Video: Oklahoma Police Officer Uses Taser on Handcuffed Woman

ATS staff, I once again suggest the creation of a "Police Brutality" forum.

Here is another example of an officer using excessive force when it is not needed. The woman is in handcuffs and is no threat to the officer. His actions were based on anger, not out of self defense. The department claims she spat on him but it does not justify the use of a potentially lethal weapon.

An Oklahoma woman is suing her local police station after an officer attacked her with his taser while she was handcuffed in jail - and it was all caught on tape.
The shocking video shows City of McAlester police officer Sterling Taylor-Santino stunning Nakina Williams in the chest at point-blank range while she is restrained inside Pittsburgh County Jail.

He continues to use the weapon on the woman, who had been arrested for drunken behaviour, for what seems like minutes as she runs around the booking area, attempting to get away from the taser

www.dailymail.co.uk... l#ixzz2DZrPxImL

I do not condone this woman's actions if she did spit on him, and it appears that she did but as I previously mentioned she did not deserve to be shot with a taser. There are crimes that she can be charged with such as assaulting a police officer so this man had no right to take the law into his own hands and punish her as it is the judge who decides punishment, not the police.

There is no excuse for tasing a handcuffed person who is no threat to you is.

I am curious to see if anyone will come to defend this officer's actions and say they were justified because I personally believe there is no way to justify this incident.

you can see she spits at him just before he taze's her.
he shouldn't have tazed her, but she shouldn't spit at people.
hope it taught her some manners.

reply to post by Rikku


You are right, she should not have spat on him, but she was a drunken civilian. Officers of the law are held to a higher standard of behavior due to the authority they possess. With the badge comes responsibilities.

I have seen you in other police brutality threads trying to portray it as if the victim deserved their abuse and you add something like "I hope it taught them a lesson".

This mentality of yours lacks logic and compassion in my opinion.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Both people were in the wrong and both people over reacted. What happened, happened and there is nothing that can change that. I believe that the officer shouldn't be able to ticket her for anything other than the origional infraction and the lady shouldn't be able to sue because she got tazed.

That being said, I believe they should do more evaluations on who gets to become a law enforcement officer and put a policy in place that if an officer gets complained on by a citizen "x" ammount of times they should be automatically let go without pay. We are the ones who pay their salary and we should be able to not pay it if the people have shown that the officer is abusing his power of authority.

MOTF!

Spitting on a police officer is a felony, NON-LETHAL weapons will be used on PERPS who discharge bodily fluids on public safety workers...

reply to post by MessOnTheFED!


You raise some good points and most of them I agree with. The one point I do not agree with is that I believe she should be allowed to sue, as she should also be charged with assaulting the police officer. She was no danger to him while in handcuffs and as disgusting of an act it is to spit on someone, it does not deserve to be met with excessive force.

If she wasn't handcuffed and resisting restraint, then perhaps the use of a taser would be justified. Personally I am against the use of tasers because they have been proven to be lethal on many occasions so I do not think a disrespectful act such as spitting should be countered with potentially lethal force.

But yes, they both over reacted...but as I said to the other poster the officer is held to higher standards than a drunken civilian.

Originally posted by SmikeS
Spitting on a police officer is a felony, NON-LETHAL weapons will be used on PERPS who discharge bodily fluids on public safety workers...

She was in handcuffs.

Just in case you didn't notice

The use of lethal force is only justified in self defense and he was in no danger.

Originally posted by Rikku
you can see she spits at him just before he taze's her.
he shouldn't have tazed her, but she shouldn't spit at people.
hope it taught her some manners.

Your joking right? A weapon that can and has many times now caused instant death, is not a tool for teaching people anything, they are for use in the event one must defend themselves with deadly force, the pull the taser instead, of the glock.

I suppose you think pushing an unruly child down the stairs teaches them a lesson also? Or a man slapping his wife around for not doing as she was instructed?

I dont see any way of justifying this, it isnt a tool for forcing compliance, the police arent aloud to force compliance, as it is your right not to comply with any and all orders, it is also your right to be arrested and charged for not complying.

Spit on the cop?
Assaulting a police officer.

No spit?
Big payday!

I don't know, I think she got what she deserved. What if she has AIDS or some other kind of disease, that would be deadly force, so his retaliation fits crime. Maybe she'll think next time.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


I somewhat agree with you. Unfortunately for us, spit is somehow considered a weapon and a tazer is somehow considered non lethal and police officers arent robots when it comes to emotions. I think since both were in the wrong they should cancel each other out. Less taxpayer money going to a non issue (not that getting tazed isn't an issue, theres just way better things that we, as taxpayers, could spend that money on) and the city or county doesn't have to pay someone hundreds of thousands of dollars for 10 seconds of pain caused by one emotional person.

MOTF!

I think that he was justified in tazing her after she spit on him.

Think about it. How would you like to be spit on?

If she had not spit on him, she would not be tazed.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


lo siento, i did not watch the video(oracle issues), but, I thought tazer guns were non-lethal?

Cops aren't in the business of teaching lessons they are supposed to up hold the law. He failed, she was of no threat to him.

That hallway looks the same as the one where the hand cuffed guy got punched in the face, does anyone else recall that video? I will try to find the thread, will be interesting if it's the same department.

Originally posted by SmikeS
reply to post by Corruption Exposed

 

lo siento, i did not watch the video(oracle issues), but, I thought tazer guns were non-lethal?

There is no doubt that they can be lethal. This is just in the United States, here in Canada we have multiple deaths per year due to the use of tasers by police.

Tasers Are Lethal: Amnesty International

The Amnesty International report found that since June 2001, about 334 people in the United States have died after receiving shock from police Tasers. In at least 50 cases, medical examiners and coroners concluded that the deaths were directly caused or significantly contributed to by the Taser shocks.

You are absolutely right, he clearly should have taken the cuffs off of her first. I got a Taser today, and a kitten to replace the neighbor's cat that died in a totally unconnected incident.

reply to post by SmikeS


Thanks for explaining why more LEO's are being killed every year.

reply to post by Wildbob77


Would he have been justified in say braking her jaw? An arm? A leg? Maybe some ribs? No? Then why is justified in electrocuting her?

wow the officer even held the taser 'gangster style' at a sideways angle. what a fool. fire him.

That cop is such a badass. Just look at the way he holds his taser, like a gangster.
Yeah she spit at him so I guess he can get off on that technicality, but come on. Anyone can tell that was an over-reaction. He should've just slammed her on the ground, put a spit mask on her, and run up the charges.