Posted on 08/13/2009 3:05:49 PM PDT by Callahan
In January, an Onondaga County sheriff's deputy pulled over Audra Harmon, who had two of her kids with her in her minivan. A routine traffic stop escalated quickly.
The deputy, Sean Andrews, accused her of talking on her cell phone. She said she could prove him wrong.
He said she was speeding. She denied it and got out of the van. He told her to get back in. She did, then he ordered her back out.
He yanked her out by the arm, knocked her down with two Taser shots and charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. His rationale on the disorderly conduct charge: She obstructed traffic when she got out of the van. The speeding accusation: going 50 mph in a 45-mph zone.
(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...
Wonder what’ll happen when the day comes that somebody decides to taser them back?
Cops and tazers. They just have loads of fun with those things.
Sounds like Audra’s going to have a “cha-ching” moment...
He also took her in while leaving the kids in the van for 45 minutes. She yelled at some passers by and told them to call her husband to pick them up.
Well, I must say it would be very hard to see how the cop could have been right this time.
I suspect that he was mad because she pulled in close behind him so she could get off at the exit ramp. So he faked up a speeding ticket, and things escalated from there.
He complained that when she got out of her car, she blocked traffic, yet he did a lot more to block traffic than she did. And then he took her off to jail and left two kids sitting in the car blocking traffic and in danger of being hurt or killed. That sure makes a lot of sense . . . not.
Watching the video one has to wonder what justification he had for even drawing a tazer(or any weapon)let alone using it?
Sometimes you have to shoot, sometimes you have to kick the crap out of the punk. Kicking the crap out of the punk is usually more satisfying.
True....
I could have mustered up some sympathy for Prof. Gates if he had been manhandled and tazed like this while his kids were watching and then left to wait in fear on a roadside.
HOWEVER, there are obviously some (you can tell them by their swagger, buzz cuts and superior jackbooted, thug, stare) that truly do NOT belong on ANY police force, local, state or fed and the sooner John/Jane Does like this lady take their departments to the cleaners (if I were on the jury and the facts are what they appear, I would vote for a $25M settlement--with $1m being made liable PERSONALLY by this rogue cop--to send a message) the sooner they will learn the lessons that they are there to enforce the laws, not to play god.
Sadly, more than ANY other profession, cops cover for each other; D.A.'s are won't to prosecute, and rarely if ever, do they suffer any personal repercussions for their actions.
If he handled my wife like that, I would hunt the idiot down and kick the shit of the punk.
Could not agree with you more...I watched that video. She seemed in line and reasonable....Barney Fife dun gone Buford Pusser on this one...
“The police acted ... stupidly.”
Obamagoons practicing!
Would we say the same if this was some teenage punk in a low rider? I think what happens with these cops (beyond the power trip) is that they get so used to dealing with the scum of the earth they start to treat everybody like they’re just that.
Lawsuit.
I am shocked at the problems we are having with police. with regular citizens. A kid with camo and painball guns, a mom in a minivan.
Scary
ROGUE PORK!
I’ve said to other people that the revenue incentive for traffic tickets for minor violations needs to be scaled back. Make it a maximum fine of 25 dollars for going 5 miles over the limit and bar it from counting against a person’s vehicle insurance rates.
Have to agree.
Yeah, and dollars to donuts the next person he called was the city budget director to get ready to cut a very large check!
I wonder with such clear evidence of incompetence, how this police officer was not suspended without pay immediately
Cops who promote an “US vs. THEM” attitude are poor at math,too.
This one should be put in jail with his fellow assault muggers.
Sounds like there were plenty of witnesses and a cell phone to check out who’s telling the truth. There must be a reason this cop has been taken off road duty for 8 months... if she’s in the right, I hope she wins big.
You have to shake your head when you realize that it is cold weather. The officer had an ABSOLUTE duty to make sure the children were safe before he left the scene. It was more important to the incident than a supposed speeding violation or a resisting charge.
If I were a guy and a hefty strong guy like my brother is, and a cop was being a complete idiot like this cop, I would over power the officer, handcuff him with his own handcuffs, and then call the county sheriff and tell him you are making a citizen’s arrest.
The funny thing is my brother is such a good guy and so well know in the community as being a good guy he could probably do the above and be celebrated in the community for doing so if it was a power tripping city cop who was being a jerk.
This guy should be so fired.
Wait until martial law or quarantine is declared! The LEOs are not going to be your best friends.
