When Not to Taser a Frantic and Handcuffed Suspect

The Florida Highway Patrol officer who put Danielle Maudsley in a coma was only steps behind her as she fled the FHP station, her hands cuffed in front of her.

Officer Daniel Cole was close enough, and—at 267 pounds—big enough, that had he simply heaved himself in her general direction, he likely could have tackled Maudsley. Or, if he wanted to keep his uniform clean, he could've broke into a run and grabbed her.

Instead, he Tasered her in the back, sending Maudsley into a fall that ended with her head cracking against the asphalt. 

According to the Tampa Bay Times, "doctors have told Maudsley's family she likely will never wake up." According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson, "the trooper's actions were legal and within the scope of his duties."

The video of the incident is below. 

Comments

[Old Salt]

Come on out piggie apologies; let's see how the assholes in blue justify this one!

[655321]

Tulpa has to finish fapping to the video first.

[Old Salt]

Could've done without the mental picture...

[Leftist Behavior]

Go read the comments to the linked article. The first one by Retired99 reads:

It appears to me that Danielle Maudsley has consistently made the WRONG choices about how to lead her life and it finally caught up to her. Time to assume her own personal responsibility.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

"It appears to me that Danielle Maudsley has consistently made the WRONG choices about how to lead her life and it finally caught up to her."

I'm not sure that this is inconsistent with holding the cop responsible for his wrong choices.

[melman]

uh, cause you're an idiot if you try to escape from a police station while handcuffed?

but you're right, he should have tackled her, because of course being slammed to the concrete by tackling is much gentler than tasing her

[Hugh Akston]

I don't see what the problem is here, Riggs. Procedures were followed.

[Leftist Behavior]

Goddammit. Beaten to the punch.

[TELLMOFF]

Thanks for your viewpoint, Hitler.

[Karl Hungus]

Thanks for your viewpoint, Hitler.

You're new here, aren't you?

[Hugh Akston]

It certainly didn't take him long to figure out mein secret identity.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Wait - ist Akston eine Deutsche name?

Hey, wait a minute - Hugh Akston's initials are "H.A." Adolph Hitler's initials are "A.H."

Coincidence? I think not!

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I bet Hugh's girlfriend's name is Braun Eva.

[Ice Nine]

Did we really need to Wingod this thread?

[OWS VPS]

I weep for America that someone like Rick Santorum could be seriously considered as a Presidential candidate by a major political party demonstrates that we are not the most advanced nation.

But it is more than that.

As attacks continue on teachers and on public institutions, as we continue in the direction of privatizing the commons, as we still cannot provide full medical coverage for all here regardless of their income, wealth, or immigration status, I look at other countries and I am ashamed.

I see an Amendment intended to separate Church and State being abused to impose one religious viewpoint upon the rest of us - it does not help that there are 6 Catholics, several from very Conservative strands of Catholicism, on the Supreme Court.

I see a nation unwilling to hold to account people who have done great wrong
- in the Bush administration
- in the financial sector that almost crashed the world's economy
- in the military when war crimes are committed

I see a politics that
- sees nothing wrong in engaging in political destruction
- justifies weak positions on the grounds they are not as bad as the other side
- that ignores the needs of the many who do not have access to the levers of power

I see an unwillingness by too many to acknowledge that what this nation is doing is destroying the world
- the environment in the name of short-term profits
- the economy in the name of profits for the few at the expense of the money
- economic justice in other nations in the name of profits for the few and the multinationals
- international understanding in our willingness to pit one overseas group against another

Perhaps it is that for the last 36 hours I have been suffering from a head cold that I am so "down" about what I see happening

I want political leaders who will speak truth to the American people

I want moral leaders who will speak truth to power

I want the American people to rise up and reclaim the government that should be ours as We the People of the United States.

Instead I see this nation becoming further divided: by race, gender, religion, economics, politics, sexual orientation

I hear politicians unwilling to stand up for what is right

I will continue to try to make a difference.

But I don't feel as if anything I do can make a difference.

and so

I weep for America.

[Killazontherun]

My eyes are dry after the last two fools we elected.

[Barack Obama]

Instead I see this nation becoming further divided: by race, gender, religion, economics, politics, sexual orientation

You're welcome.

[John Boehner]

I weep for America.

Me too, brother.

[WTF]

I weep for America that someone like Rick Santorum could be seriously considered as a Presidential candidate by a major political party demonstrates that we are not the most advanced nation.

Yet you voted for Obama?

[Ron Paul]

"I want political leaders who will speak truth to the American people"

Thank you for your vote.

[DesigNate]

Hercules, is that you?

[*]

Weren't tasers originally supposed to be a "less lethal" alternative to firearms?

As in, a taser could be used in cases where shooting someone with a gun would be justified, but due to the specific circumstances, the cop had the ability to use the taser instead?

[UnpredictableResultsMayOccur]

Everyone knew they were going to be a more joyous form of truncheon. The funny part is the police thought they'd be "safer" - in that the receiver wouldn't have cuts and bruises that gave the brutality away.

[Hugh Akston]

We should just issue every cop a bag of oranges. That way they can get their brutality kicks without leaving a bruise.

[Bill]

It was less lethal. She's still alive. If he had shot her in the head at point blank range instead of her head just hitting the asphalt, she'd be dead.

Another victory for tasers.

[sarcasmic]

And I'm quite sure that would have been ruled justified as well.

[Ted S.]

Jon-Erik Hexum survived five days.

[robc]

Weren't tasers originally supposed to be a "less lethal" alternative to firearms?

That was my understanding. I dont think tasers should be used in any situation a firearm wouldnt be justified. They should be used *instead*, when the situation allows for a taser instead of a shooting.

