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

[daveman247]

Unfortunately, "Upstanding Cop Does Job" will never make headlines.

Indeed, backwards media is backwards. Only bad things make headlines.

good news doesn't get the high ratings like bad news does... the News is a business not a charity

True, but SURELY there is a happy medium? In most news papers/ tv it is literally ALL bad.

I guess people are quite happy depressing themselves :/

Backwards people are backwards.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Was the Cops reactions over blown probably, but ultimately her condition is a direct result of her choice to run. Had she not run she would not have been tased. had she not run giving the cop an opportunity to tase her she would not been a vegetable.

And again she was not tased because she may have been accused of 2 hit and runs she was tased trying to flee from arrest. Which is illegal, so regardless of her involvement to the suspected hit and runs she was still breaking the law.

Furthermore I am not really arguing the legal or moral right and wrong of this. I am arguing that the simplest way this could have been prevented is from the women to have not tried to flee in the first place. She made the choice to run first. The fat cop's decision to taser her came later and was the direct result of the women's decision to run, therefore it is her fault.

As a rule I assume all Cops are dicks and therefore try my hardest not to give them a reason to shoot at me.

I'm not standing here accusing the cop of murder, what happened to the girl was arguably both their faults. But I'm not putting any blame for her injuries on anyone.

Yes, fleeing from arrest is illegal. Yes that means she was breaking the law. Those are facts. It is also true that the cop using his taser on a handcuffed fleeing suspect was also wrong, a violation of his code of conduct and his officer training.

Before any emotion enters into this, without blaming anyone for her brain injuries, the cop is still in the wrong for using the taser. That is also a black and white clear as crystal fact.

I'm just irritated at the number of people who think the cop was justified using that much force when the rules the police are sworn to uphold say otherwise.

He is a professional authority figure and they should be held to their own standards at least.

Rarely is anything a crystal clear fact, especially in the heat of the moment. Here is a quote from the article.

An Office of Inspector General Investigation Unit report states: ?Although the FHP policy on Electronic Control Devices states that a member should not use the device on a handcuffed prisoner, it also provides that there may be situations that conflict with this policy.?

The report goes on to state: ?In this situation, Maudsley ? removed one of her handcuffs while in the back of Cole?s patrol car, and moved her handcuffs from behind her back, to in front of her body, as she attempted to flee the FHP Station. In addition, Maudsley was running towards US Highway 19 which is a high volume road.?

The policy on tasering handcuffed individuals is written in such away that provides a gray area where use of a taser on a handcuffed individual is justified.

So apparently the girl had proven proficient at escaping handcuffs so it was not likely that if give enough time she would remain handcuffed. She was also attempting to flee into a busy highway, which made her action potentially harmful to more then just herself.

Whither right or wrong I understand why he did it given the information he had on hand in the heat of the moment.

What is clear is that the girl made a decision to try to run from the cops, and now has to deal with the consequences.

 

[Gardenia]

I can't really feel too bad for her. It takes a special kind of stupid to run from the police AFTER you're already handcuffed. And it really isn't their job to run you down if you run. If I had the tool to stop you from running right now, rather than continuing to chase you for however long, I'd do it too.

Thank you for summarizing my thoughts on this matter. that is all.

 

[Instinct Blues]

They are both wrong in this situation and both were rather stupid too. The girl fleeing in handcuffs is just plain dumb because even if you get away how are you going to get them off. The cop is also dumb because I'm pretty sure being handcuffed hinders one's ability to run. He totally could have caught her with a little more effort plus when he tasered her she was within arm's reach.

When you break it down they are both at fault anybody bothering to take one side over the other is just completely ruling out the fact that they can both be wrong. The cop should be punished for his actions and the girl should not get away scot free because the cop was overweight and too lazy to actually chase her the extra five feet it would have taken to catch her.

 

[ryanxm]

Honestly? I think this serves her right. You don't try to run away from the police, especially when you've been handcuffed. She was a total fucking idiot and she got what was coming to her.

 

[J Tyran]

Since when did Tasers become "non lethal"? They where introduced as "less lethal" because they still entail risks, like in this case when a person falls over or if they have a pre existing medical condition.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

If she performed two hit'n'runs then this lass clearly has no regards for anyones state of health so why should we concern ourselves with her?

Imo she had it coming.

My thoughts exactly.

Also, I don't care what the situation was; she was under arrest, and people that run from the cops whether it be already handcuffed or in some kind of getaway, the only one at fault if something happens to the criminals and they get hurt, it is their fault only.

Again:

If a person is under arrest and is in handcuffs, he or she better damn well sit down, shut up, and wait to be processed. If that person runs it is his or her fault that he or she gets hurt.

I'm getting sick and tired of these threads where people are basically saying, "Aaawww the poor criminal got hurt doing something wrong. Poor poor, criminal, those mean old cops are tyrants that need to be fired because they are doing their jobs."

 

[orangeban]

You know, I'm reading this and people are saying the girl deserved it and whatnot, and I have to ask, what kind of justice do you believe in?

Resisting arrest is not a crime for which you deserve to die (in fact, no-one deserves to die for anything, and luckily the British justice system agrees with me).

She was a drugged up, handcuffed, tiny girl who was a few feet from the officer. She was hardly going to run off and disappear over the border, only to re-emerge several years later as some kind of criminal mastermind, there was no need to jeopardise her life with such excessive force.

People are so quick to apologise for cops here on this website.

 

[IronicBeet]

No, in your analogy the person had done absolutely nothing wrong

They were talking back to me. How dare they upset the authoritarian order where the one in uniform is always right.

