Trooper in Utah Taser's Man For Not Signing Ticket

[WaTcHeR]

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMaMYL_shxc&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMaMYL_shxc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[WaTcHeR]

Was a Utah Highway Patrol trooper acting within policy when he Tasered a driver for refusing to sign a traffic ticket?

That is the question UHP internal investigators hope to answer after Trooper John Gardner - a 14-year UHP veteran - zapped Vernal-area resident Jared Massey with the device after he refused to sign a speeding ticket or submit to arrest about 10 a.m. on Sept. 14.

The incident placed UHP on the defensive when the cop's dashboard video of the emotional incident found its way onto Internet site YouTube.

"We've gotten quite a bit of publicity, especially since it's been on YouTube," said Trooper Cameron Dash-Cam Taser Video Roden, a UHP spokesman. "We are doing an internal investigation to see if the trooper's actions were warranted. We are trying to expedite it."

The 10-minute long dashboard camera video begins when the officer passes a sign clearly showing a speed limit of 40 mph on U.S. 40. Gardner - who remains on duty Wednesday - then proceeds to pull over Massey's Dodge SUV.

The trooper approaches the driver's side window and twice asks for Massey's driver's license and registration. The second time, the trooper is audibly frustrated, saying says, "Driver's license and registration, like now."

"How fast did you think you were going?" the officer asks.

"I was going 68," Massey could be heard as saying.

"OK, there's a sign right there that says 40 mph," the officer says, shortly before returning to his squad car.

When Gardner returns to the SUV with the traffic ticket, Massey refuses to sign the citation, insisting that Gardner show him the 40 mph sign.
"Well, you are going to sign this first," Gardner said.

After refusing, Gardner asks Massey to exit the SUV, which 2:23 minutes into the video; he does.

The pair walk to the front of the officer's car, where Gardner points his Taser at Massey ordering him to place his hands behind his back.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Massey says, while turning and beginning to walk back to the SUV. Gardner tells the driver to turn around, but he refuses and continues walking away.

The officer then aims the Taser, and 2:37 mines into the video, fires it at Massey, who can be heard screaming on the ground. Massey's screaming wife then comes outside the SUV and is ordered back inside the vehicle by Gardner.

Following the incident, Massey can he heard repeatedly asking to be read his Miranda Rights, but it remains unclear from the video, which cuts in and out, whether the officer complied with that demand.

Roden said he was unaware whether the man was given his Miranda Rights, but noted Massey could have been read them when booked into the Uintah County jail.

In the video, Gardner repeatedly states he Tasered Massey because he failed to comply with his instructions and demands. At one time he tells Massey that "on the side of the road is not the place to argue" the ticket.
"No, but on the side of the road is where I should have my rights read to me and tell me what I'm being charged with and why I'm being arrested," Massey retorts.

When a driver signs the traffic ticket, it' is not an admission of guilt but merely their legal acknowledgment that they promise to show up to court or to pay the ticket, Roden said.

In the event that a motorist refuses to sign a trooper has two options, Roden said. One is to write "refuses to sign" on the citation, which is then given to the driver. The second is to arrest the driver.

"I can't speculate to this incident what was going through officer's mind," Roden said. "The officer has to weigh a lot of different things."

Troopers that carry Tasers must also take a course on how and when to use the devices, Roden said. They are taught to use them in three circumstances:

The first is when a person is a threat to themselves, an officer or another person; second is in cases where the physical use of force would endanger the person or someone else; and third is when other means of lesser or equal force by the officer has been ineffective.

"There's a lot that goes into it," Roden said.

[WaTcHeR]

A video of a Utah trooper using a Taser to subdue a stubborn motorist has become wildly popular on YouTube, and the man who was zapped is asking peple to stop making anonymous online threats against the officer.

"I wish people would realize and think about this: Trooper Gardner is a real person, he's got a real family. Real lives are being affected," Jared Massey said earlier this week.

Trooper Jon Gardner of the Utah Highway Patrol subdued Massey with a Taser when the driver walked away and refused to sign a speeding ticket on Sept. 14.

State officials haven't said whether Gardner's use of the Taser was appropriate. They called a news conference for 6 p.m. EST Friday to announce the results of an internal investigation.

