Oh I agree you have to choose your battles....and your battlegrounds.

I guess I could start a maelstrom if I started talking about the common law right to resist unlawful arrest:eek::D 'course you better be damn sure the arrest is unlawful.

But alas, the right has been abrogated in all but 12 states, the majority of which are, interestingly, in the South. IIRC the right still exists, including use of deadly force in some jurisdictions, in Wyoming, Okla, Ga, Ala, Miss, Tenn, NC, SC.....hmmmm that's the only 8 I can remember.

Byron- Hold on. I think most (or all???) here have agreed the driver was wrong. I don't think we're arguing about whether we should all treat cops with respect. I think that's been clearly established as yes.

- Skip

Very cool story!!

Just in...


Utah stun gun trooper back on the job

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah trooper who used a stun gun on a motorist who was walking away from him in a confrontation widely viewed on YouTube is back on duty after taking a verbal communications course.

Trooper Jon Gardner returned to work recently after internal investigators question the motorist in the Sept. 14 confrontation on U.S. 40 in eastern Utah, said Col. Lance Davenport, commander of the state highway patrol.

The driver, Jared Massey, obtained the trooper's dashboard camera video through a public records request and posted it on YouTube in November. Gardner's superiors acknowledged that the attention on the video prompted them to speed up their review of the confrontation.

The state patrol had said soon after the video surfaced on YouTube that Gardner felt threatened and was justified in jolting driver Massey after Massey walked away from the trooper and refused to sign a speeding ticket.

The video shows Gardner drawing his stun gun after Massey refused the ticket.

A surprised Massey asks, "What the heck is wrong with you?"

Gardner fires, and Massey shrieks and falls.

"Face down! Face down! Put your hands behind your back!" Gardner orders.

A woman screaming hysterically emerges from the passenger side of the sport utility vehicle Massey was driving, and the trooper tells her to get back inside "or you're going to jail, too."

State patrol policy allows troopers to use a stun gun if someone is a threat to themselves or others and other means of control are unreasonable. Though an internal investigation has not concluded, Gardner's superiors have said while justified that his "attitude" was a problem and could be a good case study for training.

Gardner learned better conflict resolution skills after taking administrative leave in November, Davenport said.

"The video shows Gardner drawing his stun gun after Massey refused the ticket."

Great reporting - not. No mention of Massey refusing police orders multiple times, putting his hand in his pocket or walking back to his driver's side door.

OK...that should settle this thread. The driver was a dumba$$. The cop had an attitude. So we're all right.:D

You think it's that easy? :D

Wow, long thread I wanted to reply, but was reading and it just kept growing.

Excessive force=yes, I think as soon as the guy said No, the officer knew what he wanted, he walked with his back to the guy? Now I'm no cop, but I would think smart move number one is NEVER put yourself in a position of disadvantage... I think the officer was so upset the guy said NO to HIM that as soon as he started walking to the car the officer had already made up his mind to bring out the taser.

If he used the weapon to make the criminal comply, why didn't he just taser the wife in the belly while the perp was still in the car? THAT would have made the con do as officer roid demanded!

Seriously, I have no issue with police or the use of any kind of justified force, but this was not justified. If the guy would not comply, the officer had the right to take him to the ground only. I think the use of tasers should be treated (maybe it is) like guns; there is a full report and review when/if they are ever used. I'm glad the officer got training so now no matter how pissed off he is, he will use the right words...

;)

Here's another fine piece of law enforcement. Trooper shotguns family pet.

COOKEVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Police video released Wednesday showed a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop.

The Smoak family was pulled over the evening of January 1 on Interstate 40 in eastern Tennessee by officers who mistakenly suspected them of a carjacking. An investigation showed James Smoak had simply left his wallet on the roof of his car at a gas station, and motorists who saw his money fly off the car as he drove away called police.

The family was driving through eastern Tennessee on their way home from a New Year's trip to Nashville. They told CNN they are in the process of retaining a lawyer and considering legal action against the Cookeville, Tennessee, Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol for what happened to them and their dog.

In the video, released by the THP, officers are heard ordering the family, one by one, to get out of their car with their hands up. James Smoak and his wife, Pamela, and 17-year-old son Brandon are ordered onto their knees and handcuffed.

"What did I do?" James Smoak asks the officers.

"Sir, inside information is that you was involved in some type of robbery in Davidson County," the unidentified officer says.

Smoak and his wife protest incredulously, telling the officers that they are from South Carolina and that their mother and father-in-law are traveling in another car alongside them.

The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not escape, but the officers did not heed them.

Pamela Smoak is seen on the tape looking up at an officer, telling him slowly, "That dog is not mean. He won't hurt you."

Her husband says, "I got a dog in the car. I don't want him to jump out."

The tape then shows the Smoak's medium-size brown dog romping on the shoulder of the Interstate, its tail wagging. As the family yells, the dog, named Patton, first heads away from the road, then quickly circles back toward the family.

An officer in a blue uniform aims his shotgun at the dog and fires at its head, killing it immediately.

For several moments, all that is audible are shrieks as the family reacts to the shooting. James Smoak even stands up, but officers pull him back down.

"Y'all shot my dog! Y'all shot my dog!" James Smoak cries. "Oh my God! God Almighty!"

"You shot my dog!" screams his wife, distraught and still handcuffed. "Why'd you kill our dog?"

"Jesus, tell me, why did y'all shoot my dog?" James Smoak says.

The officers bring him to the patrol car, and the family calms down, but still they ask the officers for an explanation. One of them says Patton was "going after" the officer.

"No he wasn't, man," James Smoak says. "Y'all didn't have to kill the dog like that."

Brandon told CNN Patton, was playful and gentle -- "like Scooby-Doo" -- and may have simply gone after the beam of the flashlight as he often did at home, when Brandon and the dog would play.

The Tennessee Department of Safety, which oversees the Highway Patrol, has said an investigation is under way.

Cookeville Police Chief Robert Terry released a statement on the department's Web site Wednesday night describing the department's regret over the incident.

"I know the officer wishes that circumstances could have been different so he could have prevented shooting the dog," Terry wrote. "It is never gratifying to have to put an animal down, especially a family pet, and the officer assures me that he never displayed any satisfaction in doing so."

Terry said he and the vice-mayor of Cookeville met with the family before they left "to convey our deepest sympathies" for the loss of their dog.

"No one wants to experience this kind of thing, and it's very unfortunate that it occurred," he wrote. "If we had the benefit of hindsight, I'm sure some -- if not all of this -- could have been avoided. I believe the Tennessee Highway Patrol feels the same way."

The department is conducting an investigation to determine what, if anything, could have been done differently, he said. Police also plan to be in contact with the Smoak family, Terry said.

The Smoaks buried their pet at home. A white cross marks the grave.

Any dog wagging its tail with a shotgun is dangerous and should be killed.

It is one thing to tazer an A-hole, but to shoot a non threatening dog, this trooper belongs with Mike Vick:mad::mad:

My God, I cannot believe how angry I am right now... These troopers need to spend a long, long time in a prison, in the general population, wearing their uniforms while the video gets played for the inmates during lunch.

It will be interesting (and I'm sure very disgusting) to see how this one gets justified and glossed over. Once again, the police will investigate themselves. This has to stop. What is happening to our country?