In pining for the return of War on Guns, I decided to make my own weak attempt at an entry for the "Only Ones" files.
A skateboarder refused to leave the St. Mark's Hospital parking lot. A Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy tried to arrest him, but the skateboarder resisted, wrestling with the deputy, who then shot him with a Taser.I have no problem with the addition of a non-lethal (or "not usually lethal," anyway) option to the law enforcement toolbox--I just wonder if some officers find the use of these devices a little more enjoyable than they ought to.
Another time, deputies chased a drunken Kearns man into his home - the man yelling, "I'm going to kill you, get my gun and shoot you" - and shot him with a Taser when he swung at them.
With each pull of the trigger, Utah officers are growing more comfortable with law enforcement's latest innovation, the 50,000-volt stun gun. Like duct tape, the weapons have become a fix-all for potentially volatile situations.
A Tribune analysis of more than 180 Taser deployments shows that police used the weapon four out of 10 times to subdue violent suspects, some already in handcuffs, others wielding knives.
I have also noticed that many jurisdictions erect high barriers (up to and including outright bans) to the use of these devices by all but the "Only Ones"--are they the "Only Ones" who might need to defend themselves when killing the assailant is a less than ideal solution?
Stumble it!
4 comments:
Hmm... Not sure where you're going with this. Looks like all the incidents you listed clearly had the arrestee doing something that warranted police action, and then he resisted arrest. Looks like they were justified here.
My choice of which part of the article to quote was probably not a very good one--the article refers to a fair amount of Taser usage on people who are already in handcuffs, and some who resist being cuffed not by violence, but by lying on top of their hands, or by trying to keep their hands out of the officers' reach, etc.
I have little doubt that many of these Tasings are indeed justified. I just think it bears watching.
if you take away the tools from the police, and only leave them with a firearm as defens, it will not be a happy place. When the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems look like nails.
I do not advocate "taking away" the Tasers--I advocate restraint in their use.
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