Outrage over taser death at cops hands.

[StBishop]

So many Aussie Escapists would have heard about the guy in West Sydney who died after being tasered [http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/two-dead-police-chief-says-taser-shot-may-have-saved-officers-lives-20101005-164mz.html?] something like 24 a lot of times the other day by a policeman.

People have been up in arms due to the above being almost all of the story given by the media.

Have a quick look at this interview with the chief of police [http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-would-have-used-gun--not-taser-police-chief-20101006-166yk.html?from=smh_sb] however, and a different story emerges.

It turns out that the guy was rushing the police officer with a knife.

Now legally the police officer could have pulled a gun on him and emptied a clip into his chest and head. He'd be protected under Australian Law, and rightly so.

But this cop's been getting all kinds of flack from media etc because he caused a death. Firstly, he used a weapon classified as "Non-lethal" by his government.
He's been tazed as part of his training so he knows how much that shit hurts, he's not going to throw it around willy nilly.
The chief of police said he would have just shot the guy.
And, to me, most importantly he was protecting himself from a criminal.

So, discussion value incoming:
What do you think of Tazers?
What do you think of people attacking police officers, what's equal force?
What do you think of shitty media?
What do you think of this story specifically?
anything else really.

Please don't just answer those four questions like:
1.
2.
3.
4.

 

[Datalord]

I happen to like Thomas A. Swift's electric rifle, its a good alternative to actual guns for minor threats at close range. But seriously, if a civilian pulled this, the case would go away, this is probably politically motivated. THANKS MEDIA, your abuse of statistics and context help ruin another day.

Frankly, i think this story itself is an example of stupidity spawned by subjectivism.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Media is always quick to jump to a stance that incriminates the police force or other groups like it. Taking things out of context and ignoring an entire side of the argument seems to be a specialty of theirs in cases like this.

 

[Berethond]

I love tasers, they will evolve into something awesome. If I was the cop, I would have just shot the dude. Several times.

Stupid media, and their political agendas.

 

[Angus565]

24 times? Man that cop must have been using Taserchucks...

 

[Sonofadiddly]

There's just something weird and disturbing about the fact that the cop tasered the guy 24 goddamn times. Surely the guy was down after one taser. If a cop can't handle a situation and ends up freaking out so bad that he keeps tasering someone over and over, maybe he shouldn't be a cop.

 

[Nemu]

Interestingly enough, locally one of our officers has been drawing fire from the bleeding heart locals who are insisting that she used TOO MUCH force when shooting a knife out of a suspect's hand who was rushing her.

She'd repeatedly asked him to drop his wep, attempted to taze him (tho she missed) and when he went after her, she shot him in the hand.



Personally, I pay police officers to protect me, so if a person is disobeying an officer to the point that force is necessary, 9:10 the officer should use their training to detain the suspect. If they need to use a tazer, beanbag gun, gas, bullet, et cetera they should do so. I KNOW that there are "bad cops" and it's not the cool thing to do to like tha po-po, but there are just as many drug dealing doctors and corrupt fire fighters out there, it's just that COPS get the flak.

Folks just like to ***** about the police. Their attitudes would be QUITE DIFFERENT were the police ever called in to protect one of THEIR loved ones.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I saw that report, but it didn't say he got shot 24 times...

I really don't think the cops are to blame for this. It's classified as non-leathal and accidents happen. I still wonder why everyone seems to hate the police. We kinda need them or we would all murder eachother... Makes no sense to me...

 

[CD-R]

There's just something weird and disturbing about the fact that the cop tasered the guy 24 goddamn times. Surely the guy was down after one taser. If a cop can't handle a situation and ends up freaking out so bad that he keeps tasering someone over and over, maybe he shouldn't be a cop.

It depends. If the guy is on drugs or something like that he could just get right back up after being tazed. A tazer doesn't knock you out unconscious it just shocks you. It's only really dangerous if you have a pre-existing heart condition. Although after reading the articles I don't see where everyone keeps getting the 24 times thing from.

 

[StBishop]

There's just something weird and disturbing about the fact that the cop tasered the guy 24 goddamn times. Surely the guy was down after one taser. If a cop can't handle a situation and ends up freaking out so bad that he keeps tasering someone over and over, maybe he shouldn't be a cop.

Sorry, I should have been clearer in my OP.

I meant to say, the cop has been reported to have tazed the guy a rediculous number of times, possibly 24?.

I'll edit the OP.

 

[CouchCommando]

I really have noticed that Australian media is pretty crap, its almost like they LOATHE how laid back things are over here and decide to "create" news by putting a sensationalist slant on any kind of crap just to create a stir.
A case in point some time ago a tall insane guy stormed onto Bondi beach and started wildly slashing at beach goers ,after been repeatedly called upon to put the knife down he lunged at a police officer who had his weapon drawn, in the exchange the officer who was caught flat footed in the sand discharged his fire arm killing the man in front of hundreds of witnesses. That media shit storm lasted for over half a year, and If I recall right the officer lost his job.
At the end of the day the cop did not put the carving knife in the guys and sure as shit didn't order him to start slashing strangers relaxing on a packed beach, but the media did such a good job crucifying the cop that his career was effectively over.

