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UHP clears trooper in Taser incident

Good Job Utah Highway Patrol.

Please tell me this is a joke. We've all seen the video. I guess you can't be too surprised, crooked cops always watch out for other crooked cops.

There you have, non-compliance equals 50,000 volts in your back!

Send a civil lawsuit the way of the cop. That'll teach him a little lesson about abusing his authority. What a joke. The officer crossed the line and used the taser completely unnecessarily.

I beleive they both over reacted to what happen that day. The trooper should have maybe acted in a different matter, but when order by an officer to stop you should obey. The way I read the law he did not need to sign the ticket but that the officer should have written it out hadded it to him if he refused to sign it and they could let the court decide if he was in violation of the law are not. I hope this will be a leason learned for all.

The officer mishandled the situation from the very beginning. The communication breakdown should be reason enough to cause the tasering to be unreasonable. How many people wouldn't flinch when they see a gun shaped object pointed at them? Boo to the UHP.

Gee, hooda thunkit???

So, if the trooper was "justified and legal in his actions," why did he have to LIE to the deputy about what happened?

I'm old enough to remember when you could expect Utah cops not to act like Sledge Hammer.

I cannot believe after seeing the complete taser video, the UHP has found "justified use of a taser". I have seen the complete video over and over, and in my opinion Officer Gardner abused hi power as a police officer. Officer Gardner never communicated to Massey, he was going to place him under arrest until after the officer had already tasered Massey twice in the back!He never warned Massey he was going to taser him. The officer could have had a different outcome if he would have just told Massey he could arrest him if he failed to sign the ticket. The taser was totally unecessary. This is abuse by a policeman! It is wrong! Why on earth did the officer tell Massey to "hop out of the car"? The officer had an ego problem, and was going to taser Massey just to prove he was in charge, and not Massey. The officer needs to work on his communication skills. Jared is a good, upstanding citizen and he was violated by the policeman!

1st point: Mr. Massey was partly at fault for his lack of cooperation by walking back to his car after being told to stop.

2nd point: However, the "officer" was completely out of line by 1) refusing to communicate in a professional manner with Massey (e.g., not telling him how fast he was going), 2) not explaining carefully that signing the ticket is required by law (or face arrest) and is NOT as admission of guilt, 3) pulling a tazer prematurely before attempting other types of "persuasion", 4) shooting a guy with a tazer that could have caused serious harm when he had given no indication that he was a threat, 5) taking a totally unprofessional approach with the screaming wife, and 6) lying about the incident to the other officer as he arrived on the scene.

So, yep I guess the UHP should conclude that the officer was well-within the line of duty!? And we wonder why substantial groups of our population view law enforcement officials as the "enemy"?

I certainly hope something is done about the lack of investigation and TERRIBLE communication skills. This officer needs some serious communication improvement. I think the taser was justified, but I would expect all officers to show some level of adequate communication.

Unbelievable! Doesn't the UHP have any sense of proportion? That office should be fired, given a minimum of 6 months of additional training, and/or given police duties that do not require handling a weapon of any kind (or requiring any communication with the public).

You gotta love our new culture of "Trial by YouTube".

Maybe the Constitution should be changed to allow online trials that only require a majority vote from YouTube surfers instead of a jury of your peers.

It's no longer, "Innocent until proven guilty" it's "Guilty if enough YouTube mavens call and complain".

What a shock! What a surprise! Who could have seen this coming? (dripping with sarcasm) The Trooper could have stopped this at any time before tasering by simply treating Massey like a human being instead of a sub-human who doesn't deserve a response to a reasonable question. We should require higher standards of self-control and patience of those who have the power of life and death over us... with little or no accountability, apparently.

Could the trooper not have said "I'm sorry, but if you don't sign the ticket I will have to arrest you. Signing is not an admission of guilt. It just certifies that you received the ticket." How hard would that have been?

I'm sorry. If the use of that taser was justified then I want the lawmakers to get involved and change policy. Tasers kill people. If a police officer uses force that could kill someone, he should have a better reason than a man walking back to his car.

The police officer could have called for backup and waited until more officers were on the scene. There were other options available.

I'd also like to see some changes to the police review board that reviewed this case.

There are multiple problems here. This "review" just uncovered more.

Mr. Massey will have Lawyers at the door lining up to make him very rich. UHP missed an opprtunity to resolve this the right way. By "clearing the officer in question" That should serve notice to all of us that "The officers never make mistakes" and will never be found wrong. Anybody with common sense can see that this officer went farther than he needed to issue a ticket.

Shameful!

If you live outside of Utah and were planning to ski attend a convention, please cancel your plans. Money talks and it is the only thing you can do to help those of us who have to live in Utah with these oppressive, abusive and dishonest police.

I agree that both the driver and officer did things wrong, but it doesn't suprise me that no action will be taken against the officer. I have yet to challenge a ticket or any officer and have the facts looked at. Yes the driver should have obeyed the officer, but the officer is the the reason it was escalted. He should have been less aggresive, and LIED when the other officer asked what happened.

No justice in Utah, just bullies.

Law of the Taser. Shoot first. Give not criminal ticket second. No communication period.

..that the UHP would protect their own. What a dissapointment. The report says they were investigating three main issues.

"Based on our review to this point, there are three main issues we are addressing," UHP Col. Lance Davenport said Friday. "First, a communication breakdown between Trooper Jon Gardner and Mr. Massey. Second, a delay in the investigative process of this incident. Third, the use of a Taser."

Excusemoi but you guys missed the point. There was no reason to order the driver out of the car. Everything that took place from that point forward needlessly escalated the situation. If the officer had handled this approporiately i.e. driver stays in the car, communicates precisely and accurately nothing else would have needed to take place. Therefore the tasing was the result of poor performance and would have never been necc let along be debated! The officer was wrong!! UHP management is more wrong!!!

You can pretty much guarantee that Massey will now sue. What a waste of time and resources. Quality people and organizations admit when their wrong and do it sooner than later. Shame on you UHP.

Governor John, you should call an audit of this out of bounds dept.