By Michael Billy.
This video, from the dashboard camera of a police vehicle, shows a man being shot with a taser gun by a police officer for arguing over a speeding ticket and not signing said ticket.
Just to be fair, the video does show that the man receiving the ticket was possibly wrong. There is a 40 MPH sign that can be clearly seen before the officer pulls him over. So why did the officer not take him to see the sign to prove he was wrong? However, the officer pulls him over immediately after he passes the sign which gave the man little time to slow down after seeing it.
There are many incidents of people dying after receiving taser shocks, so such action should only be taken as a replacement for deadly force, which was not necessary in this case. The man just wanted proof that he was speeding before he signed the ticket.
Another thing worth pointing out is that after the officer told the man to turn around, a command which he obeyed, yet he was still shot with the taser gun. Is it because the man said "What the hecks wrong with you?" And why shoot someone in the back who is apparently unarmed?
The man asked the officer why he was under arrest and the officer said, "Because, you would not sign the citation and you did not follow my instructions." The man also repeatedly requests to have his rights read to him, which the cop consistently refuses. He also asks how fast he was going, a question that the officer is unable to answer.
Later, another cop can be heard in the background asking what was going on. "Oh, he took a ride with the taser," the arresting officer replied. "How was it?", the new voice asked the shock victim. "Painful isn't it?," the arresting officer replied.
The officer then goes over to the mans wife, who is sitting in the automobile, to tell her that her husband is being arrested. "He should have signed the citation," the cop said, "and he should have turned around when I said to turn around."
Is it actually a punishable offense not to sign a citation? I've heard of people not signing citations before, but it usually ends in the ticket getting mailed to them.
At the end of the video the arresting officer can be seen giving his take of the events to the other officer. His explanation seems incongruent with the events that the video shows.
