From Crime & Federalism :
Sandra Brown v. Rob Zarrett, etc. U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 08-1640 U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota – Minneapolis [PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Riley and Shepherd, Circuit Judges]Let this be spread around the blawgosphere far and wide. It is henceforth to be known that the law is sufficiently clear to hold a police officer liable under 1983 for improper tasing.
Civil case – civil rights. Given the circumstances surrounding plaintiff’s Tasering and arrest, the district court did not err in concluding that defendant Zarrett’s use of force was not objectively reasonable as a matter of law;
the law was sufficiently clear to inform a reasonable police officer that it was unlawful to Taser a nonviolent, suspected misdemeanant who was not fleeing or resisting arrest, who posed little to no threat to anyone’s safety and whose only noncompliance with officer commands was to disobey orders to end her phone call to a 911 operator;
as a result, the district court did not err in denying the defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity; accepting plaintiff’s version of events, a jury could find defendant is not entitled to official immunity because he willfully violated plaintiff’s right to be free from excessive force.
Maybe there is hope? It may have been too darn easy to just tase the noncompliant before, but at risk of liability? This could shake up more than a few donut shops.
And all you civil rights lawyers, it’s time to welcome the victims of a darn good tasering. Please make them feel at home.
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This is good news maybe the Tazer Jockeys will think twice, it is becoming out of control and something needs to be done.
I have seen video of police using a taser with uncooperative people. People that may refuse to exit their vehicle or stand still etc. And the taser was used as punishment instead of physically extracting a person.
“more than half of the Taser incidents escalated from relatively common police calls, such as traffic stops, disturbance and nuisance complaints, and reports of suspicious people.”
Originally this was intended as a non-lethal way to incapacitate a violent person without the use of deadly force (ie. a gun). But I think it is so easy that it’s become a replacement for more constructive ways of policing.
You must be new around here.