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It's not a free speech issue, it's inappropriate use of force
Thu, 20/09/2007 - 19:38 — zhasper
So I've figured out what wasn't quite right in that last sentence. What bothers me about the tazing has nothing to do with free speech. As they say, "Freedom of the press does not mean freedom of *my* press". If he'd co-operated, he'd have been removed from that venue - but that's not the same as preventing free speech.
What bothers me is that, at the time he was apparently tased, he was on the ground, with two (three?) police officers on top of him.
If he was violent, threatening police, attempting to escape - I can understand why a taser would be considered in those circumstances. Given the circumstances under which he was tased though, I don't think it was justified.
Hrm. It's scary how easy it is to find videos of inappropriate taserings, even when you're barely looking.
"Stand up or you'll get tased again". *sigh*
So what's my point? None, really, just clarifying what disturbed me. It's nothing to do with free speech, and everything to do with abuse of power by poorly trained and/or power-hungry thugs in uniform.
Not that I'm saying that all police are thugs in uniforms, just the ones who tase people who aren't a threat to them.
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Re: It's not a free speech issue, it's inappropriate use of for
You might have seen that I wrote a letter to the NSW police minister after I saw that 2nd video a few months ago. I hadn't seen the 1st video you posted (with the drunk woman in custody) before, but it's even worse.
I'm happy with the idea of using Tasers in situations where people are violent, and as a genuine alternative to guns. The problem is that it seems like they're not used like that in many cases, and instead of *replacing* lethal force in most cases, they're instead just adding a new category of force to the armoury. A really convenient, really easy, really *sexy* new category of force (have you seen the Taser marketing videos!?).
Another thing that bothers me greatly is this
directed energy weapon stuff. It's similar to the Taser in that it can cause debilitating but non-lethal (or should that be "less-lethal"?) pain, but this one works without electrodes attached to wires, and I believe it could be directed at a whole group of people at once.
I'm interested in why you don't think the University of Florida issue was a free speech issue. The guy was forcibly taken away while trying to speak - I think that makes it a free speech issue. Yes, he was yelling and worked up, but I don't think that really warranted the response.
On your point regarding inappropriate use of force, it's worth noting that in all three cases - the guy in the UCLA Library (your first video), the drunken woman in Sheffield, and now this guy in Florida - all of them were already handcuffed when they got 'tased'.
It's basically torture.
Re: It's not a free speech issue, it's inappropriate use of for
I don't think your comment about handcuffs is accurate. The police comments after the most recent incident (and, I think, the audible comments in the video) suggest that they were trying to handcuff him at the time, but he hadn't been cuffed yet. I'm not sure about the UCLA incident, but after he's tased the first time, they're yelling at him to "stand up or we'll tase you again" - it doesn't sound like he's already cuffed.
As for why it's not a free speech issue - I see removing him from the room as being akin to me deleting comments I don't approve of from my blog[1]. I'm not denying people their right to express their opinion, I'm just refusing to pay for the bandwidth/hosting to deliver their message for them. Similarly, no-one seems to have been saying that the twerp didn't have a right to ask the questions he was asking (even if they were only in jest and designed to annoy/amuse) - just that he didn't have the right to use someone else's microphone during a 'private' meeting on 'private' property to broadcast them.
I agree with what you said about not objecting to police having tasers: eg, if the Vic police had been equipped with tasers a couple of decades ago, there'd be a dozen or so fewer dead crazy people. They're a great alternative to guns in some cases. I just don't like the way they're being abused in cases like these.
Unfortunately, neither of the two most egregious misuses of tasers that I'm aware of was caught on tape, but both are fairly well documented.
This site has a lot more detail about police misuse of tasers/
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