Utah Cop's Itchy Taser Finger Probed

Source: ABC News

A dashboard camera video posted on YouTube less than 24 hours ago showing a Utah Highway Patrol officer firing a Taser at a driver he stopped for speeding has prompted authorities there to expedite an internal investigation into the incident.

"We've known about the incident since it occurred," Cameron Roden, a spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol, told ABC News. "But with it coming out on the Internet, we're trying to move the investigation along."

Jared Massey, 28, posted the nearly 10-minute long clip on YouTube two months after the confrontation with police took place along a rural stretch on a state road two hours east of Salt Lake City.

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In less than six seconds after asking Massey to get out of the car, Gardner has told him to turn around and put his hands behind his back and pulled out his Taser, a device that fires tiny, tethered cartridges that transmit electrical currents to shock an intended target.

Gardner tells Massey two more times to turn around and put his hands behind his back, to which Massey responds, "What the hell's wrong with you?" and walks back toward his vehicle. At that point, Gardner fires the Taser, stunning Massey, who drops to the road.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=3899692&page=1

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Watch the video. This young man and his wife weren't even that beligerent to the cop. Damn you can't even say boo to some of these cops w/o getting tasered! Some of these cops are getting too damn quick to depend on their tasers to intimidate citizens. Hope this cop gets a supension w/o pay and more training at the least!

These things are not less than lethal for all comers. Police know this. They cannot avoid knowing it.

I'd just like everyone to ponder those facts for a moment.

or suffered serious injuries in the fall. He was no threat to the cop at this point.

Something I didn't even consider.

Suppose it has been the woman who was driving, and she happened to be pregnant. Suppose the guy had a pacemaker.

Tasers are not meant as a light deterrent. They're meant to completely, and temporarily, disable. They do not perform their intended purpose all the time, and sometimes people die of it.

I really hate these little devices.

The last time I drove through that state (the long way) I saw one cop car the whole time.

It was a really fast trip, but not fast enough.

:silly:

that there is a very thin line between criminals and cops. Much more often than not, cops are only a criminal with a badge doing what they want, just this side of the line.

Sorry if any law enforcement get offended, but if you're in local law enforcement you know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm sure you'd agree that the only thing open to debate is how prevalent.

That was un-fucking-believable!

I hope everybody sees the clip.

And the department is just now getting around to investigating it?

That's frightening.

If a cop asked me to get out of a car, I would have to say no, I can't. Would I get tased?

After the guy who was tasered got it from the Utah cops by request to defend his rights.

This is incredible.

The cop did the right thing.

The kid decided to be uppity, and followed the cop back to his car. he starts with "first of all, you're gonna tell me why, and second of all, we're gonna go look for the 40 mile an hour speedlimit". Right away took a tone of arrogance. You don't order a cop around on anything. When you get a chance to speak, you politely explain why you think they may be wrong and gauge their reaction. If they're reaction is abusive, that's your sign that the cop is NOT listening to your explanations. You take your ticket and you make sure to remember as many details of the incident, and then file a complaint with the police officers' headquarters. Then you fight your case.

Watching the video, all I could think of was, "turn around cop...here's right behind you". You NEVER approach a police officer like that. I thought I was watching one of those cop shows were a perp walks up to the cop and kills him while he's not looking.

Second, the cop told him to get back to turn around the first time, and he refused. Repeated it about 4 times, and the kid refused and kept walking. He got tazed AFTER refusing a cops orders. A cop is justified in using force to subdue a subject that has been ordered to do something and is refusing. It could be a kick to the knees, it could be a tackle, and in this case, it was a tazer. As long as they do not follow up with bashing over the head with a nightstick, it's allowed to use force to subdue a subject. He tazed him, and then stopped.

Later in the video, both the girl and the tazed kid CONTINUE to be uppity, even AFTER having been tazed.

Furthermore, the kid keeps asking him to read him his rights...which is just defiance (the kid obviously knows his rights, and if he wants to really screw the cop, he wouldn't remind him...as that would be a possible defense later). He asks for charges and the cop tells him several times "for speeding" and the kid wants to argue with the cop there because HE believes he didn't speed. It's not about what he believes...the cop gives him tickets, and you argue it later in court. That's how it goes. What he gained is a refusing orders from a police officer charge on top of the ticket, and now he won't be able to fight the ticket. He lost.

The cop tazed him for refusing a direct order to turn around (after he got close to the cop). I'm sorry...but if that kid came from behind and killed the cop, we wouldn't be defending the kid. The cop was actually a little lax on his protocol. He should have NEVER turned his back on the kid and let him get that close. You keep the stopped driver in their car and walk back to your patrol car to do checks on the car or to write the ticket/warning.

he should have followed orders, and argued his case in court later.