[N/A]

relevant
http://www.ted.com/talks/steph.....apons.html

[Juice]

I don't get it. She's conscious in the video. How did she end up in a coma?

[SugarFree]

Probably cranial swelling, which can take a bit to set in.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Not uncommon. After a head impact like that, she might have lost consciousness momentarily, and in fact it looks like she did. Then she comes to, and feels the instense pain of her cranial collision with the asphalt.

But what the impact could have done is bruised or torn the brain surface, causing intracranial bleeding and brain swelling. As the swelling increases, she loses consciousness and slips into a coma. The swelling puts pressure on the brain to the point where it start pushing down on the medulla (brain stem) and tries to push the stem down and out of the hole that the spinal cord comes up through. The medulla controls basic involuntary motor functions (heart beat, breathing), so that can be fatal.

I had a cousin who died that way in about 1978 after an auto collision. They drilled holes in his skull to relieve the swelling, but it wasn't enough.

[Karl Hungus]

Kinda like Liam Neeson's wife. She fell while skiing and hit her head. From what I remember, she was fine afterward, and only lost consciousness later in the day. Scary shit.

[kino]

ever heard of brain swelling

[kino]

ever heard of brain swelling

[Peace Officer]

I'd hit it.

[sloopyinca]

She's under arrest. She flees, at what appears to be a faster speed than the pursuing officer. Had she not been cuffed, I would see no problem with this. But, she is cuffed, making her flight risk considerably lower.

This is an unjustified tazing, in my opinion. But, what to charge the officer with?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I'd say, oh, 240 volts just to be sure.

[Brendan]

240v just cooks the meat

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

And?

[Brendan]

I was aiming for something more humane, like 2000vAC @ ~10A.

[annonymous commenter some guy]

You want to set him on fire?

[Brendan]

Think electric chair.

Looking into it some more, I'd charge him with 2300vAC@9.5A for 8 seconds, 1000vAC@4 amps for 22 seconds, finishing with 2300vAC@9.5A for 8 seconds. That's the Florida way.

[sarcasmic]

All crimes are crimes against the State. Since the officer represents the State while on duty, to charge him with a crime would mean the State committed a crime against itself. That's an oxymoron.

The officer can't be charged.

[Biography]

When asked by a reporter why he repeated himself so hard every day, Sarcasmic replied, "There might be a kid out there who's never heard me say it."

[DesigNate]

So which douchebag are you that hides behind different tags?

[Karl Hungus]

But, what to charge the officer with?

Manslaughter, if she in fact dies.

[Brendan]

2000v AC @ 10A

[Hand Banana]

DUNPHY!!! Come and tell us how this is OK because the fat fuck pig "followed procedure"! Tell us again about how cops get arrested "all the time"! That fat fucking piece of shit should be fed to an alligator one bit at a time.

[dunphy]

She fled from an officer. If she didn't want to get tazed, she shouldn't have ran. The tazer itself isn't what hurt her. It was the impact with the ground. I'm sure the officer didn't intend for her to smack her head. It was an unfortunate accident, but the responsibility lies with the woman. If she doesn't run, she doesn't get tazed, and she is not in a coma right now. I love the outrage from the usual suspects.

[robc]

Tasers were excessive force for the situation.

Manslauter. Even I wouldnt go with murder on this one.

However, trebled penalty because committed as an agent of the state (yeah, yeah, my law for this hasnt passed yet, get it time).

[robc]

typing hard.

[Brendan]

The fact that she was handcuffed made the possibility of injury far more likely as she wouldn't have any way to break her inevitable fall. She also risked broken bones from the relatively locked position of her arms.

[Fred]

Handcuffed or not, a taser shot renders people unable to break their fall.

[GW]

Have you seen people tazered before? Most are incapable of breaking their falls; they just drop where they get hit.

Personally, I don't see a problem with this one. He could have tackled her, with the same result. She was cuffed; she ran. As much as they can be assholes, I don't see this as being the case. I can't watch the video at work, but I'll try to check it out later.

[melman]

tackling her on concrete? similar probability of head injury

[Brian D]

Shush, you. Concrete becomes soft as a down pillow when it detects a tackling in progress.

[Joe M]

Come on, this isn't the real dunphy, is it? For some reason, I've gotten it in my head that he's a semi-reasonable fellow, and not such a knee-jerk police apologist.

[robc]

He is reasonable, EXCEPT when it comes to things like this.

He doesnt want the whitling shooter charges with murder either.

[Correction]

He is reasonable, EXCEPT when...

...he disagrees with the collective.

[robc]

What collective? No two libertarians agree on anything.

[Correction]

They all agree that cops are evil.

[robc]

No, cops arent evil (see, I disagree, proving my point). Bad cops are bad. Some of them might rise to the level of evil, but probably not most.

[Correction]

No, cops arent evil

You are the exception to the rule.
You must be shunned.

[robc]

All libertarians are the exception to the rule.

[Correction]

Like all the parrots here squawking the same knee-jerk gibberish whenever a cop story is posted? Take a look around, man! The same lifers repeating the same cop-hate over and over. You could substitute this comment board for one from the archives and nobody would know the difference.

[mr simple]

The same lifers repeating the same cop-hate over and over.

So you're upset that people hold consistent positions?

[Correction]

And only white trash drink Keystone beer.

[T]

I thought smooth devils like you and Keith Stone drank it.

[DesigNate]

Chalk another one up for not thinking all cops are evil (since I agree with robc he is obligated to change his position now). But the system is totally fucked and the truly bad cops, or even just cops that made a bad call, make the rest of you look pretty shitty (especially when you defend their actions).

[sloopyinca]

He is a reasonable guy, except when it comes to scrutinizing agents of the state, their selective enforcement of laws, the double-standard that prevails when they break the law and the lack of prosecution when they use excessive, often lethal, force against other human beings.

