Cop Tasers Fleeing Handcuffed Girl, Head injuries put her in vegetative state

[GoaThief]

resonable force being the non-lethal weapons he had been given to apprehend offenders.

Shit of the bull.

There is a reason why even the US Justice Department has begun calling tasers and the like "less-lethal weapons". [1] [http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/e0903/final.pdf]

The officer clearly did not follow protocol and thanks to the insular nature of policing, got out of jail free on a technicality.

 

[w9496]

Tasers are generally non-lethal, but much more safe than shooting them with their real gun. I'm not sure the police officer should be at fault, but he chose the non-lethal way, which may have been one of the better options.

I wish tasers caused no long-lasting damage, but shit happens sometimes that you have zero control over.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Simple answer... don't break the law in the first place!! It doesn't go down well!

I don't know about the US but British police are not trained to chase criminals. They will only run if they know they actually have a good chance to catch, otherwise they will just take all the details and follow it up using the rest of the patrolling bobby!

The reason for this is so they can still think strait and make good decisions, without being impaired by fatigue. Then again, we don't arm our police with weapons like that, so I can't really comment on whether tasers are neccesary. Personally I am in the military, and having tools to incapacitate criminals seems perfectly legit to me, but I also know that my views on the tratment of criminals and detained humans is a lot less liberal than other people, so as someone who neither breaks the law, or has to detain, I will keep my views to myself!

 

[evilneko]

Yeah, first impression: taser was unnecessary. Hell if he hadn't pulled it out he probably would've caught her before they even got on camera.

Now I'm gonna go look for sources other than some guy's blog.

 

[Casual Shinji]

In all honesty, I think tasers are used way too often by police officers.

Because these weapons are classified as non-lethal (which isn't even 100% true), the police seem to use them out of shear convenience rather then necessity.

Sure the girl was running away, i.e. resisting arrest, but they could've chased after her in the police cruiser. And seeing as she was running across the road, this cop should've realized that the minute he tased her, this girl would smack her skull against the asphalt.

I'm not saying she's a totally innocent victim, but it's the officer's responsibility to not turn her into a vegetable simply because she was running away. This could've easily been avoided had they simply chased after her on foot or by car.

 

[evilneko]

Okay this makes it even worse for the cop: http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2012/february/383311/Exclusive:-Trooper-defends-tasing-new-video-shows-suspect-out-of-handcuffs

In the new video, Maudsley is seen in the back of Cole's cruiser after being arrested, managing to get her right hand free from handcuffs and eventually playing with her hair. At one point, it appears she tries to open the cruiser's door, but can't.

As Cole pulls into the Pinellas Park FHP Substation, Maudsley works to slip the handcuff back on, but it's too late.

"I took this off," Maudsley tells Cole.

"Put it back on," he told her.

Cole puts the handcuff back on Muadsley's wrist and escorts her into the substation.

Forty minutes later, video shows Maudsley running from the substation before she is tased with her hands cuffed in front of her and slams down to the parking lot ground.

This didn't happen at the scene of a crime, it happened at a police station! Y'know, the kind of place where there are other cops around to help out.

"I know that I can?t just jump on her. I?m three times her weight. If we go down, one, or both of us, is going to get hurt. The taser is the intermediate weapon of choice," he says.

Well, there is that, but....

The investigator asks Cole if he considered Maudsley falling and injuring herself if he tased her.

"No."

Idiot.

 

[Valanthe]

Eh, moral of the story kids: Don't run from the cops -AFTER- they cuff you.

Silliness aside, Should he have tazed her? It's in his guidelines -not- to tazer a suspect who is fleeing or restrained, and she was, remarkably both. The book says no he shouldn't have.

But, and I know I'm gonna take a lot of flak for this... even my avatar is looking at me judgementally. But I honestly cannot feel sympathy for her, she is a drug addict and a criminal who was attempting to flee from police, I would say she was brain-dead a long time before her head touched pavement.

this should be her new theme song... she can listen to it while just hanging out and vegetating

Also, this made me giggle. Does that make me an awful person?

 

[DoPo]

I love how people in this thread are somehow able to make an accurate assessment of all details based on a two second segment (being generous here) of the girl running and the cop pulling the taser behind her. Whether she was in grabbing distance or not is not for you to decide. Sure, it is possible that the policeman could have caught her if not the taser, but maybe not - what if she suddenly sped up? These two weren't on a racing track but in a building, which, you should remember, have corridors and turns. Also, you should remember that when running, you tend to slow down in order to make a turn. It's perfectly plausible that the girl would have gotten away, if the cop tried to just sprint after her.

Also, he clearly didn't mean to harm her (well more than tasing, that is), when reading some comments I might assume that the guys was either a precog or clearly thought "Now, I'll paralyse her and she'll fall down, hopefully hitting her head. If I'm lucky, I might kill her." He might have not realised that would happen but he did not intend it to happen.

