Sunday, November 19, 2006

Taser Use

Have you seen this video (article here) of an Iranian-American UCLA student getting tased? It's awful. The cops tased him two or three times after he was in cuffs, and, apparently, only because he wouldn't stand back up - hrmm, don't know about you, but after being tased a few times I might not be able to jump back to my feet at attention. To be fair, who knows, but it's shocking to watch, really makes me want to do - ahem - more than some of these students, who are, I believe, fairly representative of the coddled youth of our age, so beaten down and drugged with inaction and consumerism that all they can do is think about shouting, then actually shouting and trying to look self-important. There, I said it, but come on people, it's all well and good to stand back on the sidelines and "yell" at someone who is apparently unjustifiably tasing another, but . . . Again, to be fair, I wasn't there . . .

One of the interesting things about Tasers is that there seems to be a huge discrepancy between what it looks like to be tased, and what actually happens when you are tased. For ince, when I see that student being tased, it looks to me like he's being freaking electrocuted, and I imagine it is extraordinarily painful and horrible. But most cops talk about how it's just a lock-up of the muscles, and feels more like an all-over sting (I asked an inmate what it felt like to be tased; he looked at me kind of blankly and said, "Well, it stings, that's for sure," but wouldn't elaborate further). In my wee town, cops calls ambulances after they tase someone, but I don't know if this is a bureaucratic requirement to save their butts later, or if it's actually necessary. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My son-in-law was tased five times while being taken into custody at the Jackson County, Oregon jail. The taser burned him. Right, big burns on his back that took more than a month to heal.
The charges? None. He was released the following morning without ever being charged.

5:28 PM  
Blogger i heart public defense said...

Five times is unbelievable, I'm so sorry. I wonder what sort of recourse people have for these sorts of things? Civil action against the police officers? I have zero idea, and zero experience, but certainly there must be something . . .

8:20 PM  

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