Are police a little too willing to use a TASER?

Question

Police in Dayton tazed a blind, crippled, cancer stricken senior citizen who was not a suspect of a crime. They claim it was self defense since she evidentially threatened to overpower the 3 officers. They also have said they could not identify her as blind since she was disguised by dark glasses and threating them with a white cane.

The scary part is while I have dramatically presented the story its actually not a joke.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/18/dnt.oh.blind.woman.tased.whio

At some point might we wonder if the police are using excessive force with these occasionally lethal devices that they use at the slightest provocation?

Answer 1

A cane in anybody's hands can be a lethal weapon. According to the officers, she tried striking one of them. You are right, she wasn't a suspect in a crime. So why would they have used the taser? I don't believe that Dayton P.D. is in the habit of randomly knocking on people's doors and shooting them with the taser.  That's just a little too far-fetched to believe. And it doesn't matter if the woman is blind or not, she swung at them. Would you have felt better if they had used O.C. or a baton? What would be your protocol when confronting a subject trying to hit you? Would it be something like this?

Suspect= " I'm going to kill you, cop"

Officer= " Ok, now Sir/Ma'am. Before I defend myself I need

                  to ask are you currently suffering from any physical

                  disabilities that may cause you to not be fully

                  capable of killing me? Have you injested any

                   drugs that could cause your heart to beat at an

                  accelerated rate and lead to heart failure, which

                  of course will be blamed on my use of a taser?

                  Which ironically is designed to keep me from

                   having to go hands on with you, thus reducing

                   the likelihood of you suffering any prolonged

                  periods of pain."

Would that be your protocol? Would it?

Answer 2

Would you rather be tased or shot?

Answer 3

Well, if tasers were "excessive" no department would issue them. I believe they are effective tools just like everything else officers are given. There are no real, legit cases of people dying from being tased. The only lethal weapon police carry are guns. (And batons if you hit the person in the right place.)

Unfortunately, there are good and bad police officers. But there are good and bad teachers, doctors, etc. Rarely do those people have their job performance rated by the public. I'm not saying don't question the police (that'd be outrageous) but you should realized they're highly trained in what they do and, more often than not, I bet they're doing the right thing.

You can't punish all officers by taking away an effective tool because SOME of them are entirely too excited to use excessive force.

Answer 4

It doesn't take much to set a cop off, they just get worse and there's more of the bad ones as time goes on,

Read about it here, the stuff that is censored on the 6:00 news, Rapists, child molesters, drugs, thieves, beatings, murders, you name it they have done it,

Thousands of pages if someone had the time to go through them all...

http://www.badcopnews.com/

EDIT

After watching the entire video I have to ask how the h**l could those cops feel threatened......even if she wasn't blind she can hardly move...

2 steps back and you are safe from the swinging blind persons cane, are pigs really that f***ing stupid, easy answer after seeing that.....YES

Good lord what kind of pansies are the pigs today when "they feel threatened" by her......And if they are not pansies then they surely did it for cheap thrills.....

For christs sake I have grabbed heavier things that were swinging in my highschool days.......All by myself....

Right up there with the "big strong police officers", 2 of them that felt the need to handcuff a 6 year old I guess......

Answer 5

its true there some bad apples. you have them in every profession. it does not accurately reflect the behaviors and decisions of every law enforcement officer. if you do not want tased, sprayed or subjected to other pegs on the ladder of force, comply with the police, whether or not you agree with the situation at hand. i have no sympathies with anyone who would threaten police, regardless of their situation. i myself have been tased and though it was the most incredible pain ive ever felt, five minutes later i couldnt even tell it had happened. wrestle with a mentally ill person you do not know is armed, or find out after they are booked that they have hepatitis and you have to go get tested. experience these things firsthand and you tell me what lengths you would got o to not taser someone. im going home at the end of my shift, regardless of what i have to do to anyone else to ensure it. any LEO will tell you the same. stop telling half the story.

Answer 6

Yes cops are to fast to use brutality on people. And as you can see from these answers cops will all ways try to justify and lie fof each other.Why they are cops so out of control.

Answer 7

Take the taser away from Police and watch the shootings rise. The taser is a great intermediate use of force option, which has saved countless criminals from getting shot and potentially dying. They are not lethal devices. if the person dies it is as a result of another condition (ie. drug overdose). People should Research the taser and then comment, as people generally have No idea what they are talking about in regards to these devices.

Answer 8

I would rather use a taser than have to fight someone and get hurt.  The nice thing about the taser is that even though it hurts very badly, it is over in five seconds unless you keep fighting or not complying, unlike injuries from fighting/getting shot/maced, etc.

Answer 9

Yes I believe that many police are quick to action, with taser and lethal weapons. I believe that the police have become so hardened in their work that there moto may be protect and serve, but their nature is to address anyone  not a part of the long gray line as the enemy. The police has evolved into a self-serving self protecting force with little regard to due process and rights.  When the police say it is going to be a good night tonight, they are not expecting or wanting a quiet night..

Answer 10

police always abuse their power like maseing and taseing kids for fighting at school

personally i've been tased once mased twice and almost beat down

Answer 11

Would you rather have them use a gun?  using a Taser id a step between taking a thug down alive or using deadly force.  You decide.