utahtaser.jpgThat’s how UHP Officer John Gardner jokingly described his Tasering of Jared Massey to another police officer minutes after the incident on September 14th 2007. Officer Gardner let Jared pass him along a Vernal highway before immediately pulling him over and accusing him of speeding (how you manage to accurately gauge someone’s speed from behind you without a radar detector is just one of the questions I have…)

I’m getting ahead of myself. Have you seen the video? If not, scroll down and click to watch the dashboard cam video. Jared filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the video before posting it on YouTube. Nearly a million people have seen it, and about ten thousand have left comments on the posting. I’ve watched the video several times.

Obviously I recognize a police force is necessary to preserve order in a modern society. That said, I am incensed at this officer’s actions. In general, the problem with any police force is oversight (”who polices the police”) and I believe our police has devolved into a force highly peopled with egotistical God-complexed bullies coked to the gills with Cops episodes, ready to pull the trigger and beat down citizens whenever possible. Not all officers are like that, but my experience has shown to me that a growing percentage have this attitude.

Let’s talk Tasers. A Taser is weapon that shoots metal barbs into your skin before sending a stun-gun level of electricity though the attached wires. It collapses the targeted individual with blinding pain. Though it’s billed as “non-lethal” there have been at least three incidents in the national news in the last week alone where people have died from a police Tasering. In short, it’s not to be done lightly.

Let’s talk policy. The Utah Highway Patrol Taser Policy, that is, when it’s use is appropriate, is as follows:

  1. 1. When a person is a threat to himself, an officer or another person
  2. 2. In cases where the physical use of force would endanger the person or someone else
  3. 3. When other means of lesser or equal force by the officer have been ineffective and a threat still exists

Let’s also recap the situation: Jared is a physically un-intimidating individual who was pulled over for an alleged traffic violation. His record was checked by the officer and ostensibly came up clean. Understandably, Jared is not pleased with the officer’s conduct and doesn’t comply with the officer’s orders. The officer tells him to get out of the car, which Jared believes is to look at the speed limit sign. The officer immediately escalates the situation by un-holstering his Taser and yelling at Jared. Confused, Jared turns his back and begins to walk towards his car whereupon he is Tased. Disabled, Jared falls onto the highway into a lane of traffic. The Taser barbs are ripped out and Jared is cuffed, but lies in the road for a minute or two.

I have several problems with the conduct of Officer John Gardner, who I view as nothing more than a mentally impaired,trigger-happy tyrant. Specifically,

  1. 1. Officer Gardner needlessly escalated the situation and did nothing verbally explain his viewpoint to Jared.
  2. 2. Gardner expected Jared to obey all his instructions. Court cases have shown that you do not have to obey everything a police office tells you to do. Police do not have unlimited power to boss citizens around. A recent case of an officer arresting a reporter for not complying with his “lawful order” to get off a sidewalk highlights this. The reporter was vindicated when the court agreed that the officer had no power to order him around at will when no law was being broken. Said Gardner in the video, “You know what, you should have followed my instructions.” That is simply not true.
  3. 3. Not only was Tasering unwarranted and an excessive use of force (per the policy above), but it was done in such a manner that Jared fell into a lane of traffic, severely risking his life.
  4. 4. Did I mention that Jared was Tased over an argument concerning a TRAFFIC VIOLATION?!?
  5. 5. Jared was Tasered before being put under arrest. That’s outrageous and criminal. As well, Officer Gardner didn’t tell Jared what specifically what he had done wrong: The trooper did not state the offense he was citing, e.g. fifty miles per hour in a forty mph zone.( “You’re kinda going fast” doesn’t cut it.)
  6. 6. Fundamentally, I am irritated that the cop pulled Jared over from behind without using a radar detector. This highlights a pandemic problem with small-town cops. They ticket out-of-town travelers to bring money into their local coffers. As well, many Utah police offices have quotas (”recommended ticket issuances”) each officer is expected to fill. That is a misaligned incentive strategy which can only cause distrust and harm.

I am very annoyed. On Monday I am going to call the UHP office at (801) 965-4518 and the Governor’s office at (801) 538-1000 and yell at someone. Officers are supposed to be public servants. We pay them to protect the citizenry and to enforce the law. This officer did none of these. I am going to request that the officer be permanently released from duty and charged with assault and that all Tasers be removed from officers pending further review of the Taser policy.

What remains is the extremely sad truth is that were it not for the press caused by the video, I’m confident that the UHP would have done nothing in this case. Like the Mafia, or any other corrupt institution of power, the UHP protects its own.