Police Use Taser Gun On Charley Victim Trying To Get Home...

www.local10.com...

Caught On Tape: Cops Use Taser Gun On Man Trying To Get Home

Officers in hurricane-ravaged Fort Myers used a Taser gun on a man allegedly trying to get by a police barrier to get home, and it was all caught on tape.

A crowd formed around the scene and voices can be heard yelling, "Leave him alone," "That is so wrong," and "Come on man, he's frustrated."

The man had three children in the car with him. Many in the crowd felt for the man who hasn't seen his home in days.

Many of the police officers are in the same situation.

This is outrageous and heartbreaking! Listening to the children scream for their father makes my blood boil.

[edit on 17-8-2004 by loam]

This is repulsing. I hate to keep sounding so conspiracy oriented, but I think we are seeing the beginnings of a police state in the country. I don't see what this man was doing to break the law, and if he wasn't then the police should be fired immediately. The police are mean't to "serve and protect", not "shoot anyone who disagree's with them".

This is truely sad, I feel for the family!

If this is the only thing to come out about Charley and the authorities reactions to it, I will be surprised.

This is from the Nexus article about the effects of Hurricane Andrew:

So what actually did take place when Andrew survivors tried to get help from those collecting dead bodies in the aftermath? Well, I for one can give a first-hand account.

About the third day into the aftermath, a long line of police cars cautiously drove into my area during the late afternoon. We had not had contact with any other people from outside the devastation up until this point. There were approximately 12 to 15 police cars comprising this caravan, each marked from different locations throughout the state. Each car was driven by a man dressed in a dark police uniform and had three other plain-clothed men riding as passengers, making a total of four men in each vehicle.

Someone from our group spotted the caravan and ran to get me, knowing that I had been badly injured and urgently needed emergency medical help. My twenty-five-year-old son and one other adult male survivor helped escort me to the caravan. We hurried towards the lead car. It stopped moving when we approached the driver's side. The officer sitting behind the wheel rolled down the window. For a few moments he rudely ignored us, at one point giving us an impatient look of disgust.

This is the exact conversation and course of events that took place.

"Please, sir, I need medical help," I begged, barely able to speak.

The officer sitting behind the wheel sighed heavily. He turned his head away from me and gazed out his windshield. The other three men in the car quietly looked at me.

"Sir, please, I need to get to a hospital...," I begged frantically.

The officer took his time about reaching over to turn off the engine. With another sigh, he slowly opened the door and climbed out. He then proceeded to close the door and stood there with his legs spread astride.

"Lady, do me a favour," he answered. "Find yourself a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down your name and social security number next to the telephone number of your nearest living relative. Tuck the piece of paper in your pocket so tomorrow, when I find your body, I'll know who to contact."

"No! No!" I cried out. "You don't understand. I need to get to a hospital. I've been badly injured."

"No! You're the one who doesn't understand," he hissed back.

With that, he reached over to his holster and took out his gun. He grabbed me, forcing me up against the side of the car, and proceeded to put the barrel of the gun against my temple. I heard the hammer cock.

From the position he had pushed me into, I could see directly into the car. The man sitting in the front passenger seat looked away from me immediately, glancing down at the floor. The two passengers in the back seat turned their heads quickly, staring out the window on the opposite side of the car.

My son and the other survivor watched as the officer had pulled back the hammer on the gun. So shocked out of their minds by what they were witnessing, neither one could move!

"You don't belong here!" the officer growled, pressing the barrel into the side of my head. "Now you get the hell outta here before I blow away your ass!"

He shoved my face into the car window and then released me. Someone grabbed me from behind and whirled me around so fast, I didn't have time to think! Before I knew it, I was being thrown over a shoulder. My rescuer took off running as fast as he could! I caught a brief glimpse of my son running next to me. With one gigantic leap, he and the survivor who carried me, dove behind a pile of debris. All three of us crashed on top of each other in one tangled-up heap.

"I'll shoot your damn asses!" the officer's voice rang out.

www.nexusmagazine.com...

Firefighters fight fires. Crime fighters fight crime. What to "Peace Officers" fight.....nuff said. I wish I could say i was surprised. Nazi basterds that hid behind a blue uniform and badge.

I think the situation could have been handled better but watching the video I don't really see anything that the police did wrong. They put him on the ground and arrested him. We only see about 15 seconds of video. The man was trying to force his way through a national guard blockade. What exactly did he expect would happen? I know that he was trying to get back to his home but the area is blocked off. There has been a hurricane. Power lines are down gas lines can be broken and looters are all over the place. It is not safe to enter some of these torn up locations and his guy was going to endanger himself and his 3 kids.

