72 year old woman dares cop to taser. Cop complies.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6469013.html

The woman complained told a local tv station that she wasn't argumentative or combative. When the video was released, it told a different story. I think the taser may have been excessive, but I think her actions certainly warranted an arrest.

[YT="I dare you to tase me, young man!"]UNPuVh5eACw[/YT]

Did she charge at the cop and try to force him to eat prune compote? That would justify the tasering.

I'm thinking that by tasering her, he avoided the typical injuries(broken arms, hips, ribs) people her age wind up with when they're combative during the arrest...

Not much sympathy for her, but at the same time the cop was in the wrong. In my mind a taser should only be used in a situation where the officer is in physical danger, ie a situation where they might have otherwise had to pull their gun out.

You mean, aside from the risk of such injuries from the resulting fall after being tasered?

Too many cops see the taser as giving them the right and the ability to punish those who cross them. Cops aren't the part of the law doling out punishments, but too many of them are too self-righteous to see that.

At least he didnt punch her in the cunt!

She had it coming. The cop gave her plenty of warnings and she was resisting arrest.

72 doesn't give you special privileges at a traffic stop.

For that matter, she was literally asking for it.

He should have shot her.

Naw, she's too old for Darwin Award

It looks excessive.

But then again, most actions by police officers look excessive on camera.

Simply because you see the policeman, armed, with various pieces of equipment alongside an unarmed civilian. In many cases (not all) the policeman is in considerably better physical shape and condition than the civilian.

What you almost never see on camera is the violation or offense committed that brings on police involvement in the first place.

I think lots of policeman go overboard and have a "I'm not gonna take this attitude".

But.

I don't think police officers are obligated to wrestle around with a person resisting arrest just to avoid using the taser.

Just imagine how it would've looked on camera for the big cop to be wrestling around with the woman.

If that's the case, you have exactly two options. Sign the ticket or go to jail. Period. Full stop.

I don't think Grandma would have listened to him saying, "Now come along nicely, Grandma, let's not cause a problem."

That leaves five options for subduing her.

#1 - Shooting her. Not a good option.

#2 - OC (Pepper Spray). I would say that more people than don't at her age already have respiratory problems. I don't purposefully want to do something that I have an above average belief will cause a really serious injury.

#3 - The baton. 72 year old woman? Chances are, she's got osteo and if I strike her where every cop everywhere strikes first, I have no doubt that I'm going to break her hip.

#4 - Hand to hand. Oh yeah, it's gonna look real good for Billy Badass to be wailing on Grandma on the side of the road, and with osteo, I could literally snap her bones with my bare hands if she resists at all.

#5 - Taser. Never my first choice, and I admit that I don't like them. However, in this rare instance, I think it's the best choice as once she goes to the ground, I can use very mild physical force to keep her from getting up.

I've reached that conclusion after having plenty of time while sitting in a comfortable chair* in a climate controlled house after having a very, very good day. It's a little less comfortable standing on the side of the road in Texas in June.




* - I'm not wearing any pants. I thought you'd like to know.

Good for him! A competent police force needs to be feared not loved.

Fucking lame ass cop can't grab that old woman and cuff her??? He's a pussy! Plain and simple.

And I wasn't aware of this signing business. You get a ticket for speeding and that's it up here. We don't have to sign shit. I can even throw it away after having it handed to me. Doesn't matter. Its gonna be in the system.

What is this bullshit about signing it or getting arrested? Its just a fucking speeding ticket. If all paperwork is correct at issuance of ticket...I just don't get it.

Total overboard bullshit!! I can't believe people down south have to live with such shit.

We've gone through this seven or eight times in the last six years.

When you're issued a ticket, you're placed under noncustodial arrest and by signing the ticket, you're doing what amounts to signing your own bond by swearing that you'll appear in court on x day at y time.

If you do not sign the ticket, you're refusing to sign the bond releasing you from arrest. If you don't sign, the only option is to then place you under custodial arrest and all that entails.

Jesus Christ man!! You just grab that old woman and slap the cuffs on her. You think she's gonna go all Chuck Norris on you. Sheesh!

Mild physical force to keep her from getting up?? After she's cuffed ya just shove her in the back seat.

I guess if it was some big dude, he woulda been shot dead.

And when she recoils as strong as she can because she doesn't want to go and her wrist snaps?

We'd be having this same conversation with a different slant.

Yeah, well they don't do that in NY, NJ, Conn., Maryland, Wash DC and I bet a few other states. Its crap.

In NJ if I don't show up to the first court day, they just reschedule a new date. Now the second failure to appear will result in a warrant for arrest. And that arrest will only occur if stopped for a traffic violation. I will not then be 'wanted'. I had a warrant on me for 18 years. I only found out about after getting ticket 18 yrs later. And I wasn't arrested. I just paid the old ticket and that was that. This was in NY. Just recently.

Gimme a break. Arrest that bitch. Do ya job!!! What have cops been doing for the last 100 yrs???

Elwood,

Why wouldn't the cop just call for backup (I know sounds ridiculous but prevents lawsuits) and put her in cuffs then? Tasering just sounds like asking for trouble.

Well I guess the best deal would bo to NOT GRAB HER WRISTS. Or are all cops on steroids??

I'm glad it works that way for you. It doesn't work that way everywhere though.

If you don't show for court, the judge is doing to issue an FTA warrant and the next day it'll be on the bottom of the stack for whatever officers drew warrant detail (they're in the shit house for some reason).

Edit: The last guy I arrested for public intox before moving out of the patrol division was a trucker driver. He'd gotten a speeding ticket in Illinois for going 1mph over the speed limit.

He failed to show for court. The judge issued an FTA and the Illinois Department of Public Safety contacted the Alabama Department of Public Safety and had his license suspended.

You can't drive a truck without a license, so he lost his job. He lost his job, so he was drunk. I ran his record when I was hooking him for public intox and the warrant came back.

I'm required, as in there's no wiggle room, to hold you if there's any sort of outstanding warrant at least until the warrant holder decides whether or not they want you. In this case, they did want him.

If they had not wanted him, he'd have served his time for public intox, paid a $150 fine, and went on his way.

Call for back up?!

That manly man of a cop had to bring her in on his own. Didn't matter if she was unconscious.

That's why I wrote the text in the brackets.

Warrant detail??? Sheesh! To go hunt down people who didn't signal a turn?? For going 8 miles over the speed limit?? What a world...what a world.

100 years ago, he would have simply beat the shit out of her until she saw things his way because there was no such thing as Miranda warnings or cameras. Most "famous" old-time lawmen in American history had the bad habit of beating their prisoners to death, even for minor infractions, because then the judge only got to hear one side of the story.

My warrant must have only been for NY. NJ never searched for warrants in other states or nothing showed when they looked.

Extraditing for traffic violations???....and you guys fuss about all kinda rights being lost in America. That shit right there sounds like something from 1960's Russia.

Where do handcuffs go?

It is possible to run a localized search on NCIC, but it is very foolish. My dad arrested a guy about four weeks ago. If he had only run a localized NCIC search, he wouldn't have known that the FBI office in Chicago had two murder warrants on the guy.

You run them nationwide all the time, every time.

Talk to the State of Illinois, it was their warrant, their call.

I'm just thinking out loud. There is the part of the arm ABOVE her wrist... Ya know, grab that part.

Anyway, a long time ago a cop had to cuff me. I was 17 yrs old. I didn't want to be cuffed....but he squeezed my neck and shoulder enough for me to slowly put my hands down behind my back.. Ya dig what I'm saying. It was like a Vulcan Nerve Pinch.

But done by a Klingon.