The incident was recorded on Gardner's dashboard camera. Massey filed a public-records request and posted the video on YouTube, which says it has been viewed more than 1 million times.

In response, the UHP has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails, many of them critical of the trooper. There also have been online threats against Gardner.

"I think mostly it's people blowing off steam, and that's fine," said Sgt. Jeff Nigbur, a UHP spokesman. "But you can't say you're going to endanger somebody's life."

Nigbur said there is no evidence that the trooper's life is in danger. Massey wants the online threats to stop.

"I wish people would have some common decency every once in awhile," he said. "When I posted the video it wasn't to vilify the guy, demean him or destroy him, and that's one of the things I hate about this."

Tasers use compressed nitrogen to fire two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing to deliver a 50,000-volt shock to immobilize people.



http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Ta ... 02007.html

[WaTcHeR]

Utah High Patrol is quickly joining the ranks of police at UCLA and the University of Florida for being forced into the realm of trial by YouTube.

While not as popular as the “Don’t Tase me bro” video depicting a Florida student being Tased at a John Kerry speech, the recent Utah Tasering is gaining sympathy because of the general public simple relatability to the man being shot with a Taser gun.

Many of us will not persist in shouting at a U.S. Senator after being told by the police to leave, but most of us have been pulled over for a traffic violation. We know what it feels like be angry over a ticket, plead our case to no avail and even think that the whole situation was ridiculous.

We know what its like to be know without a doubt (or at least convince ourselves) that we really weren’t doing anything wrong. This is what is so striking about the video showing Utah Highway Patrol trooper Jon Gardner Tasering Jared Massey. This time the bad guy was someone just like most of us.

When the UHP Tasing video became an instant YouTube classic, the majority of the viewers sympathized with Massey. Several were so angered by the incident they contacted UHP threatening to kill Gardner. More moderate complaints called for him to be fired. Worried about the trooper’s safety, UHP gave him at least a week’s leave to allow some of the anger over the situation to blow over.

The common thread in outrage is that, for the most part, has been from the average citizens’ perspective of rights and freedom from the abuse of authority and force. This is a valuable and necessary in a healthy debate, but if we want to understand why the trooper did what he did, we must look at the situation from his point of view.

Reducing the trooper to a trigger-happy egomaniac on a power trip does not help understand what happend. For most officers, the routine pullover is the most dangerous part of the job. Officers never know what they are dealing with when they walk up to a car’s window. Is this driver mentally stable? Does he have a gun? All of this is compounded by the fact the trooper often has to stand in or near the lane of traffic. The officer is not ready to debate in this situation – especially with a guy who has a chip on his shoulder. That’s a discussion better had with the judge.

The decisive moment in the pullover comes when Massey refuses to sign his speeding ticket and Gardner orders him out of the car and places him under arrest. Ignoring the trooper and refusing to cooperate, Massey walks away from the officer down the road toward the speed limit sign. Instead of getting into a physical altercation that could have spilled into traffic, Gardner pulled out his Taser gun, telling Massey to place his hands above his head or he would Tase him. Instead of cooperating, Massey places right hand behind his back and begins fidgeting and then says “What the heck’s wrong with you.”

At that moment, Gardner didn’t know if Gardner was going for a weapon or if he really was just fidgeting, which the video shows he was doing. He shot him with the Taser.

“The Taser was used because because Mr. Massey did some things that indicated to trooper that there may be some danger out there,” Department of Public Safety Commissioner Scott Duncan said after releasing a report calling Gardner’s actions “lawful and reasonable.”

Gardner had to make split-second decision. It may not have been the best decision, but given Massey’s combative temperament during the situation and the officer not knowing what Massey was doing behind his back, the trooper made a decision based on his own safety.

The public can argue about the officer’s professionalism after the arrest (He told another officer that Massey “took a ride with the Taser,”) whether Massey should have been pulled over and even whether the state should repeal the statute giving officers the option of arresting someone for not signing a ticket. These are all legitimate questions and should be addressed. In the case of whether the Gardner was right to use the Taser on Massey, however, they aren’t relevant. The officer perceived danger and took an action that was “lawful and reasonable.”

As the law stands, Gardner’s actions were appropriate. He may have brazen in his words, but he was still within his authority. Massey may have been right about not speeding, but he should have presented that case to the judge, not the officer.


