Those Badgers fans can be stubborn. Margaret Hiebing went to a Madison football game to watch the Badgers and found another person sitting in her seat so she sat in someone else seat. She would end up tasered and in a wheelchair.
Wisconsin was playing Penn State and the stadium was packed. When police confronted Hiebring, she refused to move. When they threatened her with pepper spray, the crowd turned ugly and started abusing the police. They then forced Hiebing face down on the ground and tased her on the back of the leg. She was put into a wheelchair because she was unable to walk and carted out of the stadium.
Pretty harsh treatment given the fact that Iowa fans that day were having sex in bathrooms. There seems a distinct difference in the experience of a Hawkeye versus a Badger game these days.
For the full story, click here
Don’t speak on the use of a taser unless you have been trained. A taser is actually less lethal then a baton strike. It only last 5 seconds and the pain is over. Plus there is no broken bones or bruises left. Alot has changed since 1991 anyways. People use to have respect for police officers. Now instead of just being cooperative and moving along like the police officer asks, the public has to question everything. If you’re in the wrong seat or did something wrong, except the punishment like a man and move along. And where did you work. Probably some small town where people still have respect for law enforcement, not a big city where nobody respects the police.
Seems the cops are scared….If you want to be a cop…have some guts….diplomacy…humanity…are you a peace officer…or instigator….cops don’t dissfuse situations anymore, they make them worse….and if you don’t do everything….y0our done….it’s this way because we let them get away with it (it’s a tough job)…WELL DON’t’ TAKE THE JOB UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO HANDLE THE RESPONSIBILITIES….. What are these chicken shits afraid of…(beating up and tasering older women), they got all the power and the force,and back-up…they do what they want because we let them…want to be a cop….BE A GOOD ONE
I retired as a police officer in 1991. During my time as an active road officer I struck an offender only once, just to get his hand off my arm. (death grip). I wrestled with many people during my time as a police officer. I never wished I had a taser for any of my arrests. What I wished for was help restraining the person, nothing more. If I had a taser I may have used it for my self defence or against someone who had a knife or a club. I believe a taser is one step down from using a gun. I would never use a taser against someone just because they would not listen to me. The use of tasers have given substandard police officers the easy way out. They no longer need to try and reason with an offender or try and talk to them. Police officers have become the “my way or the highway” type, not wanting to use their brains. With the use of tasers and the Gestapo appearances of the “new” officers God help us.
ok really people, tasers are not deadly weapons at all. Would you rather a police office come running into a crowded public setting gun cocked and drawn? That is a more dangerous maneuver. So all you little liberals trying to ride the gravy train with biscuit wheels and have the government do everything for you, please stop worrying about “human rights.” If you do what the police say, you will not get tasered. You have no right to resist arrest or disobey the commands of a public official so stop complaining. Imagine yourself as the cop, millions of thoughts are running through your head. Does this man have a weapon, will he charge us or others? Just shut up and let the police do the job they are hired to do.
TazeMeAgainisAnIdiot: No, I do not think every Taser incident published is okay. However, these sites only blow everything up against the officers and there is never balanced reporting. While video is great, it does not tell the whole story. People do not understand this. Many cops don’t either. Some cops will spout off their mouths to family and friends about what they see on video and they don’t have the whole story either. I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF THUGS WITH BADGES — I AM TOTALLY AGAINST THAT.
The biggest issue that people don’t understand with the Taser is that in general, it is a safe weapon. They also don’t understand that the law doesn’t demand that an officer use the least amount of force necessary… only that the force was reasonable. The Supreme Court knows that police officers have a very hard job when it comes to use of force. They have to make decisions that are “tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving…”
The majority of the public doesn’t want the job. They often consider police to be a necessary evil. While the life expectancy of the average American male continues to rise, the life expectancy of the American police officer keeps going down. There is a 20 year difference in the two.
