In which Allahpundit gets all huffy about a tweaker banging her head into the concrete after being tased while trying to escape arrest. (For the second time since she was apprehended).
They cuffed her in front instead of in back, making her a threat to swipe at a cop’s gun if she got within arm’s distance, and they didn’t cuff her to the chair when they were processing her.
Both mistakes, AP, agreed. But it doesn’t logically follow that therefore it was the cops’ fault that she decided to escape arrest. Now then, on to the tasing:
Then watch the dashboard video of what happened in the second clip below. To my eye it looks like the cop is literally within about a foot of her as they enter the frame, but he’s already got his taser out and appears to be slowing up, having presumably decided to just zap her and be done with it.
There’s a different expression for “slowing down after having drawn your weapon with the intention of discharging it”, Allahpundit, and we like to call it “taking aim.” You see, unlike the soap operas that you draw your firearms experience from, real life people who know what they’re doing do not discharge their weapons while running along full tilt. This is mainly because their real weapons don’t have magical Hollywood homing guidance systems built into their projectiles. And, as those of us whom you can trust with a weapon say, “don’t fire it unless you’re sure what you’ll be hitting.”
Otherwise you’ll end up being blog-fodder for Monday Morning Quarterbacks like yourself howling about “irresponsible use of weapons injuring innocents!!!1!111!!!!” Oh, and more importantly, you’ll actually end up hurting innocents people or kitties.
But it’s wonderful that you can cast one expert eye on the situation and conclude that he’s just decided “the hell with it, the bitch is going DOWN!”
I’m not convinced he couldn’t have caught her if he had been running at full speed;
And you know, of course, what the officer in question’s “full speed” is, right? It’s amazing what you can learn about a complete stranger from watching him run for 2 tenths of a second, really it is! You absolutely have to teach me that technique one day, Allahpundit! But OK, given that he could, per your expert testimony, easily have caught a sprightly little thing high on coke running from the law, he would have intercepted her in the parking lot most likely. Going “full speed” and all that. Now, can you tell me with absolute certainty that, had the rather big officer in question tackled her full on, she wouldn’t have smacked her head in the concrete?
Waiting… No, you can’t? OK. Then what’s your point?
on the contrary, it looks like he decided he didn’t need to run because he had the stun gun on his hip to slow her down.
Well, we’re certainly glad that you can say that with such certainty but, then again, there’s that whole “slowing down to take aim” thing. However, since you’ve obviously watched every single episode of Miami Vice, we won’t call your expertise into question. Lazy cop decided he didn’t want to run and deliberately shot the bint down with his taser in order to make her face kiss the concrete.
Next case?
Listen: It’s clearly tragic that the woman ended up in a vegetative state because of an accidental cranial impact with the concrete. She didn’t deserve that. His Imperial Majesty has just had it to his back teeth with the Monday Morning Quarterbacks who simply can’t resist an opportunity to show off their Mad Judgment Skills every time an opportunity arises. The cop was trying, for the second time that day, to keep her from evading arrest, she was running toward a highway and she accidentally hit her head on the concrete when she went down as a result of him trying to stop her.
That’s it. That’s all there is.
What if he hadn’t stopped her and she’d run into the road and got run over, causing a traffic pile up in the process? Would there have been an endless supply of Allahpundits screeching and tearing their hair, complaining about how “easily” the “lazy and incompetent cop” could have stopped her, thus avoiding the mayhem?
You can bet every penny of your savings on it.
Sheesh.
Thatisall.