Associated Press – November 21, 2007:
Authorities are speeding up their investigation of a state trooper who zapped a motorist with a Taser now that video of the traffic stop has been posted on YouTube, the Utah Highway Patrol said Wednesday.
The video, taken from Trooper John Gardner’s patrol car, shows him drawing his Taser after Jared Massey refused to sign a speeding ticket Sept. 14 and walked away from the officer on U.S. 40 in eastern Utah.
A surprised Massey asks, “What the heck is wrong with you?”
Gardner fires, and Massey shrieks and falls.
“Face down! Face down! Put your hands behind your back!” Gardner orders.
A woman screaming hysterically emerges from the passenger side of the sport-utility vehicle Massey was driving, and the trooper tells her to get back inside “or you’re going to jail, too.”
OK, I am not sure if this guy was just being a jerk. But what’s the point of not justing signing and go. If you want to fight the ticket fine, get a lawyer and fight it. All the cop has to say in this situation is that he felt threatened and that’s it. It’s funny how we speed and then we can’t understand why we have to pay when we get caught? Duh!
I think the cop was wrong to taser the guy. But hey the guy could have just signed the ticket too. But he did not.
Where I live, signing the ticket issues a plea of guilty. If you think you did not do anything wrong, then you don’t have to sign the ticket. Cop on a power trip, and I hope it costs him his career. From the video,albeit without audio, the guy has a good assault case on the copper
Only in the U.S. LOL!
Just sign the ticket and go, you can have your day in court.
“justing signing and go”
“Just sign the ticket”
It’s amazing how many sheep there are in this blog. Bah bah!
Unless there’s a law forcing you to sign it, don’t fricken sign anything you don’t want to sign. Ever.
OK. It is not against the law to not sign a ticket. These stories are crazy already.
A taser is a supposed to be a “safer” way to subdue someone who is ready to attack you. Not a guy in a wheelchair, not a unarmed guy at the airport. This thing electrocutes you. Some people have legitimate arguments or confusion and these power cops are out of control.
Here’s when it’s ok to use a taser. When a suspect is disorientated, is swinging a knife around at a distance and acting crazy. The key here is is that there is a legitimate concern that your personal safety, as a police officer is in jeopardy. You’re obviously not going to shoot the guy nor is it safe to lunge at him. Ok to taser.
See the difference of a guy that doesn’t speak english standing in an airport? Was that guy a candidate to be taken down by force? Was he jeopardizing the safety of anyone there? Verbal resistance does not constitute being electrocuted.
Here are two words missing: common sense!
It is also the law in most states that the cop has to tell the guy how fast he was going. It sounds to me like the guy didn’t know how fast he was going.
Also, by not reading the guys his rights, there is definitely an unlawful restraint charge pending against the cop.
He will get off on the Taz, though, because the guy was walking away after being told he was being arrested. Hindsight being 20/20, the cop should have called for backup instead of pulling his tazer. This guy was clearly not a threat up to that point.
#8, Road Warrior,
No, the cop did not tell him he was under arrest. All he did was tell him to put his hands behind his back. When asked repeatedly, the cop refused to tell him why he was being arrested or how fast he was going.
The cop should be charged with assault and have his ass sued. As pointed out above, Tazers are to be used as a less than lethal method of subduing someone a person out of control.
Give a cop a Taser and he’s going to use it whenever he can! Just for the hell of it. There was no justification for force unless a subject is threatening an officer. Refusing to sign a ticket is not a crime. His wife should not have obeyed the officer either. Chances are he would have tasered her as well. That would have cinched it.
Here are my two rules for dealing with cops:
1) Be polite.
2) Do what the officer says.
Anything else is asking for trouble. The cop doesn’t have to be logical, sane or in a good mood. Just follow the above rules and you may come away unharmed. Unfortunately, cops seldom pay for anything they do wrong. It is a fact of life. Deal with it.
“Do what the officer says.”
Bah, bah, bah! God, what’s John going to do with all this wool?!
#7 – lol good luck explaining that one to the cops – might want to stand in a bucket of water while ya do that to rofl!!!
That aside – if I had a taser on me and a cop looked like he was gonna taser me, then…
!! DOUBLE KO !!
2 Words ….Miranda Rights…
This cop gives law enforcement a bad name….clearly he is on a power trip. I,too, hope he loses his job and has to go somewhere to clean toilets the rest of his miserable life to make a living.
Jerk Face, this blog isn’t infested with sheep. its the entire internet, duh.
The cop in this clip likes his job alot obviously but shouldn’t have zapped the stupid motorist.
15. “this blog isn’t infested with sheep. its the entire internet, duh.”
I’m refering to a time on this blog before the sheep showed up. I realise the rest of the internet and world are filled with sheep.
“stupid motorist.”
Yeah, standing up for your rights against oppression is just so stupid! God, those founding fathers were just as stupid as shit.
#4 There are other countries than the US in the world….
@Jerk Face
If you think fighting a cop is fighting fascism you are dumber than you sound. All that will get you is a one way ticket to jail or worse, the morgue. The only real way you can fight fascism is at the ballot box. Remember that next November … if George gives us the chance.
A taser is a supposed to be a “safer” way to subdue someone who is ready to attack you
Nope, taser is just another tool, like a baton or pepper spray. If the officer was justified in making an arrest, I don’t that states laws so I don’t know, then yes, he would be justified in using the taser to make the arrest if needed.
2 Words ….Miranda Rights
What are you talking about. Miranda is only needed if someone is in custody and you are going to question him. I can arrest all day and not give Miranda if I’m not going to question him.
Here are my two rules for dealing with cops:
1) Be polite.
2) Do what the officer says.