This editorial represents the opinion of The Daily Universe editorial board. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of BYU, its administration or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/66628

[KC]

A motorist on Friday sued a Utah state trooper who Tasered him with a stun gun, claiming his civil rights were violated because the officer did not tell him first he was under arrest.

Trooper Jon Gardner "was simply out of control," contends Robert Sykes, an attorney for motorist Jared Massey. "The officer should have said, 'You're under arrest, stay where you are,'" Sykes said.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

The confrontation was widely viewed on the Internet site YouTube after Massey obtained a copy of a video taken by the cruiser's dashboard camera. The video shows Gardner drawing his stun gun after Massey — outside his vehicle to proclaim his innocence — refused to accept a speeding ticket.

"He's walking away from a man pointing a gun at him who has never told him that he's done anything wrong or is under arrest," Sykes said. "Jared's bewildered."

Gardner's superiors have said his use of the stun gun was justified, but that his attitude was a problem. They put him on administrative leave for a few weeks and said he received conflict resolution training.

Col. Lance Davenport, head of the Utah Highway Patrol, said he hadn't seen a copy of the lawsuit and that he would have to "consult our legal beagles before we start talking about it."

The Utah Highway Patrol has declined to make Gardner available for comment.

Massey contends the officer used excessive force by aiming the stun gun and by firing it twice — once when he was on the ground.

Massey paid a $107 fine last week to settle his ticket for speeding in a construction zone. He was stopped by Gardner on U.S. 40 near Vernal in eastern Utah on Sept. 14.

Gardner's superiors said Gardner felt threatened when Massey turned his back on the trooper and put a hand in his pocket while stepping back toward his vehicle. But officials also said the trooper could have explained to Massey that he risked being arrested for refusing to sign a speeding ticket.

Massey, a telecommunications engineer, didn't return a message on Friday for comment.

[WaTcHeR]

Officer Jon Gardner was upset he hadn't instilled fear and didn't feel he was being shown sufficient respect, so the punished the citizen. It's called abuse of authority. What a pussy!

[WaTcHeR]

Taser suit settles out of court for $40K

Jared Massey, the Vernal motorist who was Tasered by Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jon Gardner during a Sept. 14 traffic stop, agreed to drop his federal lawsuit against the trooper Monday in exchange for $40,000.

Massey, who pleaded guilty in January to a speeding charge arising from the stop, had filed the suit in federal court the same month and requested a jury trial to determine damages for alleged civil rights violations.

According to a press release from the Utah Attorney General’s Office, the state agreed to pay Massey $40,000, which money for attorney’s fees and medical expenses. In turn, Massey agreed to drop any current or future claims against the state, Gardner, the UHP and the state Department of Public Safety related to the incident.

“This settlement was the most efficient resolution of what would be lengthy and expensive litigation of a strongly disputed claim,” said Assistant Utah Attorney General Scott Cheney in a prepared statement.

A motion to dismiss the civil charges against Gardner was filed in federal court Monday.

UHP Sgt. Jeff Nigbur said in a telephone interview Monday evening that the agency had concluded its internal affairs investigation, which confirmed the findings from a preliminary review of the incident that Gardner’s actions were justifiable.

Nigbur said, however, that Gardner has received a letter of counsel for failing to communicate adequately with Massey during the traffic stop and for failing to follow the UHP’s protocol for removing the Taser probes from Massey’s back. Nigbur said Gardner did not to use rubber gloves to remove the probes or the clean wounds with alcohol wipes.

A letter of counsel is not considered a reprimand, Nigbur said. It will remain in Gardner’s file while he works in the UHP’s Section 5 – the section that serves Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett counties. The letter is not a permanent part of Gardner’s personnel file, though, and will not follow him if he transfers to another section.

Gardner was placed on administrative leave in September, shortly after Massey posted video of the traffic stop on YouTube. The UHP said the leave was meant to protect the trooper due to numerous anonymous death threats made against him on the Internet.

Gardner was required to undergo remedial communications training before returning to duty.

Nigbur said the UHP is now reviewing how the Section 5 office handled Massey’s verbal complaint – no formal written complaint was ever filed by Massey – to determine if there were problems with the process.

“We’re going to look at the procedure to see if anything needs to be improved,” Nigbur said.