Like every story there are two sides. The police are in the same situation - they have not been allowed home in days. That video hardly makes it look like a police state. Of course the man was frustrated as are the police. How many people have they caught trying to sneak through the blockade? How many hours have they been there without sleep or relief? The police and national guard troops are just trying to do their job in a hard situation and keep people from entering a dangerous area.



[edit on 17-8-2004 by zerotime]

If they had let the guy through, that would have encouraged others to go as well and then you have widespread looting as a possibility. Good thing that they didnt give out special treatment...hate when people think they deserve special treatment.

"My son and the other survivor watched as the officer had pulled back the hammer on the gun. So shocked out of their minds by what they were witnessing, neither one could move!

"You don't belong here!" the officer growled, pressing the barrel into the side of my head. "Now you get the hell outta here before I blow away your ***!"

...."I'll shoot your damn asses!" the officer's voice rang out."

in MY perfect world that pr!ck would hear the simultaneous clicking sound of a civilian militia's weapons, followed by their stern advice to get the *F* back in their little convoy and get the *F* away from THEIR neighborhood.

the reality is, the only thing a man like that respects is POWER, the power YOU have to inflict injury and death on him, and the WILLINGNESS to use it.

sadly, the pathetic, dithering nature of most americans to trust and revere "authorities" [while at the same time preferring to be helpless AGAINST them] just serves as a breeding ground for guys like mr. FEMA in that article.

let's hope i'm wrong about the next terrorist attack.

******************************************

FAWLTY & ZEROTIME...

i didn't hear about widespread looting, did you? police state apologists like YOU guys think that taser victim was too stupid and impotent to handle the danger of venturing near his home, while at the same time the nice, trustworthy venerable AUTHORITIES have some kind of special innate ability to handle this same danger. what a low opinion you have of people! and, alarmingly, the people themselves seem to share that low opinion of themselves.....

not good.

[edit on 17-8-2004 by victor was right]

This is the first American disaster that seems to be headlining the negataive aspects.
All I've seen is how many have no phone or light service.
How short tempers are, with film footage.
How many are now jobless.
How many want to leave the area.
How hard it is for even the relief people to cope.
Why all the negataive press for this devastating storm?

That police incident is deplorable, but equally deplorable is the media for bringing it into our homes. The only people who should have seen that tape are the officers' superiors.
I'm sick and tired or negative sensationalism and trial-by-nightly-news.

If anyone finds a link to the video in something other than Realplayer format, please post it. I'd like to see what happened but don't have RP on this computer -and don't want it! - Thanks.

There seems to be something very unAmerican about being stopped by the government from going back to your own home and property. Perhaps if the officer had explained that the streets are being cleared of debris and are blocked and full of trees and power lines, the father may have relented and left.

This sounds like unnecessary force used on someone attempting to get back home. If this had been a foreign nation barring an American by force from trying to get back home, we would have all been outraged I hope. I guess if America ever got hit with a disaster, foreign countries could follow this example and prevent Americans from entering a place too dangerous for their own good.

Who saying that the officers did not explain that to this guy that he could not go into the area because it was unsafe? I don't think this guy just rolled up to the checkpoint and the officers fired away. I'm sure they did tell him that the area was a disaster zone and no one was allowed to enter.

None of you seem to be getting the point. I know the people here like to hate police officers at any chance they get, but this isn't about taking away someone's freedom. This is about personal safety and protecting people from causing harm to themselves and other people. A hurricane just tore throw this area. Power lines will be down and gas lines are broken and buildings are not safe to enter. There are all kinds of serious dangers that need to be addressed before people can return safely to their homes. People can't just return to their homes because it is "their home and they have the freedom to do whatever the hell they want." If this guy is allowed to get into the danger zone with his kids and something happens to them then some other poor guys have to risk their life to go and rescue this fool.

I volunteered for the red cross for two years and I saw this same stuff many times. Home owners wanting to run back into their burning house to safe trival personal items and the fireman and police would have to stop them while everyone standing around complained that they should be able to run into the burning house it they wanted. Again, if they get stuck inside then some fireman has to go in risking his/her own life to save them.

I would think this falls into common sense, but I guess not.


Someone asked about information on Hurricane Charley Looters:

Thieves plunder in Charley's aftermath
www.sptimes.com...

