Police: 'Spitting' Teen Shocked With Taser At Disney

[MermaidsMom]

now what they did was wrong, but why throw this insult in there: 2 overweight sloppy boys? Do overweight people tend to act like this? Of course not, but when you generalize, it isn't nice.

Let's have someone come to your house and spit at your leg and then we'll talk. In case you have never experienced a negative thought I'll explain. Many people become angry when provoked and find ways to compensate for this anger. It can sometime involve becoming sarcastic and/or uncomplimentary towards the source of such anger and obvious sources of ridicule become points to make yourself feel somewhat better about what they did to you (re: they have a big nose, are ugly,fat, mean,whatever). Rational? Probably not. Does it help? Yes. [ Edited to add: In the case of my comments about family, they were used to describe this mans general lifestyle. I consider these things to be negatives for all of the obvious reasons with health being number one. I forgot to mention his big 'ol beer belly.]

Sometimes this anger can re-emerge on message boards when someone follows threads and harasses others for expressing their anger and piously points out that they are name calling, etc... every time someone posts something they don't like. From reading your postings here, you seem to be taking great joy in trying to work people up with your superior ability to point out others shortcomings. You don't like "name calling" but seem to do everything you can to make others irritated by you. Interesting.

PS, they were overweight and sloppy. If they had been dirty and skinny I would have added that as well. It paints a picture of who they were. Please deal with it.

 

[Alesia]

PS, they were overweight and sloppy. If they had been dirty and skinny I would have added that as well. It paints a picture of who they were. Please deal with it.

Exactly. Sometimes a description is just a description.

 

[calgarygary]

While we are talking about misinformation, 'hundreds' have not been killed by the use of tasers. As per a CBS study, 70 people have died after being tasered....

This is exactly the type of misinformation I am referring to. Your CBS study, is dated in Oct. 2004 and as such, with the growth of the use of taser, your statistic of 70 is dated and irrelevant. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/12/earlyshow/main648859.shtml
Amnesty International puts the number of Americans alone (remember that the taser is used throughout the world) at over 150 through March of 2006 so my use of the term hundreds is indeed accurate.

Calgarygary,I dont think people are saying that if you spit you should be tased

pweyl36, I will quote just a couple of the postings that indicate that people do indeed want to see the tazing of spitters.

Where do some people get the nerve that it is ok to spit on and curse at people and they think it is no problem? Tase away....

I don't care if the kids attacked the cops or not. If they were spitting on folks and got tazered (sp?), GOOD. Punks deserved what they got, IMO.

Again, my concerns on this thread have been about the publishing of a juvenile's name and thereby identifying the younger siblings and to those people who applauded the use of a taser against spitting and swearing youths. I believe that the taser was correctly used to subdue a violent attacker but several people have applauded it's use because of the spitting. Spitting may be disgusting but a taser is a dangerous weapon that can have deadly force. Digskat, do you not think that the behaviour of the youths was consistent with the type of behaviour exhibited by those that suffer the worst reactions to being tased?

 

[cougartrace]

I think there is a huge difference between overweight adults and overweight kids. I am probably stereotyping but if I see two overweight brothers I am going to figure there is a problem with that father's parenting and judgement. Hence the spitting and unwanted misting.

are you saying if you see overweight kids that there might be a problem with the parents? If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. If I'm right, that is a horrible stereotype.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Does anyone know if deliberately spitting on someone is considered assault or not (in FL)?

 

[calgarygary]

Does anyone know if deliberately spitting on someone is considered assault or not (in FL)?

I don't know for a fact, but the way I interpret the statute, I would think yes.

784.011 Assault.--

(1) An "assault" is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

are you saying if you see overweight kids that there might be a problem with the parents? If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. If I'm right, that is a horrible stereotype.

I might disagree with other things you've said, I even stayed out of the weight comment at first,because I really believed that the poster who wrote that was just describing them because their sloppy appearance made them seem a certain way and she was trying to be descriptive. As a voluptuous woman, I dislike when larger people look sloppy because it gives the rest of us a bad name, so I stayed out at first.

But I do agree with this part I quoted. Most of the time weight is dependent on genetics - all kids eat cupcakes, but the slightly overweight child's cupcake consumption is looked on as an evil indulgence. It is bad enough to be villified because of weight, but to have it equated with parental incompetence isn't right.

 

[a1tinkfans]

DISGUSTING INCIDENT!

And NOT indicative of any Long Islander's we know. Though unfortunately
there are always some distasteful, classless people from every corner of the world infringing on us at one time or another.

I agree, it'd be nice if they were banned from Everything Disney! Enough Said!

More importantly,
Have a SAFE and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend Everyone!

 

[digskat]

The Amnesty International number also includes deaths that the coroners have stated were deaths caused by drugs, positional asphyxia, and assaults. Amnesty International sensationalizes 'facts' to increase funding, they are far from unbiased. To quote their own site, "There were reports of ill-treatment of suspects in jails and police custody, involving abusive use of restraints and electro-shock weapons." Abusive use, such as multiple shocks (torture) and confining restrictive movement chairs (positional asphyxia). It is like saying the paper cut you got before you were beaten to death, was the cause of death.
Tasers are, in Amnesty International's own words, "a non-lethal alternative to using firearms". The Use of Force Continuum, accepted in court, and used by most police forces (and prisons), show tasers and pepper spray as a less than lethal form of force, and approved for use, when the threat faced is equal or higher than is used. Tasers being used as a form of torture is a whole different matter, and that is what your AI is complaining of.

