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Lawsuit filed over Uintah YouTube Taser incident
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This revolting situation was simply a power struggle between 2 people and one happened to be a cop.
If issuing the citation had been the cops objective, he could have walked away without a signature. But instead, his need to prove dominance appears to have been more important.
He abused his authority and the public trust in order to "win". We all lost on this one. Police power over citizens MUST be tightly regulated.
Washington, Jefferson, Madison and the rest wanted to protect us from situations like this. Ours is one of the few countries where a cop isn't right just because he's a cop.
Rather than fighting back, a citizens only lawful defense against police tyranny is a lawsuit. Otherwise he ends up unconscious on the side of the road, bleeding from the head with a wife and child looking on.
Call him "sue happy", "immature" or "stupid", but Massey's lawsuit is a far less violent approach than the one chosen by "Utah's finest."
I'd rather be sued than tazered any day, and I'll trust a court of law over a power-blind "officer of the peace."
-It is equally obvious that Massey was not injured in any way, other than his pride.
I hope the that the jury finds for Massey, then awards him one dollar. Thus he has the satisfaction of winning his case-less the 33 cent cut the lawyer gets-but also recieves an award commensurate to his damages-essentially none.
And I think the village idiot should have his driver's license suspended indefinitely. He has NO business operating a motor vehicle that endangers my family.
Stop Fascism in its ugly tracks today!
Our police officers should be able to fire if the person they have pulled over is threatening.
Bye the way, it is easy to see from the post who the "LAW ENFORCERS" are, take Michael for example.
Time to pass legislation outlawing tasers, we have window tint laws (law enforement is exempt) imposed upon the public because saving one life is worth the imposition. Well saving one life is worth taking tasers from the NAZI SS.
We should take Tazers away from our highway patrol officers and give them real weapons.
Don't let Big Brother do what it's doing.
This not the direction you want society to be heading.
Taser can't be used on terrorist prisoners to gain compliance because it is considered torture. Yet some of you are saying it's ok to use them on a fellow citizen over a traffic ticket. Mr Massey was NOT violent or threatening. The trooper should have been fired. Shame on the UHP.
All of the people on this forum who can't see injustice are the apathetic people that are forcing our liberty and our country down the drain. Use your heads! Don't just turn away and say that this motorist "should have just listened and he wouldn't have been tasered". If our founding fathers would have just listen to the King of England then that whole ugly revolutionary war thing wouldn't have happened. This kind of act against a regular guy out for a drive with his family shouldn't be tolerated. The bottom line here is that the force used was excessive.
To those of you using your freedom of speech to insinuate that "big brother" is robbing you of your freedoms: Most of us in this country don't equate freedom with belligerent anarchy.
UHP never addressed this part of the video in their investigation because they KNEW that if they had, they could never have returned a finding of legal and reasonable conduct on Gardner's part. Massey will win this lawsuit, because UHP will most certainly prevent the case from seeing the inside of a courtroom. They will NEVER run the risk of having a civil jury assign wrong doing to their organization, and it's also much less expensive than taking it to court. Massey paid his ticket without putting up an argument in court, and UHP will handle this lawsuit in the exact same way, and, to a certain extent, for the very same reason, because it's cheaper.
First, Massey basically said, "why waste my money either through paying the citation or taking time off from work to contest it" and "our tax dollars on me having to contest a citation that I shouldn't receive." Gardner had every opportunity to end the discussion on a civil note without putting Massey's life in danger by saying "signing the citation isn't an admission of guilt and refusing to sign will result in me placing you under arrest. Do you wish to sign" but chose not to and the outcome of his tasering Massey could have been fatal.
Second, as the article noted. Massey never made any move towards a weapon and his hands were "outside of his pocket." He didn't know he was under arrest and was only attempting to reason with the officer. Tasering also could have killed Massey but that was the humane way of doing things when simply telling Massey that "if you don't sign the citation I will arrest you" would have sufficed (note the sarcasm).
I don't see any reason for Massey's license to be suspended since he didn't do anything wrong. His actions are those of a reasonable person who hoped to avoid an unnecessary ticket or the hassle and loss of income in contesting it.
Do you beat your kids when they ask you "why do I need to go to bed daddy. Can't I stay up an extra 10 minutes?" Do you slug them in the face when they say "do I really have to mow the lawn. Couldn't I instead clean the bathroom?" Do you taser them when the say "I didn't do it daddy. I wasn't even home when it happened." Of course you do since you have a Gardner personality. Mrs. Massey was right when she said they would have signed the citation if Gardner had explained the situation.
There is no disagreement on my part except Massey wasn't given the opportunity to sign or knowingly choose to be arrested or tasered since Gardner never told him that not signing would result in him being arrested and that non-compliance would result in the use of the taser.
Furthermore, Massey's requests were reasonable. It's true that Gardner didn't have to show him the sign but simply stating so would have sufficed and Massey was correct to see if he could resolve the issue without lost of income or time contesting the citation in court.
