cop may be fired for giving suicidal student water instead of Tasing him

A union representing campus police officers is accusing the Marina Police Department of unfairly targeting one of its members for choosing not to use a Taser on a suicidal student, KSBW-TV reported.

Statewide University Police Association (SUPA) president Jeff Solomon said the unidentified officer, a corporal, is currently on leave and could be fired in connection with a February incident involving a student at the California State University’s Monterey Bay campus.

“Our officer said and felt that there was no need for the level of force that was applied, and my understanding was that’s why he didn’t deploy his Taser,” Solomon said.

The officer, a 20-year police veteran who had been working at the school for 8 years, responded to the incident before being joined by three Marina officers. The Monterey Herald reported that, according to Marina Police Chief Edmundo Rodriguez, the student had a knife and hammer in his room when the officers reached him, and may have attempted to light himself on fire.

“He was clearly a danger to himself and he was in crisis,” Rodriguez said. “We were trying to keep him from accessing the weapons or leave, to get him medical attention.”

The Salinas Californian reported that Soloman said the Monterey Bay officer managed to calm the student and get him to sit down before his colleagues from Marina reached the scene.

But the other officers used their Tasers on the student after their college colleague left the room to fulfill the student’s request for a glass of water. The campus officer subsequently refused to follow an order to use his own Taser on the student. The student was treated at a local hospital for superficial cuts but was not seriously injured.nion representing campus police officers is accusing the Marina Police Department of unfairly targeting one of its members for choosing not to use a Taser on a suicidal student, KSBW-TV reported.

Statewide University Police Association (SUPA) president Jeff Solomon said the unidentified officer, a corporal, is currently on leave and could be fired in connection with a February incident involving a student at the California State University’s Monterey Bay campus.

“Our officer said and felt that there was no need for the level of force that was applied, and my understanding was that’s why he didn’t deploy his Taser,” Solomon said.

The officer, a 20-year police veteran who had been working at the school for 8 years, responded to the incident before being joined by three Marina officers. The Monterey Herald reported that, according to Marina Police Chief Edmundo Rodriguez, the student had a knife and hammer in his room when the officers reached him, and may have attempted to light himself on fire.

“He was clearly a danger to himself and he was in crisis,” Rodriguez said. “We were trying to keep him from accessing the weapons or leave, to get him medical attention.”

The Salinas Californian reported that Soloman said the Monterey Bay officer managed to calm the student and get him to sit down before his colleagues from Marina reached the scene.

But the other officers used their Tasers on the student .

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Now this story should have given cops a good day as a positive in months full of negative but noooooooooooo!! one cop did not do the excessive force thingy and actually did good by calming a suicidal kid and having things under control was undone by his fellow officers and then got in trouble for not joining in the tasing party.

Way to go you morons fire the one decent guy you have left.

Typically a suicidal person is really crying out for help, and they can be calmed down and talked to. Perhaps showing a little kindness in the form of a glass of water and one-on-one communication may be all that was necessary while somebody else made the arrangements for the student to be transported to a nearby mental health facility for further evaluation. Had the student truly been a danger to himself and had every intention of harming himself, he would have done so without drawing attention to himself first.

To assume that one is stopping a person from harming themselves, by harming them, is the height of idiocy, not to mention heartless arrogance.

originally posted by: FissionSurplus
Typically a suicidal person is really crying out for help, and they can be calmed down and talked to. Perhaps showing a little kindness in the form of a glass of water and one-on-one communication may be all that was necessary while somebody else made the arrangements for the student to be transported to a nearby mental health facility for further evaluation. Had the student truly been a danger to himself and had every intention of harming himself, he would have done so without drawing attention to himself first.

To assume that one is stopping a person from harming themselves, by harming them, is the height of idiocy, not to mention heartless arrogance.

That's one thing but turning around and trying to fire the guy who refused to used excessive force is a whole other story,whoever is in charge should be fired and have this cop placed at the head an weed out the bad ones.

With a hammer and knife in the room, I'm surprised they didn't shoot him. That's not sarcasm, I'm honestly surprised.
Officer safety and a show of force are far more important than actually helping a person in need. I wish I could send an email supporting this officers level headed, compassionate approach and tell his bosses not fire the one decent cop they have. The rest should be charged with aggravated assault. 'Course, they're going to say "He went crazy riiight after you stepped out"
Umhuh. Sure he did.

a reply to: Spider879

I agree with you on that point, sorry I didn't make myself clearer.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, police desperately need training on the handling of the mentally ill. Force should be the last resort, not the first, and firing a cop who actually had the right instinct is a grave injustice.

The family will prolly file a lawsuit to! Lol

a reply to: Spider879

You would think this would be the first line of procedure when dealing with someone who is suicidal.