I'm not defending the guy, whether tasing was needed or not I cannot say but saying "he could have totally caught her" or implying that he meant to put her in hospital is just wrong.

 

[IamQ]

No one is to blame for that. Shit just happends.

 

[GoaThief]

These two weren't on a racing track but in a building

I don't think anyone who cannot tell the difference between being inside a building and a road with a nice blue sky overhead should be commenting at all, let alone inferring superiority over others.

 

[DoPo]

These two weren't on a racing track but in a building

I don't think anyone who cannot tell the difference between being inside a building and a road with a nice blue sky overhead should be commenting at all, let alone inferring superiority over others.

OK, let me rephrase that, they were inside the building seconds before going outside. Is that better? Let me describe it - the two are in a building, the girl starts to run, the cop follows, they go out and cop tases her.

Cole puts the handcuff back on Muadsley's wrist and escorts her into the substation.

Forty minutes later, video shows Maudsley running from the substation before she is tased with her hands cuffed in front of her and slams down to the parking lot ground.

OK, I don't know whether my assumption is correct but isn't the parking lot, like, really close to the entrance?

 

[Adultism]

Has anyone else noticed that cops have been getting off easy a lot lately even when they ruin peoples lives? I've seen 3 cases in the last few months where a cop has ruined someones life by being a fatass/tard/asshole and gets off with NO PUNISHMENTS.

On a serious note, I hope this guy dies alone honestly.

 

[GoaThief]

/snip

Now who's making (by your own admission) an impossibly accurate assessment based on a two-second segment?

Hypocritical, much?

Has anyone else noticed that cops have been getting off easy a lot lately even when they ruin peoples lives?

I don't know which is more worrying, the above or the complete disregard of humanity and compassion expressed by many here.

 

[Adultism]

I love how people in this thread are somehow able to make an accurate assessment of all details based on a two second segment (being generous here) of the girl running and the cop pulling the taser behind her. Whether she was in grabbing distance or not is not for you to decide. Sure, it is possible that the policeman could have caught her if not the taser, but maybe not - what if she suddenly sped up? These two weren't on a racing track but in a building, which, you should remember, have corridors and turns. Also, you should remember that when running, you tend to slow down in order to make a turn. It's perfectly plausible that the girl would have gotten away, if the cop tried to just sprint after her.

Also, he clearly didn't mean to harm her (well more than tasing, that is), when reading some comments I might assume that the guys was either a precog or clearly thought "Now, I'll paralyse her and she'll fall down, hopefully hitting her head. If I'm lucky, I might kill her." He might have not realised that would happen but he did not intend it to happen.

I'm not defending the guy, whether tasing was needed or not I cannot say but saying "he could have totally caught her" or implying that he meant to put her in hospital is just wrong.

She was HANDCUFFED. Does that give him the right to pull out his taser like a fatass instead of chasing her down

THERE WERE OTHER COPS AROUND WHO COULD HAVE CAUGHT HER.

Her life is ruined because some fatass decided that he didn't want to lose weight and wanted to TAZE A HANDCUFFED WOMEN.

 

[DoPo]

/snip

Now who's making (by your own admission) an impossibly accurate assessment based on a two-second segment?

Hypocritical, much?

Erm, did you see that quote? Let me repeat: she ran from the substation. They were both inside before it happened. The news article has been linked to multiple times in this thread. It's this one [http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2012/february/383311/Exclusive:-Trooper-defends-tasing-new-video-shows-suspect-out-of-handcuffs.html].

Also, you can actually see the building in the video. Yes, you can't actually see them exit, but it's hard to imagine them doing something else than running outside from the building.

EDIT:

She was HANDCUFFED. Does that give him the right to pull out his taser like a fatass instead of chasing her down

THERE WERE OTHER COPS AROUND WHO COULD HAVE CAUGHT HER.

Her life is ruined because some fatass decided that he didn't want to lose weight and wanted to TAZE A HANDCUFFED WOMEN.

Did you READ my post? I didn't say he was RIGHT or not. I said that people shouldn't make assumptions based on TWO SECONDS OF THE VIDEO.

 

[daveman247]

Another one of these threads ey? Theres never one about the cops doing a good job -_-

An unfortunate accident, how was he supposed to know that she was gonna be knocked out like this? The drugs probably had scrambled her brains enough already...

She was charged already with 2 hit and runs, i'd hardly call that a "harmless" person.

If the chase had gone on and she ran across the road, causing an accident or something, or hurt somebody these people would be "why didnt the cop just tase her to stop the chase" Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

 

[GoaThief]

/snip

Oh come on, your argument was the he needed to tase her because she might have been faster at turning than he was (especially in the context of corridors).

They were outside when he tased her.

Not only that, you are doing the exact same thing you chastised others for. This makes you a hypocrite.

If tasers hadn't been greenlit for police use, would you agree that the officer was entitled to shoot her with his firearm?