Should this man be punished?

[Thedayrecker]

Please read this: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/death-of-teen-on-bike-shows-risks-of-expanded-use-of-tasers/1112106

Now a summary for the "TL;DR'ers" out there.

A police officer, named Jerald Ard, saw a 17 year old, black male, named Victor Steen riding a bike around 2AM, and decided he was breaking a law somehow. Ard did a U-turn, "veered" onto the wrong side of the road, and up onto the sidewalk, and attempted to pull Steen over. When the Steen didn't stop, Ard pulled out a taser, and fired, causing Steen to fall over, where Ard hit and instantly killed him.

At first the officer said he thought the kid had stolen something from a nearby construction site (which he hadn't), but changed his story to "The kid didn't have a light on his bike". Paramedics found a 9mm pistol on Steen's body, that, mysteriously, had no fingerprints on it, and, according to Steen's family members "Victor was afraid of guns", suggesting the gun was a plant.

This particular incident happened in October of last year, and in April, Ard was put on a two-week, unpaid suspension.

Now I ask you, esteemed Escapist, should officer Ard be more severly punished?

 

[Liberaliter]

Yeah why not, he's probably an asshole anyway.

 

[AvsJoe]

Yes. Yes he should. But I get the feeling I'm not hearing the entire story here.

 

[Thedayrecker]

Yes. Yes he should. But I get the feeling I'm not hearing the entire story here.

The story's 10 months old, and the details are based of interviews with witnesses, the officer's report, and the officer's dashboard camera.

 

[cp.06]

He killed a guy with no reason to do so. Of course he should be charged!

 

[MrDeano89]

if he did plant the weapon and/or he used the taser without any decent warning or attempt to use another method to get the guy to pull over then yes, yes he should be punished

 

[Kapol]

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Someone DIED because of that man's stupidity. Although I admit I only read the summery you gave, it sounds like the police officer tased the kid while still driving and then hit him with the vehicle. The tasing, I can kinda understand maybe, as the kid wasn't obeying the officer. But how hard would it have been to stop the car? It all sounds fishy.

 

[AvsJoe]

Yes. Yes he should. But I get the feeling I'm not hearing the entire story here.

The story's 10 months old, and the details are based of interviews with witnesses, the officer's report, and the officer's dashboard camera.

Okay, fair enough. That's more than enough proof to have this guy thrown in jail for a lengthy sentence.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Yes, he should be more severely punished.

AvsJoe, that's a reasonable feeling to have.

 

[Thedayrecker]

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Someone DIED because of that man's stupidity. Although I admit I only read the summery you gave, it sounds like the police officer tased the kid while still driving and then hit him with the vehicle. The tasing, I can kinda understand maybe, as the kid wasn't obeying the officer. But how hard would it have been to stop the car? It all sounds fishy.

The officer was still driving, and I should probably point out that it is againt Florida law to use a taser on a moving vehicle, from a moving vehicle.

 

[Mechsoap]

comeone...was the kid on a bike and he a car... he dident even have to use a taser...just follow the kid until he would get tired

 

[Platypus3224]

He should because even if it was an accident he killed someone.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Around 50% of the police force should be in prison.

This person definitely should.

Vehicular homicide, evidence planting, abuse of power. These all are highly illegal.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Since it's more interesting to report when an officer breaks the law and starts a cover up, then an officer doing his job, or maybe making a mistake I think people should stop caring.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Florida, for the most part, is still a pretty backwards state. Like Jamaica, we've got wonderful beaches, but go further inland and you'll mostly find slums and suburbs, only in this case, packed with white trash. Would I put it past a Floridian police officer to do something like this? No, absolutely not. Throw the book at him.

 

[Kapol]

Alright, so they're trying to blame this on the taser itself?! That's just stupid. After watching the part of the video up to where it happened (I couldn't watch past that as I begun to get angry), it's obvious that the taser had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. The cop could have easily stopped on the side of the road instead of going into the parking lot. Plus it honestly looked like he did it on purpose to me.

 

[Kollega]

Yes, of course. He's killed a guy just because he "thought" that guy was breaking the law. And probably has also planted the evidence. Plus there's unfortunate implications because of the victim's skin color. Throw that "policeman" in prison, i say.

Around 50% of the police force should be in prison.

For Russia and everything nearby, increase that to 99,9% - America dosen't get it nearly as bad.

 

[enzilewulf]

Doesn't matter if its a accident or not. What did this kid do that was so bad anyways? It doesn't even say. It could of been racial profiling for all we know. That guy deserves to be thrown in jail. You seriously couldn't of chased him in the car till he was exhausted? Well I hope that guy rots.

Alright, so they're trying to blame this on the taser itself?! That's just stupid. After watching the part of the video up to where it happened (I couldn't watch past that as I begun to get angry), it's obvious that the taser had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. The cop could have easily stopped on the side of the road instead of going into the parking lot. Plus it honestly looked like he did it on purpose to me.

Me thinks it was racial profiling. Just by the way the man sounds ( I am just saying with my experience with people who sound like this. ) he sounded to be racist. He probably could have cared less about the kid because of his skin tone alone. But this might be a false accusation.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Yeah, I'm kind of curious about how the kid got the gun in his pocket without touching it. And I'd like to know why the cop had to taser him from a moving vehicle if he was just riding a bike. And why not having a light on your bike warrants a tasering at all.

Seriously, there really isn't any justification for any of this.

EDIT: OK, I just watched the video. Holy shit. I think you should add the word "How" to the beginning of this thread's title.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Probably. I know that this probably isn't the whole story but it looks bad for the officer. If he really did wind up planting the gun or trying to get him for no reason then he should be punished. I think he accidentally killed the kid though so he should be punished for being careless.