 

[kalt_13]

the cop did the right thing. I dont understand the media, would the have prefered the cop use his pistol? If the cop had simply shot the guy it would of been a very short comment on the news, if it was mentioned at all.

 

[Worgen]

the problem here is that if he just shot a knife wielding guy then it would be ok but since he tazered him alot, it starts to get into the realm of torture

 

[rekabdarb]

Well considering i take an administration of justice class, and the class i had on monday was lectured by A GUY WHO IS IN THE UNITED STATES TAZER TESTING GROUP, i KNOW that 24 times...? uhm he must of reloaded the battery at least once. However 24 is still a number that could be used to arrest someone. A peace officer has the right to use it as much as possible to get an arrest be it once or twice or.... 25, if their battery has JUST been charged.

Shitty media? LoL in my city a couple years back a psychotic woman wielding something SHARPER than a butcher's cleaver (The police station later sent it to two different knife manufacturers, one said it was sharper than their BRAND NEW knifes) was shot with a gun and was killed. The media said it was a vegetable peeler and that the police just mistook it and decided to shoot the asian minority.

 

[WolfThomas]

People (cops included) need to remember that tazers are "less than lethal" not "non-lethal". People can still die because of them. I think tazers are far more limited in their uses than people think, for example in this situation the officer should have probably just shot him with his gun, he was a deadly threat and it was justifible. If you have to taze someone I think it should be for say if they're resisting arrest and using it once only.

Less than lethal weapons worry me quite a bit, especially in the case of rioting and civil oppression. Because you can oppress people and suppress insurrection without fatalities, and therefore less responsibility. In the French and Russia revolution the only way to break up a crowd of rioters (or even peaceful protestors) was to fire into them or charge them with cavalry both resulting in tremendous casualities, but this further enraged the oppressed people to take action. Lafayette lost most of his credibility and politcal power after ordering the National Guard to fire on protestors.

That said I'm not for riots and protests, just saying that if the government become some sort of Ing Soc or Norsefire we'd be screwed.

 

[Dags90]

Really, if he was threatened with lethal force a knife he should've responded with lethal force. Tazering someone who's actively trying to kill someone is as stupid and irresponsible as purposefully shooting in non-lethal areas.

I think tazers of often misused in the U.S. due to poor police training. They're of limited usefulness to officers who can threaten lethal force. For security officials who can't carry guns they make more sense to me.

I read a story about a guy who got tazered while in a diabetic coma for "resisting arrest". There seems to be some officers who don't get what "resisting arrest" actually means. It usually involves a physical force or harm or the potential for physical danger. It's a misleading term really. Someone who isn't complying but is not a physical threat or danger is not "resisting arrest" in most places (In the U.S.).

 

[The Wooster]

What kind of future crack was this guy on that made him able to get back up and pose a threat after being tazed beyond three times? There's no conceivable reason for tazering someone that many times.

True, if the cop had used his pistol there wouldn't have been a problem but whats the point in a less-leathal weapon if you're just going to use it until the target dies?

I've got a healthy ammount of skepticism for the police and their version of events, particularly after the totally shady shit they pulled after tazering a man to death here in Canada.

 

[Sonofadiddly]

There's just something weird and disturbing about the fact that the cop tasered the guy 24 goddamn times. Surely the guy was down after one taser. If a cop can't handle a situation and ends up freaking out so bad that he keeps tasering someone over and over, maybe he shouldn't be a cop.

It depends. If the guy is on drugs or something like that he could just get right back up after being tazed. A tazer doesn't knock you out unconscious it just shocks you. It's only really dangerous if you have a pre-existing heart condition. Although after reading the articles I don't see where everyone keeps getting the 24 times thing from.

It's my fault for being too much of a lazy asshole to read the article. Even now.

Edit: This just reminds me of the recent stories of Seattle cops overreacting, like the cop who shot a guy in the chest a bunch of times because he wouldn't put down his whittling knife. Turns out the poor old hobo was deaf. Seriously, if your reaction to a bum with a tiny knife is to shoot him several times instead of maybe backing away or shooting him in the foot or getting your taser, you might want to consider a change of career.

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

Most people who die from tazers are coked up or on meth so fuck em, plus if you put yourself in a situation like that fuck you I hope you die.

 

[octafish]

I thought the guy who died was only tasered once or twice as part of a normal arrest, but there was a seperate incident in WA where police tortured a man with a taser and it was captured on video and the media are adding two and two and getting five. (I work in the media BTW)

...Yeah, so I just checked and I think you are confusing it a little bit, not helped by the way the media seems to be linking the two stories though. An unarmed mentally ill man in WA was tasered 13 times in a police lock-up after refusing a strip search (torture) and a man who was brandishing knives died after being tasered by police in Sydney (accident).