I feel the cop was justified in THIS case. In other cases on DU, that's another story. But, the cop did the right thing. Of course, it's horrific to see, and I don't enjoy seeing him tazed or enjoy the freaked out screams of his girl. But the cop did the right thing.

fire them and re-create our system of law enforcement and their priorities as well as our laws.

The notion that cops are such wimps that they should go to such extremes over such slights speaks volumes about why our crime rates are so high while our prisons, (containing by far the largest prison population on earth), are bursting at the seams with innocent people and petty offenders.

"slights" that got to him...i'd say it was refusing a direct order to turn around.

When a cop tells you to turn around, you turn around...or they have the legal right to subdue you. Since tazers have been introduced into the police protocol, it is becoming a preferred way to undertake subduing resisting individuals.

We can argue the merits of tazers (personally, I'm not too hot with them, and I'm worried about the deaths that are occuring from them...perhaps weaker models can be developed that do not become a permanent danger), but I'm concerned about addressing THIS particular incident. I've seen the tazer of the man in Canada, and the tazer of the UCLA student. I was not of the opinion that those were justified incidents. In the UCLA video, in particular, it's obvious the cops are going overboard with the tazer when it's clear they have a clearly weaker subject subdued, handcuffed, and immobilized. The use of the tazer moved from legitimate submission into abusive torture, and I'm not for that. LET ME BE VERY CLEAR ON THAT.

As for the prison population, that has more to do with a society that allows for "zero tolerance" type of sentences, the War on Drugs, and no comprehensive rehabiliattion "goal" behind prisons. Those are important subjects for discussion..but they have nothing to do with a cop's handling of a situation.

This cop informed his subject of the charge (speeding). The subject became cocky and fresh and refused to acknowledge the cop's charges. When the cop noticed the attitude and defiant behavior, he asked the man to get out of the car. The man followed the cop to his car without the cop's permission. The cop asked the man to turn around and the man refused. When he refused, the cop took out his tazer, asked him 2 or 3 more times and the man refused again. At that point, the man's fair game for any legitimate tactics for submission (tackle, tazer, etc). The cop followed through on the method that is safest to him, while providing satisfactory submission of the individual. The rest is on the video.

for the record, I'm not pro-cop. I happen to be VERY wary of them. I've had my own incidents with rude, arrogant cops, and I generally consider them a gang in blue. But...even I know HOW to handle an unfortunate incident with a cop....and that's to SHUT your mouth, and fight the issue in court LATER.

I feel, again, that it is a manifestation of the same intolerance that has led to the giant prison population. 0 tolerance equals "you can not do the least thing I don't like and I can do whatever the hell I please to you".

I am not an anarchist and like having a framework of reasonable rules that allow us to live together in a civil society so I am pro cop and want to see a bit of professionalism which I suspect has been decreasing as our country becomes more and more of a militaristic police state with quality of police decreasing in inverse proportion to increasing quantities of police.

I don't think it is too much of a stretch to associate incidents like this one with the overall degradation of our legal system from the morally bankrupt AGs on down and the general abuse of power in using the legal system for political hatchet jobs either against individuals or large classes of people.

I agree...there might be some downgrading of the entire system given the permissiveness of so many other abuses.

I'm for reviewing whether or not Tazers should be "submission" weapons in police organizations around the country. But, given the current legality of them, I don't think the cop did anything wrong for using the weapon he's been trained to use for people who refuse orders. The guy refused orders, got cocky, and also approached the cop at his vehicle. I think the cop was already spooked by him coming closer and figured the kid was a possible threat (given that he was not following orders). What if the kid effectively bolted, the cop missed with the tazer, and the kid had a weapon in his front seat? The cop decided to end the possible threat right there and then. It wasn't that much of an abuse if the kid gets up a few minutes later and still is bad mouthing the cop.

You keep using terms like "cocky," "uppity," "fresh." I'm sorry, but when did it become acceptable for police officers to use brute physical force against people simply for showing a bit of attitude while questioning them? Should citizens walk around with our collective tails between our legs and agree to anything to avoid aggravating the hair trigger sensitivity of police officers?

Further, I find it totally bizarre that you have a Malcolm X avatar. Would you have found it acceptable for cops to tase black activists during the Civil Rights era? After all, blacks got a bit "uppity" and forgot their place during that time, right? They weren't sufficiently "submissive."

Some of the things you'd stated in your message are incorrect, which leads me to believe that you didn't watch this entire video. The cop did not continuously ask the man anything. He essentially immediately took out his taser after asking the driver to exit the car. If he was frightened for his life, I have a hard time understanding why he would turn his back, not only to the driver to place his clipboard on the hood of his car, but to the passenger side of the vehicle as he tased the driver, who fell into the highway.

