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Tazers

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bjobjs

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

Under what conditions does a police officer have the right to tazer an individual? I understand the right when an individual resists arrest but is running, prior to an arrest being made considered resisting arrest?
 


tranquility

Senior Member
The police are allowed to use reasonable force to effect an arrest. What that means depends on the facts. Many police departments have use of force policies which list the conditions under which different levels of force can be used. Those use of force policies are not the law, but they do reflect what that particular department feels is reasonable.
 

xylene

Senior Member
Tazing as a compliance force measure does not require a high standard.

While no police agency may randomly tazes people, on the use of force spectrum the tazer / stun baton are no where near the use of a billy, and certainly not a firearm

Could you flesh out the situation? Where you arrested and tazed?

Unless you suffered permanent injury, you really have not much of a case, unless you can prove wrongful force.
 

bjobjs

Junior Member
The incident I am speaking about happened to an individual, a stranger, that was running towards myself and others. The officer yelled stop and then tazed the individual. They were then tackled by the officer skid face first on the cement for approximately two feet and while face down with an officers knee in their back and arm behind being cuffed another officer ran up dropped his knee into the individuals back raised his flashlight above his head and proceded to hit the individual in the back of the head with it.

All this took place within ten feet of me and I was mortified. I just wish I had a camcorder. I later found out that the individual had ran because they had .2 grams of meth on them.

But my question lies in the brutality taken by the police force to take this individual down. If it could happen to them whats to stop them from doing it to others? This is why I was inquiring as to the tazer legalities.

By the way this individual ended up in the hospital emergency room in the bed next to me because of the blow to his head.
 

VeronicaLodge

Senior Member
The incident I am speaking about happened to an individual, a stranger, that was running towards myself and others. The officer yelled stop and then tazed the individual. They were then tackled by the officer skid face first on the cement for approximately two feet and while face down with an officers knee in their back and arm behind being cuffed another officer ran up dropped his knee into the individuals back raised his flashlight above his head and proceded to hit the individual in the back of the head with it.

All this took place within ten feet of me and I was mortified. I just wish I had a camcorder. I later found out that the individual had ran because they had .2 grams of meth on them.

But my question lies in the brutality taken by the police force to take this individual down. If it could happen to them whats to stop them from doing it to others? This is why I was inquiring as to the tazer legalities.

By the way this individual ended up in the hospital emergency room in the bed next to me because of the blow to his head.
my best advice is to not run from the police :)
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
And of course, you saw the beginning of the chase, where the methhead struck the officer, or pulled a weapon, or grabbed at the officer's gun, etc., etc.? Don't rush to draw conclusions when you know, at best, 1/2 the story.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Tazing a person failing to follow the lawful order of a police officer has repeatedly been shown of late to not constitute an unreasonable use of force. I would be more concerned with the blow to the head with a flashlight then anything else mentioned. Police hitting people's heads with things not designed to hit people's heads is often found to be unreasonable.
 

bjobjs

Junior Member
TO: YOU ARE GUILTY

It's smart ass remarks like yours a person DOES NOT come to these sites to read.

Did you miss the fact I said I was within 10 feet of the individual?????

I seen and heard the beginning middle and end!!!!

You have a wild imagination.

Thank all of the rest of you for your enlightenment on the subject.
 

Some Random Guy

Senior Member
It's smart ass remarks like yours a person DOES NOT come to these sites to read.

Did you miss the fact I said I was within 10 feet of the individual?????

I seen and heard the beginning middle and end!!!!
we all noticed that you said that an individual running from the police ended up being tazed and tackled within 10 feet of you. You had not mentioned that you saw the whole incident from before the meth junkie started running.

When contacted by the Meth junkie's lawyer, feel fee to describe the incident for his court case. Out of the whole story, only the flashlight sounds unreasonable to me.
 

efflandt

Senior Member
bjobjs, haven't you ever watched "Cops" on TV? If someone resists or flees, they get taken down (not necessarily gently).
 

bjobjs

Junior Member
Apparently the later of you missed the original question- Under what conditions does a police officer have the right to tazer an individual?

I asked on a basis for my own and my family's concern. I didn't ask for a bunch of wisecracks or asinine "cops" comparisons.

I guess I misconstrued the concept of this website.

Thank you to those who took my question as it was written and for those who have nothing but inane rambling please keep your replies to yourself.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Since I'm feeling particularly "insane" tonight, here's some more thoughts - if you don't like my comments, don't read them. If you want accurate answers, post all the facts. And you still haven't explained how you witnessed this "horrendous" beating and yet ended up in the same ER as the guy an hour later...

And, just for good measure, the police can specifically taser you, inter alia, whenever you pose a physical threat to their safety.
 

Some Random Guy

Senior Member
Apparently the later of you missed the original question- Under what conditions does a police officer have the right to tazer an individual?
Actually I read the question and the responses by tranquility and xylene and found that there was nothing worth adding. For the current situation, the individual was resisting arrest and was tazed to effect his capture. No laws broken by the police in relation to the tazing.

We cannot answer you with a specific list of exact situations where it is allowed. That's not the way the law works. Every situation is different.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
The incident I am speaking about happened to an individual, a stranger, that was running towards myself and others. The officer yelled stop and then tazed the individual.
So, he was failing to comply with the lawful direction of officer and may have committed some other crime before he turned to run ... perhaps he had been subject to arrest even. At best, it would seem he had committed the offense of resisting or delaying a peace officer - a misdemeanor. Depending on agency policy and where they have the Taser in their use of force continuum, that may have been a very reasonable application of force to gain compliance.

They were then tackled by the officer skid face first on the cement for approximately two feet and while face down with an officers knee in their back and arm behind being cuffed another officer ran up dropped his knee into the individuals back raised his flashlight above his head and proceded to hit the individual in the back of the head with it.
I suspect the flashlight was out of line.

However, I was once accused by a woman standing only 15' or 20' away of hitting a suspect I had just arrested with my baton , and I never TOUCHED him with my baton! So, perhaps he did not strike him with the flashlight so much as distracted the suspect's attention with it?

If the officer DID strike the suspect in the head with the flashlight, that would likely be outside the use of force policy ... unless the suspect was armed and not coughing up the weapon, or some other dire circumstance was present.

I later found out that the individual had ran because they had .2 grams of meth on them.
That's what crooks do - they run when given the chance.

But my question lies in the brutality taken by the police force to take this individual down. If it could happen to them whats to stop them from doing it to others? This is why I was inquiring as to the tazer legalities.
You or another witness can complain to the agency about what you believed was an inappropriate use of force by the officer or officers involved. They will likely then look into the matter. While a use of force report should have been completed, and a supervisory inquiry made, this does not mean that they were as diligent as they might be if witnesses came forward to report their observations.

If you believe that inappropriate force was used, report it to the agency.

By the way this individual ended up in the hospital emergency room in the bed next to me because of the blow to his head.
Why were YOU at the hospital??

- Carl
 
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