I wonder if Officer Friendly watched the tape in order to get his report correct. He lied thru this teeth when talking with the second officer that appeared.
Tasers were designed and sold on the premise that they would only be used in cases where otherwise a gun would be employed to take down a hostile perp, not a motorist arguing over a speeding ticket. Now, we're seeing that LEOs are getting more and more trigger happy with them, resulting in a recent uptick in taser-related deaths. Just last week, a Frederick County, Maryland deputy tasered a guy twice, killing him.
The suspect was clearly clocked before entering the 40mph limit zone.
Also a good example of how a shaved head power hungry dork shouldn’t act when his job is representing the tax payer.
Don’t tase me, bro!
Just another petty tyrant with a gun on a power trip. What’s new?
I’m always curious as to how many serial killers are murdering little girls and burying them along deserted highways while the cops ply their revenue enhancement trade. How much cocaine passed through this cop’s patrol sector? How many drug sales on school grounds? How many burglaries? Priorities are waaaay off. After all, the pols need the money to provide fat lazy govt jobs for their relatives.
$$$$$ wound
“”I can’t speculate to this incident what was going through officer’s mind,” Roden said. “The officer has to weigh a lot of different things.””
Yeah they do, Feed the Donuts or the Ego first.
Considering the road and traffic conditions visible in the video, the only conceivable justification for a 40mph daytime stop is revenue enhancement for the 400 person ----holes that that road passes through.
I don't see traffic safety, I see armed highway robbery.
This was a cowardly act. The terrorist prisoners in Iraq get better treatment than this!
This poorly trained, short tempered, quick to taser, rude attitude officer. Or should I have said todays average cop. This cop could have handled the situation a lot better if he had simply been a little nicer in the first place. The driver just wanted a little explanation and after being tasered he yelled out that he had never had a ticket. The thing that bothers me most in the video has been missed by every post so far. That is the fact that the cop showed no concern at all for the speeders safety he tasered him when he was standing right on the edge of the traffic lane with cars speeding by. He could have easily caused the speeder to get hit by traffic especially after being hit by the taser. I wonder how his report would have explained that.
I have been pulled over only twice in my life (so far), once for speeding (I was given a warning by a very nice MD State Trooper) and once for running a red light by a Baltimore County cop.
Both incidents happened nearly 30 years ago when I was nineteen or twenty, when I was young, reckless and stupid as opposed to my current state; middle aged, cautious and only occasionally stupid.
The night I ran the red light was Halloween and my best friend and I were all dressed up and embarking on a night of barhopping to find the best costume party and the cutest guys.
We had already been to one bar and while I do confess to having a drink or two, I wasn’t really “drunk”. But my friend and I were talking up a storm and trying to decide where we were going next, who we wanted to meet and who we didn’t and I wasn’t really paying attention to my driving. We were heading toward Towson and on a busy stretch of up hill road where there were several traffic lights very close to one another. I think I was talking and looking ahead to the next traffic light and didn’t pay attention enough to the red light right in front of me and sailed right through it.
I realized what I had done almost simultaneously to seeing the blue flashing lights in my rear view so I immediately pulled over.
I remembered what my dad had told me about being pulled over; “keep your hands on the steering wheel in plain site and wait for the cop to ask you for your driver’s license and registration. Be polite and follow his instructions.”
While I was waiting for the cop, my friend gave me gum to chew (hopefully to hid the smell of beer on my breath) and she gave me all sorts of potential excuses to give him.
But I knew I had run the red light and I knew the cop saw me so I didn’t think it was any use trying to talk my way out of it.
When he came up to the car, he showed me his badge, gave me his name and politely asked me if I knew why I was pulled over.
I answered, “Yes Sir, I ran through the red light”.
He smiled and said “OK” and then the cop went back to his car and I was terrified what might happen next.
He came back to my car and handed me a ticket that I signed it without question. I even said something like, “Thank you officer, have a good evening”.
I was so upset, that I didn’t even look at the ticket until the next morning. I wasn’t so upset at getting a ticket and while I was grateful that that I didn’t get a DUI, I was still living at home and on my father’s insurance and running a red light meant points on my license and I greatly feared my father’s reaction if his insurance premium went up.
When I finally looked at the ticket, the officer gave me a ticket for “failure to signal”. It was only a $20 fine with no points.
I don’t know why the cop gave me a break. It could have been my Raggedy Ann costume – kind of sexy and I did bat my eye lashes at him a bit. It could have also been that I had no previous moving violations and it could have been that I was honest about what I had done and didn’t argue with him.
But it’s important to note that the cop was polite to me so I was polite to him.
If the cop had been arrogant and angry with me, the outcome could have been very different.
Technically, he might be able to say he as “following procedure”... but, this incident NEVER needed to happen the way it did. First of all... there’s a money-grabbing speed trap. EVERYONE knows that when they see it, and can relate.
Second... this is a fine example of a PUNK with a badge on a serious power trip. Most people have encountered that a time or two as well.
As the final blow for this schmuck, the whole country has been getting a steady diet of “tasers kill” stories.. So, we ALL know, they can be dangerous.
In NO WAY, was this smart-ass driver ever a serious threat to this cop. All that was needed, was some explanation of what the signature was for. This cop was just lazy, angry and/or nervous. All are bad in a cop.
I bet the UHP is on the Defensive... they’d better get ready for a LOT more scrutiny. This is going to make people angry. This guy might be a good person, and normally a nice guy... but he doesn't need to be a Highway Patrolman.
It’s sad that some, not all, police score quite high on the fascist scale. The power attracts them to the position.
The cop should be found guilty of assault and battery, and jailed.
Badge returned to the department.
Even so the officer personal dislike for the driver is no reason to zap him!
The officer let his anger get in the way of him doing his business and the wife had every right to see what the officer was doing to her husband!
The officer also had no right to speak to Pregnant wife like he did she did nothing wrong, it is the officer who upset the wife.
I did not like the use of the words “would you like to take possession of the car now!”
I think civil servants are given too much authority in certain situations.
He was not dealing with a robber or someone wanted or on drugs etc.
You're armed.
At what point do you put a stop to the torture of your wife?
Do you think the cop should have just written "refuses to sign" on the ticket and moved along or otherwise defused the situation as he could have or was he reasonable in aggressively asserting his authority?