Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Carlton
|
To me there was absolutely no cause to taze the subject anyway. He was clearly restrained, and not resisting in any real way. Tazing subjects like that is the whole reason that so many people are opposed to cops having Tazers at all. They are very, very easy to abuse.
FROM ARTICLE:
"If he thought he was reaching for a Taser and pulled a gun, that's negligent. That would be involuntary manslaughter, a negligent homicide," Burris said. "If he didn't have any Taser on him ... that's an intentional killing: second-degree murder."
They better prosecute this guy.
"Burris and BART police Chief Gary Gee have said the facts remain unclear whether Mehserle had been carrying a Taser that day."
See, i don't believe this bit at all.
"The department does not have enough of the stun guns to equip every officer with one, Gee said. When officers do carry Tasers, he added, they are kept on a separate part of their belts from their service pistols.
"They keep those Tasers on the opposite side of their gun hand, or in the middle, pointed the opposite direction so you have to turn your hand to get it," Burris said. "No movement (on the videos) suggests (the officer) was reaching for anything other than the location where the gun was.""
This is what i'm saying....how could you possibly reach around behind your back, twist your hand and not know it's your tazer? Likewise, how do you draw your main duty weapon from a completely different part of your person and not know it's
a real god-damn gun!?!?!
It's hard to believe someone that stupid could even remember to breathe.
To me, if he actually MEANT to taze that guy, it's much, much worse. That shows intent.
PS: Here in Philly our SEPTA Transit cops go through the Phila PD police academy. So do the AMTRAK police around here i think. Same with a lot of the small suburban cops. This is a good system IMO, it ensures everyone is taught to the same (hopefully high) standard. I take it BART doesn't do the same?