Oh, and his constant use of one solitary example to offset the myriad posts on here as examples of the above. And the fact that he never wants to hold the actual enforcers responsible (talk to your legislators if you don't like it) when they arrest people on stupid shit.

That and the fact that he's lived a life only rivaled by "The Most Interesting Man In The World" according to him, but offers no proof as to any of his exploits out of fear for his safety from us.

Sorry, robc, but the guy is a laughable hack in my book.

[robc]

You might be right.

Then there is his attitude that he is teaching us stuff, say, with his support of jury nullification, that we have been discussing at a deeper level for a decade here.

He actually didnt think we knew about jury nullification.

So, yeah, laughable hack may be right.

[tarran]

I'm still laughing that he claimed to be a good guy because he only occasionally arrested people on drug charges - then revealed that he did a long stint as an undercover narc.

With "libertarians" like him as enemies, the totalitarians sleep easily.

[Anonypussy?]

When the real thing is not available, spoofs are permissible.
It's the libertarian way.

[An unnamed source]

No citizen should be expected to meekly submit to the agents of the state. Fleeing or even fighting against agents of the state to keep your freedom should not be a crime. My jury vote in these type "crimes" committed by citizens would always be not guilty. Just as I will always vote to convict an agent of the state.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Fleeing or even fighting against agents of the state to keep your freedom should not be a crime.

Regardless of why they're chasing you? Regardless of what it is you did?

Sorry bro; can't go there with you.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Dunphy you are a sick, pathetic excuse for a human being if you are going to blame this on a fucking girl. That fat fuck officer shot a handcuffed girl in the back with that tazer, and having her sustain a serious injury when falling to the ground is completely forseeable. i suppose you'd say the same thing if a fucking 8 year old was running away?

Why did the fat fuck taze her? Because he is a fat fuck who is too fucking fat and lazy to run 10 stinking feet. That is what you are defending, Dunphy: having officers who are too fucking fat and lazy to take any care to protect against this kind of injury. Shoot before you might have to break a sweat. An officer in even minimally acceptable physical condiction would have grabbed this young girl in 2 seconds without incident. But fuck it, why bother when you can just taze her instead and get back to the donut shop forthwith? And they make police uniforms with elastic waistbands now, so it's all good.

Fuck anyone who defends this shit. That fat fuck should be in jail.

[tarran]

They don't end up in jail.

The ones with consciences kill themselves.

The rest blame their victims.

[Ray Ray]

he clearly killed himself because he feared consequences, not b/c he felt bad about killing anyone. he even defended his actions in his suicide note. how dumb do you have to be, really. a naked guy ten feet in the air. really.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Erm, don't look now, but methinks thou hast been spoof-ed.

[An alternate universe]

Dunphy you are a sick, pathetic excuse for a human being if you are going to blame this on a fucking girl. That fat fuck officer shot tackled a handcuffed girl in the back with that tazer big ol' cop gut, and having her sustain a serious injury when falling to the ground is completely forseeable.

[()]

dunphy spoof

[John C. Randolph]

You sir, are a pig.

-jcr

[Michael]

Hey, Dunphy - do you have any kids? Supposing I were to sweep their legs out from under them and their skulls were to crack against the pavement, it wouldn't be the roundhouse kick that killed them but the fall.

So fuck you.

[erikjay]

Thank you for saying that for the thousands of us who are getting tired of that putz. In L.A. there is little argument about the cops -- they're the most violent gang here.

[ryan]

You can always tell a fake dunphy by the caps. He doesn't use them at the beginning of sentences EVER.

[Bill]

"The tazer itself isn't what hurt her. It was the impact with the ground."

Brilliant. That's why I can throw people off buildings all day with impunity. After all, it's not the fall that kills them, it's the impact with the ground! And who would ever think that someone who was tazed would then fall and hit the ground...

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

So what time is the revolution? I need to call my wife and schedule dinner.

[rather]

He was a lazy ass not to just chase her; I hope his own kids see this video

[sarcasmic]

You kidding? He probably bragged about it to them as soon as he got home.

"Yeah, I Tasered this dumb bitch and she ended up in a coma. See what happens when you mess with The Cole? It's even on video, so everyone can see what happens when you fuck with The Cole! See how cool your dad is? Maybe next time I'll get to kill someone like that cop in Arizona who shot a guy in the head! Why don't I ever get a chance to blow someone's brains out? That guy has killed seven people while on duty. Hey kids, want to move to Arizona?"

[Charles]

If Cole is 267 pounds, that chasing her and tackling her may have been out of the question.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm pretty sure that's technically obese.

[Joe M]

Aren't there any fitness requirements at all for being a police officer??

[Old Soldier]

Every cop who waddled out of that station was morbidly obese - even after giving them a break for wearing flak vests.

[Bill]

He was right behind her and could have easily caught her. If not, they were at a police station in broad daylight and there were other officers and squad cars around. He used poor judgement in tasering a handcuffed suspect on a hard surface.

[Lyle]

Nonsense.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

The dude was right behind her, almost within arm's reach. They weren't even moving all that fast. If he had stepped up his pace just a hair, he could easily have reached out and just grabbed her shirt and stopped her. But he had to whip out his new ZapTastic Suspect Apprehending and Disabling Device.

You give them shiny new high-tech toys to play with, and they have to just find a reason or opportunity to play with them.

What would he have done had he not had the Taser? He would have had to move his fat ass a few feet per second faster and grab her.

[JW]

The dude was right behind her, almost within arm's reach.

He was already seriously winded from chasing her all 20 feet. Tasering her prevented an imminent coronary.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Hard to extend those fat arms a full two feet. Those massive man tits get in the way. Protect and serve, sit around and eat yourself into a size 50 waist, end a young girl's life, all in a day's work.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

"FDLE's investigation found the trooper's actions were legal and within the scope of his duties."