The cop did not at all follow protocol and instead purposely escalated the situation. He did not explain anything about the legal process involved with signing the citation, nor did he even articulate how fast the driver was going. In fact, this entire traffic stop appears to be a pointless speed trap, in which the officer intentionally blocked the speed limit sign in order to pull the driver over seconds after he passed it. He specifically states in the video that he tased the driver for "not obeying my instruction," as if citizens are herds of animals who will provoke use of the cattle prod if they don't blindly follow orders without asking too many questions. At no point, did this officer attempt to explain anything about the citation.

when African-Americans were abused! He was uppity! Like none of us get ticked off and might not follow all the orders when we're pulled over for a traffic violation!

One of the best videos I've seen is when a trooper pulled over a motorist who swore at him, tore up the ticket, threw it on the road. The trooper maintained his calm with the motorist, but even got the guy to get out of his vehicle to clean up the litter. He didn't use force, but maybe this was before they all started carrying tasers.

This cop in this video went to that taser too damn quick.

You seem to forget these cops work for us!

You seem to be a leftover from the 50's using the word "uppity".

:rofl:

I'm not one of those that thinks vocal blacks are uppity. Hello...look at my avatar. I have great respect for many African-American leaders.

i've seen that video, and that cop was pulling over a woman (if I'm correct). He probably felt she was no threat and enjoyed controlling the situation without any tazer. This motorist was a man, who was being arrogant and imperial with the cop, he then approached the cop from behind at his car, and when the cop told him to turn around, he didn't. The kid started walking toward his car (a no no...the cop, at this point, has no idea if the kid is planning to make a quick sprint for the front seat and get a weapon, and he has a limited, "think-quick" chance to subdue what can possibly become a new threat.) Remember the video on TV of a cop whose subject made a quick dash for his front seat...the cop turned around, ran to his car, got behind the front door, and was shot at a few times, before the subject left the scene. THAT is what could have occured in this situation, and the cop has no idea if it will or not. So, he proceeded to stun a recalcitrant subject and end the situation there. I didn't see "revenge" tazing there. I just didn't see that. I saw that type of police abuse with tazers in the UCLA tazing video and others...but not this one.

I know some people here on DU secretly nurse a desire to see videos of motorists effectively "winning" an encounter with a cop, but that shouldn't color their objective viewing of this tape.

It's simple: you NEVER antagonize a cop. You NEVER resist him. Even if he's being abusive, you won't win by resisting. He has the full force of the state behind him and you'll get beat up and MORE charges against you. The chances that you're going to physically manhandle someone who trains every day to subdue subjects is slim, and even if you did, you've just earned yourself very serious charges.

You CAN politely ask why you're being stopped and try to gain information, but if the cop, for whatever reason, is being abusive, intolerant or nasty, that's your cue that you're not going to win ANYTHING by getting antsy and defiant. You simply stay quiet...get a ticket, do what he says, and when the encounter is over, you can file a complaint with his HQ or go to court and challenge his ticket.

but I still say that kid was not that out of line. So if the cop didn't have a taser would he have been justified to shoot him?

I still say a lot of these officers are going too quick to the taser - and it is proving to be a deadly weapon in some cases. Canada is launching an investigation in to their police officers use after the third taser death in weeks.

Oh and I go by a poster's words not their avatar!

"Like none of us get ticked off and might not follow all the orders when we're pulled over for a traffic violation!"

I don't.

I'm calm and just accept what the cop says. You fight a ticket in court, not on the road.

did anyone tell you you're a lousy DUer...you should have at least rolled your eyes at the cop...at least come out of the incident with some sense of dignity that you DID resist a little.... :sarcasm:

This is sound advice for local infractions, however, I just passed through Utah three weeks ago, so how easy would it have been for me to "fight a ticket" in Utah when I live in Kansas? If I'm pulled over and given a ticket for something I didn't understand (it appeared the driver was confused as to why he was stopped and being issued a ticket and it appeared the officer wasn't answering his questions), I might be tempted to discuss the issue with the officer in an attempt to air my side of the story (if I heard correctly, in the case of this driver, he was confused about the speed limit and at what point the limit took effect on the highway, etc.). Perhaps I'm naive and would expect the officer to listen to my side of the story in hopes of coming to an amicable conclusion that didn't require me to drive back to Utah to "fight the ticket in court." However, I'm certainly savvy enough to know any "debate" would come to an abrupt end when the officer pulled his Tazer! At that point I would know that I was dealing with a disturbed officer and no amount of logic and reason would help.

