Rincewind53: Yeah, it pretty much validates exactly what I thought had happened; cop made a mistake. Now, you can criticize him for pointing what he thought was an unloaded Taser at a kid in jest, but he clearly didn't mean to shoot the kid. But this is why gun safety rule number one is never point a gun at someone you don't intend to shoot.

Do you know what "I didn't realize it was loaded" really means?

"I was doing shiat I knew was wrong"

This is not jest, this is not a mistake.

This is criminal gross misconduct, assault and battery.

Rincewind53: Relatively Obscure: TSG's article is significantly better.

Yeah, it pretty much validates exactly what I thought had happened; cop made a mistake. Now, you can criticize him for pointing what he thought was an unloaded Taser at a kid in jest, but he clearly didn't mean to shoot the kid. But this is why gun safety rule number one is never point a gun at someone you don't intend to shoot.

It really doesn't matter to me for liability purposes whether he intended to shoot the kid in a malicious way or it was an accident. You don't point a weapon at child. You don't point a weapon at anyone if you're not planning to use it. This is what happens. What if it had been a real gun? They'll be cleaning chunks of his intestines from the sidewalk.

Also,

Abby Martin



That is all

I call BS. Cop doing the typical cop thing. Abusing people to get his jollys. I expect nothing better from ANY cop. Violent thugs we would for the most part be better off without. I don't fear criminals since I usually can protect myself. I DO fear police.

Relatively Obscure: I dunno what I'd recommend, here. But if he legit pointed a weapon at someone on purpose, even if the discharge of it was likely accidental, I don't have much sympathy for him. He should certainly know better.

If they don't fire them, then they should suspend him for a year, force him to take intensive weapons safety and training courses, and make him stand out on the main intersection of town with a sandwich sign saying "Never point a weapon at someone, even if you think it's not loaded, even if it's a joke. I should know. I used a Taser on a defenseless child" for a day in the summer sun. Then, if he still wants to be a cop, reinstate him with a babysitter.

Zarquon's Flat Tire: basemetal: That's assault and battery with a dangerous weapon even if it was an accident. Was the officer charged?

Apparantly so, and the kid was grounded.

This sounds more like an accident than anything. Bust his ass for being an idiot, maybe straight up fire him, but no jail time. Maybe some probation amf community service.

Yeah, except this happened right after the kid refused to clean his car. Sorry, I'm not entirely sure this was an accident. There's a lot of trigger-happy, power-hungry assholes in blue. I need some more solid evidence than just the police department's word that this was a demonstration and not just someone pulling out what they thought was an unloaded tazer to threaten a kid.

/Call me a cynic, but I read too much Fark to think otherwise.

R.A.Danny: Seriously, we're safer with fewer cops.

I agree.

Barring that, I just want cops to be held to the same legal standards as the rest of us. If a civilian security guard did the exact same thing, he'd be looking at multiple felony charges... not a civil suit against his employer which won't cost him personally a dime.

While I can understand the need for some level of sovereign immunity, but it should not be a get-out-of-jail-free card for cops. The "good faith" exemption is so broad as to basically make cops completely immune from any liability. Any kind of provable misconduct on the cops' part should automatically invalidate any good faith defense. If a cop commits a crime in the line of duty, he should be held to the same standards as anyone else. Things like undercover operations or sting operations should require prior judicial approval.

And this, you youngins, is why they are called "pigs".

That is a SERIOUS lapse in judgement. So much so, that I would think the powers that be would have to re-evaluate whether this clown is even responsible enough to carry a gun with a badge that gives him a broad berth to use it.

Heh. NM. High illiteracy, teen pregnancy and one of the last states to intervene in DV charges amongst couples. Great place and they got some smokin' green chile.

What I want to know is if the kid now cleans cars after he is asked the first time.

I'm surprised more stories like this don't end with: "the boy's father is now wanted for questioning in the beating death of the officer."

Like the guy who's kid was abducted and raped by his karate instructor. The rapist was being brought through the airport, the father turned from pretending to be on a phone call and blew the guy away.

Not that it's right of course. But it's understandable. I don't see where that anger is. If I were the principal I would have tried to hand the cop an ass kicking. I can't imagine the boy's teachers weren't pissed off beyond belief. What educator, or decent person, could stand to see a child harmed and not be incredibly angered to the point of doing something irrational?

I would be surprised if the officer hadn't had to move out of the area. If I were in New Mexico I'd better be hearing from the police how much of a shiatbird this guy was or they'd be getting a load of grief all day every day.

This is the kind of thing a community shouldn't just let go.

newton: From that page's comments...

Tracy Hefley · Top Commenter
Damn I have been tazed by my dept. Where can I get a payout like this? Maybe I should get a lawyer.


Wow. Fire him too.

Were you ten and innocent when you were tazed, asshat? I'd ask him if he has a child, and if he'd like to volunteer the kid for tazing if it's no big deal, but I'm afraid he might.

"Clean my car, brown kid!" is not a lawful order. The child was correct to refuse.

