Comments on: January body count: five men die after being Tasered

by: mythago

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:29:51 +0000

Of course, these statistics depend on the Taser Corp., which only started gathering them a couple of years ago.

The Taser Corp. has also falsely claimed that they have never lost a lawsuit against them. Turns out that isn’t quite true; there are a number of cases where they have settled “out of court”. When confronted with that information, Taser simply said they counted those cases as having “won” because no verdict was entered against them.

Wouldn’t want to mess with the share price, y’know.

by: bluebonnet

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:58:11 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnkVmj-pzNc

more than a few sadists are attrated to professions where tehy hold physical power over people, and the top profession that attracts these kinds is police enforcement. add to that fact that most of the sadists are misogynistic. the taser is a perfect toy for them: they can have ultimate control over a woman’s body, make her do things like convulse (in itself, looking orgasmic), & hurt her of course.
You’ve just handed them the perfect tool.

by: Damian

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:16:52 +0000

And nobody knows idiocy like cookie.

So, Internet Tough Guy, just how tough are you?

by: Mold

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:19:30 +0000

I used to work for government and I’ll tell you that nearly every sane one has a piece within easy distance. “I may be charged but I’ll be alive.” is the thought process. After being threatened with bodily harm and death by a co-worker, I felt it necessary to procure a carry permit. A Taser would have been preferable as my gun training is for fatal or near-fatal wounds. A Taser might kill, my shooting would.

Given the option of being shot or Tased, I’ll pick Tased as my morbidity/mortality is less. On the other hand, I don’t f**k with police.

by: LynstHolin

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:54:27 +0000

A few years back, I was in a car accident and cracked the windshield good with my head. While I sat in the passenger’s seat, dazed and unsure of what had just happened, a police officer started asking questions. What year is it? How many fingers am I holding up? In my state of confusion and pain, I thought the questions were stupid and annoying, and got quite cranky with the cop. Guess if that happened now, I’d get tased.

It seems blindingly obvious that people who have just been in car accidents don’t act normally.

by: MikeEss

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:32:47 +0000

cookie, thank god you’re here!

I was getting worried there. In order for Pandagon to present all views, as any good lefty blog would do, we need your insane, fascist rantings too.

seroj just isn’t a good substitute.

NOW this thread can be considered complete…

by: cookie

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:23:40 +0000

Mike, I am here, just sitting here reading all these idiotic posts. It is amazing to me how ignorant and misinformed some people are! Everyone knows my position on tasers. I carry one everyday and will continue to carry it and use it when I need it. I am just tired of arguing with stupid people!

by: Skullhunter, Archdemon of Coffee Beverages

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:32:37 +0000

Why is it always the false dichotomy of “It’s either tasers or deadly force in the form of nightsticks and bullets.”? Why is it that instead of demanding a higher standard of conduct with greater consequences for wrongdoing, we have people making excuses for the police?

I can’t really explain it any more clearly: police officers have the ability to do things no regular citizen can which gives them a greater level of power over other citizens along with a vastly increased ability to do harm to other citizens. They can investigate, arrest, detain, conduct surveillance on, imprison and utilize lethal force against other citizens. They do not need to be cut any slack on top of that.

If they can’t do their job under scrutiny, under certain penalty of wrongdoing and under the stricture of remembering that they’re not knights in a feudal kingdom where the serfs can be dealt with as they please if said serfs don’t show enough respect (or fear), they need to get another fucking job.

by: bacopa

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:01:49 +0000

TaserDad got less than five years? I hope TaserDad’s cellmates know exactly what he’s in for.

by: Samantha Vimes

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:38:56 +0000

If people who have just been in an accident are at higher risk for heart attack (and frankly, I would have been thinking more about broken bones, torn ligaments, and other injuries that could be worsened through electric-induced convulsions), shouldn’t the police be especially careful not to tase them unless they are definitely pointing guns?

Not getting out of your car after a crash is NOT dangerous behavior. It IS however, a indicator that you may be in need of medical assistance. Concussion, neck injury, broken bones, bleeding– or just plain damage to the car making you unable to get out are the things the police should be thinking about.

And teenage girls tend to freeze and pull up the covers when their are strange men in their bedroom. The correct response to *that* is to talk her down from her panic. If you need to search the room, hand her a robe or something to put on so she can cooperate. Did NONE of the cops have daughters?

The other cases sound bizarre. A man asked cops for help before his erratic behavior prompted a tasering? Wouldn’t that suggest that whatever the cause of his behavior, he wasn’t looking for a fight?