Police use Taser on blind man after stick mistaken for sword

**Motorwaycop** · 10-22-12, 05:25 PM

What you have all said is covered in the taser training. The moment and decision to go to taser etc.
It's the ability of the officer to retain and interpret sensibly the training given.

I have noticed more junior officers were always quicker to go to baton and incapacitant spray than us old boys. But they had nevr known a time when they didn't have those tools. The old men tended to go hands on or "speak" to an offender first.

It all boils down to the fact that this particular officer would, on the face of it, appear to be a bit of a knob!

**Jks9199** · 10-22-12, 05:31 PM

Again -- I'll say that the Taser is a tool. It should be used when it appears reasonable that it will be effective in obtaining control of the subject with minimum risk of injury or harm to, first, the cops, and second, the subject. That may mean use it before and in lieu of simply going hands on; it may mean trying something else first, and changing gears when that doesn't work. There are RARE circumstances where it's appropriate and effective against a lethal threat -- though there should always be lethal backup in place in a case like that. One that comes to mind was a incident with a barricaded subject on a front porch. The heavily armed group in front was able to keep his attention so focused that someone with a Taser was able to slip up and, from the cover of a tree, light the guy up before he could shoot anyone. (Kind of comparable to the sniper who shot the gun out of a guy's hand; rare, fortunate combination of ideal circumstances made it possible)