I'm pretty sure this is in a Word macro for anyone at FDLE who composes press releases.

[Brendan]

I think it's the signature line in their emails as well.

[Karl Hungus]

From the article:

"Cole . . . told investigators he used his Taser because he was concerned one or both of them would be injured if he tackled her."

That's what it always comes down to, isn't it? "Officer safety."

[sarcasmic]

Some people actually believe that cops carry guns so they can protect the public.

Can you believe it?

[Karl Hungus]

Some people actually believe that cops carry guns so they can protect the public.

Much better.

[sarcasmic]

touche

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

You'd think that a professional occupation whose duties include stopping and controlling fleeing suspects would include training as to how to do it quickly and with least risk of injury to the officer and fleeing suspect.

But I suppose that would be asking far too much from our superior overlords.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because tasing someone running across asphalt in handcuffs couldn't injure one or both of them?

[Kwanzaa Cake]

But he had no concerns at all about her falling to the ground in handcuffs after being tazed in the back. So he's fat and stupid and dishonest. 3 in 1!

[sarcasmic]

I've yet to meet a cop who was either intelligent or honest.

[Old Soldier]

Imagine if fat ass had tackled her? When his 300 lbs belly flopped her on the pavement, she might have exploded.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I don't even want to know what the fucking assholes over at Police One are saying about this. I looked there once or twice and nearly became nauseated from reading the comments, like, "I don't see anything wrong here," and "the bitch had it coming," etc.

Yeah, protect and serve, baby! Protect and serve!

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Protect and serve donuts until we're all 267 pounds of pure fucking blubber!

[sam harvey]

I assume her injury's were caused by the fall and not the zap. Wouldn't being tackeled by a 250+ pound man onto aspahlt be more dangerous in general to being tazed? She could have just as easly hit her head no matter how he took her down.

[Karl Hungus]

She's cuffed. He was about two steps behind her. All he had to do was grab her arm. That's it.

[Brian D]

Just grab her arm while she's running away as fast as she can, causing a dislocated shoulder, likely causing her to crash to the ground, possibly resulting in a severe head injury.

[robc]

Possibly, but its proper amount of force for the situation, and accidents happen.

He could have shot her in the leg and then she fell and hit her head too. But, like the taser, that wouldnt have been appropriate force.

The fact that it was the fall that hurt her isnt the issue, it is the use of excessive force.

[sarcasmic]

A few years ago in Portland Maine some kid thought it would be funny to sucker punch a stranger, so he did. Hit him on the sweet spot on the chin, guy fell down, hit his head on a brick, and died.
Kid is charged and convicted of manslaughter.

I guess the biggest difference between the kid and the cop is that the kid showed remorse.

[dunphy]

No, the biggest difference is that in your story the stranger did nothing to necessitate a response from the kid. In this case, the woman was trying to escape custody, and the officer did his job in making sure that did not happen. I wish that she hadn't hit her head and fallen into a coma, but that is the risk you take when you run from the police. Funny how the people who always yell "personal responsibility" are trying to ignore the role of the woman in her own fate.

[robc]

No one is ignoring that.

NO ONE.

The issue is excessive force for the situation. As I said above, if he had tackled her and she hit her head and went into a coma, too damn bad for her. But that isnt what happened.

[Fist of Etiquette]

This is a dunphy spoof. Standard punctuation gives it away.

[robc]

Yeah, I realized that. Point still applies though.

[Mainer]

Add lack of capitalization and punctuation to the list of reasons dunphy is annoying.

[Fatty Bolger]

Sad, but this one doesn't seem like excessive force to me. If the cop had tried to tackle her or grab her the same thing could easily have happened.

[Joe M]

Cole, who at 267 pounds weighed about three times as much as Maudsley, told investigators he used his Taser because he was concerned one or both of them would be injured if he tackled her. He worried she was headed toward heavy traffic on U.S. 19.

That's why butterfly nets should be part of standard police equipment.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cole, the trooper, has been with FHP since 1998. He was the Pinellas Trooper of the Year in 2000.

These guys seem to like to give each other plaques.

[mr simple]

The obvious solution is that Florida needs to outlaw soft drink machines at police stations. These sugary drinks are making the officers fat, with that result being that they can't chase suspects and have to tase them.

[police union rep]

Not gonna happen

[Fist of Etiquette]

I have to say, Florida must really be fed up with their police and its culture. I've read more articles that actually scrutinize law enforcement come out of the Sunshine State than anywhere else.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What the hell is it with all these obese - some to the point of morbidity - cops? How the fuck can you do the job, which requires running after and often engaging in close-quarters, hand-to-hand combat, wrestling with fleeing suspects - many of them young, pumped-up males, if you're a fat fucking whale of a guy?

I mean, I know it's a thankless job and can be dangerous, and I wouldn't want to do it, but if I did, I would make it my mission to be in the best physically fit condition I could.

That probably was the fastest that guy has moved since Taco Bell announced the 69-cent chalupa.

[Sy]

Something about positions of authority and immunity for shit like this attracts 1) fat kids, or 2) roided-up assholes. Almost no in between anymore.

[Officer Cartman]

Respect my authoritah!!!!!!!!

[Lisa]

Sorry, I can't get incensed by this one.

Arrested for leaving the scene of two traffic accidents, she bolted after being cuffed. The officer makes the case that he wanted to prevent her from running into traffic on the nearby highway (she was apparently also high at the time of arrest).

We're all agreed that he had the right to use force. Those who argue that she should have been tackled rather than tasered fail to recognize that she could have just as easily cracked her skull on the pavement when tackled.

Willful stupidity and concrete were the fatal combination here.

