So Much for Tasers Being Non Lethal

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2008-08-01 11:57pm

Darth Wong wrote:It would be nice if we had video of this (another reason to have a shitload of public surveillance, but that's a different thread). It could be that the video would slam the last nail in the coffin for these police officers' claims, but it could also do the opposite, and completely exonerate the cops. I've seen highway videos of guys who literally roll a car, fly out the window, land on the pavement, and somehow get up and continue to resist arrest. It's almost miraculous.

I was thinking that earlier too, but I was thinking "Where is the video from the camera in the patrol cars?". But then I remembered that not all agencies have cameras and even those that do, they only record when at certain times.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2008-08-02 01:09am

Death from the Sea wrote:I have to wonder though, what kind of ass whooping would that kid have gotten if tasers did not exist? I mean, if the officers deemed him dangerous (whether it be to himself or others) enough to taser him 19 times (I am not saying he was, just that they did), what kind of ass whipping that translates to and how much damage that would have done?

They use tasers now so that we won't have another Rodney King on our hand. It certainly doesn't look as violent with police officers just standing there push a button and the guy falling to the ground in agony.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2008-08-02 02:06am

ArmorPierce wrote:
Death from the Sea wrote:I have to wonder though, what kind of ass whooping would that kid have gotten if tasers did not exist? I mean, if the officers deemed him dangerous (whether it be to himself or others) enough to taser him 19 times (I am not saying he was, just that they did), what kind of ass whipping that translates to and how much damage that would have done?
They use tasers now so that we won't have another Rodney King on our hand. It certainly doesn't look as violent with police officers just standing there push a button and the guy falling to the ground in agony.

Actually, they used a taser on Rodney King, it was the older model of taser that did not have as good of a system for Electro-Muscular Disruption and was overall much weaker compared to today's tasers. If you watch any video of the King like this one you can see the officer with the taser "rolling the wires". At the beginning of the video he is the closest one with his back to the camera in the middle of the screen, look at his right arm and you can see the wires coming out of the taser. He is doing that rolling action to keep the wires from getting tangled up and making the taser completely useless. The taser was actually responsible for knocking Rodney King down at least one time but he just got back up after the shock.

and not all departments can afford tasers, so not all police have them.