray. If there is a struggle, theres always a officer injured)

[Cyn]

People don't care about the deaths from tasers....

...

[Elvis]

6 billion people on the planet. We need every thing we can get!

[Demosthenes]

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN!

[jmc]

...

Well, now that I look at it..... ya, so wrong of way to put it.

People DO care about taser related deaths, but the American public always find something to complain about and then forget about their last complaint.

People will complain there are too many taser related deaths, so departments across the country pull the tasers and go back to the good old takedown tactics. Then some fantastic newspaper or news agency will do a story on the amount of officers going out injured from the increase in physical confrontations....and all the taxpayer money going to these injured officers who arnt working.

Either way....theres no such thing as a win when it comes to stuff like this.


*edit*

Hell, here in boston....people are complaining about boston police having take home cars. In which the boston globe, posted how much gas is wasted from people having department cars with them all the time. Only problem is...... they listed/complained about people who I think need the cars! lol For example, they listed officers from motorcycle unit, yet they are also the SWAT team (were kinda important lol) Then they listed Bomb Squad members, claiming theres no reason why they need cars ("Hey rookie.... no bomb squad members are on duty, go defuse that package!") lol

[Bingbong]

Hell, here in boston....people are complaining about boston police having take home cars. In which the boston globe, posted how much gas is wasted from people having department cars with them all the time. Only problem is...... they listed/complained about people who I think need the cars! lol For example, they listed officers from motorcycle unit, yet they are also the SWAT team (were kinda important lol) Then they listed Bomb Squad members, claiming theres no reason why they need cars ("Hey rookie.... no bomb squad members are on duty, go defuse that package!") lol

The "Boston [liberal] Globe" won't be happy until every city employee (except the Governor and his cronies, of course) is riding a BMX to work.

Boston cops still have to reside in Boston right? If so, makes it seem very silly to be worried about the 3.5 mile trip home when concerned with gas.

[jmc]

The "Boston [liberal] Globe" won't be happy until every city employee (except the Governor and his cronies, of course) is riding a BMX to work.

Boston cops still have to reside in Boston right? If so, makes it seem very silly to be worried about the 3.5 mile trip home when concerned with gas.

Yes, and No

After 10 years of service, the residency requirement is waived and they can live anywhere in the state. So majority of the people with various take home cars have been on for 15+ years.

[Melchiah]

It is not the responsibility of the Department, City, County, State or Corporation you work for to see that you have transportation to your place of work. I have a vehicle that I use while I am at work that belongs to the State of Alabama, however I drive my personal vehicle from home to the office every day. The only people that have State vehicles issued to them to drive home are people who are on-call 24 hrs a day.

[Khamsin]

It is not the responsibility of the Department, City, County, State or Corporation you work for to see that you have transportation to your place of work. I have a vehicle that I use while I am at work that belongs to the State of Alabama, however I drive my personal vehicle from home to the office every day. The only people that have State vehicles issued to them to drive home are people who are on-call 24 hrs a day.

I think that's pretty much the case with cops. If they get called in for an emergency while they're off duty, they aren't going to have time to fight traffic in their normal vehicle to pick up their police car to turn on the lights and then go to the scene.

[BRP]

Does it matter? That's 300 lives snuffed out by what's supposed to be a safe and nonlethal solution.

Come on now... don't be a dick.

The police are always looking for non-lethal alternatives. A lot of money goes into research every year. They know there is no super magic weapon that can do this perfectly, at least they haven't created it yet. In the meantime they need everything they can get.

300 deaths is not a whole lot. People might die when they resist arrest, that's just what happens. It's not the police fault they weren't born with super suppressing telepathy or whatever magical means you think they should use.

[Khamsin]

Come on now... don't be a dick.

The police are always looking for non-lethal alternatives. A lot of money goes into research every year. They know there is no super magic weapon that can do this perfectly, at least they haven't created it yet. In the meantime they need everything they can get.

300 deaths is not a whole lot. People might die when they resist arrest, that's just what happens. It's not the police fault they weren't born with super suppressing telepathy or whatever magical means you think they should use.

Plus any injuries to a suspect resisting arrest is their own fault, since, you know... they shouldn't be resisting in the first place. That includes injuries caused by high speed chases, and bystanders being hurt because of the suspect fleeing. Speaking of which, can a bystander who is hurt during a high speed chase sue the suspect for damages?

[jmc]

Plus any injuries to a suspect resisting arrest is their own fault, since, you know... they shouldn't be resisting in the first place. That includes injuries caused by high speed chases, and bystanders being hurt because of the suspect fleeing. Speaking of which, can a bystander who is hurt during a high speed chase sue the suspect for damages?

Yes, and the suspect will face additional charges.

[Khamsin]

Yes, and the suspect will face additional charges.

Does that include injuries and damage caused by the officer, in pursuit of the guy who shouldn't have been fleeing recklessly in the first place?

[Cyn]

Come on now... don't be a dick.

The police are always looking for non-lethal alternatives. A lot of money goes into research every year. They know there is no super magic weapon that can do this perfectly, at least they haven't created it yet. In the meantime they need everything they can get.

300 deaths is not a whole lot. People might die when they resist arrest, that's just what happens. It's not the police fault they weren't born with super suppressing telepathy or whatever magical means you think they should use.

I'm not being a dick. I'm not even really saying that tasers should be recalled or taken from the police honestly (though perhaps I should be, thanks to there being so many boneheads in police uniforms), what concerns me is that they're being used far too much. Basically people are being tased for things as simple as running their mouth. If they were being used responsibly, there would not have been 300+ deaths related to them so far. A lot of the deaths are from teenage and elderly people being tased... by 2-3 cops standing around them. I don't know, I'd risk taking a swing from some old man in order to avoid putting his life in danger.

[archibaldcrane]

Does that include injuries and damage caused by the officer, in pursuit of the guy who shouldn't have been fleeing recklessly in the first place?

Of course you can sue anyone for anything. I've never heard of a successful suit by a bystander vs. a criminal when the injury or damage was caused by a cop in pursuit of the criminal.

Can you successfully sue the police for damages the police cause during a chase? Probably sometimes, but it would also probably have to show negligence in following proper police chase protocol or some such.

[Cyn]

I would think that proper protocol would be to not endanger bystanders anyways.

Fun links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojyBkKSaK4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOVku86WfVg

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmh4iHKKwU

[Khamsin]

I would think that proper protocol would be to not endanger bystanders anyways.

Fun links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojyBkKSaK4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOVku86WfVg

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmh4iHKKwU

The suspect does that the moment they choose to flee, forcing the cops to give chase. There needs to be stiffer penalties for evading arrest, especially fleeing, regardless if they're guilty of whatever the cops originally went there for.