[Apatheist ?_??]

So the punishment for leaving the scene of an accident should be to be put into a coma because the cop was too fat and lazy to grab her?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Those who argue that she should have been tackled rather than tasered fail to recognize that she could have just as easily cracked her skull on the pavement when tackled.

So if a car going 70 through a residential neighborhood hits a kid who ran out into the street, do we recognize that since the kid could just as easily have run out in front of a car doing 30, going 70 is OK?

I think what you fail to recognize that even though bad things can happen when people are acting reasonably that doesn't excuse unreasonable behavior.

[RobSmalls]

I disagree. Firstly, whatever she was arrested for is immaterial in this case. She got spooked and ran.

Secondly, when she was tasered she lost all control of her muscles. She could not react to the fall onto the pavement the same as if she had been tackled, or even if she has been clubbed or shot. Could she have hit her head if she was tackled? Sure, it's possible. But it was almost a certainty that she would crack skull when that taser was used.

Some defenders of the cop's conduct say that it was her action that led to her coma. I partially agree, in that she definitely contributed to the situation. If she ran into traffic and was hit, I would agree completely. But the cop bears some culpability in this for his chosen action in attempting to restrain her. With what appears to be the most minimal effort he could muster.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Firstly, whatever she was arrested for is immaterial in this case.

Disagree. Whether someone got hauled in for jaywalking or cutting up people with a cleaver should be pretty relevant as to what degree of force is reasonable to prevent escape.

[Hmm...]

depends. What kind of cleaver are we talking here?

[Mike M.]

How does this disgusting fatbody manage to let a little 20 year old woman who's handcuffed, high, and less than half his size manage to get out of his control in the first place?

[robc]

Those who argue that she should have been tackled rather than tasered fail to recognize that she could have just as easily cracked her skull on the pavement when tackled.

Liar.

Read my fucking posts, I have fully acknowledged that.

[tgs]

lets hope she croaks. really if you're so fucking dumb as to try to flee from a police station while handcuffed, then you're too fucking stupid to be a member of the gene pool.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Let's hope you croak. Really, if you're so fucking dumb as to try to write a comment disparaging someone's intelligence (and saying that person deserves death for it), and neglect to use proper capitalization and punctuation, then you're too fucking stupid to be a member of the gene pool.

[Sam B]

Feel free to make that your last comment on this site and go back to killing small animals for fun

[tgs]

more on point, that taser scream was awesome.

[tgs]

it made me want to huff my farts even more than i already do.

[Karl Hungus]

Sorry, I can't get incensed by this one.

She's not quite as sympathetic a victim, I agree.

Those who argue that she should have been tackled rather than tasered fail to recognize that she could have just as easily cracked her skull on the pavement when tackled.

He was like two steps behind her. All he had to do was grab her arm, and she would've come to an immediate stop. She's hardly innocent, and they definitely needed to keep her from fleeing. Still, the taser didn't have to be the first thing he reached for in his bag of tricks.

[Ron Paul]

Anyone who's ever chased a fleeing meth head knows how unbelievably fleet of foot they can be.

[Brian D]

" All he had to do was grab her arm, and she would've come to an immediate stop."

Her arm might have, but the rest of her body would have continued forward. Momentum, and running as fast as one can, does that to an object as flexible as a human body. So she would have lost her balance and fallen to the concrete, only this time backwards with her hands cuffed in front of her. Not exactly a recipe for a safe landing.

[tgs]

oh and lets ignore that the chick got out of her handcuffs while in the back of the cruiser.

http://www.baynews9.com/articl.....-handcuffs

intellectual honesty means reporting all aspects of the story, not just the ones that selectively support your cop hate

[dunphy]

you mean there's more to the story than reason's resident knee jerk cop haters would like us to believe? my mind is fucking blown!

[Kwanzaa Cake]

That she got out of cuffs before isn't all that important since she was CUFFED AT THE TIME OG HER ATTEMPTED ESCAPE. The facts are that an obese pig of a cop shot a handcuffed girl in the back and now she's brain dead.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Yeah there is this:

Cole acknowledges he believes Maudsley could outrun him, as well. "Yes, she was already outrunning me."

and this:

Forty minutes later, video shows Maudsley running from the substation before she is tased with her hands cuffed in front of her

I don't see the problem here. He thought she was outrunning him, and her hands were in front of her, not behind, which doesn't slow running all that much.

[robc]

which doesn't slow running all that much.

Bullshit.

I ran Xcountry and track in high school. Running with your hands cuffed in front of you would slow you significantly.

[SFC B]

It doesn't matter that her handcuffed hands would slow her down, it was wether they would slow her down enough for this fat-fuck to catch her.

I'm actually curiuos if she'd have run if the officer was less clearly out-of-shape. I could totally see someone looking at this guy and thinking "if he lets go of my arm I'm bolting."

[mr simple]

Well, I never. She dared to try to thwart the will of an officer? That's grounds for execution right there!

[Apatheist ?_??]

She was in handcuffs when he tasered her so this is irrelevant.

[P Brooks]

RESISTANCE IS FATAL

[sarcasmic]

I think you have a typo there... oh, never mind.

[statist pedant]

she's not dead yet.

[Loki]

[S]he will be very soon...

[P Brooks]

If that cop had died of a heart attack while chasing her, you'd be sorry.

WAR ON COPS!!!!!

[sarcasmic]

If he had busted his hand while punching her in the face she would have been charged with felony assault and battery on a police officer.

[P Brooks]

Weren't tasers originally supposed to be a "less lethal" alternative to firearms?

Be serious. Tasers are a less strenuous alternative to truncheons.

