Grandfather and pregnant woman tasered in Prince William County at Baptism Party

[spjunkies]

It's really just human nature.

Reaching out
To touch a stranger
Electric eyes are evrywhere
See that girl
She knows I'm watching
She likes the way I stareeeeee

[hkHog]

This really is getting out of control. I know a guy who is a grad student from China and he got tased last year because the police said he was being uncooperative. In reality, there was just a language barrier that the police were unwilling to attempt to overcome.

Also, just this past week a deaf, retarded man was tear gassed and tased while hee was on the toilet because he would not come out of the bathroom when people knocked on the stall. Well, I wonder why that was, maybe because he was deaf and mentally handicapped. Seriously, these police are out of control with their tasers, even law abiding citizens must be on the lookout.

[Califan007]

Again...why should we give a **** that the guy is a "grandfather"? lol...Why not just list his age? What's the difference between, say, a 55 year old man and a 55 year old man who has had kids? Nothing. But "grandfather" brings out the tabloid-ish take on the story and spins it right from the headline onward...far more dramatic to say a "grandfather" or "grandmother" got tasered than to say a 55 year old man got tasered...

[Chachie]

Stugein, how many times should the cops allow people to refuse instruction/directions from the cops?

Absolutely a fair question and no matter what's said in this thread by me or anyone, we do not have all the facts. However, I think context is important here.

1. The police showed up at a baptism party. This was not a gang picnic or a frat house. Clearly there were loads of children in a family atmosphere and everyone had come from church. It's a whole different situation. This is where a responsible officer looks to serve instead of protect. Even if Grandpa is a bit out of line, you pull him aside and deal with another adult. You don't break out tasers and start dropping anyone in site.

2. Three tasers? Really officers? 'Nuff said.

3. The neighbor who called in the noise complaint must be a pretty miserable person to narc on a baptism party in broad daylight but that's just my opinion, obviously.


Beyond these points, I won't get into debates about this until I'm either confirmed or corrected by further info.

[twa]

3. The neighbor who called in the noise complaint must be a pretty miserable person to narc on a baptism party in broad daylight but that's just my opinion, obviously.

Depends on the baptism party,they get pretty wild down here and there are noise ordinances even in daylight.

I've had to go talk to a couple of my neighbors over excessive parties and I am really not too miserable a person


Some of the other neighbors are more inclined to simply call the cops to avoid trouble.

[Major Harris]

we really need a thread dedicated to taser videos.

[Chachie]

Depends on the baptism party,they get pretty wild down here and there are noise ordinances even in daylight.

I've had to go talk to a couple of my neighbors over excessive parties and I am really not too miserable a person


Some of the other neighbors are more inclined to simply call the cops to avoid trouble.

Roger that. I can't dispute those points. I suppose if I were speaking as a neighborly observer, I'd consider how often the noise infractions occur before calling the police but if this family baptizes every weekend I might be quicker on the dial.

[Redskins Diehard]

55 is far from "elderly".

I would bet that the family version of events is somewhat different than the actual version of events(and that is the only version of events we can base anything on at this point)

Drunk is drunk whether it is a frat party or a baptism party.

How pregnant was the woman? If she is 8 months pregnant that is one thing. If she is 2 months pregnant how in the world would the police know?

[AAARedskin]

Is there any enjoyable video footage of this incident? My gosh....YouTube has some awesome videos of people getting tazed.

[Painkiller]

This video presents one side of the story. I'd like to hear the officers account, and for that matter, the video reveals absolutely nothing as far as evidence of wrongdoing. It's only part of a larger incident, that began when the first officer made contact, until the individual was placed in the patrol car. The rest is a upset family member, making his case in the media.

For those who think that the tazering by cops is getting out of control...it seems to me that everytime somebody gets tazed now it's automatically assumed the cop(s) are in the wrong. If a headline reads "grandfather" and "pregnant woman" tazed, those words automatically mean the cops "went to far." Like it or not, the tazer has many times become a preferred alternative to physical force. Physical force which 9 times out of 10 results in more injuries to the suspect and the officer. Look up every tazer death, and normally you will find the guy/gal was completely fubar on drugs or alcohol, or had some sort of unusual condition that 1 in a gazillion people have.

The cops job is not to beat somebody into submission. Cops shouldn't have to duke it out with a guy to subdue him, and weapons like the tazer were developed for that reason. As a safer alternative. The tazer saves lives, by preventing a lot of people who just 10 years ago would have been shot, and probably killed, to being given a second chance at life by being brought under control with a non-lethal device.

Sure, there will be abuses. As long as people are in ANY positition of authority, there will be bad seeds, excessive force, and people who don't deserve to wear the badge. This is a fact of life. If people want robots for cops, like Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, then one day they may have their wish, but until then, we have to make do with what we have. Which is mistake making, emotional, imperfect, human beings. The unfortunate reality, is that some people are going to yell excessive, ANYTIME a cop uses force, for ANY reason. The term, "armchair quarterbacks" applies here.