A good example of why the protests have to keep going until proper changes are made.
I know that there's a lot of people saying the protests are all wrong, but how much changes with peaceful protests, that don't disrupt everything.
Nothing. Life goes on, people forget

Not all situations require the victim/perp to be hurt/maimed/killed.

Broken system. ....retraining badly needed...

This is nuts. Who in their right mind would use force on a student after a colleague had managed to calm the individual, who then proceeded to sit down and ask for a drink of water? The university may well say that the scenario was more complex than what the story makes it, but they're likely getting their information from the Marina Police Department. The simple fact of the matter is that a police officer had handled the situation well, until backup arrived and ordered him to partake in abuse on a mentally ill individual, to which he refused.

I am on the Corporal's side here. He should fight the department for their ridiculous actions.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Spider879

You would think this would be the first line of procedure when dealing with someone who is suicidal.

That used to be the old normal the new normal is tase or pepper spray if you want to be considered compassionate or execute on spot if a knife or hammer is anywhere near the person you want to arrest.

a reply to: Spider879

Please tell me this is satire.

I'm going to assume that this is a knee jerk reaction to recent events, and this poor officer has to pay the price for doing his job the way it was meant to be done.

I've said it before and I'll say it again-there needs to be a review of officer training. This man should be rewarded not reprimanded.

a reply to: Spider879

De-escalation should be one of the most valuable tools for any police officer, so sad that an enlightened man is suffering for his astute actions.

a reply to: Spider879

Police are not trained anymore in compassion. They are trained in threat elimination. They are not trained to talk to people unless its giving orders or interrogation. Its becoming the new norm for police to just show up guns blazing before actually figuring out a better way to resolve a situation. Its sad. I used to look up to police and admire them. Now I resent them. They are the red coats of the 21st century. Eventually they will treated as they treat us.

see it's screwed up policies or screwed up in the head cops that gives them all a bad name. This guy was able to diffuse the situation and offer a glass of water then here comes the real A holes and they tase him...for what!?! This kids was asking for help not a good jolt of electricity!

You're probably right. If the Corporal had shot and killed the kid he probably wouldn't be in danger of losing his job. I guess he carried that "to protect and serve" crap just a little too far!a reply to: DAVID64

Damn sick situation..and some wonder why no confidence in this bull# system, a cop isn't even allowed to be a good cop. Thats why we do not trust.

With all the cop bashing threads as of late, this really goes to show that not ALL cops are bad. This cop did what any human with a decent moral soul should/would have done. I cant believe that anyone even thought about investigating this.

If the student was calmed by the one officer, didn't run to grab a weapon, and didn't try to attack anyone there is absolutely no need to deploy a taser.

Now if the student ran to grab a weapon then I would understand the use of a taser or other less than lethal techniques.

I don't agree with the use of force by the other officers in this situation if it occurred as I read and interpreted the article.

This is a prime example of why the phenomenon of use of force that often seems too much to the public is occurring on a much more frequent basis. We keep hearing they were following their training and the incident is not cause for discipline or even prosecution.

The reason this case reveals is that if they don't use that force, they face worse consequences of departmental sanctions, losing their job, and being ostracized by the same police community. In the worst case, should another officer or a member of the public get hurt for not using overwhelming force to subdue the situation, they could even face the more serious punishment of prosecution or loss of pension from being fired or prosecuted, and other consequences. Is it no wonder we keep seeing disastrous use of force incidents on a more frequent basis?

Until this attitude of police is put in check, I don't see how things are going to be changed. I would bet that there are officers across the nation looking at this case and determining that they would be better off using a higher level of force when a lower level of interaction could resolve the situation at hand. This should be a case that the public raises hell over if changes are to be implemented. It is a sad look into the environment our peace officers are put into. They know the department will most often be on their sides and will be given all the support of lawyers, police union, and press spokespersons, and even the system should they use force according to their training as opposed to being more human and talking a person down.

This really is a prime example to use when people ask why did any particular officer in any particular case using an excessive level of force. I realize that tasers are considered non-lethal force even though sometimes due to medical conditions or freak accidents in the fall of the tasered person results in death. In this case, the officer was making progress and already brought the level of danger down a notch. Remember, this subject was not threatening others; he was threatening to hurt himself, or commit suicide. What do you think he would do if he faces the same situation again? He will not trust police next time. It is this reason people often panic and don't comply. They have seen others, and may themselves been involved in incidents involving the use of excessive force. For the minority community, they have come to the conclusion that they stand a very good chance of being attacked and/or injured by officer’s use of excessive force. And we wonder why they run over seemingly minor incidents, when it involved a misdemeanor, if that, and turned it into a felony or two by running from police. Maybe they don't want to end up beaten badly or worse killed by police seemingly out of control.

The problem here is why they seem to be out of control. I think this case is a look into the reality that their training and possible consequences are the causative factor and consideration in their use of excessive force and not just individual quirks in the officers put into situations where they often find themselves in many cases.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” -C.S. Lewis