[Facts]

Hardly seems like a rogue dick head cop......Cole, the trooper, has been with FHP since 1998. He was the Pinellas Trooper of the Year in 2000. He had fired his Taser only once before ? in 2009, when he used it on a suicidal man on the Sunshine Skyway bridge. The man fell to the roadway and was okay.

They are troubled that Cole tasered Maudsley, a suspect in two hit-and-run crashes who had drugs in her system, while she was handcuffed. They also noted that Cole was just steps behind Maudsley when he fired the Taser.

[caveman]

Yeah, I'm sure that fat bastard breaking into a run was an actual option. Few things more pathetic than a fat cop.

[GroundTruth]

Just like many other "safety devices", the taser actually invites bad practice on the part of the user.

Antilock brakes lull drivers into following too closely.

Antibacterial soaps reduce the thoroughness of handwashing.

De-icing results in planes being flown when they really shouldn't be.

Replacing a gun with a taser allows the cop to shoot anything that moves, since "it's safe".

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hard for me to work up a whole lot of outrage against the policeman here. He had reason to believe she'd gotten high and crashed into a couple of cars. And she showed an ability to work her way out of the handcuffs. And fled from custody.

If he had tackled her and she'd gotten injured, we would probably be hearing about all the other ways he could have restrained her.

If he'd grabbed her arm and she'd slipped away and then ran into the street, it would have been "the cops were responsible for this drug-addled woman in their custody, yet they let her go and get hit by a truck on the highway!"

[Kwanzaa Cake]

So since your argument is based on pure hypotheticals, let's say she had stood up in the police station, announced she was walking out, and then did no at a normal pace. ALl of the rest of the facts remains as-is: she's a small woman, cuffed, high on drugs, etc. By your logic the cop would still be entitled to bust out the taser as opposed to grabbing her.

[Lisa]

"....yet they let her go and get hit by a truck on the highway!"

Had she run onto the highway, it could have easily presented dangers to unwitting drivers as well.

I think many of you are being too hard on the cop. How many variables do you expect cops to take into account within five seconds reaction time, when someone flees?

Perhaps cops should examine the cases where unintended injuries result from tasering, and institute new procedures.

But, it seems churlish to damn the cop in this case.

[Christ on a Cracker]

How many variables do you expect cops to take into account within five seconds reaction time, when someone flees?
As many as when he draws his gun. Five seconds is a long time.

[Joe]

Why does everyone assume he needs to tackle her? Is that all pigs are good for, falling down? Tasing her and tackling her aren't the only options.

[melman]

"If he had tackled her and she'd gotten injured"

then people here would have been screaming "he should have used a taser!!!"

[R C Dean]

I love the "it wasn't the taser that injured her, it was the fall."

Clearly excessive force. She wasn't a threat to others (much less the porker with the taser). She wasn't even a flight risk, really, being (a) a female (and they are generally slower afoot than men), (b) handcuffed (even in front, it slows you down) and, of course (c) all of ten feet away from the cop.

Bad shoot. Period.

I predict a brief paid vacation, and, before too much time passes, another Trooper of the Year Award. With a nice cake for everyone in the office. Because, obviously, these people like their cake. A lot.

[sarcasmic]

I don't think he'll get a vacation out of this one, though I'm sure you're right about the award.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

He said she was outrunning him already. Should he have just let her escape?

[Heroic Mulatto]

He said she was outrunning him already. Should he have just let her escape?

When a high-speed car chase enters a heavily populated area, the police end the chase. The potential for fatality is judged to more dangerous than letting the guy go.

Jus' sayin'

[Eduard van Haalen]

When they call off a car chase, it's because they don't want to hit innocent third parties.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

That isn't a valid analogy for a variety of reasons I hope I don't have to explain.

[Applederry]

Did you watch the video?

He's literally RIGHT behind her when he fires the taser and she ain't exactly moving like an olympic sprinter. In fact, you can even see the officer slow down so he can fire the taser more accurately.

He's full of shit.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

I watched it and no one can tell the relative speeds of the two individuals. This may make me a statist cocksucking coplover to the more hysterical here, but I believe him.

[MNG]

"no one can tell the relative speeds of the two individuals"

I can.

[tgs]

and you know the shit storm of lawsuits that would occur if she somehow got free and did get hit by a car, or harmed, etc. seriously guys, there are shitbag cops who fuck up and do the wrong thing, and then there are cops that are involved in a situation that doesn't present a plethora of options and something bad happens. Take off the fucking blinders.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

This situation did not present the option of just grabbing the girl because this fat pig could not run 10 feet. So police procedures here justify the use of a taser because the cop is too fat and lazy to use less force to accomplish the goal of capturing a suspect. "It's OK for Officer Pig to shoot you, because he's fat." That's what it comes down to.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

I guess he magically should have just dropped 100 pounds so THEN the tasing could be unjustified? I don't know what you're going for here.

[oldtimer]

How was it she was allowed the opportunity to escape from the station? Isn't there some sort of procedure that says someone agitated should maybe be cuffed to a chair? Did she take Cole down inside the station and make her getaway? Procedures were obviously not followed or need to be explained to Cole. Cole was out of his league, unquestionably.

[Abdul]

^ this.

Any type of force on a running, cuffed person could lead to a fall and injury. The real negligence wasn't using the taser, it was allowing a person who had already shown herself to be an escape risk to have the opportunity to run out of the police station.

[we]

What's really telling is the audio of the cop's flat, "Dexter-like" psychopathic affect in his voice after he sees a young girl suffer a fatal headsmash on the pavement. He says "lay down lay down" in some weird robot voice.

Anybody with half a normal dose of human empathy would be like "Oh my god!" and would be trying to help the person who just suffered a massively traumatic injury. Instead, these three cops just stand around, the model of arrogant insouciance, like vultures milling around a dying calf.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Now we've come to the point where the guy can't even talk right.