Looters will be Shot
www.freerepublic.com...

Looters target US hurricane victims
www.theage.com.au...


And please, that nexusmagazine.com article you guys are quoting is hack online fiction. Check out the website. The article has no sources and lists no names that can be verified � no evidence at all is listed to support any of the claims. Nexus Magazine is online tabloid junk. The other articles on that site include: UFOs & THE DRAGON SNAKE - HIDDEN DANGERS OF SOY - THE PROBLEM OF PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY - THE ALIEN AUTOPSY FILM (IS REAL), etc. The Nexus Magazine is a site where anyone can post just about any crazy story they want to post. There doesn't seem to be any fact checking or sanity needed.


[edit on 17-8-2004 by zerotime]

You sound correct zerotime. I am not aware of what transpired having only caught the part about the police zapping someone they stopped at a roadblock. People want to look at their property and feel like they can do it safely but if one person gets in, several others will want in and then the police, fire and safety professionals have to risk their own lives to help these same folks back to safety.

I'm not sure what's going on down in Florida. I am not sure exactly how hazardous things are either. Maybe we should think about having homeowners sign waivers stating "entering at own risk, if injured or trapped, you will not receive help from the government." Of course thieves or looters would not care about getting government help in the first place.

Had I been there, most of those officers would have slugs in them right now either dead or recovering in a hospital...I may have been killed or arrested for murder but I gurantee they would have earned it

I kinda hope they declare martial law in the USA, it will give me the green light.

I know if I was in this situation, I would rather take a chance and risk my life rather than wait for government permission. Our government and society is becoming too protective in my opinion. I guess this is probably the result of living in the land of the lawyer and home of the sued.

I would abide by current restrictions though since I believe the government has given itself the ability to take everything away from us. I do believe the US is already a police state or getting close. I believe the Iraqi insurgents would have already been arrested or killed if they tried to pull off their rebellion here in the US. Our rights are slowly disappearing all in the name of our safety.

[edit on 17-8-2004 by orionthehunter]

On the other hand, if I was an out of state homeowner, I might applaud the police for blocking off the area to keep looters out until things are safe enough for everyone to return without worrying about dangling power lines or flooded roads.

[edit on 17-8-2004 by orionthehunter]

project_pisces: I don't get it. Why? You would risk your own life and the life of your three children and possibly the lives to innocent rescuers just so you can enter a hazardous zone? For what? To prove something? To get back to your leveled home?




[edit on 17-8-2004 by zerotime]

Well, we've already lost a couple idiots due to downed power lines. There is a REASON areas are cordoned off you know...

Personally though, I say let them through....it'll help thin out the gene pool....and keep the Darwin awards going...

They could've used a more less showy way of projecting him back or telling him to back off instead of temporarily immobilizing him with a taser gun.

Originally posted by project_pisces
Had I been there, most of those officers would have slugs in them right now either dead or recovering in a hospital...I may have been killed or arrested for murder but I gurantee they would have earned it

I kinda hope they declare martial law in the USA, it will give me the green light.

You are disgusting...what...they cant arrest a man in front of his children?...Do you think the officers enjoyed this?....Dont you think they told him why he cant go through?...Did you hear the crowd yelling "He's just frustrated?"....What do you think this guy said to make the crowd even know that he was unstable?....Should the police have just let him through and said f-it...everyone can pass?....What should they have done?...Genius...Id love to hear your answer since you are obviously a scholar and have vast experience in law enforcement....

"What an eye awakening day this was. I thought that I had seen it all having been involved from Viet Nam to the beginning of Desert Storm in my military and civilian law enforcement career, but today I learned about a new part of the shame game.

For those who won,t bother to read all this report, let me spell out the body counts that 6 of us (all retired military and/or law enforcement) went out to confirm today in different areas. These are confirmed bodies in the trucks, restaurant refers, or refer vans, and they are NOT 'missing persons' or animals:

Charlotte Harbor areas - 58 dead as of 5pm today; Fort Myers & the barrier islands - 21 deaths as of 3pm today; Punta Gorda - 275+ deaths and escalating each hour; Desoto County - 36 deaths, expected to increase;

These figures came from our own eyes, medical personnel, various county sheriff's deputies, and eye witnesses or residents from the worst devastated areas. CNN and the rest of the world biased and controlled media are fooling none of us who live here. The current CONFIRMED body count in our 3 county area on the west coast of Florida is near 400 as I write this.

FL Eyewitness Death Count

[edit on 18-8-2004 by Bout Time]