I don't appreciate being called a liar or ignorant but let me address your comment that Massey was a threat. Nothing in his actions indicated he posed a danger. As for the situation needing to be defused. It could easily have been defused since Mrs. Massey said "if we were wrong we would have signed." Had Gardner told them that signing didn't mean they agreed would have defused the situation.
Where does Massey get off thinking that he was not resisting arrest? When he defies Officer Gardner after being ordered to turn around and place his hands behind his back, he was resisting arrest. As soon as he turned his back on the officer with his hand in his pocket, even if it was only partially, he assumed a threatening posture to the officer. Even if his hand was not in his pockets, is the officer just supposed to let him refuse arrest and drive away? Wake up people. Also while the officer may have never said "I'm going to taze you.", it was obviously implied when Massey saw it pointed at him. At that point he needs to think, "Alright, I need to comply with the officer or I'm going to be in a world of hurt." He can't honestly think that the officer is going to just sit there pointing it at him until he gets back in his car and drives away. Some people need to wake up. Geez.
I tasered you for "not following my instructions".
I tasered you for "not following my instructions".
Trooper Gardners words.
Is it sinking in yet folks? Is this accepted in America? Is this the beginning of the new world order? Should I fold my flag and put it in away?
Should I be afraid to ask questions of a law enforcement officer?
Excuse me while I drop to my knees and weep.
Rather than accepting Officer Gardner was wrong for using too much force, they have tried to push everything under the rug, hoping this incident would fade away.
It is difficult to teach our children respect of police officers, when we see incidents such as this. Jared did not deserve the brutality of Officer Gardner. The UHP seems to appear to lack the ability to punish an officer for horrible behavior. Why not admit a terrible mistake was made and try to improve the image of the UHP. This whole incident has given the UHP a huge black eye!
I stand behind Massey 100% and wish him luck in fighting "police brutality" and lying! He deserves justice. We, as citizens should stand up for our rights!
Officer Gardner knowingly lied to his fellow officer. Watch the video. Officer Gardner's superiors have also been part of the problem. Don't give Gardner a "free pass"!
This video coud and should be used to train police officers "what not to do"! Gardner's behavior was deplorable!
an audio tape , and an incident report . What is being hidden?
As was pointed out by an earlier poster above, Gardner did indeed leave Massey laying on the side of the road AFTER cuffing and arresting him. That cannot be reasonable conduct by any police officer. If a truck had passed by and killed this man, Officer Gardner would be in serious trouble. Maybe IA's investigation, unlike UHP's, included a look at that act of endangerment, and as you'd expect, didn't find Gardner's actions to be at all reasonable, or even legal. Hopefully these findings will be made public soon.
In some ways, I hope it does go to court so that there is a federal ruling on the use of tasers. In Minneapolis, the highway patrol tasered a man for being "uncooperative". The man died. It would be nice to know what the threshold is for using a weapon that can result in a death.
The "cover my derriere"-argument: "I feared for my life is ridiculous". If he perceived his life was in danger, he lacks common sence and good judgement.
There was NO threat!!
Jared Massey asked for his rights, in this case to know what the specific charge was and what he was asked to sign for.
The sob argument: "Cops put the lives on the line every day" is a bit overblown. Cops' profession is low on the list of dangerous jobs. Many workers in industry face much higher risks on a daily basis.
Cops are not entitled to anybody's respect, they earn it by being fair and reasonable. I hope the trooper and UHP will loose big and that police in general will take note in regard to how not to behave. Tasering massey while he is down was mean.
Threatening his wife and accessing his/her car appeared rather quetionable.
John Gardner should look for another profession.
This "law enforcement professional" managed to escalate a simple conversation with an opinionated motorist into into a violent confrontation in less than 7 seconds. The motorist ends up squirming in the roadway getting multiple shocks, the wife is running around screaming in terror, the cop is freaking out and yelling that everyone is going to jail. Real bang up job there.
The fact that he lied about what happened to his supervisor on the tape afterwards completely destroys his credibility. That officer is a danger to himself and those around him.
Every time a member of law enforcement to shown to abuse their authority it further erodes the confidence of those who might otherwise support their efforts.
This was a "traffic stop"...in broad daylight..the driver pulled over and didn't atttempt to flee.not a fugitive from justice/bank robbery/car chase scenario.
You have a right and obligation to ask questions about the nature of your being stopped...did not raise voice or use profanity.
Was ordered from vehicle...complied..oblivious to Police intentions...trying to state his case regarding traffic sign...didn't make any sudden moves.
This was an engineer...not a street smart thug...was shocked to find a gun pointed at him...backed away scared.
Tasers used for ending aggression...preventing attack..NOT for compliance...tasered 2nd time while prone...cruel and unusual punishment.
Circle the wagons..minimize damage...video released only when obvious UHP was going to sweep under rug...now they cannot hide the truth... so instead they stonewall.
Shame on citizens of Utah. Are going to let those at the top bury this?
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And if this happens again - Sue 'em again.