Clue! Mentally ill people aren’t wild animals. People with schizophrenia, even in locked wards, aren’t automatically homicidal (any more than the vast majority of humanity is.) “Calming down schizophrenics” doesn’t equal “tasing them repeatedly”.

One wouldn’t have thought that in the 21st century it would be necessary to explain such concepts. But that’s coppers for you, in all their unbiased glory.

1. Servant =/= Slave. Servants are usually PAID or otherwise compensated for their work. Which leads to…

2. Yes, police ARE servants, as are EMS and firefighters. They are called PUBLIC SERVANTS for a reason. Namely, because PUBLIC TAX DOLLARS pay their wages, so they are (or, at least, should be) accountable to the public for their behavior. You know, just like YOU would be held accountable by YOUR boss for YOUR behavior at work.

Of course, I doubt you’ve ever even HAD a job, since you don’t seem to comprehend the basic FACT that employees can and SHOULD BE held accountable for poor performance/behavior by their employers, the people who pay their wages.

Might I suggest you take a long walk off a short pier? I don’t think you offer the world much.

OH, and officers ARE public servants. you protect and serve US. THAT’S YOUR FUCKING JOB, YOU LITTLE DADDY-SUCKER PUNK.

if you dont understand this, but tell us to look up Emily Post on how to treat a public servant… well, it all seems a bit disengenious of you. typically.

To others, officers are not servants..treating them in that manner is wrong. Sorry, but in the US slavery has been outlawed for years. If you wonder how to respond to an officer may I suggest Emily Post or Dear Abby.

I have worked for the public and still do. But, I ain’t your servant and you can keep that attitude to your own ignorant self.

the FUCKING COPS ARE TO PROTECT AND SERVE THE CITIZENS. the people THEY WORK FOR.

like the poor bastards they are tazing to death.

fuck that, mold, PUBLIC SERVENTS (like COPS) work for the PUBLIC

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” one of the troopers replied.

Fuck.

Did you even read this part, Moldy?

The trooper admits he did not have any reason to suspect the guy of any actual wrongdoing, other than his seeming unwillingness to put his hand behind his back. While having a seizure. A seizure the troopers had been informed of by their dispatcher.

Some of us are still trying to figure out how four LAPD cops who were videotaped beating the living hell out of some guy managed to get off. And that arrest happened in 1991, followed by some interesting hijinks in 1992.

We can only wonder how much more fun the cops would have had if they used tasers…

Seraph..yes..depends on the situation. The Baltimore cop is one.

I’m not sure I’ve heard of that case. Please elaborate.

Most of you have no clue about calls and what you find when you show up. We have the advantage of the ‘gods view’. We have time, distance, and hindsight. Most officers don’t. They make the call based on what is there.

You make that argument often, Mold. My question then becomes: are only other cops allowed to judge cops’ actions? That can’t be. Those who enforce the law have to answer to the law.

What’s more, the fact that cops often have to make instantaneous, life-or-death decisions, doesn’t mean we should extend them the same leeway in all situations.

It appears that I am not a TrueBeleever about Tasers. Maybe it’s the nut cases with knives next to their throat..which they slit. Maybe it’s the spouse with multiple injuries ‘protecting’ the skel that beat her. Maybe it’s holding an officer that shot a kid, to save her life. Maybe it’s actually doing the work.

Again, does that mean that only cops can judge other cops? Not acceptable. Not in a democracy.

There is risk all around us. Driving kills far more. Yet you accept that risk.

Irrelevant. Risks we choose to accept on our own are entirely different than risks imposed on us by authority figures.

To me, the option of a non-lethal Taser is besser than clubs or guns. Clubs used with discretion can still involve coup and countre-coup (brain damage) and guns are tricky…most are designed to be lethal. Only in the movies do you disarm with a handgun. Most shots are to the trunk and once you start…you’ve already decided on deadly force.

Yes, Mold, but the whole point is that Tasers are turning out to be much less “non-lethal” than advertised, in no small part because they’re being misused. Whether through poor training or deliberate abuse, police are killing people in situations that don’t call for deadly force.

Given the choices, I’ll take being polite to the nice officer and letting my attorney be an @ss if necessary. After that, Tase me bro.

I think you and I might have different definitions of “being polite”. If by “being polite” you mean unquestioning obedience, that’s not the only option to being tased. Not in a democracy. The enforcers of the law must answer to the law - citizens have rights when dealing with the police: orders they don’t have to obey, and treatment they don’t have to accept.

Accepting that the police have the right to give any command (not just “any lawful command”), and to answer with any level of violence they choose if not obeyed, is to accept totalitarianism. It’s not just un-American, it’s anti-American.

You should ask what your job does to you. Officers spend a lot of time at risk and dealing with unpleasantness. This changes you. You begin to take control immediately. You find intimidation useful to maintain order. You get really, really really tired of liars. Literally only you and your mates can be trusted.

…at which point, you and your mates are no longer police officers, but a gang with badges. This is why cops can’t be the only ones to judge cops’ actions.

Keep in mind that most encounters go better if you don’t expect police to be subserviant. Maybe you should leave the entitled attitude at home and act like an adult. Call the wahhmbulance later.

Interesting. I remember this attitude from the thread about PDA. Something about “entitled little lordlings”.

From what I can see, you define the world by dominance and subservience, obedience to Authority. Anyone who fails to obey Authority is getting uppity and must be put back in their place.

Textbook authoritarianism, in other words.

Well, think of the poor hard-working cops caught for an excuse. I mean, they can’t say she was threatening them with a gun because, you know, if that was really the case, they wouldn’t have used tasers.

Perhaps they can start carrying a clean cattle prod or something to plant besides awkward to explain corpses. Admittedly, the fact that she was in a wheelchair makes it more difficult.

But, hey, police complaints authorities have swallowed stupider stories before. I had a friend who was charged with assaulting a police officer after complaining about them spraining a wrist while arresting him at a protest. The video was a bit more difficult for them to explain, but they got away with it.