Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Police Torture, Taser Edition

Within the past week a 20 year old young man died while being tased. The police used the taser first to break up a fight. They used to use talking, batons, and handcuffs, but no more.

According to Infowars where they have been tracking the use of Tasers by authorities, a use which seems to be dramatically increasing three hundred (yes 300) people have died from tasers in the US during the past year. Police use Tasers instead of batons or handcuffs. They often seem to think it fun. Three hundred (yes 300) people have died from tasers in the US during the past year. Tasers are being used in schools on children as young as 6. How is this not torture by cop?

This is clearly another offshoot of the out-of-control anything-goes cowboy administration who believes that anything goes and authority is all. And it has to stop. I know this has been posted at infowars and by Digby, but I'm going to reproduce it because you must see it. It will make your blood run cold. You must see that 1984 is an understatement.


We have to outlaw these things and rehabilitate the police. The torture must stop.

h/t to Digby
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4 comments:

Landru said...

After a lengthy discussion with Sasha, I need to clarify:

1. I'm not condoning police brutality. I am condoning tasing the asshole in this video. In fact, I'm condoning pretty much any form of brutality, short of summary execution, against the asshole in this video.

2. I'm certainly not condoning tasers in schools.

3. I agree that the concept of tasers as nonlethal weapons is likely invalid, although I'm interested in the origin and reliability of the 300 number.

4. But mostly, I condone the use of police violence, short of summary execution, against the arrestee in this video, and I assert without qualification that this video is a terrible argument against the use of tasers, while acknowledging that there is no video extant of someone being tased to death.

6:01 PM
Anonymous said...

And I. Favor courts makind decisions about punishment instead of "peace" officers. I favor courts whether in Utah or Baghdad or The Hague. The authority figure involved in the situation is not the best judge.

And let me argue that the worst case is often the best one. That is to say, I favor allowing the Ku Klux Klan to speak in public even though I despise their message. I also favor allowing assholes to mouth off without begin punished for it.

I understand why you say this is a terrible argument, but I disagree. The keeping the peace or keeping the situation under control argument just doesn't wash with me. It encourages the authority figure to act out of fear instead of reason.

6:37 PM
drewkitty said...

What I saw here was a person who refused to sign a ticket, refused to obey a number of lawful orders, and was endangering his own life by wandering the side of a public highway -- in a construction zone! He also threatened to drive off with his vehicle to "look at the signage" as if making two illegal U-turns in high speed freeway traffic was either prudent or safe.

I'm pleased that the incident was videotaped so that the officer's use of force was clearly lawful.

What was the officer supposed to do, engage in a wrestling match with traffic whizzing past? Pepper the guy just in time for him to stumble in front of a truck? Try to argue with the clearly irrational -- a guy who doesn't even realize that signing a ticket is not an admission of guilt, but merely a promise to appear? Call for a second or third unit and take away life-saving coverage from someone else's highway wreck?

I've been Tasered and I've been pepper sprayed. I have yet to be hit by a high-speed vehicle, as I wouldn't be posting here if I had.

12:27 AM
Anonymous said...

What was the officer supposed to do? What we teach children to do. Use his words instead of throwing a tantrum.

9:16 AM

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