This Week in the Mercury

Tour Guide to Shakespeare

Theater

Tour Guide to Shakespeare

Portland Center Stage's Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline.


Up & Coming

Music

Up & Coming

Highlights in Music the Week of February 9-15



Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Rev. Phil, Take Note...

Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 3:50 PM

Next time you're facing the threat of a Tasering by cops, sing back:

Even though it didn't happen in Portland, the video is pretty disturbing, because the guy doesn't appear to present any threat to the officers. Instead, they Taser him for compliance. Bad. It's against Portland policy, too.

 

Comments (9) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
ORS 133.235:
"[...](3) the officer shall inform the person to be arrested of the officer's authority and reason for the arrest, an, if the arrest is under a warrant, shall show the warrant, unless the officer encountes physical resistance, flight or other factors rendering this procedure impracticable, in which case the officer shall inform the arrested person and show the warrant, if any, as soon as practicable."

Posted by Number Six on June 2, 2009 at 3:57 PM · Report
2
Tazers are supposed to be used in lieu of firing a gun. Would they have shot the man who was singing at their feet? Hopefully not. It wasn't a life or death situation.

Posted by penthesilea on June 2, 2009 at 6:49 PM · Report
3
The tasering didn't even fucking work. It went from the guy being on the ground and captive to him running away.

And also, if I'm not mistaken... The police can take you into custody for up to 24 hours without arresting you. So they don't need to actually present the warrant until they actually "arrest" you at the station where the paperwork is.
Posted by Graham on June 2, 2009 at 8:25 PM · Report
4
Matt,

You are so ill-informed. Please do us all a favor go back to England.
Posted by DeportMattDavis on June 2, 2009 at 9:23 PM · Report
5
When I see cops like this, abusing their power as a result of their own weakness, I feel sincere sorrow for all the honest cops out there who are putting themselves in harms way and getting a bad rap/ facing greater danger because of douchebag cops like these guys.

@DeportMattDavis - You're still here? You should get a hobby.
Posted by Will Radik on June 3, 2009 at 4:27 AM · Report
6
someone remix that!
Posted by revphil on June 3, 2009 at 11:57 AM · Report
7
@Will I don't really see this particular video being an example of "cops... abusing their power as a result of their own weakness".

The officers were acting in a very rational calm manner. The dude on the ground was acting like a crazy person and refusing to comply with a lawful request from a police officer.

What do you think the officers should have done instead? The escalation from where they were at in this particular case was to next go to compliance holds and physical damage to the man on the ground. So really, it was either a beating or a tasering for this guy. Which one should it have been?
Posted by Graham on June 3, 2009 at 12:27 PM · Report
8
Graham: No, the dude on the ground was acting like someone that was being arrested without cause. The police wouldn't tell him why he was being arrested. The only logical explanation for that is that there wasn't a reason, and therefor it was fairly clear that his only hope of, say, not dieing in police custody is to attract the attention of passersby, which he did successfully, (you can hear them in the video,) and then hoping the police give up once they realize that there are witnesses.
Posted by Matthew D on June 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM · Report
9
Matthew, the "passer by" in the video is his wife. And what gives you the impression that he was being arrested without cause. The police notified him that there was a warrant for his arrest. That's when he started screaming about the evil queen and flailing about He was actively resisting arrest.

What should the police officers have done? Let him go because he says that the warrant isn't valid? That's some brilliant fucking police work.

No, they arrest him and take him to the police station where things can get sorted out better than in a gas station parking lot.
Posted by Graham on June 3, 2009 at 6:51 PM · Report

Add a comment

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use