It is good to see the police come out strongly to support criminal charges against the (former) trooper. That is different from Baltimore, where it was the state attorney that brought charges in the death of Freddy Gray. It’s rare for a police force willing to investigate and support the prosecution of one of its own.
On the other hand, after the arbitrator ruled that the then-trooper could not be suspended in an earlier incident, why wasn’t he given a desk job somewhere, so that he would be less of a danger to the public?
Because that too would be a form of punishment and that’s just not to be done to a Cop. The disparate treatment in this case is gobsmacking. The mission of the police is to pick up the trash for punishment. Do you know a Cop that doesn’t believe the public deserves punishment? I don’t. But they don’t believe they do and they hold the strings of the system in their hands. This guy was a recidivist. A menace to society and although he gave ample warning signs the “Cop” factor over road reason and now we have a kid dead.
Tasers are now considered “potentially” lethal weapons. They are to be used only to ensure the safety of officers and members of the public. You can’t shoot a fleeing subject ( SCOTUS ruling ) and I doubt using a taser for that purpose is legal either. The manufacturer of the device claims it’s intended purpose is as an alternative to deadly force. If so the Cop should have been nowhere near an arbitrator for the first taser offense. We don’t arbitrate felonies.
In short he didn’t get a transfer to a desk for the same reason he didn’t get suspended. He’s a Cop.
But it was the command that went after the suspension. And the command has a lot more authority over assignments than over suspension. I don’t know the contract, but if they put him on desk duty, or assigned him to the evidence room, or made him work in the files, that might not be grievable.
Did you hear about the first incident? You sure as heck did the fatal one. That’s why.
Tasers are legalized torture devices. The makers of this torture device will take a coroner to court if that coroner even hints that the taser was the cause of death. So, coroners have all but stopped saying that the taser caused the fatal heart attack, etc. because they can’t afford the legal fees. I’m sure Taser will try like hell to get this guy off because if he’s found guilty there goes their bottom line.
Tasers, sound cannons, non-lethal bullets (yeah, right), pepper spray, and on and on - tools for sick fucks and just like the pedophiles ran to the Catholic church, the sadists all apply to their local police force.
No worries. There’s probably a place in the Trump administration for him. He’s a “take-the-gloves-off” kind of cop, the kind of cop Trump favors.
And this is why cops and their unions should support proper accountability in all cases of excessive force, rather than almost always trying to minimize any consequences for the officer (except in a few of the most severe cases).
The lack of meaningful consequences for the earlier instances of misconduct really did this cop no favors in the end. The message he took from those earlier instances was that his itchy taser trigger finger was justified in its twitchings, and he could safely continue in this behavior.
And now a young man is dead, and this cop is facing murder charges. Yes, the main responsibility lies with this officer himself. At the same time, without taking anything away from that personal level of responsibility, it’s important to note how the disciplinary system failed both the officer and his victim.
Pattern of reckless and excessive use of force than eventually resulted in the death of a kid. He should have been stopped before it got to that point and the department clearly understood it had a problem on its hands.
I remember when the taser came out as a non-lethal alternative to firing a weapon. It didn’t take long for people so inclined to start using it in questionable situations where even non-lethal force was needed.
Plus, I wonder how a cop got to be 43 years old before having 2 charges that amount to reckless use of force in a year. I’d be willing to bet there’s a lot more that didn’t make it into his personnel jacket.
Likewise for the other professions where professional associations, peers, or unions have a large role in identifying bad actors and holding them accountable. This would include lawyers, doctors, accountants, pilots, and so on.
I agree.
The first summer I was living in Taos the cops pulled up into a parking lot next to my house, where they couldn’t be seen from the highway and they spent 45 minutes torturing a guy with a taser. There was a fence between us but I could hear them over there and there was nothing I could do but shut my windows.
I’d love to get ahold of the people who invented it. It is a torture device absolutely.
Shut the window? Is that equivalent to looking the other way and pretending everything is okay?
I’m really surprised that for someone as resourceful as you that there was nothing you could do.
Of course, I wasn’t there and I don’t know how long ago it was, but do you ever wish you had tried to do something?