Salt Lake Tribune
Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jon Gardner used his Taser to zap a motorist who became uncooperative during a traffic stop.
Many people who viewed the confrontation after it was posted on the Web site YouTube thought Gardner was out of line.
However, UHP officials on Friday announced Gardner’s actions were justified when he shocked Jared Massey twice during the Sept. 14 incident in Uintah County.
Gardner’s actions “were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances,” UHP Superintendent Lance Davenport said at a news conference held at UHP headquarters in Taylorsville.
Internal investigators are continuing to review the case.
Davenport acknowledged there was a “communication breakdown” between Gardner and Massey, and that Gardner had alternative options that he didn’t use to resolve the situation. Gardner zapped Massey after he refused to sign a ticket, put his hand in his pocket and walked away from the trooper. Massey filed a public-records request after the incident and received the dashboard video from Gardner’s patrol car, which he posted on YouTube. The clip has reportedly been viewed more than 1 million times.
A short time later, an unidentified officer strolls up on scene and Gardner tells him that Massey “took a ride with the Taser.”
“That comment was inappropriate,” Davenport said Friday.
No shit. So I guess in Utah, putting your hands in your pocket is considered a threatening move. We blogged this story earlier and the video is here.
Having watched this, he was belligerent, had aggressive posture, and when the office told him to stop and put his hand on the car, he not only refused, but turned his back, and stuck his hands in his pockets. As an officer, he had to assume the guy was getting a weapon, or risk getting shot, stabbed, etc.
Without a Taser, the officer could have shot him. Dead.
The Taser is a much better option.
YAY Utah!
“No shit. So I guess in Utah, putting your hands in your pocket is considered a threatening move.”
Yes, when you’re also being an asshat.
I always find it interesting how a story can be reported multiple ways, and how local reporting seems to always trump national reporting.
The officer is being heavily criticized for how he handled the incident, and everyone in the UHP knows it can’t happen again.
Likewise, no one in the state is expressing sympathy for the victim: It’s a known fact that the act of not signing a traffic ticket in this state is a serious offense. He’s lucky the officer didn’t throw him in jail just for that.
From my point of view, the officer should be suspended for turning his back on the guy… and the guy should consider himself lucky that embarrassment is the worst that will come to him from all of this.
>>the guy should consider himself lucky that
>>embarrassment is the worst that will come
>>to him from all of this.
Fuckin’ A. He could be DEAD, like the other people who got tasered and died.
Personally, I rather sit in jail for an hour or two for “failing to sign a traffic ticket” than to have somebody blast me into seizures with 50,000 volts of electricity.
Given the kind of personalities that law enforcement often draws, I don’t think it’s a good idea to supply them with a sometimes-non-lethal torture weapon. Stories of abuse are just too common. Beating a suspect into submission with a billy-club or shooting him and facing the consequences should probably be enough submission techniques for a lot of these guys.
James, on this blog, the cops are always wrong.
They signed up for a job that involves risk to life and limb. Well if they get shot, that’s part of the job. They have no business trying to protect themselves.
#6. Bullshit MikeN, I’ll defend the cop when the situation warrants, hell, I used to BE one. This guy was over the top, in my opinion.
>>james, on this blog, the cops are
>>always wrong.
No, the cops are SOMETIMES wrong, and not just on this blog. There are some cops like the ones you describe, and then there are the ones who go into law enforcement because they’re bullies, mean-spirited cowardly bastards who like to be able to push people around who are in a subservient position to them, like hitting them with nightsticks, would love to shoot them more than they can, and who are happy as pigs in shit with this new “non-lethal” weapon that they can just blast away with whenever a suspected “perp” looks at them funny. And the number of people who fit the latter description is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay higher than it is in the population at large.
#1, 3, 4, & 6
So when did the cop tell the motorist he was under arrest ?
Tell me at what point in the video he was arrested ?
Until he is actually under arrest he does not have to listen or obey any “put your hands on the car” direction from the cop. What the cop did was assault, pure and simple. Go ahead and spin your effen “well he was belligerent” crap. That does not make it so.
FYI, neither the cop nor the ticket told the motorist how fast he was traveling. If you want to know the significance, check out the Fourth and Sixth Amendments
If you just treat the cops like a dangerous animal you should be ok. Make no sudden moves and have a non-threating posture. You can let your lawyer worry about your rights later. It is hard to sue if you are dead.
#9 – Where in normal codes does it specify you have to be under arrest before having to obey direction?
#11 And where does it say that you have to tazer a guy if he refuses to sign a ticket?
>>As an officer, he had to assume the guy was
>>getting a weapon, or risk getting shot,
>>stabbed, etc.
I thought you said you watched the video!?! wtf are you talking about??
The guy (who was about as whitebread and non-threatening as they come) hooked his thumbs in his pockets as he walked back to the car containing his pregnant wife and baby, while the cop shoots him in the back. Wow. What bravery!
