The Tasering of a Utah man by a highway patrolman offers the Utah Highway Patrol an opportunity to update its policies and prevent a recurrence of such incidents.



On Sept. 14, trooper John Gardner reportedly pulled over an SUV on U.S. 40 near Vernal.



Driver Jared Massey, 28, vehemently denied seeing a speed limit sign and proclaimed that he wouldn't sign the ticket.



The trooper ordered him out of the vehicle.
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Massey plainly was argumentative, and rather dense about some obvious social mores. Here's a tip: when a uniformed man with a badge and a gun tells you to do something, shut up and do exactly what he says.

Here's another tip, if your rights are actually being violated you're in a much better position, especially with video running, if you warn your public servants of their misdeeds and their possible civil and criminal prosecution under 18 USC 241 and 242.

But, what goes around comes around!

Officer injured in Taser demonstration
11 October 2007
http://www.janes.com/news/lawenforcement/pr/pr071011_1_n.shtml

"A police officer in the US who volunteered to be the subject of a Taser demonstration has suffered possibly lasting damage, including spine fractures after receiving a five-second discharge, according to a respected medical journal."

"The 38-year-old victim was rushed by ambulance to hospital where a scan showed he suffered compression fractures in his spine caused by muscle spasms triggered by being Tasered in a training class."

Police Officer Suffers Spine Fractures at Taser Demonstration
September 4, 2007
http://www3.acep.org/pressroom.aspx?id=29862

Our patient, a fit and healthy 38 year-old man, came by ambulance to the emergency department with severe back pain, which turned out to be spine fractures, said James E. Winslow, MD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Normally after Taser exposure, pain stops after the discharge is over. In this case, the pain continued for a long time, leading the patient to reduce his work hours significantly.

It isn't hard to see where today's militarized para-military police get their attitude about electrocuting the People on a whim...


Photo: Police in Mansville, Ohio, shock each other with 50,000 volts from the TASER. While they may think it is harmless fun to shock each other with the TASER, it is not.

Clearly this case showed an officer with an ego more than anything else.

Too often they can't see that the person who they are affecting also has an opinion. The officer could have handled this in a much more professional way. Why could he not listen to the person's side of the story? I doubt that any of this would have happened if he would have just heard the guy out and then told him if he thought he was wrong in issuing the citation he could take it up with the judge who would judge who was right and who was wrong.

Arrogance and ego had a lot more to do with this than anything else and we should not have people in a position of authority who exhibit such behavior.

The Keeper wrote:

Here's another tip, if your rights are actually being violated you're in a much better position, especially with video running, if you warn your public servants of their misdeeds and their possible civil and criminal prosecution under 18 USC 241 and 242.
Well, that's a step better than what Massey did to this Trooper.

Here's an even better idea: Instead of playing Junior ACLU Lawyer and citing a bunch of Utah Code references to the officer, try simply doing what he says (unless you're in actual physical danger by doing so), then later bring up any concerns with the Trooper's supervisor or the judge in court. Our system does allow for a fair, impartial hearing at multiple stages of the legal process. Insulting the officer, walking away and uignoring him is NOT the answer. Likewise, threatening an officer with "prosecution" by trying to cite a bunch of scary-sounding legal references when you don't like what the officer's doing is not the answer. I promise you, it's almost a certainty that the officer knows the relevant law better than you, and you'll just make a fool of yourself and get in trouble for not following a lawful order from a law enforcecment officer.

If you have a problem with the ticket you just got, you don't refuse to sign it. You don't walk away and ignore the cop. You don't threaten the cop with prosecution. You cooperate on the spot, then later talk to the cop's boss, or the judge. Our system works, people. Civil disobedience hurts more than helps here.

Should the office have tazered him? I don't think so. But Massey here also mishandled himself in a big way. It is critical that we not give up respect for law enforcement in our everyday lives.

MEgus wrote:

Clearly this case showed an officer with an ego more than anything else.

Too often they can't see that the person who they are affecting also has an opinion. The officer could have handled this in a much more professional way. Why could he not listen to the person's side of the story? I doubt that any of this would have happened if he would have just heard the guy out and then told him if he thought he was wrong in issuing the citation he could take it up with the judge who would judge who was right and who was wrong.

Arrogance and ego had a lot more to do with this than anything else and we should not have people in a position of authority who exhibit such behavior.


Actually, in the video, Massey spends a few minutes arguing about showing his license and registration and shows obvious belligerence from the moment Gardner reaches his window. Put yourself in a cop's shoes and ask yourself how you would react to a belligerent person if you do not know what they are capable of.

I noted that the officer tasered the citizen by the side of a road. Could the citizen not have convulsed himself right into the path of oncoming traffic? The officer also ordered the wife to return to her vehicle and not provide an independent witness of the details of the encounter. Finally all of this happened prior to the patrolman telling the man that he was under arrest. These sorts of things make me detest those who are supposed to be guardians of the peace.

What is wrong with our state? We presumably as a people hold that the Constitution and the Declaration were right and inspired by God. Don't they clearly set a priority of God, people, government? And that the government's ONLY role is to protect the rights of the people? The editorial stated:

Massey plainly was argumentative, and rather dense about some obvious social mores. Here's a tip: when a uniformed man with a badge and a gun tells you to do something, shut up and do exactly what he says.

If the People are the superior to the government and its agents, what is wrong with that? Have we descended into a police state, where the people have to be afraid of and subservient to the government and its agents? Did not earlier American statesmen warn us of the time when the people would be afraid of the government and not vice versa?

I recommend that we rethink our ideas on this matter and re-enthrone the people as the superior of the government, not the puppet thereof.


Steve