As far as the unruly teens, you can't tell if they are high without seeing their pupils, watching them for an extended period of time, or getting a blood test. Unfortunately, the officer can't take that into account when using the taser, just like they can't wait to find out if the suspect is asthmatic before peppering them, or hemophiliac before batonning them. They were unruly and the taser was needed, pepper spray is ineffective in up to 15% of people, and some others, when they are at high levels of adrenaline have very reduced affects. Pepper also has an issue with cross contamination, affecting anyone nearby. Batons are far more violent, and if contact is made to the chest or skull, quite deadly.

 

[mwehttam]

Amnesty International, now there is a trustworthy source for information!

 

[klj27]

I made the overweight comment. I am someone who has struggled with weight and eating issues myself. When I see overweight children I feel bad for them, because I know kids can be mean and I am sure that can be very difficult. I do not look at all overweight kids and think badly of their parents. I do agree that genes play a part in it.

I made the comment in this situation because other things, along with the weight, would give me those feelings. The fact that all three were overweight and the father was not serving as a positive role model is what would lead me to the stereotype that he was failing his kids. Do you think he wasn't?

 

[mattsdragon]

The Amnesty International number also includes deaths that the coroners have stated were deaths caused by drugs, positional asphyxia, and assaults. Amnesty International sensationalizes 'facts' to increase funding, they are far from unbiased. To quote their own site, "There were reports of ill-treatment of suspects in jails and police custody, involving abusive use of restraints and electro-shock weapons." Abusive use, such as multiple shocks (torture) and confining restrictive movement chairs (positional asphyxia). It is like saying the paper cut you got before you were beaten to death, was the cause of death.
Tasers are, in Amnesty International's own words, "a non-lethal alternative to using firearms". The Use of Force Continuum, accepted in court, and used by most police forces (and prisons), show tasers and pepper spray as a less than lethal form of force, and approved for use, when the threat faced is equal or higher than is used. Tasers being used as a form of torture is a whole different matter, and that is what your AI is complaining of.

As far as the unruly teens, you can't tell if they are high without seeing their pupils, watching them for an extended period of time, or getting a blood test. Unfortunately, the officer can't take that into account when using the taser, just like they can't wait to find out if the suspect is asthmatic before peppering them, or hemophiliac before batonning them. They were unruly and the taser was needed, pepper spray is ineffective in up to 15% of people, and some others, when they are at high levels of adrenaline have very reduced affects. Pepper also has an issue with cross contamination, affecting anyone nearby. Batons are far more violent, and if contact is made to the chest or skull, quite deadly.

I'm not sure of your particular unit's use of force continuum (I'm assuming you've got LE training from your knowledge), but the one we use in my work has the ASP baton as less than lethal, but on a higher level than OC, TAZER, or close fisted strikes. And use of force training is required semi-annually as a refresher. If we use a baton on anything other than legs or arms, we darn well better be able to articulate that the deadly force was legitimate. Deadly force does not have to result in death actually.

This Boarding Officer certainly would have been pulling out my OC in this situation, and would have had no second thoughts of spraying these people (we had to get exposed to this, it's no picnic, I had partial and full facial exposure, partial being the worse).

 

[mkycrzy1971]

Does anyone know if deliberately spitting on someone is considered assault or not (in FL)?

Not sure in FL but in Indiana (the way I understand it at least) it can be considered assult with a bodily fluid...really gross...just think of the diseases you can aquire from ones bodily fluid

There is NO excuse for this type of behavior AT ALL...maybe an appropriate punishment (IF they are found guilty) would be to line all of these "kids" up along a wall and allow patients with known infectious diseases to spit on them repeatedly. Sorry if this offends some people, but spitting on another human being for any reason offends me (unless you are giving the "gift" back to someone who is so disrespectful)....what comes around goes around.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I made the overweight comment. I am someone who has struggled with weight and eating issues myself. When I see overweight children I feel bad for them, because I know kids can be mean and I am sure that can be very difficult. I do not look at all overweight kids and think badly of their parents. I do agree that genes play a part in it.

I made the comment in this situation because other things, along with the weight, would give me those feelings. The fact that all three were overweight and the father was not serving as a positive role model is what would lead me to the stereotype that he was failing his kids. Do you think he wasn't?

Anyone who would allow their kids to act that way was failing them. Once the spitting started, I wouldn't need an extra pound to tell me that. If they were thin, I would have felt the same way you did. (And I think you would have, too) If you had seen a family of the same weights, but dressed nicely, with big smiles, behaving kindly and appropriately, I'm pretty sure you would not consider that father to be a bad role model, I think it was just one more thing that added to things in your head, probably due to unconscious reasons.
However, I see where you're coming from - you've been "there" (as I have) and you feel like parents should pass along healthy habits to their kids as part of being a positive role model. It didn't come across that way earlier, but adding in your personal experience makes a difference to me. Thanks for coming back to clarify. It shows good character, IMO.

 

[SnackyStacky]

Yeah - we're done with this one.