A Stitch in Haste

"If they don't (comply), additional force is going to be used. Taser is an available option and if they don't comply at that point, then the trigger can be pulled again, and that's what happened."
--Sheriff Greg White, Cole County, Missouri

The backstory:

A Cole County deputy tasered an angry parent twice Thursday morning when he refused to leave a middle school, Sheriff Greg White said.

Ricky Campbell, 43, was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, peace disturbance and resisting arrest.

At about 8:10 a.m., Cole County School Resource Officer Joe Essen received a call regarding an angry parent at Russellville Middle School.

Essen attempted to arrest Campbell when he refused to leave, but he resisted, White said.

The deputy then deployed his Taser.

As I have repeatedly blogged, this attitude by law enforcement is both inconsistent with the original "sales pitch" of the Taser as a substitute for deadly force (i.e., if it was not appropriate for the deputy to shoot the parent, then it was also not appropriate to tase him), and also unreasonable as an independent question of law (since police force must be proportional to the circumstances).

If the suspect or arrestee is not a direct physical threat to others (or himself), then the use of a violent, aggressive and dangerous weapon such a Taser is per se excessive. "Failure to comply" is simply not enough -- try calling for backup instead.

(Via Danger Room.)

Technorati Tag: Taser.

---

Elsewhere in "law enforcement abuse" news:

--Jared Massey, the Utah motorist who was wrongfully Tasered by a state trooper, and who rightfully posted the incident on YouTube, has won a $40,000 settlement in his civil rights lawsuit against the state. Previous post here.

--A "kids in cuffs" incident, and lawsuit, in New York City:

Lawyer Scott Agulnick said Jaden Diaz and Christopher Brito -- both then 4 and students at CS 211, The Bilingual School -- told their parents that a substitute teacher took them and another boy to an empty classroom on Nov. 17, 2006, and left them there alone.

Soon, the lawyer said, the school-safety officer entered the room, cuffed the boys' wrists -- and further terrified them by telling they that they would never see their parents again.
...
"He was police," Jaden said. "He said, 'You know what happens when you don't go to sleep in there? ... 'When you go to jail, you're not going to have no fun, no TV, no toys.'"

Why not just tase the kids next time? After all, they "failed to comply," right? (Previous "kids in cuffs" posts here.)