Caught On Tape: Cops Use Taser Gun On Man Trying to Get Home

[Lori Price CLG]

Caught On Tape: Cops Use Taser Gun On Man Trying to Get Home

UPDATED: 1:06 pm EDT August 17, 2004

FORT MYERS, Fla. --Officers in hurricane-ravaged Fort Myers used a Taser gun on a man allegedly trying to get by a police barrier to get home, and it was caught on tape.

A crowd formed around the scene and voices can be heard yelling, "Leave him alone," "That is so wrong," and "Come on man, he's frustrated."

The man had three children in the car with him. Many in the crowd felt for the man who hasn't seen his home in days.

<snip>

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/

[movonne]

1. This is the bush family's America...what else is new.

[Lori Price CLG]

2. There is a survey for the topic, people can 'vote'...

What do you think of police (Jeb Bush's Nazis) using a Taser on a storm victim allegedly trying to get by a police barrier to get home? The link is to the survey pop-up window: http://www.local10.com/news/3659012/detail.html#

Choice Votes --Percentage of 10104 Votes
I think officers went too far. 7463 --74%
I think the police were just doing their job. 2115 --21%
I would need to know more. 526 --5%

(Survey results as of 18:21GMT)

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Lori Price CLG]

6. Exactly. And, only Freepers and Nazis support such tactics. n/t

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[KurtNYC]

11. But the newscaster SAID they "were forced" to use it ....duh

why would 74% disagree? (sarcasm)

[Lori Price CLG]

14. Right, I don't think the Taser's use was *necessary.* n/t

[MercutioATC]

3. Not to sound facist, but if he refused to obey police orders in a disaster

area and resisted arrest (it seems they had to pull him out of the SUV) tasering was probably an appropriate response. The roadblocks exist for reasons (safety, preventing looting, etc). It's simply not O.K. to break the law in these situations.

(Then again, there's a lot we don't know about this specific incident. If the police simply overracted, it would be a case of excessive force.)

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[MercutioATC]

8. Lemme check for swastikas....hmmm...nope.

"most likely because of the color of his skin"? Unless you have information I don't, that's a completely baseless claim, as is "If this guy was white they would have let him pass." The fact is the man was attempting to pass a roadblock in a disaster area. As I said, without knowing more it's impossible to know if the force used was excessive, but a cop using a taser on somebody who doesn't listen to legal orders isn't a "nazi".

[atreides1]

9. How

Do you prevent looting, if you don't have the manpower to conduct patrols. One roadblock does not cut off access to a neighborhood.

Besides the disaster is over, what is going on now is called rescue and relief.

And it does sound a little fascist, even though you don't me for it to sound that way.

[MercutioATC]

10. A clarification and an answer:

1) Even though the hurricane is over, it's still a Federal disaster area.

2) I don't know that there weren't other patrols in the area. I saw a single roadblock in the video. Regardless, controlling access to an area (roadblocks) is generally the way looting is prevented if there isn't manpower to provide adequate patrols.

If this guy HAD gotten by the roadblock and either looted or been injured, people would be screaming that the police weren't doing their jobs (especially in light of the fact that he had children with him). Yes, the minimum force necessary should always be used, but we simply don't know the entire story. I'm just pointing out that the use of a taser in a situation like this is not always unjustified.

[mark11727]

12. Hell of a thing for the kids to see, though....

[MercutioATC]

13. Agreed. I hate it when kids have to witness that kind of thing.

[FlaGranny]

15. No, no, no. It was WRONG - if the man could prove

he lived where he said he lived. How can it be right to prevent a citizen from going to his own property. It's not right even if the guy may have been taking his life into his hands to do it (and I very much doubt he was doing that). I have heard of this before and it absolutely infuriates me. When you own property, you have every right to be on it, disaster or not. Are they going into disaster areas and removing people from their homes by bodily force? I don't see much of a difference.

Edit: It's much more likely that when the guy finally gets home, he'll find it has already been looted, with no police around his actual neighborhood to prevent it.

[MercutioATC]

16. Absolutely untrue.

I don't know the exact status of the area, but a mandatory evacuation order is...well...mandatory. You do NOT have a right to go back to your house whenever you like.

[FlaGranny]

18. It is not right!

It is wrong. It's my belief that it is wrong to keep someone off their own property. Don't care about the law. It is just morally WRONG.

[MercutioATC]

20. Maybe so, but it's still the law (as is the ability to taser belligerent

motorists who try to disregard roadblocks).

[FlaGranny]

19. In addition,

when they say mandatory evacuation, they cannot forcibly make you leave.

[MercutioATC]

21. Correct, but they don't have to let you back in, either.

[0007]

17. Florida police are good at these types of maneuvers.

If it was a black man trying to get to a voting polling....oh well, you know the story and how it goes with most Florida coppers, I needn't tell you.