But the cop was right, this is what happens to people who do not listen to the police.

Texas Gabe: Also,

Abby Martin

[rt.com image 220x293]

That is all

Wow.

Yeah TASERS because they're a safe alternative to filling kids full of hot lead.

or is it?
Link

Point is, NO - not safe, not safe by a long shot-

can't for the life of me find the article that expounded on not being able to sue the mfgr for damages or some such thing grrrr

tetsoushima:
[i575.photobucket.com image 320x239]
He should be thankful the cop was just joking around.

You know what I always think of when I see that picture? That the relatives, instead of calming the boy and getting him ready to be handed over to his father, hid him in a closet, then called the media to make sure they had a picture of when the terrified kid was found.

Fark em sideways. I'm glad he went back to Cuba with his dad.

FizixJunkee: Happy Hours: It's sourced from RT. That's an even less reliable news source than Fox.

So this is the site my dad was blabbing about the other night.

I'm a fan of RT's reporting in general. Especially their on-air material. But the again, Al Jazeera is one of my daily reads too.

kinkkerbelle: Happy Hours: It's sourced from RT. That's an even less reliable news source than Fox.

The Smoking Gun has included details that make the story make a bit more sense. Link

Still a stupid move by the cop in question but TSG's version isn't as one-sided.

No - TSG's version includes the cop's "I was just joking around" defense, which makes this situation worse. Cop shoots kid with Taser. Cop tries to conceal that he shot kid with Taser - after all, if he can clean the kid up in a school bathroom before another adult sees what's going on, who's to know, right? Cop gets caught by teacher, both end up at principal's office. Cop claims an accident, stunned parent brings kid home, finally hears kid's side of the story, starts proceedings.

Cop isn't just stupid - he's an unethical liar, too. And, as we often hear when someone else is arrested, "if he's willing to lie about this, what else has he lied about?" He's not just demonstrated the decision-making skills of an idiot, but the trustworthiness of a used car salesman working on commission - that's not a cop that should be wearing a uniform at this point.

Eh, just publish the cop's name, picture, and home address, along with a statement that hitting him with 50,000 volts is just in jest and anyone doing so will receive a paid three day vacation. Problem solved.

dj_bigbird: Too bad cops can't be held individually (personally) liable for stuff like this. The family will sue the city, they'll get paid off by the taxpayers and the cop won't really care.

The city, its insurance policy, and the tax payers have more money than the cop. No point in suing the cop himself for millions of dollars, you'd never see it.

Just reading stories like this makes my heartrate go crazy.

Few things are guaranteed to insta-piss me off like police abuse. This shiat takes me right to the edge of postal. 

... and of course nothing will happen to this abomination of a blue-clad 'tard.

And you thought facisim was dead.

GAT_00: andyofne: Relatively Obscure: This story, and one other I've read on this same site, strike me as ... odd.

I'm also only currently finding it on sites that could be considered questionable. Anyone have this from a solid source?

RT is the first Russian 24/7 English-language news channel which brings the Russian view on global news.

So, basically, crap?

Combine The Sun and Cold War-era Pravda and you get RT most major media.

"Assume Device is Loaded. Always assume that a TASER device is loaded. Do not point a TASER device at anything you do not intend to hit."
-Taser X26C operating manual

That rule is inviolable. The cop should be fired.

Did anyone else notice that this isn't his first Taser AD? His letter of explanation says he's fired one off in the trunk of his cruiser, too. This dude needs not to be allowed near things with triggers.

Rincewind53: Relatively Obscure: TSG's article is significantly better.

Yeah, it pretty much validates exactly what I thought had happened; cop made a mistake. Now, you can criticize him for pointing what he thought was an unloaded Taser at a kid in jest, but he clearly didn't mean to shoot the kid. But this is why gun safety rule number one is never point a gun at someone you don't intend to shoot.

A TASER at a kid in jest.

Try pointing a gun a cop in jest, see what happens. This cop is extremely terrible.

andyofne: Relatively Obscure: This story, and one other I've read on this same site, strike me as ... odd.

I'm also only currently finding it on sites that could be considered questionable. Anyone have this from a solid source?

RT is the first Russian 24/7 English-language news channel which brings the Russian view on global news.

So, basically, crap?

Combine The Sun and Cold War-era Pravda and you get RT.

The kid refuses to do something on career day. A verbal warning, maybe bringing the kid to the principal. But pointing a weapon at a child? This is one of the rare times where the parents are definitely within their rights to sue the department. Talk about trauma. Jebus.

There's no 'accident' here.

The man does not deserve to wear that badge, or any other, ever again.

Furthermore, send him to PMITA prison.

Kids can be obnoxious little farkers, but you don't tase them til they're 18.

Weather or not the cop knew the taser was "loaded" he should be shiat canned.

At what point do we start giving IQ tests to potential police officers? Oh wait, if we did that we wouldn't have any police officers. No one with two digits or more would take such a job.

It's sourced from RT. That's an even less reliable news source than Fox.