Young Father Tased For Refusing To Sign Speeding Ticket In Utah
By Logan Murphy Tuesday Nov 20, 2007 1:40pm
By now most of you have seen the "don't tase me bro" video, watched morons like Brian Kilmeade from Fixed Noise endorse the use of tasers and brutal violence against protesters or heard of the growing number of incidences involving tasers around the country. This video, of what should have been a routine traffic stop in Utah, ended up with a young father face down on the highway with his screaming, pregnant wife and young child in the car while 50,000 volts of electricity shot through his body. He was tased and immediately arrested -- all without having been read his rights or warned that he was in danger of being tased.
The driver, Jared Massey, refused to sign a speeding ticket because he believed he had slowed down before his vehicle passed the speed limit sign. The officer became visibly upset and that's where things went downhill. More details from ABC News.
Login or Register to post comments.
Well people that's what happens you take high school dropouts and make them cops.
WOW talk about having a "hair-trigger" ! That cop has no business being on patrol. If that patrolman escapes some sort of civil suit then I would say we need "tort reform".
Another example of an undereducated, common sense lacking cowboy with power he is not equiped to handle. Bad "shoot". Period.
I mean "equipped". See, what I tell you? My point still stays the same...
welcome to the world, whitey. When we talk about racial profiling, the injustice brought by police to people in our mostly black neighborhoods, white folks roll their eyes.
this one time, a caucasian family man is wrongfully and violently tasered by an authoritarian asshole cop, and people are flooding the highway patrol office with phone calls.
now do you understand?
I side with the cop, the driver should had listen to instructions and not be a ball buster. People get shot because they think this is a game and can play with the officers.
I wonder what possible role model for unchecked power that "officer of the law" might be following. He somehow got the impression that laws are only for the little people to follow not the people in power. Miranda who?
After all, if the President of the United Stated is above following the law, and the US Attorney General can can lie to congress and condone torture, what's the big deal with tasering some kid who wants to know why he's getting a ticket?
Ugh, how easily somebody with a gun, a badge and a taser will feel threatened. It's happened to me ten years ago, and I could've sworn the cop with the taser was going to shit in his pants when I wouldn't go down. Many of these cowards hide behind the badge. And many more cowards will side with them because it gives them a false sense of security. Just wait until it happens to them.
Cowards!
Listen, in this time of Thanksgiving, I want all of you who think this cop did something so bad to think of all the video clips out there where a driver of a vehicle is allowed to get back in their vehicle and eventually has got back out with a gun. Think of the widely played video where the one man went back to his truck, pulled out a rifle and murdered a police officer.
This man was tased because he did not follow the commands of the officer. He was walking back to his truck for whatever reason. It is a terrible officer safety practice to allow such a thing.
Remember, police officers see video after video of things like this every single day. We all want to go home to our families at night and I suggest those who keep making comments about cops being nothing more then cave men with arrest powers, to try walking in their shoes for a bit or at the least, trying to view things from their perspective.
Not only that, this officer made other mistakes (like walking away from the man to the man's wife and allowing the arrested man to approach him from the rear).
Oh, as for the reading of Miranda. There is nothing that says a police officer has to "read Miranda" prior to an arrest. That is a common error.
There were many mistakes made in that ugly exchange.
I question the driver's disregard for the officer's authority, as well as the officer's quick and unnecessary use of the taser, as well as the wife jumping out of the car screaming off the top of her lungs. Nice experience for the child in the car, I'm sure.
He should have signed the damn paper because the officer cannot let him go without it. Signature on the citation is also never an admission of guilt.
This is not hindsight for me, since this is the way I have always reacted when cited - even unjustly. It would never enter my mind to ask a police officer "What's wrong with you?"
Faux pas on many levels.
The thing I am most surprised about, how did that video get from the officer's car cam onto the internet??
IN THE COLD: the kid was a "ball buster"?
The kid was as polite as can be in trying to understand, (and horror of horrors) actually question, why he was getting a ticket and for what speed. Additionally the kid asked multiple times to "PLEASE" have his rights read yet the cop refused.
Yes, the kid could have just taken the ticket he felt he didn't deserve and not questioned it at all. Hey after all we should all know by know that those in power don't have to follow laws, only we do. (what a ball buster to want to know what he was being charged with and why before signing the ticket. Why didn't the cop just tell him?)
Yeah, we should all just be quiet and do what we're told. We'll all be safe - we won't have any rights to privacy, due process, etc., but that must be the price we have to pay for being safe and secure. That's just what we should believe and how we should behave...
