Video Surfaces Of BART Officer Repeatedly Using Stun Gun On Passenger « CBS San Francisco
SAN BRUNO (KPIX 5) – Video has been obtained by KPIX 5 showing a BART police officer who repeatedly used a stun gun to subdue a passenger in front of other riders.
A woman who witnessed the incident, who did not want to go on camera, told KPIX 5 the man was harmless and that the officer used the stun gun for no reason.
OK, how do you define "harmless"? Just curious. From the video (granted, he was from the officer's rear and the angle may make the suspect seem larger) it appears the suspect was larger than the cop. But there is no question the suspect was aggressive, jumping around and putting his fist up, refusing to leave after being ordered to depart.
The video, which was taken on the evening of January 29th, begins with the BART officer giving the man a stern warning on a train at the San Bruno station.
“Sir, get off the train. Get off the train, Sir!” the officer said.
KPIX 5 has learned that someone on the train called BART Police to say the man was harassing riders. An officer arrived and tried to convince the man to come talk to him on the platform. He did not comply.
Oh, this seems like "reasonable suspicion" to detain the man. And having the man come off the train seems reasonable to me. Now look at the suspect, he gets up aggressively, jumps around, has his fists up. Looks aggressive to me. Now does the cop have to get his ass kicked before he can use a TASER? The answer is no.
While witnesses were heard on the video saying the man had done nothing wrong and not bothering anyone, the officer used the stun gun on the passenger.
As riders look on, the video shows the man being dragged to the aisle. “Don’t move or I’ll tase you again,” the officer was heard saying.
But that was not the end. Moments later, the officer said to the man, “Get on your stomach or I’ll tase you again.”
Sounds like the officer was warning the suspect to stay down and trying to get the situation under control. The suspect was stunned more than once after he was warned. Maybe if he had complied with the officers instructions he wouldn't have been TASED again.
Minutes pass and more officers arrive. As the man was being held down and handcuffed, the video shows the same officer using the stun gun on the passenger for five seconds...
Again, the video shows an angle of what happened, but this has to be fully evaluated. Also, the article mentioned (at the end) that the suspect was arrested for Public Intoxication, Resisting Arrest and he was a parole violator. What a shock, if you pardon the pun.
Most people will talk to you if you approach them in a civil manner. If I had done nothing wrong and someone started screaming at me like this man was doing, I would not feel compelled to go anywhere and do anything. I've seen way too many officers provoke someone or escalate a situation with this "obey me" or WE will beat you mentality. You comment/joke about "what a shock" is an indication you hardly take this serious enough to comment objectively about it in the first place. Disgraceful.
ReplyDeleteAnon, first, I'm not objective and I've never said I was. I'm a thinking man, I have my values, viewpoints and objectives. But I don't lie and say I'm objective, judge what I say accordingly.
DeleteTwo, the point of this post is you cannot judge this fully from what is shown. Remember Rodney King. Every showing of the video on the "Objective media" showed again and again King on the ground getting hit in the head. I'd swear it was looped. What was not looped was King getting up, charging the officers after leading them on a chase at speeds over 90 MPH and getting TAZED twice. Or a more modern example, the Zimmerman trial. Every picture showed Martin as a sweet 12 year old junior high football player, not the tatted up punk Zimmerman faced on that night. Point here is you have to judge the incident fully, not only by what is show on one video and put out in a newspaper.
Also, I've see "way too may" situations escalate when the suspect, knowing he will be identified, goes ballistic because they know they have a warrant or other issue. Looked that way to me with his screaming. But a felon was arrested and his (hopefully) off the street. And for that I’m grateful.