[Ice Nine]

It's his grammar that really bothers me.

[Raston Bot]

those are some fat fucking pigs.

[P Brooks]

Should he have just let her escape?

As opposed to killing her?

Yes.

Are you trying to tell us in another two or three seconds she would have been swallowed up by the vast swarm of humanity visible in that screen cap.?They never could have tracked her.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Thanks Captain Hindsight!

[Jessica Leilani]

I think it's hard to judge the cops, they do the best they can, but no one is perfect.

[Reed Morris]

I think that it's hard to judge the cops. They do the best they can, but nobody is perfect.

[P Brooks]

Maybe you'd like to convince us she was actually working herself intoposition to deliver a lethal roundhouse kick to Officer Lardbucket, in order to swipe his pistol and go on a wild killing spree.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

That's a total non-sequitur.

[Loki]

at 267 pounds ... he could've broke into a run and grabbed her.

I doubt that very seriously. At least not without giving himself a heart attack.

the trooper's actions were legal and within the scope of his duties."

...and we will be awarding him a medal for his corageous actions in the line of duty.

[cynical]

"he likely could have tackled Maudsley."

True, no risk for head injury there.

[Tori Davis]

And they wonder why we rejoice everytime some stupid cop gets clipped in the line of duty!

http://www.Privacy-Wares.tk

[P Brooks]

That's a total non-sequitur.

Unlike your claim she was about to "escape". Did her mob have a plane waiting to whisk her to Mexico?

Why not just go ahead and claim he was acting in self defense? She was obviously scaring the shit out of him. Just think of the ridicule and abuse he would have suffered at the hands of his co-workers if he had had to ask for assistance retrieving her. Now, he's a hero with a notch on his taser.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Unlike your claim she was about to "escape". Did her mob have a plane waiting to whisk her to Mexico?

If she was outrunning the only LEO chasing her, then she was about to escape. I am sorry you have a problem with the definition of words. A police officer is entitled and should be encouraged to corral the arrested if they escape. Otherwise the whole system is unworkable.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So if the cop didn't have a taser do you think he'd have been justified in shooting her in the back?

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Jesus christ already, the girl was in handcuffs, unarmed, about 110 pounds soaking wet, and reportedly high as a kite. How far would she have gotten had she not been tasered to death by this fat pig? She'd have been picked up by a crusier without incident in about 15 minutes. The notion that every single fleeing perp has to be stopped by potentially lethal force is ludicrous.

As it is, she's brain dead. Forever. That's her punishment, metted out not by a jury after a trial, but by a cop who is literally too fat to perform the simple duty of apprehending a little girl. He used force because she was outrunning him, and she was outrunning him because he's a fat lazy pig who can't be bothered to keep himself in any kind of shape. Sorry hun, some kids have to fucking die so Officer Pig can keep stuffing his face. His self-imposed physical limitations are all the justification he needs to whip our the taser and, presumably, the Glock as well.

[Ray]

Maybe if she hadn't been out destroying other people's property she wouldn't have been in this kind of situation.

[Joe]

If the pig would have approached his job from the position of showing some respect to the citizenry while still achieving his objective, versus however much force he can get away with so as to prevent a precious calorie from being expended, she'd be alive. But if you give a low-level government employee power, expect him to abuse it. What a fat fucking coward, his obesity will kill two people.

[guest]

yeah, cuz an almost 300 lb. man running after a 90lb. girl and tackling her to the ground wouldnt' have any circumstances... Ur dumb. Tasering her made the most sense at the time, too bad she hit her head but that was an accident and not his fault. If she didn't run, none of this would've happened

[Fred]

If anyone is interested they are about to discuss this story on Fox News.

[Tim]

This is pretty clearly a huge screw up by the cop.

1) I am pretty sure, although not certain, that courts have that a suspect in the custody of an officer is actually their responsibility.

2) the effects of tasers are well known and documented, including near instant temporary paralysis

3) the cop, knowing she was his responsibility, and knowing she could not protect herself while falling if tased, was clearly negligent.

[penumbra]

That was damn brutal when her head hit the ground. You could see her assailant pause. I bet it make quite an audible crack. Ghastly.

[D H]

Negligence. He incompetently allowed her to escape, then she was injured by his inept attempt to resolve his mistake. The officer and department should be 100% culpable.

For all you "procedure" parrots; he put her in a coma because he is bad at his job. It's not procedure to let a prisoner escape.

Fire, charge, prosecute.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Yeah, her actual *running* when she was legally prohibited from doing so in no way contributed to the problem.

In a contributory negligence regime, she would be 95+% culpable. I know that you want the nation to be "DH's FantasyLand", but this ain't it.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Same if he busted out a shotgun and blew her head off, I suppose.

[Islam Sucks]

She was drugged up and was arrested for hit-and-run. She definitely posed a danger to the public, and cops can't be expected to just let prisoners run away.

If this guy had tackled her, and her head bounced off the pavement and she went into a coma, people would be saying he should have Tasered her instead. "Look how small she is, you can't say that a 267lb behemoth should have taken her to the ground, that's why they have Tasers!"

It's a fluke. Occasionally bad things happen and nobody's to blame. The fundamental error here was cuffing a prisoner's hands in front and then placing her in a position where she can just run for it. The officer can and should be held accountable for those errors. But she chose to run, it's his job to bring her back, and whether he did it with a taser or with his body mass and physical strength, there's a chance she's not getting back up again.

[we]

Unless she was headed towards a car twenty yards away with the keys in the iginition and the motor running, I don't see the imminent threat to public safety.

[Karen]

She was high on cocaine. You have no idea what someone in that state is capable of. Her current situation is her own fault. She is a drug addict who could have killed someone while behind the wheel of her car. Should we let her run free!