God help us.
Sorry, but the guy started off dumb and then got dumber.
Walking away from a cop while reaching in your pocket? What do you think should happen?
The dude was either getting tackled, tazed or shot.
Ride the Future: "He should have signed the damn paper because the officer cannot let him go without it. Signature on the citation is also never an admission of guilt."
True, but why did the cop not even attempt to explain this to the kid? The kid was polite and reasonable - this situation could most likely have been diffused if handled correctly. This in my opinion was a total lack of training and total abuse of power to offset the lack of training.
The signature on a ticket is OPTIONAL.
How do I know this? Because every ticket that I have received the officer has explained it to me. (and I may have heard that speech more than once, or five times or more...)
YBNurmal @ 15:
I've had a warning for speeding, and been stopped for non-functioning tail-lights a few times. I've never had an officer march up and say "You're gonna sign this" without any explanation of what it was. Lots of "This paper means... and by signing here you signify..." Of course, I learned early that you immediately roll down your window, get out your license and registration, and have your hands glued to the wheel all before the cop reaches your door.
But the kid didn't even know how what speed the super-trooper there put on the ticket, so why the hell should he sign it? I wouldn't sign a blank ticket, either. Whatever mistakes/faux paux the kid made, the officer was the one why really messed this up.
the toaster @ 13:
Exactly.
IN THE COLD @ 6:
You agree with the cop? That this is a police state and all we should bow to authority at every opportunity while accepting that civil rights, the Constitution, habeas corpus, police protocol and generally accepted respectful conduct are out-dated pre-9/11 ideas?
I bet he thought he was living in a free country and had rights. I doubt he thought this was a game.
Maybe you are right...We should do whatever anyone in a lab coat or a uniform tells us to do. The Milgram experiment and others like it would indicate that a large number of people would agree with you. Not me, but many others.
Truth & Beauty
Re-watching this video, what I see is a "trained Law Officer" and an inexperienced but polite kid. (even after being tasered the kid was still polite).
Here in Maine, with traffic violations you are Guilty unless you can somehow miraculously prove your innocence. Additionally whatever form of speed measurement is considered accurate. And you are told this when you go to court. You are also told if you insist on fighting the ticket, the fine will be increased to the maximum allowed by state law.
If the laws in Utah are at all the same as in Maine, I don't blame the kid for questioning the ticket right then and there. I do agree his inexperience is shown by getting out of the car and pacing around. But he should not have been tasered!
Ah, the authoritarians are out today, like everywhere. Forget your rights, you do what Father says or you get punished. We are children, ignorant and childlike, and must be taught, through violence and death, that Father is always right.
Fire the pig then hook the tazer to his Nazi genitalia! I'm so fucking sick of the abuse of 50,000 volts of tazer stories - I want them all taken out of the hands of American Police men/women. Their jobs are "To Protect and Serve" not taze to death the American People who live and own this country. I hope this cop ends up a security gaurd without a gun or a tazer on a federal port. That would serve him right.
Erik @ 18:
When a cop ask's you "Do you know what my job is" Tell them yes "to protect and serve" you'll get the ticket but the look on their face is priceless when you know and tell them it is so.
Scott@16 I totally agree with you. This was a reasonable kid and a situation that could and should have had a completely different outcome except for the poor skills exhibited by the cop. And any cop who doesn't see this scares the hell out of me and I hope to God never pulls me over! I'm afraid if I sneezed I might get tasered...
Erik @ 18:
OK...so in my frustration...I assumed a lot about the officer's beliefs. I may have assigned my feelings about a number of other situations and over-bearing power mongers empowered by the state to this situation. My apologies. I still believe the officer was in the wrong remain and I feel he, those like him and those who train them this way are all part of a disease in this country.
Truth & Beauty
Amazing anyone would actually side with this criminal with a badge. There are no excuses. He did not serve himself, his public, his department, or the law. He assaulted a citizen, because the citizen dared to question his "instructions". He did not warn him that he would be arrested. He did not give a reason for asking the citizen to step out his car, and the first thing he did was draw a weapon. Of course the guy backed away.
Just a bastard with a badge.... should go to jail himself, suffer a civil lawsuit, and lose his job.
He does not serve the people.
Classical small penis syndrome. Not too bright, going nowhere guy who likes to bully and harass people becomes a cop so he can fuck with people. It's a very hard, very dangerous job that doesn't pay nearly enough and it's not easy to find people who can do it properly. All too often police agencies are forced to lower their standards and accept marginal cases like this. What do you expect. Spend a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars we waste on wars, on the salary of public servants like police, and you'll attract a better crowd to choose from.
