Thank you
ubertuber.
willravel: I'm generally on your side here - I think the taser was excessive - but you're not helping the argument by claiming he was tased "repeatedly (you are the only person, across discussions on 4 sites that I've had, and any report that I've read, that has made that claim).
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ubertuber
I think there is general, although not universal, agreement that the end game of the scenario is over the line. The discussion points, to me, lie in exactly at what point the situation went over the line, why it did so, and how it could have been avoided.
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I think it went over the line the minute the officers grabbed him by the arm and started trying to drag him out of there. Not because they didn't have the right to, but because it wasn't clearly necessary. Police officers need to be careful not to be the
cause of escalation, and here they were not (careful; they were the cause). If you watch the video, you'll notice he gets upset over having his mic cut (though not, in any way, upset enough to be considered a threat to anyone). He steps away, expresses his anger for a bit, and he looks like he's
about to settle down and just let Kerry answer the questions he asked. He doesn't get a chance to settle down, though, because the officers almost immediately step in at that point. They didn't bother waiting to see if cutting the guy's mic would deal with the situation well enough, and that is something they should have done.