That's because some genius thought making spitting an assault charge was a great idea, and you know what happens when you assault an officer of the law.

Of course he just looks like a little Richard now. Big tough man she had her hands behind her, could have wiped it off, put a spit hood on her, and added another charge to case.

You can tell even the guys around him look a little shocked like wtf psycho its just spit. hrm lets risking a heart attack, concussion from hitting head, possible death and a huge law suite, so we can make a point im a big bad cop lol. Lay off the steroids.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed

She was in handcuffs.

Which obviously does no good when someone wants to give you their bodily fluids without you asking for them. Why do you think officers wear plastic gloves when they're searching you? Even if you do have handcuffs on. If the handcuff angle is the best you got, try again.

The use of lethal force is only justified in self defense and he was in no danger.

If the taser was set at the max it would've been lethal. She's still alive so obviously it was not.

So if someone spit on you, you would think that your life is in no immediate danger? That kind of naivete' is dangerous to live with if you ask me. You can try to minimize the reality of the situation all you want, but the fact is that if the woman had a communicable disease of any sort, it could be transferred to the officer via saliva just as easily as with blood. This higher standard you keep throwing at people, does that include giving drunk and disorderly people the benefit of the doubt that they they're not diseased? Dude, people who act that sloppily in public typically don't act any better in private. And when you're sloppy with your personal life, you get diseases. It's that simple. It may not be PC to say, but it's the truth and you know it.

If you ask me the officer was well within his right to do what he did. And also, he did act in accordance to the higher standard the general public expects of him, because if that were me she did that to, I would've knocked her a** out. Lucky for me though that I don't put myself around people to where that's going to happen. Officers though, because of their job duties, don't have the luxury to pick and choose who they come in contact with.

Remember that next time you slam them.

I am dumfounded by the amount of people who think this officer acted correctly. The lady was wrong for spitting in his face, but as I have said over and over...which some people can't seem to grasp...she was in handcuffs...and tasing her was not necessary.

He is an officer of the law and has certain standards to uphold, one of those standards is to remain calm and not use excessive force. Tasers are not meant for women who are handcuffed with their hands behind their back.

He might as well had tied her to a chair with duck tape and gave her a knuckle sandwich judging by what some of you are saying, she would have had less of a chance of dying that way at least.

The conditioning that leads people to believe these actions are justified is dominant in today's society and people embrace their enslavement and worship those who oppress them. No wonder your country is falling apart.

so, after reading all of the posts ... i agree with some but not all.
yes, i think this is classic excessive force.

however, i'm posting because i have a question.

here's the dilemma:
legally armed homeowner (carrying a gun but no tazer) has verbal confrontation with drunk neighbor. drunk neighbor spits on (legally armed) homeowner, repeatedly.

since the "authorities" automatically perceive a "threat to life", shouldn't the homeowner respond accordingly and administer the force they possess ? (legally owned firearm ?)
the threat to 'life' is an equal threat ... isn't it ?

{as the current law reads, i'm aware such an act would not be received favorably}

i'd like to understand why it is OK for the police and not OK for their employers ?

As bad as this is I totally respect the police that allowed this video to not be deleted.

I was bashed in Chatswood Police station on camera whilst handcuffed behind my back. The video was never found.

So as much as I hate bad police and weak police who stand by doing nothing - congrats to some dignified individuals of this US police for not being like many here in Australia and simply deleting the evidence. Hats off!

EDIT: worth noting I was a victim of mistaken identity and was non-formally (that means cannot sue) apologized to by the generally violent NSW, Australian Police 'Force' (recently changed from 'Service')

I am confused as to whether this lady is actually even handcuffed. For most of the video it appears she is indeed cuffed. I can even see what seems to be cuffs on her hands. Then, in the last few seconds, she separates her hands and puts her left hand behind her on the counter and her right hand forward by her side. Do the cuffs have an extra long chain between them or something? Is she only holding her hands behind her back as if she is cuffed? I've been in handcuffs myself more times than I would prefer and separating your hands like that should not be possible with standard cuffs. 99 times out of 100 there is only 2 inches of chain between them or less. Although, I do believe they do have special sets for really fat people who can't get their hands very close together behind their back. However those are very rare, and usually in those instances the police just use 2 sets of normal cuffs clipped together.