That particular officer, should never have been allowed to carry a fire arm or to have been in a situation where other people's lives are in danger. Unfortunately it's going to take a very expensive "excessive use of force" and "inappropriate behavior" law suit for Utah to rethink it's decision to give that bully a badge.
Enough about the 'Cops are Dumb' jokes.
They're smarter than the average citizen, apparently, they seem to recognize that what their 'president' wants is a police state.
And won't it be fun to live in a nation without law, with a bunch of armed idiots running around proclaiming that they are 'The Law', and 'Doing 'God's' Work'.
'Dumb Cops' are no longer a joke.
They are a menace.
John @ 5:
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Couple things.
The cop knew he screwed up. That is why he lied to the other cop when he told the story of what happened.
Also, he had no right to arrest the driver for failure to sign. (granted I assume this is true as it is true in most states, perhaps not in Utah). There was simply no reason to pull the driver out of the car. Send him the ticket in the mail.
However, the driver was also an idiot. He does not have a right to have his rights read to him. No one does. Miranda warnings are required only if the police plan on using statements against you. It is an admissibility issue, not a get out of jail free because the Officer forgot to read the card issue.
The cop WAS wrong to arrest him, but once he has made that decision (and he should have made it much clearer to the guy that he was under arrest) he should have the latitude to use appropriate force when the guy is ignoring commands and walking away. As other posters correctly noted, being a police officer is a dangerous job and these guys and gals have to make split decisions that could end up getting them killed.
I assume the guy got the tape through either a FOIA request or (more likely) because his civil attorney subpoenaed it.
I wouldn't ordinarily criticize a guy who got tased, however, since he is the one that posted this on youTube, he is sort of asking for it.
He definitely has a decent claim against the cop (or more accurately the cop's employer) but given that he probably survived with essentially no lasting injury, probably isn't a huge claim.
The topic of whether or not Tasers are appropriate at all is, of course, a separate issue. Better than guns (definitely) and nightstick (probably) but still overused in many situations.
Ouch. Looks like all pretense is being dropped huh?
Looks like shit? Smell like shit? And yet you still call it a great country? LOL. Shit is shit, and you are in the shit...
Im sure this cop was an evil liberal left wing villain. Not.
seattle slough @ 29 :
Your logic about the arrest is twisted.
By your logic, if the cop had decided, even if it was wrong, to shoot the guy with his gun, he should have done it right all the way and popped one in the chest and one in the head?
I do not give a flying crap about the life of a cop, they signed up for the job and know the risks.
The civilian did NOT.
This seems to be a problem with many who have such authority and power. They seem to lack the training in how to handle people.
If the cop pulls over a civilian, it is the cops responsibility to handle the situation and NOT have it escalate.
The civilian is in the stressful situation as he does not know why he is getting pulled over. Also people seem to forget the gun-ho police officers and the guy probably is scared this cop might go crazy.
Heck, seeing that his wife is pregnant and his kid and knowing there have been incidents of cops tasering pregnant women and children, he just might be one of those.
From the way many here talk it seems that it is always the civilians fault for not knowing the ever-changing undocumented book of rules.
The cop has to treat the person like a child.
And if a parent slaps their child because they are incapable of handling it, it is called child abuse and the authorities come for them!
And Tasers being better then guns.. please what kind of lame argument is that?
Not to mention totally beyond the point.
Had the Taser killed the man, would it still have been better?
As a matter of fact the Taser only helps the cop to be an even bigger idiot then before.
Back in the day when the Cops pulled this crap the Victim was beaten or shot. It was harder to show it was justified.
Now you can just Zap people and it is a-ok for the cops to misuse their power. 'at least he was not shot', right?
He can now come up with BS stories and some dolt will defend him with the 'better then shooting him' line.
On a different site was a story about how the cops had Taserd some Bum that had become 'violent'. He was then arrested for 'assault against an officer'... strange thing was, the report never mentioned the Bum becoming violent towards the cops or anyone else.
If the SS come to your door and zap you and haul your ass to Guantanamo, will the defence 'at least they used a Taser' in an attempt to avoid the actual issue be ok for you?
The cop was wrong before using the Taser.
It all boils down to who watches the watchman?
Seems no one and they know it.