I’ll bet guys like him are grinding their teeth down to little stumps about those car-cams. You just KNOW he wanted to bash the guy’s head in and say he was “defending himself”.
I think we should take YouTube’s advice:
“Well there you have it. UHP protects its own. They just ruled that Officer Gardner acted “reasonably”. What a joke. Let them know how you feel! (801)965-4518 or (435)789-3111“
Right right, no spin here at all. That is why the trooper in question is currently in hiding because he doesn’t want to face the lynch mob that is after him (lol). No guilty conscience there at all. Nope, not a bit.
At least this cop is going to be forced to resign his position, change his identity and move from the state. It would be better for him if the DA would simply enforce Utahs assault laws have him spend the… two weeks in country lockup… and get back to his regular life. Instead there is no justice so now there are lynch mobs after the guy.
Heh, the internet hive mind is now starting to act like a government. Maybe the “don’t tase me dude!” guy should have posted the identity of those cops.
Posted before but this shows the evolution in power corrupting.
Tasers were initially allowed as an alternative to use of deadly force.
Now, they are used to secure compliance.
Here, they were used by cops to assault the non compliant.
Its my understanding that signing the ticket is only a formality and not actually required for anything except evidence of submission to authoritay!!
#9 >>Until he is actually under arrest he does not have to listen or obey any “put your hands on the car” direction from the cop.
So you are suggesting that no one needs to listen to a cop until you are actually arrested?
Gee that is going to make the TSA look good…what fun! A real police state! Lots of fun!
Point is – don’t argue with a cop. If you think the cop wrong have your day in court. If this cannot work then the US is in need of the same criticism the US levels at other countries and the US needs to SHUT THE HELL UP!
Cheers
The basic point people seem to be pointing out is,
police have the right to kill on any ill feeling they develop. The police are trained to construe a story to justify their brutality and the stupid public eats it up.
It’s seem government for the people by the people is something that happens in other countries. Certainly not the country I fought in America’s little wars for.
People are so mesmerized by TV “cops”, death is alway the right response in their minds. It’s the same chicken mentality that got us into IRAQ!
The use of the taser was excessive but what was that guy thinking?
Instead of just handing over his license and registration and hoping for the best, he argues with the cop. Then he gets out and doesn’t listen to what the cop is telling him to do.
You can judge this from your armchair all you want but if you haven’t been in this type of situation than you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Cops come across people who are drunk, on drugs, and just crazy. How does this cop know what he’s up against? The guy isn’t listening and then starts to go for his pockets. I’d be scared, wouldn’t you?
The cop didn’t appear to be looking for a fight, he just pulled someone over and got scared. No one was seriously injured and some kid gets his 15 minutes. End of story.
>>Instead of just handing over his license and
>>registration and hoping for the best
That’s exactly what he did. It wasn’t good enough for the cop though, and when the guy declined to sign the ticket (did I miss the part where he told him what he had been charged with?), the cop’s hormones kicked in, and he became belligerent, shooting the driver in the back, bellowing at his pregnant wife, and generally making an asshole out of himself.
>>Cops come across people who are drunk, on
>>drugs, and just crazy. How does this
>>cop know what he’s up against?
All he had to do was look at the guy, look at his pregnant wife, and look at the baby in the back. I’m sure cops may encounter scary individuals as they’re trying to make their traffic-ticket quota, but this guy sure a shit wasn’t one.
>>The cop didn’t appear to be looking for
>>a fight
Is that a joke? The way he was bellowing like a water buffalo in heat at the little lady, I wouldn’t have blamed the motorist if he cold-cocked the asswipe. Lucky for the cop he shot the guy in the back.
I would be the first one to jump on this cop for misuse of the taser. As of late I have seen numerous instances where the officer was completely out of line, out of order, and out of control in their use of the taser. I do think there is a problem with the macho cops that think their taser is the new beat stick. It is a rampant problem these days. They are supposed to be used in the area where there is a threat to the officer but that threat does not rise to the use of deadly force. The definition of “threat” varies from state to state and county to county and city to city.
This instance is not one of them. This kid was behaving in a threatening manner.. Not to say that the officer wasn’t a jerk or that he followed proper procedure but he WAS justified in tasing this kid.
Seems to me this guy learned the hard way the fact that some cops are eager to over-compensate for their little weenies. Argueing with a cops (especially lame -“But mommy, I don’t understand !” – types of stalling to try to make things change type arguments, is gauranteed to piss off even a good cop. I’ve found that an overt display of respect for their authority always works in my favor. I gained this wisdom after being beaten to within an inch of death inside a Philadelphia police station by no fewer than ten of Philly’s Finest while I was handcufted to a stretcher used to carry me in from the beating I received outside. I was a skinny 17 year-old kid at the time. Ah, the memories ! …
“So I guess in Utah, putting your hands in your pocket is considered a threatening move.”
–John I don’t know what world you come from, but, yes, here on planet Earth putting your hands in your pocket(s) when a cop is yelling at you not to move is a threatening move. The cop was an idiot and unprofessional in allowing the situation to escalate to that point, but when it did get to the point where he had a guy backing away, putting his hands in pockets, I think the taser was justified.
