I’ve written several times about Taser abuse, but this one takes the cake. I mean seriously, this cannot be explained.

An unarmed 16 year old boy laying on the ground, below a 30 foot overpass, with a broken back and a broken foot muttering incoherently is tasered 19 times by police in Missouri. Their excuse:

“He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he’s also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers,” said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset.

So, let’s imagine how this went down shall we?

Boy with broken back: Lays on ground, immobile.
Cop: Get up.
Boy with broken back: mumble, mumble
Cop: Get up or I’ll Tase you.
Boy with broken back: You’re a cop, please don’t shoot me or I’ll probably die.
Cop: Did you say something about killing cops? Well, here’s a little something for ya…
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Here is more evidence that police officers become lazy and trigger happy as soon as you put a Taser on their belt.

Some kid gets all pissed off at work, and is ranting and raving at his boss. Which is undoubtedly wrong. So, I suppose they called the cops. When the officer, who from the video looks to be a LOT bigger than the kid, shows up what does he do? Shoots him with a Taser right in the chest from 4 feet away – then proceeds to shock him until he’s dead.

I mean seriously, 37 seconds? That means, you can’t breath, swallow, think, or control your muscles for over half a minute. In the film, Dr. Joe Koons from UNCC’s Department of Criminal Justice comments:

“I wouldn’t want to be tased for 37 seconds, I can assure you of that. It’s a lengthy period of time.”

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Ok. By now everyone should know that I’m very critical of Police use of the Taser. But hey, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun building your own for $10 to use on friends and family! Come on, it’s all in good fun…

All you need is:

• Electric fly swatter
• Duck Tape
• Wall outlet plug
• Wire strippers
• Screw Driver

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Here is some breaking news. This video was only released yesterday, and it demonstrates a clear and frankly unbelievable abuse of power by a Utah Highway Patrol officer.

Some guy was pulled over for speeding and argued with the police officer a bit about the speed limit. It’s a bit hard to hear but it sounds to me like the guy was going about 60, but the highway speed limit changed to 40, and that is exactly where the cop pulled him over. I’m guessing it was a classic speed trap.

Anyway, the police officer writes him a ticket, which he refuses to sign, so the cop pulls him out of the car and tasers him. Meanwhile his pregnant wife is freaking out!
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Tasers were developed as a non-lethal option to bring dangerous situations under control. But law enforcement officials are now using them with wild abandon in cases where simple diplomacy or a little hard work would otherwise suffice.

In the past I’ve written about the police tasering of a UCLA student for refusing to show his school ID, as well as the time a cop tasered an 11 year old at school because the officer on hand apparently couldn’t physically restrain him?!? (Gee, what would they have done 10 years ago?)

Police have also used Tasers against peaceful protesters (NPR audio about tasering protesters), a pregnant woman (8 months) and an elderly man who called 911 to get medical attention for his diabetic seizure.

So who’s next? Maybe you.
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According to the LA Times:

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.
…
The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement.
…
Nationwide, the estimated cannabis production of $35.8 billion exceeds corn ($23 billion), soybeans ($17.6 billion) and hay ($12.2 billion), according to Gettman’s findings.

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Wow. I wish someone had a video of this… on one hand it would be hillarious. On the other hand, I wonder why a police officer had to resort to using a Taser to separate a little boy from a fight with a girl.

I mean, what the heck? When I was a kid a teacher would just step in and end a fight like this. Now you’ve got a heavily armed police officer standing there and you’re telling me that she couldn’t pull an 80 lb. boy off a girl he was hitting?

They didn’t mention any weapons on the boy, so if that is the case, then that officer needs to be fired for her own safety. If she can’t take an 11 year old she would stand no chance against a grown man.

Here’s the story:
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WESTWOOD, CA (AP) — A student shocked with a Taser gun by a campus police officer after refusing requests to show his ID card thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer said.

Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of ”brutal excessive force,” as well as false arrest stemming from the Tuesday night incident at a campus library.
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