RideTheFuture @ 11:
yes ... if police officers are regarded as dangerous animals with deadly weapons rather than fellow human beings who have their focus on the law, then there wouldn't be disasters like this one.
seattle slough @ 29:
Yeah, that is pretty much my take as well. Plenty of stupid mistakes made by both men in that video.
The clincher for me is that the cop's version of the story was in direct contradiction to the video we just saw. He was attempting to justify his overreaction by exaggerating the driver's behavior.
And to top it all off, the cop had ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to start digging around in the driver's car on a fishing expedition--especially right after the cop and the driver's wife had a discussion in which it was made clear that the car was not impounded and was in her possession. He did not ask permission to search--he just did it and (sort of) told her while he was doing the search.
It echoes what he did to the driver--he didn't explain anything, he just bulldozed on through and would squash anyone who dared question his authority (shades of "South Park"). That was a(nother) clear violation of those citizens' rights.
Just another example of why I can't stand cops. Most I've ever dealt with, heard about or read about are simply frustrated high-school bullies with a badge and a tiny penis. While I can appreciate the difficult job they do, I don't appreciate the asshole-ish superior attitude that too many of them possess.
And as far as tallying the number of mistakes made by each side, keep in mind that the police deal with traffic citations on a daily basis. One would think that they would be better equipped to deal with the situation than a driver who (according to him) had never gotten a speeding ticket before and had no experience with how the process works.
John @ 5:
I hope so ... I tell all my sons (white and asian) if stopped, but your hands on the dash. We'll sort it out latter.
John @ 5:
For the record, I do not like being addressed as 'whitey'. I prefer the more racially accurate term, 'pinky'. Please adjust your public use of labels accordingly.
Thank you.
John @ 5:
no they don't. they are still hung up on OJ and Sharpton.
IN THE COLD @ 6:
exercising your rights is playing?
sctobrien @ 9:
In his shoes! OK! I imagine myself with a badge, a gun, a taser and an attitude.
Now let any MuhFuggah stand in front of me and think his 'rights' matter.
sctobrien @ 10:
that's a common pro-cop misconception, Mr. Guiliani.
RideTheFuture @ 11:
I bet the officer 'shared' the video with his buds for a laugh.
Preacher Boob @ 27:
I think you nailed it!
seattle slough @ 29:
OK, so you love cops.
frank @ 32:
well put!!!!!!!!
That cop is a scumbag who created the entire situation with his poor attitude and worse communication skills. He never should have asked the driver to step out of the vehicle, which he did only for the purpose of intimidation.
Most cops are scum, that one is ignorant scum.
Tasers are "portable electric chairs"
Three citizens were given the death penalty this week for minor offenses.
Just so no one gets me wrong: I have nothing against the cops and support them and probably more then many other people.
I support the cop pulling over the guy.
I do have a problem with how the guy's guilt can be proven.
But as much as I support them and hold them to high esteem, I will equally judge them.
All the people give them the power and the support to do their jobs and to do them right.
But if they screw up, they should meet the full force of our anger.
We entrust all we have to them, including our lives and those of our family and friends and they better damn not try to screw us over!
Just like you pay a company money to protect your house, if someone breaks in, they pay.
If one of the guards breaks in, all hell should break loose.
Just so you know how much I support the cops and firemen and like:
IMHO:
I also think they should have 'socialized health care' like those in the government.
If they become disabled during their job and cannot work or continue the work they had, I think we should pay for their (semi)retirement.
I think we owe them that much for putting their lives on the line.
But screw up and abuse our trust and it is all over my friend. You can be lucky if you only lose your job.
Same should go for politicians.
Just a quick note (which someone may have mentioned before): police are not required to read you your rights before you are arrested, while being arrested, etc.
Police are required to advise you of your Miranda rights before they question you in a custodial setting. If they don't plan on questioning you, they don't have to read you your rights.
Too many poorly-written TV cop shows get this point wrong all the time...
Well, Frank, since you hold them in such high esteem, maybe they'll listen to you. Would you mind telling them for me to drop the attitude?
They call their badge a "shield." I'm afraid the term is taken far too literally.
cops have become the real gangstas we have to worry about....too many of these guys are on steroids and have real emotional instability problems......
Cops are going to think this shit is real funny when they start getting their own asses tasered. As far as I'm concerned they should handle lose cannon like this cop the same way as Nicolos Cage in the movie the Weatherman. Instead of slurpies and fast food the public should give em some volts.
