Can you stand after being tased?

[sgt203]

Drediock,

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Its all good....

Differing opinions are natural... (and they make for good healthy debate).

You raised some very good points and they were well reasoned....

I agree with you whole heartedly this will be in the courts for a some time..

As I stated my only response was to post my opinion if this was excessive..

I even stated it was unpleasant to watch, I personally get no satisfaction out of ANY use of force, and wished it never had to happen.. Unfortunately that is not nor will it ever be the case..

When I said I didnt care what anyone really thought about I actually was not referring to the perception or how one would look in the public eye... I agree that the Image and reputation of your department is very important in both how the piublic views you, and at times how the crimnals react to you.. I was referring to the fact that no matter how bad something may look does not in and of itself make it unlawful.. Excessive force is unlawful PERIOD..

Does this look bad... YES, Is it unpleasant YES.. Could they possibly have used other tactics in this case YES.. Will this give their image a black eye YES... Will they be sued in court.. YES I do not disagree with any of those points..

Though I'm not so sure if this had taken place in another location the public outcry would have been much different, maybe, but in that Im not so sure..

For the purpose of the posting I was making though, it makes no difference to me, if this was a gangbanger, junkie, college student, or a US Senator.. Use of force is.. use of force.. the person to whom the force is being applied makes no difference..

When I look at uses of force the only thing I look at is it:

1. Excessive (ie has resistance ceased and compliance been obtained)

2. Proportional ( is the use of force proportional to the resistance)

Being as I stated all I did was see the video, nothing more, I did not see them continue to administer force after complaince was obtained by Tasing this subject.. Once he had complied and they were removing him from the area application of forced ceased. Further as it stands right now with taser being so low on the use of force continuum it was not (like it or not) disproportional..

Now as to my personal opinion would I have done exactly the same thing, probably not (and I highly doubt it).. but my personal opinion does not matter.... I must use a professional opinion based solely upon the law governing the use of force and not using 20/20 hindsight..

Distasteful YES... Ugly.. YES  Bad Public Reaction... YES

UNLAWFUL.... NO ( based solely upon what I viewed)..

To make a more thorough examination of the incident would require Police Reports, Use of Force Policy (even though a violation of a departments Use of Force Policy does not make said use of Force Unlawful)  (Sacramento vs Lewis), Witness statements, and a better view of the video would be nice..

Drediock I can see by your posts you are not "against" law enforcement, and I have not taken any of this personally, but in this particular instance you feel the officers went overboard... and honestly I can see why people may feel this way based upon what I have viewed...

I too will leave this debate as it stands with the understanding that all people have differing points of view and opinions...

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PS... you cant fire me Im civil service:lol