Massey said Tuesday that the need for legal action on his part could have been avoided entirely if the Vernal UHP office had actively investigated his complaint when he made it.

“I wish that they would have taken care of it up front and none of this would have happened and no one ever would have saw a YouTube video,” he said. “That’s true and I’ve told them that.”

Massey said a portion of the money he’ll receive from the state will go to charity.

The out-of-court settlement and UHP investigation findings come on the heels of a March 3 decision by the Tooele County Attorney’s Office ruling not to charge Gardner criminally for using his Taser.

In a seven-page letter to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, the Tooele prosecutors said Gardner “did not commit a violation of a Utah criminal statute when deploying his Taser.” They said the circumstances surrounding the incident “rose to a level of non-compliance where the use of force was reasonably necessary” to arrest Massey.

Massey was pulled over on U.S. 40 west of Vernal after Gardner observed him speeding. During a confrontational traffic stop, Massey refused to sign a speeding ticket and was ordered out of his sport utility vehicle.

Massey has said that he believed Gardner was going to allow him to point out a nearby speed limit sign that the father of two had passed shortly before being stopped. Instead, Gardner ordered Massey to place his hands behind his back.

When Massey didn’t immediately comply, Gardner pulled his Taser and repeated the command three more times as Massey walked back toward his SUV before firing the weapon. Massey, immobilized by the Taser’s 50,000 volts, fell backward screaming onto the shoulder of the road.

The stop gained international attention after Massey obtained a copy of the video captured by Gardner’s dash-mounted camera and posted it on YouTube. To date, the video has been viewed more than 1.7 million times.

http://www.vernal.com/pages/full_story/

[NikM755]

Obvious Reason Why He Was Tased
1. Can i see you drivers licence and registration?
2. "Im serious im just wondering why was i pulled over?"
3. I was going 62 in a 40 - duh....jerk
4. He comes back after writing a ticket and still friendly to a jerk...
A. Please sign the ticket.
B. No, i wont sign the ticket (you just broke another law pall. your under arrest)
5. Put your hands behind your back. Your under arrest.
6. He refused and started walking back to the vehicle.

7. He was tased.

Its seems obvious. He's under arrest. He got tased for resisting arrest.

He's ok. He's going to jail. Next time don't resist arrest.

Officer good job. It looks like you followed every procedure. And used the safest solution for both of you. You didnt have to punch him...to get him to put his hands behind his back. "Your going to jail"

[WaTcHeR]

Obvious Reason Why He Was Tased
1. Can i see you drivers licence and registration?
2. "Im serious im just wondering why was i pulled over?"
3. I was going 62 in a 40 - duh....jerk
4. He comes back after writing a ticket and still friendly to a jerk...
A. Please sign the ticket.
B. No, i wont sign the ticket (you just broke another law pall. your under arrest)
5. Put your hands behind your back. Your under arrest.
6. He refused and started walking back to the vehicle.

7. He was tased.

Its seems obvious. He's under arrest. He got tased for resisting arrest.

He's ok. He's going to jail. Next time don't resist arrest.

Officer good job. It looks like you followed every procedure. And used the safest solution for both of you. You didnt have to punch him...to get him to put his hands behind his back. "Your going to jail"

The government didn't think the cop did the right thing either, or at least they couldn't prove it in court, so instead they shell out $40,000 of tax payers money in a out of court settlement. Lets hope they paid for some anger management classes for officer Gardner

Officer Jon Gardner didn't seem to be in a very good mood that day, police officers that take out their sexual frustration on the public isn't a good thing. I've dealt with rookie cops that were more professional and polite than officer Gardner.

More cops today are abusing the Taser, if you talk back to a cop or refuse to answer their questions, doesn't constitute being zapped with a Taser.

Officer Gardner needlessly escalate a situation that didn't need to be. I agree that arguing with a cop on the side of the road isn't the place to do it. On the other hand officer Gardner has a job dealing with the public as well as getting a salary from the public. Dealing with the public on a daily basis is not for all people, specially for the ones that carry a gun as part of their work. A true cop is a "peace keeper." Leaving you personal problems at home is a must, if not the cop needs to get another job, a least for the public's safety.

Maybe next time officer Jon Gardner has a bad day he should just take the day off at the taxpayers expense.

[Shuftin]

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/70F0RIXNjGA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/70F0RIXNjGA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>