Hi Everyone,
I just checked the Utah Highway Patrol site to see if there was an addy for e-mail or a phone number. There is a pre-emptive post on the Home Page with a short acknowledgement of the incident, that took place 2 months ago, and that the matter was being investigated yada yada yada. I don't know about you guys but I will be watching this....
This situation did not call for excessive force. Pure and simple.
That cop overreacted, period. With authority, comes responsibility.
JustSickOfIt @ 26:
thank you.
I would have put my hands behind the head. I would have signed the citation. It was dumb on the driver's part not to do it. Doing as told was the smart thing to do.
However...
..that doesn't change the fact that the officer's action was totally uncalled for. That he was ridiculously overreacting. Stories of "how dangerous a cop's job is", are off the mark. The guy was walking away from the cop because he was afraid, pure and simple. And he tried to level with the officer as calmly as possible.
Why not just tell the driver: "Okay, I'll take your address and just mail the citation to you. Then you can argue with the judge. Have a nice day." And beat it?
Take that brute off the street!
That cop needs to be fired. Tasers need to be banned.
For all of you who "side with the cop": You'd have made fine Soviet citizens.
DavidKris @ 23:
There actually was a guy a little while ago who was tased and arrested for ASSAULT ON AN OFFICER because he accidentally coughed on the cop. But anyway, I agree with what you have said.
I heard the kid keep saying, "How fast was I going?" over and over again, then the cop arrested him without reading him his rights after him saying over and over, "If you're arresting me atleast read me my rights."
Hello Police State!
By the way. If you listen to the cop's justification, he Tased the man just to prove to him that he wasn't "in charge," but rather that the officer was "in charge." The cop wanted to teach him a lesson. It was an abuse of power, pure and simple. The notion that you have to comply with every jackass instruction of a cop or face being Tased and arrested is outrageous. We have given over so much power to the police in order to "be safe" that we now have to fear the police. Never believe anyone who says that the government/police will not abuse the power they're given. They always abuse it.
The pig should be charged with assault and sent to prison. Unfortunately, The Clash were right: "You have the right not be killed. Murder is a crime unless it is done by a policeman or an aristocrat." ("Know Your Rights".) It's not just murder (eg. last week's murder case where a pig killed his ex-wife), it's any crime: pigs get a slap on the wrist for most anything short of murder. The pig who tasered the civilian probably won't lose his job, never mind be charged.
The pigs only enforce the law, they don't make it up. Any pig who commits a crime should be sentenced to a longer term than a civilian would get. If I got three years for stealing, a pig should get five; if I get life for murder, a pig should get the death penalty. Whatevever the maximum is in Utah for assault with a deadly weapon, that pig should get 150% of the maximum sentence length (eg. 6 years instead of 4).
If pigs want stiffer sentences for civilians who knowingly attack pigs, then the pigs should accept the same fate for illegal assaults on civilians. Fair's fair.
After watching this and the "Don't tase me bro" video at Sen. Kerry's speech, I wonder if everyone has forgotten that the time for contesting your case is in the court. Why not sign the ticket, then contest it in court, that's what the courts are for.
As a former police officer (I must say with limited experience as it was a brief moment in my life), I hate to make a quick call and we all make really bad judgments at times, but with one viewing of this video, this officer needs suspension and review. This is obviously a case of excessive force.
Regarding Miranda, as I recall, I didn't need to advise ones rights prior to restraint. Only after restraint, if required, and prior to further questioning.
I don't care if you are for or against the cop in this clip, but what is disappointed is coming here to C&L and seeing the same type of venom the idiots on the right spew.
People wanting cops to get assaulted, labeled as Nazis or the like. It's pretty disgusting.
The Miranda rights thing is a red herring folks. My recollection is that a Miranda warning is provided when someone is "in custody" and is being questioned by the police. If someone is in custodial arrest but not read his rights, what is said cannot be used against that person in court. Okay. So, the poor citizen was not aware of that. BFD. Most people aren't I suppose. All the more reason that we need cops to be professional and know how to deal with people without using Tasers every time they feel that their authority is being threatened.
DisappointedReader @ 64:
You should be disappointed with the police state, not the anger of people who have witnessed the abuse of power.
IN THE COLD @ 6:
yeah and i say siegh hiel to the fachist pigs~
Preacher Boob @ 27:
Too true. I used to work as a security guard when I was in college. There, and anywhere else I have had the misfortune of encountering pigs, there is one universal truth:
*Every* pig is on a power trip. They're trained to be because "You have to exert authority!"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071122.TASER22/TPStor...