It used to be officers would explain in a polite way why you were pulled over and why you were being given a ticket. Nowadays, it's "Do as I say no matter how confusing or unjust it may be to you or I'll Tazer you!"

ask a question, get the taser

and the cop wouldn't even tell him what speed he was being cited for doing, worse, he asked Massey, "how fast do you think you were going?".

Absolutely incredible. A goon of the highest order. He is in the wrong line of work.

..well, you get the point. I'm nearly always on the side of the police. But this was absolutely ridiculous.

1)If the cop was so nervous about the guy, why did the cop turn HIS back on him when walking back to the car.
2) The laws toward signing tickets are diff in diff states. Since in Utah it is an arrestable offense, the driver should have been warned of this. He wasn't. He didn't know he was in any danger of being arrested until he was told to put his hands behind his back. And this is AFTER he immediately complied with the order to get out of the car.
3) The cop had his taser out almost immediately back at the squad car, while the driver was pointing down the road and trying to explain himself. He ratcheted up the threat level himself.

From there, the driver was in the wrong, walking away. But the cop had already made his own little bundle of fuck-ups to make the situation much worse.

If I'm trying to explain myself to a police officer, and he pulls out a taser and aims it at me, I really don't know what I would do. I might comply, I might freeze, or I might walk slowly back to the relative safety of my vehicle where my terrified wife is watiting.

I've had a weapon pulled out in front of me before, not by a cop. In sort of a daze, I turned around and walked slowly away to remove myself from the situation, very similar to what this driver did.

And let me make it clear I am nearly always on the side of the police, and I have no problems with Tasers being used as a last resort before deadly force.

Ther's a difference between being pro-law enforcement and pro-stupid. I'm the former. Which one are you?

Being "uppity" to a cop is grounds for being tortured with 50k volts? And you actually write that while using the avatar picture of Malcolm X?

Get out of town, man.

Here are a couple more;


This Missouri cop was fired only after this video of him threatening to frame an innocent young man was circulated on the internet.

This man was in an automobile accident, badly burned and then shot to death by the police who responded because, being in evident shock and looking strange in other respects, (burned and naked), he did not respond to "orders" of officers. Subsequent media spin, at the direction of the Sandy, OR police department, belittled the "naked man" and otherwise depicted the incident as keeping the public safe from bogymen. This is a five part video put together by Portland IndyMedia people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8WijDe5BhQ">Link to the first of five videos

Tasers should not be used as a pain compliance tool but as a substitute for defense of last resort in lieu of lethal force. Tasers have proven lethal in hundreds of cases in the short time since they have been deployed. Here is an Amnesty International release on this subject.

These incidents demonstrate the same mentality that has been used to "justify" the torture of people in Abu Graib and Guantanamo Bay and is a product of the same self righteous arrogance that has allowed this horrible Neocon regime to ascend to power and bully the rest of the world for their own personal gain and we need to fight it tooth and nail.

on the situation- but, uhhhh...yeah, this is over the top. Speeding? Why did he order him out of the car? I'd probably be a little terse with the cop as well.

The cop ordered him out of the vehicle. It's my understanding you can refuse to sign.

...waiting in jail for your court appearance.

to be put in jail or taken before a magistrate. (If a magistrate is not available, then you go to jail.)

and then the cop can pull you out of the car. I don't think you can simply say, "nop, I won't sign" and the cop can let you go.

Just like you can refuse to allow a cop to investigate your glove compartment or your car for non "plain view" items. You can refuse...but he can hold you there, claim he "suspects contraband", have a tow truck take your car to a holding area, and then wait until a judge either allows a search warrant or not. In the meantime, whatever time it takes, he effectively made your life miserable by taking your vehicle away.

That's the law folks...I know it's inconvenient, but that's just how it is. Sure, stick up for your rights...but you have undergo added procedures and processes if you do. I'm not trying to be a pro-cop advocate here (i'm not). I'm just stating the facts as they are. If I got stopped today, I'd certainly wouldn't tell the cop, "no, first you're going to tell me what you stopped me for and second, we're going to go look at the speed sign". WHen I heard that from the kid, I knew the incident was going downhill. You don't order a cop around like that...you're ASKING for the situation to get tenser and worse FOR YOU. He could have said, "may I ask what is the infraction, sir?" and wait for a response. Depending on the tone and body language of the cop, if he's being tolerant, follow up with, "I understand you feel I went over the speed limit. I honestly did not see a sign that said that. May we come together to the sign so I may see what I missed to see". If at that point he gives you bullshit and says no, say, "ok...sorry about that officer. I really didn't see the sign"...and wait for a warning or a ticket. After he's gone, backtrack to the sign, take a look at its contents and if you still feel that he's wrong, take pictures of the sign and of the area, and then FIGHT THE ISSUE IN COURT!

this was an abuse by the cop of his authority.

not following direction is not a reason in this case to taser somebody onto a highway.

this has nothing to do with being pro or anti law enforcement, it was an abuse of authority by an officer and it is something that law enforcement and citizens should be abhorred by.

seriously, if a cop points a taser at you, don't walk away from him.

