Cop Tasers Fleeing Handcuffed Girl, Head injuries put her in vegetative state
- Thread starter slopeslider
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Shocking the number of people that think she deserved it. Shame on you - its that attitude that allows these things to happen unpunished.
I doubt the cop actually meant her harm, but he showed a remarkable degree of incompetence and laziness. Clearly, there is a trigger happy culture with tasers which comes from a lack of understanding just how dangerous the weapon really is. This was an easy job; she was around3 feet away from him - any cop worth his salt could've caught her.
Then again, I come from a culture where our police wield no weapons or firearms - and still manage to deal with armed thugs, scumbags and junkies. In a system that arms police, a weapon, even if it is 'only' a taser, should always be a lack resort, where other people or the officer's life is in danger. Seems like a simple principal to me!
I doubt the cop actually meant her harm, but he showed a remarkable degree of incompetence and laziness. Clearly, there is a trigger happy culture with tasers which comes from a lack of understanding just how dangerous the weapon really is. This was an easy job; she was around3 feet away from him - any cop worth his salt could've caught her.
Then again, I come from a culture where our police wield no weapons or firearms - and still manage to deal with armed thugs, scumbags and junkies. In a system that arms police, a weapon, even if it is 'only' a taser, should always be a lack resort, where other people or the officer's life is in danger. Seems like a simple principal to me!
Both parties are responsible for their actions completely, of course. I imagine whatever desperate thoughts were going through the girl's mind at the time made running seem like the best option - though I could only speculate what they were. In her mind, perhaps death was preferable at the time to capture...a rather sad state of affairs no matter how you look at it(unless you're a callous, self-absorbed fool).
The officer didn't make the best call. The suspect is unarmed even if she did escape her handcuffs and has no means of escape but by foot. His training should have prepared him to weigh the possibility of what did occur. Worst case scenario, she escapes and they are forced to alert other officers to her presence or track her down again. Considering that she didn't appear particularly dangerous, that seems preferable to risking murder on capture (an officer's job is to apprehend criminals so they can be tried, not be judge, jury, executioner besides the rare cases when lives are in immediate danger and there's no other option). Besides, there are plenty of ways to restrain a person without risking permanent injury to them that police are trained in.
None of this speaks to the root problems which lead to this scenario though. Honestly, I don't see how any can be okay with this sort of tragedy happening regardless of who is "to blame". We are all as much responsible for sitting here, callously condemning people to death while maintaining our comfortable vacuous complacency, refusing to genuinely address the underlying problems. Many of the responses in this tread are indicators of just how deep the real problem goes...frankly, it makes me ill.
The officer didn't make the best call. The suspect is unarmed even if she did escape her handcuffs and has no means of escape but by foot. His training should have prepared him to weigh the possibility of what did occur. Worst case scenario, she escapes and they are forced to alert other officers to her presence or track her down again. Considering that she didn't appear particularly dangerous, that seems preferable to risking murder on capture (an officer's job is to apprehend criminals so they can be tried, not be judge, jury, executioner besides the rare cases when lives are in immediate danger and there's no other option). Besides, there are plenty of ways to restrain a person without risking permanent injury to them that police are trained in.
None of this speaks to the root problems which lead to this scenario though. Honestly, I don't see how any can be okay with this sort of tragedy happening regardless of who is "to blame". We are all as much responsible for sitting here, callously condemning people to death while maintaining our comfortable vacuous complacency, refusing to genuinely address the underlying problems. Many of the responses in this tread are indicators of just how deep the real problem goes...frankly, it makes me ill.
Actually no, it is their job to chase a running subject down. If they resist with force they are authorized to use force, but if they resist with escape they arent. If they resist with escape 'after' using force you can shoot them in the leg or something. There are some pretty strict rules on the subject and im not a policeman so I dont know more than some basics, but yea. No. You are not allowed to use a tazer on a running girl.will1182 said:
This.SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Yes, it's unfortunate she's in a bad state, and yes, the cop should've actually got off his arse to get her, but it could've been a lot worse considering that every thread about police brutality I've read on the Escapist in recent months has been where a cop has literally just shot someone dead for a trivial reason.
So yeah. Unfortunate, uneccessary, but still an improvement.
Not really much else I can say here.