>>This kid was behaving in a threatening manner.
You think? I didn’t see any threat in his behavior. I think the worst you could say about him is that he was sullen. The cop, on the other hand, was a fucking lunatic. Who screams at a pregnant woman with a little baby like that? Did he imagine she was a suicide bomber, out for a Sunday drive in the minivan?
>>but when it did get to the point where he
>>had a guy backing away, putting his hands in
>>pockets, I think the taser was justified.
Well, maybe, maybe not. If it ever got to that point, which it didn’t. The guy was walking back to the driver’s side door, and hooked his thumbs in his pockets, with the fingers outside.
That cop was just looking for an opportunity to fill somebody full of hot juice. Pulling a taser on some guy who looks like Beaver Cleaver, out for a ride with his pregnant wife and baby. Jesus. That assmunch should be beaten to within an inch of his life. Or maybe shot in the head with a taser. That’s good for controlling unruly misbehavors, right?
You’re mean Mr. Mustard.
Its stories like these that make me wanna get my own taser…
what you wanna play it like that copper? ok ZAP!!!!
You can talk trash on the blog all you want but when the man pulls you over he owns you. This is not a myth, this is a legal fact. Every court from the local one to the supreme has said so. So when ol smoky has you be respectful; and keep your hands where he can see them. Or be willing to take the juice.
#26 Damn straight – what is this so hard to understand? (Or is this an American issue?)
Cheers
The cop was way out of line. He was uncommunicative and vague. The officer was the one that escalated the situation way out of proportion.
Basic psychology says that when a person is confronted with imminent danger there are 2 responses: Fight or Flight. The driver chose flight. Quick you are staring down the barrel of a black pistol with absolutely no warning. Is it a gun or a taser? Can you tell the difference? What do you do? In my opinion the driver did the correct thing. He put his hands in his pockets to indicate that he was not a threat and moved away from the officer to remove himself from harms way. The look of surprise when the officer drew down on him and the comment “what is wrong with you” indicate the driver thought the cop was crazy.
The drawing of the taser was not justified in any way let alone the firing of taser. They were having a discussion and not even a really heated one at that. The officer drew down on the driver before any supposed indications of danger to the officer. The officer should have communicated with the driver and explained what was happening. That is his job. He should have tried to diffuse the situation. That is his job.
I also feel for the wife. Look how fast she hops over to the drivers side to get away from him when he comes over and opens the door then leans into the car. She was scared witless.
Utah may feel that the officer was justified in tasering the driver, but he should still be fired. Take away the tasering and he still put himself and the driver in unnecessary danger. He turned his back on someone he was intending to arrest, he opened the passenger side door with out first making sure the wife did not have a weapon, he lied to the other responding officer, and finally he left the driver laying in the roadway.
#22 –”John I don’t know what world you come from, but, yes, here on planet Earth putting your hands in your pocket(s) when a cop is yelling at you not to move is a threatening move.”
I am sorry I will have to respectfully disagree with you. By putting your hands in your pockets you are indicating to the other party that you do not intend to to use your hands as a weapon against them. That is part of Psychology 101. The drivers body language said it all. When confronted with the taser. He noticeably hunched over, he put his hand in his pockets, and he backed away. All three things should have been screaming to the officer that he was not a threat. This is an example of a threatening move. Straightening up, making a fist in front of you and moving towards the officer. Notice that my example is the exact opposite of what the driver did.
In closing, this whole incident could have been avoided had the officer just been able to string more than 2 words together and explained calmly and rationally what was going on and what the guy was getting a speeding ticket for exactly. Kinda fast does not cut it.
OK, I guess that I’ll have to spend my vacation dollars in a place where they don’t taze common folk for traffic stops.
Goodbye Miller Motorsports Park, hello Laguna Seca.
>>#26 Damn straight – what is this so >>hard to understand? (Or is this an >>American issue?)
From my Australian perspective, having seen quite a few of these stories, it does seem to be a little different in the US than in other countries. I hear a lot of talk about respect for the lawman – not in the context of respect for a preacher, a doctor etc., but the respect one would give a mountain lion or a bear. Not quite the same thing.
A trivial example – calling police officers ‘sir’. In Australia, the only people who get called ‘sir’ have been knighted, and even that has been phased out. To me, this seems to speak to the police officer not as a fellow citizen, but as a citizen of a higher order.
My respect for Australian police is based on their contribution to our society, the difficult job they do, their respect for the rule of law, and mutual respect due to our equal status as citizens.
As a law-abiding citizen I don’t fear walking past a cop, or being pulled over for a random check or ticket.
Of course, in Australia, only special operations police get access to tazers at the moment. Normal cops get handguns and capsicum spray.
Yes, people here get gassed and shot occasionally but it isn’t generally something that a law-abiding citizen will face because a random cop is having a bad hair day.