Police tazer young man w/heart issues and Downs six times http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/08/1767152/west-kendall-mom-faces-trial-after.html He's a ****ing kid, just tackle his *** and cuff him or something. He didnt have a gun or a knife and obviously he has mental issues. Stupid ****.
This is what happens when you let 5 foot f@#k all 105 pound officers on the force - male or female. What happened to bona fide occupational requirements? Because of minorities you have people unfit to do a police PERSON's job with authority to use force under circumstances like this. For crying out loud, the kid was handicapped, and the fact that his mother or whoever jumped on top of the kid should say something. My friend is a cop and he said something that really makes sense. He said you can have two cops, a 5'6" Bruce Lee and a 6'3" cop. The 5'6" Bruce Lee could beat the crap out of the 6"3" cop, but in the field, Bruce Lee will always have to resort to force because he isn't physically imposing, whereas the 6'3" brute will rarely have to resort to force. What happened to the good old days when the cops were actually physically dominant? But hey, at least we are politically correct now.
That's ridiculous. There was never an official height/weight requirement for police officers, nor did minorities ever get rid of that requirement that never existed. If a person isn't intimidated by a fully armed and trained officer of the law who has a small army as back up, then an extra foot in height or 50 lbs in weight isn't going to matter. Further, if they wanted to make a height/weight requirement, they could, without it affecting minorities. Hell, there'd probably be more African-Americans, since traditionally they are bigger than Caucasians.
I think you're looking too far into what I was saying, but yes, minorities do affect the average size of a police force IMO. Women are typically smaller than men - that is what I meant by minority, wasn't a black or white issue. What is frustrating is during the police physical, they have one course and requirements for men, and one less intense for women. Why? I have no problem with women on the force, hindus on the force (I'm from multicultural Toronto and was pulled over by an officer with a police issued turban), etc., as long as they all pass the same physical. I understand what you are saying as well. My point is though that undersized police forces resort to using their batman belt full of goodies more often because they don't have the physical stature or intimidation. If it was a prototypical 6'2" black male police officer, he could have restrained the CHILD as opposed to feeling threatened and resorting to tazing the kid and his mother 6 times. That is the thing now a days, there is no more restraining, and even the 6'2" cops taze. Keeps them safe so can you argue really? I'm playing on both teams here, just thinking out loud really. At the end of the day, it is what it is.
25 is not a kid. His mother called the police. If she couldn't control him without the worry of getting hurt, what the hell do you expect police to do differently? Might want to edit the title of the thread.
I can see this cop having to tase him so I don't blame her for that, but that being said, I have trouble thinking of many situations where I would call the cops for help with anything. Really the only situations I can think of are when I know the insurance company would want a report.
For one 25 is hardly a kid in the physical sense even if he is in the mental sense. I don't get it the mom called the police because she couldn't stop him and was fearful of the situation but tried limiting what the police could do to stop the situation? I'm sorry but did she want her to use her gun or her nightclub instead? The cop should not be expected to physically engage someone that may pose a risk to them. I get it, the guy had a heart condition, he was mentally diminished but would you rather the headline read "Man with downs syndrome kills officer with own duty weapon"?
From my understanding aren't people with mental disabilities able to have ridiculous feats of strength? It's something like their brain doesn't function in it's ability to tell the body it can't lift something because it's too heavy. I don't know if downs syndrome is included, but if so it would make this man a little more dangerous because he doesn't have the full capacity to realize what he is doing. Edit Apparently downs syndrome is not a disability that includes this.
Are you sure about that? Because my friends brother has this disability and he use to tell me stories how freakish strong he was.
Whoa whoa whoa! So the mother and the son are being charged for trying to stop them from tazing a kid that they were specifically told not to taze in the 911 call due to being born with a hole in his heart. What is going on in the justice dept. in Miami? I certainly hope the judge chastises the hell out of those dumb a$$ cops. I'm sorry, but that is unexcusable under the circumstances. Either the dispatcher neglected to relay the proper information or the officer is the real ******. One of them needs to be fired for such an eggregious error. I hope the mother raises hell in court and sues the police department for being so Drakonian. BTW-who tazes anyone six times!?!
The taser is a weapon of debilitation, one to allow the Police Officer the opportunity to secure the downed (no pun) perp with minimal violence and trauma. It is the nightstick of our time, that having been the intended use of that weapon as well. However, just as the nightstick came to be used punitively, the taser is as well. The problem is that the taser is so effortless on the part of the Officer that if the Officer loses cognizance and sensitivity to its effect on the restrainee, it has far more potential for abuse than the nightstick - which required physical exertion on the part of the Officer. It's a lazy person's torture device, in other words. While in the past, the physical exertion required to use a nightstick was the self-limiting factor, now someone can simply stand there pressing a trigger repeatedly. The action has no physical "feedback" to the user.
I think you make a good point. My father was a carreer police officer, 25 years worth in South Miami. When he joined at age 21, he weighed in at 130 pounds, and looked 17. He told me that for the first five or six years, nearly every drunk took one look and said, "you" aren't taking "me" to jail, and there was resistance. They all went to jail, but not before "testing" him. The only injury he every suffered came at the hands of a fellow police officer who swung his blackjack at a resisting drunks head and missed, hitting my fathers hand on the roof of the squadcar breaking several bones. When he became a Captain, one of his first moves was banning all blackjacks.. he said they "invited" excessive force when the officer was mad. On a personal level, I can assure that fewer folks mess with me at 240 pounds, then they did at 165.. by a LOT. I get significantly more respect without saying a word, even though I was much more aggressive and pushy at 165. Size matters I think because of "percieved" threat/capabilities, and there are fewer "takers" on a physical confrontation. Now having saall that, I think if a potential officer can meet the basic phyisical requirments, their "size" should not prevent them from the opportunity to prove themselves capable of doind the job. Look at Pete for example.. I messed with him when he was 130 pounds, now that he's big as a house, I'mascairt to..
Are you referring to me? I haven't been like 130 since like 7th grade, but I don't think I've ever been as big as a house.
Not to get intrusive or anything. I find it ironic that it took a cop missing a belligerent drunk's head with a blackjack to spark disapproval of "excessive force". No offense.
One caveat to that is that I find that female cops seem to get in physical confrontations less often. I deal with many cops and one type of story I've heard repeatedly is where some guy is freaking out and ready to fight anyone and everyone but won't hit the female officer who then proceeds to arrest him without incident. And I know from my years at the city attorney's office that we had many suits for excessive violence against police officers but I can't recall a single one involving a female cop. I also don't recall any story of a female cop having more than minor injuries.
He was a 25 year old man with a "heart condition". I can't find fault in her using the taser. (Now 6 times does seem excessive, but I wasn't there). Maybe the first 5 tickled.