Much like running away, talking is clearly a good grounds for beating someone up mercilessly, don't you agree? Actually, talking to someone and disagreeing with them is obviously more agressive than running away, so it's an even better reason.

Jesus Christ, would you stop with that bullshit? She was running away after slipping out of her handcuffs twice, and had she been able to run away she would have A. Been screwed over by the handcuffs, or B. gotten out of them and would be able to pose a danger to the public again. He is clearly unfit for service in the shape he's in, but the girl wouldn't have had the accident if she didn't try to run away in the first place. Did he taze her, then run up to her and stomp on her face? No, he tazed her, and then she fell down and hit her head. BOTH of them are at fault here, stop trying to act like the cop was 100% at fault.

And your comparison is complete shit, too.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

No, in your analogy the person had done absolutely nothing wrong

They were talking back to me. How dare they upset the authoritarian order where the one in uniform is always right.

Much like running away, talking is clearly a good grounds for beating someone up mercilessly, don't you agree? Actually, talking to someone and disagreeing with them is obviously more agressive than running away, so it's an even better reason.

In the actual event the person already guilty of several crimes

I wasn't aware that in the US trials had been abolished for charges other than terrorism and copyright infringement as well. Since when has that been?

Yes, and in cases that the police officer cannot physically catch an offender what do they do? Just give up.

Exactly. Just about everybody gets caught later on anyway, or report themselves because living a fugitive sucks.

I agree that his physical state is a disgrace, and this guy is unfit for purpose, but the girl was not "peacefull" nor was the violence "deadly".

She had cuffs on and was running *away*. How can that possibly be violent? And she's dead. How could the violence not be deadly? Besides, like others have already argued, even US policeman are trained to understand what tasing someone does. That policeman made a concious decision to expose someone to grave harm, resulting in death, rather than trying to run after her.

And for that decision, he would've been punished in any justice system.

You said it, not me: "policemen try to enforce the law and arrest criminals with minimal force." using a tazer is a non-lethal method to stop someone breaking the law.

Which is tied to rules. Rules like "Don't kill people if you can just grab a hold of them". Although obviously, that rule didn't make it into the US police handbook. Much like was shown in the summary executions of Kenneth Harding and Michael Nida, and many other cases of weapon-crazed US cops shooting first and checking if it was allowed later.

And they wonder why in the US, more policemen are killed in a year than in most countries in a century. Well, because some offender quite rightly think "It's you or me, and I got these legal guns here anyway, so..."

Again, there was no intention of killing her.

Which is why he should be sacked from the police, and convicted for manslaughter, but not murder.

His only intent was aprehending her with minimal harm to both him and her.

That's not true. He used something close to maximal violence to aprehend her. The only more violent option would've been to draw his firearm and perform an extrajudicial execution on the spot.

Wow. So, like, you're just a really, really dumb person, aren't you? That's cool, I guess.

 

[Radoh]

le super snip

Wow. So, like, you're just a really, really dumb person, aren't you? That's cool, I guess.

No he isn't, he's a troll.
Watch for him on the forums, he trolls with regularity. Just thought to let you know.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

le super snip

Wow. So, like, you're just a really, really dumb person, aren't you? That's cool, I guess.

No he isn't, he's a troll.
Watch for him on the forums, he trolls with regularity. Just thought to let you know.

Oh...

Oops. *sheepish grin* I guess reporting him would be the better option? As opposed to posting something that could get me probation?

Duly noted.

 

[Radoh]

le super snip

Wow. So, like, you're just a really, really dumb person, aren't you? That's cool, I guess.

No he isn't, he's a troll.
Watch for him on the forums, he trolls with regularity. Just thought to let you know.

Oh...

Oops. *sheepish grin* I guess reporting him would be the better option? As opposed to posting something that could get me probation?

Duly noted.

Hey, no real shame, we all get trolled in due time here.
But you must admit that it was a rather fantastic troll though.

 

[razer17]

The fact that she is now brain damaged is irrelevant. No one would care if she had been fine afterwards.

What I see is a criminal running away from the police, and he had to stop her. That's what tasers are for. Can't say I feel sorry for the woman. It sucks for her and her family, but that's life. Although cops really should be a lot fitter than this.

 

[Mad World]

Whether or not she was technically resisting arrest (I'd say that she was), he really didn't have to tase her.

 

[Giftfromme]

This is pretty disturbing, how could you say she deserved that? She is brain dead (assuming that is the same as being in a vegative state). Sure she shouldn't have run, but to say that she deserved I mean that's really harsh. That's a pretty low way of thinking in my opinion

 

[Something Amyss]

that department even explicitly states in their guidelines NOT to use tasers on suspects that are fleeing or in handcuffs, for this very reason.

This is kind of weird; many times in cases like this, the procedure is ambiguous or permissive. The policy is, in essence, partially at fault. Not completely, because police are not automatons, but still.

Having policy that explicitly prohibits it is odd. And makes it a little more distressing.

what? have you never been tazered? cuffed or not you can't catch yourself when you fall you have no muscle control ... by your logic every single person who ever tazers anyone is at fault for all injuries of the person they tazered no matter the reason... this was just an unfortunate accident which was her fault for fleeing

Tasing a running suspect greatly increases the risk, making it directly foreseeable damage. Which is why, you know, there is policy against such an action.

That's plain stupid to say. You face years and years in prison under barbaric conditions for something as small as drug possesion, the cop they send after you is an obese slob who can never keep up, and you say running is a weird choice?

Running is the only logical choice in that situation.

Yes, as little as drug possession:

Maudsley was arrested for her alleged involvement in two hit-and-run crashes and driving without a license.

Hit and runs are kind of a serious thing.