Also, what is up with her wrists being on top of the counter? Are the police forcing her to be in that position? Seems like guantanamo style awkward position torture type stuff to me.

Originally posted by SmikeS
Evidently the tazer barbs are to be removed by an RN, but in this situation the police removed the barbs, and from what i hear this is very painful. Looks like your PERP might have a case.
I'm interested to see how this case pans out.

I didn't see any barbs. This looks like the type (from the video) that doesn't have any. She SPIT on him. The human mouth is a hotbed of disease. That's assault. She should learn to behave. Betting she was one of those kids whose parents let them run around and do whatever they want, and never even tell them to stop.

Note, too, that she didn't even fall down. She got a teeny little zap, because she SPIT on the guy. What do some people think he should do, nothing? Let scum do whatever they want? She was walking around fine, immediately after.

Originally posted by 31Bravo

Originally posted by Trustfund
Please spare me the speech about how you know a good one.

edit on 29-11-2012 by Trustfund because: (no reason given)

My father was an honest, hard working police officer.. if you got pulled over it was because you were speeding. If you got tazed or drawn on was because you threatened his safety.

Not every cop is corrupt.

I think what you mean is you hate authority. I think the best bet is to let an encounter run its course because, as I said before, not every cop is abusive.

edit on 29-11-2012 by 31Bravo because: (no reason given)

He sounds like the type I have seen where I live. Every one I have encountered (gathering evidence near our house, from an attempted mugging {very rare}, reporting what I saw when a group of cowards attacked a guy in the club area, etc) has been unfailingly polite, professional, and done their job well. There are a LOT of good cops out there, and they don't deserve to be put down because there are some bad ones. Yes, there ARE bad ones, and I have seen a couple (not here), and have immediate family that has had encounters, too (when committing no crime). Some stink. Some are abusive. That doesn't mean we paint them all with the same brush ,and assume any cop is the same way. That's NO different than someone stating all members of a certain race are bad, because some are. Come on, people, THINK about it.

The LEO is supposed to be a professional and above all that childish moronic behavior we see out of the drunken woman. Instead we see nothing but a thug who lost control and fired a Taser because he was angry about her spitting at him. He was in no immediate danger and she could have been restrained even further or put in a cell until she sobered up.

I also don't agree with how many of the states have made it a felony assault for spitting. All of their arguments about passing diseases were the results of a paid campaign started by corrections, jailers and LEO unions who began to see more detainees/prisoners spitting at them, because the dehumanizing humiliating methods being used in today's institutions beginning with the intake process as we see here. Their main argument is that they can get HIV from saliva, but the truth is you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than such an occurrence. Lobbying to make such behavior a felony is how they decided to deal with it, because the trend in law enforcement is to look out for their own personal needs rather than understanding why it is occurring and creating an environment to reduce it.

Just watch a couple hours of those stupid jail shows and you'll find that most these jailers are nasty ugly barely human actors because that is how they've been trained/indoctrinated to act by their management. There are exceptions and I've seen a few episodes where they are total professionals, treat even the jerks as they would a family member and only use as much force is as needed to deal with them. Sadly those seem to be the exceptions rather than the rule at least in the U.S.

He should of just bitch slapped her, and not waisted the taxpayers money on a taser cartridge.

Originally posted by RobertF
He should of just bitch slapped her, and not waisted the taxpayers money on a taser cartridge.

Oh so you advocate beating women too?

I bet if this chick was black most of you would be singing a completely different tune.

Originally posted by repeatoffender
I bet if this chick was black most of you would be singing a completely different tune.

Please elaborate?