[we]

Unless she had a locked-and-loaded M-16 with a grenade launcher, and was screaming "say hello to my little friend!" I don't think her cocaine high was an imminent threat to public safety.

If a woman that size with some coke up her nose is a mortal threat (while handcuffed), then every tittie bar in California should be an apocalyptic war zone by now.

[we]

(I think I just missed some sarcasm, didn't I? Sorry. Happens to the best of us... and the rest of us.)

[P Brooks]

Reasonably foreseeable results are not unforeseeable.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

It isn't, in my opinion, reasonably foreseeable that sge would've suffered head trauma this severe. People here, some of the smartest I've met, didn't understand how this happened.

[P Brooks]

DOMINANCE

SUBMISSION

Baboon-troop authoritarianism.

[MsMalcontent]

I truly think it is not only a power and abuse issue for these men tazering people, esp as it is happening more and more often to women, I believe that it is a sexual issue.

[STEVE SMITH]

TASER NOT ABOUT SEX. TASER ABOUT ANGER. RAPE IS ABOUT SEX AND ANGER AND SAQUATCH NOT BEING ABLE TO USE HIS WORDS TO EXPRESS HIS FEELINGS.

[Michael Pelletier]

"Remember, you are responsible for the subject's safety following the application of the TASER, thus preventing the subject from such issues like the risks presented by traffic flow, falls, drowning potential, etc."

http://www.hendonpub.com/resou.....spx?ID=762

[Karen]

You neglected to write that she was high on cocaine at the time.

[Jose Ornelas]

You don't run from cops period. Also show your hands, period. There was no easy answer, he tackles her and she tears an ACL, or smacks her head anyway, or sues because he grabs her pussy. It sucks for her and her family, meanwhile if she runs into my car I want her taken OFF THE ROAD. Also, cops run around all day they don't have to put up with your nonsense.

[erikjay]

What on earth does any of this drivel mean? "Show your hands..." -- ? "Cops run around all day..." -- ? WTF? I don't know where you live, hombre, but people with last names similar to yours run from the cops ALL THE F'ING TIME where I live. They are wise to do so.

[we]

"What on earth does any of this drivel mean?"

It means you've been thoroughly and completely trolled, erikjay.

Although around here, you don't get called a troll for actually being a troll.

You only get called a troll if you call somebody out on their Glibertarian orthodoxies.

On a side note: (I) I think you are "showing your hands" when they are cuffed in front of you; and (II) if those three rotund, undulating tubs of donut-lard in the Brownshirt uniforms actually "run around all day," then everything we know about the science of physical exercise is completely wrong.

[Mark]

Disgusting

[Chris]

Well her choice put her and his lives at risk. I am so tired when people just keep trying to make victims about people that make dumb choices that get them killed. She made the choice to resist and run, and before she could hurt anyone else (already had two hit and runs), he stopped her.

Time and again we see these idiots put police lives on the line. How many police have chased a criminal only to have the criminal turn and pull a weapon, or attack back. Taze them and you are making the situation much safer for yourself, and to be honest a fleeing criminals safety should be secondary to a police officer and other people around. What would be said if she ran out in the street and caused some innocent deaths in a car accident? What if she took a car by force and killed a few children crossing the street a block away.

I don't see what tackling her would have accomplished. Instead of her falling, now she is falling with a 270 lb man on top of her.

She made a choice to run. That choice may end her life.

And if she was on drugs that is even worse... I saw a woman who couldn't have weighed more than 110 lbs on PCP on a security cam literally break her handcuffs apart and take three to the chest before she went down and the first shot hit her square in the heart.

[guest]

he did the right thing. If he ran after her and tackled her, the same thing could've happened. case of wrong place at the wrong time

[Mickey]

Why arrest her in the first place? Maybe the hit and runs were minor fender benders. Write her a ticket for gods sake. So many of these negative cop-citizen interactions arise out of overuse of arrest as a procedure to enforce minor infractions. Also, any male cop who cannot apprehend an unarmed cuffed woman without hurting her should not be in the job.

[Clint Hunt]

I think the public would have more sympathy if the officer apprehended her and during the course of contact a legitimate accident occurred. Using a taser on a handcuffed individual makes the officer look lazy. Seems like a horrible accident, but I'd like to photoshop a doughnut in his hand while he is tasing her.

[pat]

OMG if that had been my daughter , and I saw that video, there is no way I would allow that Pig to get away with it. What a fat ass sadistic son of a bitch. I pray for the girl and her family.

[Pam Miner]

This is horrifying. she squeaks then falls like a tree. She may never be herself again. The cops are way to fast to use a taser or tear gas.
They're killing people.

[Dave]

This is why I hate cops in the U.S., Florida is especially bad. (And stay out of Pasco County!) And look at the size of that fat pig. He couldn't run if his life depended on it. He shouldn't be in a uniform, let alone have a weapon and be in a position to use it; rather on a hog farm ready for slaughter. No, on second thought, a chicken farm. Only a chicken would do what he did to that defenseless little girl.

[The Dude]

I can't wait for the day when citizens rise up against these dirt-bag police

[Suthenboy]

Having had to chase people like that many times I will tell you what I did. I didnt tase anyone, tackle or grab or knock them down. I got into my van and followed them. They ran and ran ....and ran and.... ran.....and .....ran.....then stopped to catch their breath. I would then pull up next to them and roll the window down. I would ask " Are you finished? If you are finished hop in and I will drive you back. If you want to run some more, go ahead, I will follow you until you get tired."

They would usually curse me and get in. I never had to even get out of the van, and no one got hurt.

If that girl were my daughter that fatass cop would get a hole drilled in his spine.

[Mouthbreather]

Three fat ass, taser-happy cops. Shocking!