And don't talk back either. It's a freakin' speeding ticket. Was arguing worth all that?

are the only ones who think the subject did a whole lot of things wrong.

Sometimes it's hard to be a progressive and HAVE TO (for honesty's sake) take the side of the cop on things.

I scarcely can believe it myself, given that I hate cops and think they're mostly abusive, arrogant, assholes that are power drunk.

I know a lot of cops and they're no better or worse people than any other segment of society.

There are a lot of great cops and a few really bad one's. It's the bad one's that make the news.

I don't think the cop was wrong for tasering him. I don't think I would have done it, but I can understand why he would. Plus, I don't think the guy was really hurt that much. He was talking and STILL ARGUING about the ticket moments after he was tased.

I mean, has anyone ever been to traffic court? The judges are usually so suprised you showed up they'll knock half the fine right off just for challenging it.

I've been to traffic court...if you've got a clean record, they usually knock of fines or waive the incident.

About hating cops, I've had many who I've spoke and have been nice, but I generally avoid them on the road. There's just something about being in a position of power that makes people intolerant. I'd rather avoid them.

I don't think they're being intolerant. I think they have a ticket quota to meet. So they're under pressure to hand out as many tickets as they can, which can make them seem intolerant.

and he lied to the other officer about what went down.

all of course while on duty as a representative of Utah (as a whole) and being paid by Utah taxpayers, including the guy he stopped.

an officer should be held to a higher standard than other people while he is on duty. second, his intolerance while on duty is absolutely unacceptable performance of his duties.

Exactly. Anybody willing to argue over signing a speeding ticket, common sense would dicate, is NOT A THREAT. Drug smugglers with a stash in the car, escaped convicts, bail jumpers, kidnappers, or other individuals who would actually pose a threat to the officer, would have immediately signed to get as far away from the officer as possible, and to avoid a thorough backround check or search of the vehicle. Somebody willing to quibble over a ticket has nothing to hide, and is least likely to present a threat.

And can we be honest? Look at the driver. A dopey, grumpy, late 20 something in an (expensive) SUV with his wife. What kind of dumbass cop would honestly be in fear of THAT guy? Once again, common sense failed this officer.

Will the two of you admit you're wrong when this cop is suspended or fired? Because I can almost assure you he will be.

threatening the cop or other's safety is a reason to get tasered --that was not alleged here and was not borne out by the video.

i would never approach an officer, but this guy might not have either, but the officer told him to get out of the car but by not arresting him it appeared that it was to talk to Massey. when the cop pulled his taser, Massey stepped back and was definetely ceding his ground.

you know, what gets me about yours and the other poster making this comment is that you act like the cop and Massey are equals in this.

-Massey does "bad" behavior or "things" wrong
-meanwhile the cop has all the authority to mete out or control the situation in any way he chooses because the subject "did things wrong"

No!

The cop has authority but he is trained to use that authority lawfully and with restraint --he did not.
He used lethal force on an unarmed man whom he stopped for speeding --speeding.

The reason what Massey did or did not do has become secondary in this discussion is because what the officer did in response is so much worse.

A guy speeding (though this is not borne out by this video) is not news. A guy getting tasered by a cop for arguing with a speeding ticket is news because people instinctively know and in this video could see the behavior by the police officer was wrong.

God help anybody who deals with this officer in anything but the meekest manor.

This is why people are increasingly fearful when the deal with cops --they have all the power and when they are pissed off, they treat you like you are the enemy and they let you know they have all the power, including use of deadly force and there ain't a thing you can do to stop them from using it.

I do resent the times I was working late as a grad student in the computer lab and was yelled at by cops to open the door when they never even identified that they were the police (i could not see them through the door). they simply banged on the door and said "open the door" and I said who is this, they said "open the door!!!". i told them i wasn't opening the door unless they told me who they were because i was specifically instructed not to let anybody into the room when i was working late at night ---THEN, and not until then, they identified themselves as police officers, gave me a hard time about why I was there, etc. etc. This happened to other students. Of course I did not argue with them as I do not argue with people that carry guns.

I could not believe it and it made me look more skeptically about police ever since.

policing duties.