Good advise when dealing with anyone in society. Kindness goes along way, something the people of this country have seem to forgotten.
The only defense I can see for this cop is that perhaps he thought he told the motorist he was under arrest. Otherwise, it is clear that the cop is just trying to force the motorist under his control.
Hey, Improbus. Remember that if a person breaks into your home wearing a police uniform and orders you to kill your children, just do what they say or you might get in trouble. You seem to be under the impression that you have no rights when dealing with the police.
No, you have no rights when looking down the bore of a gun. You either submit or die. The choice is up to you. By the way, your argument is a nice piece of reductio ad absurdum.
Remember that if a person breaks into your home wearing a police uniform and orders you to kill your children, just do what they say or you might get in trouble.
How does this have anything remotely to do with signing a traffic ticket.
The video starts with the cop passing a construction sign, then slowing down just before the 40mph sign. At that point, the SUV passes the 40mph sign, and the cop immediately pulls out. Maybe 5 seconds go by between the SUV passing the 40mph sign and it stopping.
I’d say the cop had already decided to ticket the first car to pass him as soon as he got to the sign. I can’t see how he could possibly have a radar gun set, or accurately estimate the speed of the other vehicle within such a short period of time.
19Miranda is only needed if someone is in custody and you are going to question him. I can arrest all day and not give Miranda if I’m not going to question him.
Wrong. You’d get EVERY case thrown out of court.
I deal with both local (city and town) and county cops and ain’t a one of them that would say this was a legit stop. Also note where the cop would be in relation to the sign for anyone passing, as the driver was.
J/P=?
This cop better get fired! You can’t tazer someone for simply asking why he was pulled over. The speeding tickets I have received all started with “I clocked you going XX in an area posted XX.” You don’t have to sign a ticket. The first ticket I received I refused to sign and the cop said “I don’t care it does not really matter if you sign it or not.” This cop simply does not have his emotions under control!
As the Canadian above states…”Only in America.” Better yet…only in UTAH 🙂
As a resident of the great state of Utah, I am embarassed by this officer. He took a situation from a 2 to a 10 without looking at the situation objectively. He was right and the driver was wrong, regardless of the evidence.
It is correct that the driver could have just signed the ticket and been on his way without admitting guilt, but if you are from Salt Lake City, travelling through the area that this occurred, it can be a 3+ hour drive each way to dispute a ticket.
Clearly, the guy was trying to avoid getting cited in the first place, since getting a ticket in any form in these areas will mean a virtually automatic fine payment, since it will cost almost as much in gas as it will to pay the fine. I can understand why he would not sign the ticket.
In the paper this morning, they were discussing this case. In most reasonable areas of the state, the tack is to place the citation in a visible area in the car and be done with it, but the officer can take the person into the magistrate if he or she wants to.
I don’t think this officer is going to skate through this without a formal reprimand, however.
40mph speed limit on a road like that, with no hazards in sight (and nothing obstruction the view). Why on earth is the speed limit so low?
Speaking as a man who has achieved 54mph on a bicycle, I am thinking that I had best not go there for my next holiday.
kudos to chuck for being the first to point out the obstruction of the speed limit sign. after only 23 comments too.
The bottom line is the cop was a complete fucking idiot!
And the lesson here is just do what the cop says. You can always take care of it later. You never know what kind of person the cop is.
We’ve (western Canada) had 3 dead from Tasers in 5 weeks, these things cannot be any longer referred to as ‘non-lethal’ weapons. That polish guy you all saw on the YouTube who was tasered in the airport by RCMP? That was MY airport! Victoria International. There have been a lot of deaths due to Tasers here but the last 3 are the only ones getting worldwide attention. They have to be changed so that the cop doesn’t have the option of standing over someone making them twitch with a continuous charge. It SHOULD be like a semi-auto rifle; one pull, one zap.
The Utah Highway Patrol is a bit worried over this incident. Its spokesperson was a bit defensive, “I don’t know what was going through the officer’s mind. I don’t know if he felt threatened.”
Buy the way, that SUV did not look to be speeding. And if it were, doesn’t the speed gun have an alarm that warbles when the highest speed is clocked? Why wasn’t that picked up on the audio?
I once got caught in a similar situation in Utah. I was passing through a construction zone that dropped the speed limit from 70 to 55, which is the typical speed limit for freeway construction zones. I slowed down to 55 and passed a two-trailer rig that was going even slower. A highway patrolman immediately pulled me over for speeding. He asked me how fast I was going and I told him the speed limit, 55 mph. He then informed me the speed limit was 45 — there was another sign that dropped the limit from 55 to 45, which I never because of the truck I was passing. I explained that to officer that I only saw the 55 mph sign because of the truck. He checked my driving history, found no previous tickets on file and let me go.
There was something about his manner that didn’t ring true, so after I left the construction zone I made a point of setting my cruise control to exactly 70 mph and kept my eye on the rearview mirror. Sure enough, 10 minutes later I saw him coming up behind me doing 80-90 mph. He slowed down and hung back about a quarter mile and followed for another two miles, then gave up.
Dropping the speed limit from 70 to 55 to 45 within the space of a 200 yards is very unusual in Utah. I suspect the drop to 45 is nothing more than baiting a speed trap.
#19, gquaglia;
then yes, he would be justified in using the taser to make the arrest if needed.
No, he isn’t. If you look at the escalation of force pyramid, the taser is considered “lethal-force” by most departments. It is intended for situations when the only alternative is bashing someone’s skull in with a baton or shooting them.
Was this one of those situations? Nope.
This cop should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, period.
Cops in my state know how to explain that “signing this ticket is not an admission of guilt, but is required by law.” This cop didn’t even try.