The solution is very clear. We need to remove the blanket indemnification of all public officials because they are acting in an official capacity. Indemnification should stand ONLY when acting properly within the law, policies, and guidelines. Step outside the rules and they should be as personally liable for civil and criminal penalties as any civilian.
I’m usually quick to defend cops, especially when there’s some doubt about the basic facts. But not this time. This guy needs a different line of work.
I’m not a fan of tasers, for just this kind of reason. It’s too easy to just reach for the taser at the slightest hint of noncompliance. All he needed to do was to have her get back in her car and wait, and he’d successfully gotten her to do that when he decided to escalate to an arrest. I don’t see any reason to have arrested her. The actual audio might be interesting to have had, but even if she was being verbally abusive (which he didn’t put in his report) it seems out of line to jump to an arrest at that point.
This is wreckless abandonment. He assumed personal responsibility for the children when he arrested her. Proper procedure requires him to call for backup, preferably a female officer, and for an official to stay with the children until a parent or protective services arrive to take custody. Leaving the children with strangers is wreckless endangerment. This officer should be charged criminally and prosecuted.
I could write so much about this story, but it would cost me my peace of mind, gained after about 20 years worth of resetting my life after being married to a cop with a “swagger”. There are lots of bad cops, and they aren’t always so obvious. There are also lots of good cops, and they aren’t always so obvious.
That said, I hope this lady get a large settlement, especially for her kids who were left in the car.
Tazer them back? Well, you go to jail, pure and simple. Now you need wonder no more.
I agree. If we want this kind of police behavior to stop, that will do it.
He also took her in while leaving the kids in the van for 45 minutes.
He should be arrested for child endangerment.
When you say "Obama's butt buddies", what do you mean? Black people?
The problem is that, by and large, these are not drawn to the job. This leaves the public with many policemen who aspired to the badge/gun/authority because they were picked on in high school, couldn't make the football team, weren't accepted by the military, or are just sadists or power-tripping lowlifes.
There are many fine policemen including members of my family, but if you read books written by ex-cops (Serpico, The Choirboys, The Thin Blue Line, etc., or just talk to my uncle...), you'll find that a vast majority are often the ones who wanted the job for the wrong reason.
And even the good ones find themselves in a job which has enough authority and power to eventually corrupt even the finest of men. Add to that the culture of "CYA" corruption that is a top-down modus operandus among the fraternity within almost every force, and pretty soon you'll read headlines like this one several times a week.
Which we do. A shame, but there we are.
;-/
The trouble with that is that the "large settlement" will come from the taxpayers, who didn't do this to her, and certainly didn't want the cop to do this to her. We've got to stop punishing the wrong people for bad behavior.
The taxpayers didn't mistreat her, the cop did. The company doesn't sexually harass women, the boss does. Make the perps pay!
Notice how fast the taser came out....she was no threat.
Just another violent sadist with a cushy government job....they are our masters now.....the frog has been boiled.
Normal, rational people do not become ‘law enforcement’ in this day & age....and if perhaps they do, they either quit or do not remain ‘normal’ long.
They have become the ‘standing army’ our countries founders warned of....
I agree with what you wrote. This penalty should be paid for by the cop. Cops have personal liability insurance policies. Excessive force (my opinion for this particular case) is a violation of the public trust. The police force should take action against the cop, and there are lots of options that are short of firing him.
A kid with camo and painball guns,
??? not familiar with this one...do you have a link?
“Kicking the crap out of the punk is usually more satisfying.”
So she was a punk? Cops who do this to women should be shot after getting the crap kicked outta them.
“Why do the police, who I really support, not get rid of the 1% who are not worthy to be in their ranks?”
Heck down in Miami one covered for his buddy on a simple traffic accident. He was on tape figuring out ways to lie.
“The officer had an ABSOLUTE duty to make sure the children were safe before he left the scene.”
Child endangerment, anyone else would already be charged.
I once had a Border Patrol attempt to pull his gun on me, he couldn’t get it out of his holster, LOL. I told him I was going to call 911 or the state police and he let me go. I was so furious that I wrote a letter to the editor and became the town hero for a few days. I thouroughly embarrassed the BP and they started having community meetings and they backed off a lot. It has been 12 years and I’ve never been stopped by the BP again, I think I made quite an impression.
This POS deserves to be taken out and horse-whipped to within an inch of his life. But we all know that he will not be fired.
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