Tasers used too often, too soon, investigator says
GLORIA GALLOWAY AND IAN BAILEY
November 22, 2007
it's too bad the wife didn't have a gun to protect herself
that cop shouldn't be celebrating TG
Interfering with police is a crime. If you dont sign a ticket, you get taken into custody. The "speeder" certainly didnt appear injured, just inconvenienced. In the old days he would have been physically taken to the ground and wrestled into cuffs, but he still would have been arrested. He may have been injured. Roadside is not the place to argue a ticket. Personally, I would have done a better job of communicating the situation (not an admission of guilt, I'm placing you under arrest, if you dont comply I will tase you, etc) and may have been able to use verbal persuasion to achieve compliance. Tasers have been effective in reducing arrest related injuries and death.
I deal with cops on a weekly basis and 99% of them are jerks. The other 1% I'm REALLY afraid of.
Power corrupts.
Wow, I had no idea this is standard practice in the US. I've been to lots of places, but never have I seen a police officer have someone get out with his hands up over a speeding ticket. All this 'safety first' and 'can't argue' or 'cop had to protect himself' stuff seems pretty weird to me, unless American drivers are unusually dangerous for some reason.
Absolutely goddamn right. My problem is not with having a police force. My problem is with the staffing and structuring and implementation of that force. Screening for police officers should be airtight. The letter of the law must be obeyed at all times by police officers, or else your police work carries absolutely no moral authority. No running the lights to go to Dunkin Donuts. No free meals when you get there. No using your position to get complimentary shit from anyone or to get out of anything. Anything less than this creates a situation where abuse of authority is inevitable. If you have a problem with that, then you don't deserve to be a cop - join the fire department. You can still do good for society (if that had anything to do with you becoming a cop in the first place) and you're not a law enforcement officer so you can take all the comp shit you want without creating a conflict of interest. Police are LAW ENFORCEMENT. If they don't obey those laws that they themselves are tasked with enforcing, don't expect me to treat them as anything other than just another potentially dangerous street gang. With distinctive colors.
The officer should be charged with assault (lose his job too of course). There was no call for that over not signing a ticket. Do they require people to sign tickets for running tollways? No, they mail them the ticket. Do they require it for parking citations? No, once again, they mail the ticket. Do they require it for running red lights where cameras are installed? Once again, no, they mail the ticket. There is absolutely NO reason for the officer to have escalated this situation like he did.
The officer didn't explain the reason why the guy is required to sign the ticket. If the officer had said, "sir, if you don't sign the ticket, the law requires me to take you into custody, please sign so I don't have to arrest you". . . . "your signing is not an admission of guilt, just acknowledging that you have a court date . . . unfortunately, if you don't sign, I'm required to arrest you, so sign unless you want to take a ride in my car", my guess is he would have signed had it been explained, which didn't happen.
If that fucking cop had tased me over a goddamn speeding ticket and I didn't pass out then he would have had a real reason to arrest me. I would have gotten up swinging. Fucking lowlife.
This is not surprising in the Current administration. Basically they have told America that they can do whatever they want and we have sat by watching. Notice that no one is in the streets protesting anything. When will America wake up?
And I forgot to mention - all of those carefully screened MENSA powered Dudley Do-Right cops I mentioned earlier as being THE ONLY KIND of cops we should have on the street... should be paid like corporate executives, but punished as terrorists if they ever fuck up. They're the best of the best, they should be paid that way but they should earn their pay. The reason for the extreme pay is simple: it's harder to bribe someone who's got no complaints about their finances. If you're taking illegal bribes, you might as well be greedy about it, since you're breaking the law anyway. But, if you're paid out the ass in the first place, why risk breaking the law for just a little more? Far fewer of these millionaire mensa supercops would yield to the temptation, because the risk to gain ratio sucks ass for them and they're smart enough to figure this out. Greed itself dictates maintaining the straight and narrow path in this situation, as it is the surest path to additional risk-free wealth. Cops who obey the law and enforce it evenly become respected. Even enforcement of laws regardless of who is violating them results in changes to the laws, because when the rich and powerful become inconvenienced by laws,those laws get changed.
It'll never happen. Too many people have too much to gain from a corrupt police force. But it's nice to dream.
What I am about to suggest is not at all an excuse for the appalling lack of discretion exhibited by this one officer. For one, the threat did not elevate to a point where a tazer was necessary. When the subject foolishly refused to comply there are other convincing tools available. A family member who was a former police officer faked calling an ambulance to the scene of a stop when the person