Rich from Boston: There is no guarantee of a weapon being “non-lethal.” The term is “less lethal.” Accidents happen all the time. When you act like an ignorant a__hole to the police, you risk something happening. As a matter of fact, if you act like that to the general public, you risk something happening!
Police are not paid to sacrifice their health, safety, and well-being for idiots. These tools the lucky ones are provided with are to help them not have to put their hands on people and fight every time someone wants to be a moron. There are too many injuries and biological exposure hazards to deal with these days. DO YOU WANT TO DO THE JOB? Most agencies cannot get enough decent people to even APPLY for the job anymore because dealing with the public has become so nasty. (Of course, this isn’t everywhere, 24/7… common sense applies.) And yes, there are bad apples in EVERY job.
Losing our minds? Why, because we think that police should be protecting and serving the public rather than acting like a bunch of gun happy thugs? Police are and should be held to a higher standard…otherwise, why have them around? Walk in their shoes? I come from a family of soldiers and cops son, but nobody in my family is a thug with a badge. Cops tazing 82 year old women is cool with you? If you can’t handle a 52 or 82 year old woman, you shouldn’t be a cop. You are an idiot, and need to be taken off the streets (since you are apparently a cop who thinks this crap is ok).
TazeMeAgain IS RIGHT ON. You people have no clue until you have done THE JOB! BEEN THERE DONE THAT… thank you very much!
Somebody please use the tazer on “taze me again”
You all are losing your minds. How about this for a thought? If you don’t disobey the police officers little orders, you won’t get TAZED/BEAT/OC sprayed in the face????? You all think you know everything. Walk a mile in the their shoes, then you can judge. Matter of fact, walk 5 steps in their shoes. Of course you wont. You would much rather monday morning quarterback. The public be damned.
Simple put, the Taser was introduced as a non-lethal alternative to a gun. So the question every police officer and armed security guard should ask themself is “would I use a bullet in this situation?” if the answer is “No”, the answer is then “No” for the Taser too.
The tasered football fan and her husband have filed suit against the State of Wisconsin. From Mike Miller’s story in the Capital Times:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/435786
Kowalski, the notice of claim says, “did not check the tickets; in fact, (did) nothing to rectify the situation in response to (Roman’s) request.”
“Without provocation, Kowalski then grabbed (Margaret’s) hair, pulling it backwards,” and threatened to spray Margaret with pepper spray, the filing says. Kowalski then called six other officers to the area, and they in turned grabbed Margaret and started hauling up the stairs, the notice of claim says.
……..
There was a petition signed by at least 24 witnesses including the young man who took the video, stating that they believed the police behavior was inappropriate. Of note, officer Kowalski is a woman. The officers remind me of an African hybrid bee swarm. It only takes one release of venom, and the rest of the hive attacks without mercy.
‘These weapons are not safe and are not harmless. They need to either be used more widely or banned entirely.’
****
Huh???
The need is for them to be used, safely and effectively, by law enforcement personnel who are trained members of Crisis Response Units, if at all.
http://extralaw.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
Federal Court Jury Awards 6.2 Million Dollars in TASER-Related Death
A Federal Court Jury returned a verdict late Friday in the amount of $6,221,000.00 against TASER International Inc., for the wrongful death of a 40-year-old Salinas, California, man.
San Jose, CA (PRWEB) June 8, 2008 — A Federal Jury returned a verdict late Friday afternoon in the amount of $6,221,000.00 against TASER International Inc., for the wrongful death of a 40-year-old Salinas, California, man, who died following repeated shocks from three TASER electronic control devices (“ECDs”).
The jury of five women and two men found that TASER International knew or should have known that its M26 model ECD was dangerous because prolonged exposures to the device pose a substantial risk of cardiac arrest to persons against whom the device is deployed. The jury also found that TASER International failed to adequately warn purchasers of its device of the risks associated with its use. It awarded the parents of Robert Heston $1,000,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000,000.00 in punitive damages. The jury also awarded Heston’s estate $21,000.00 in compensatory damages and another $200,000.00 in punitive damages. However, it also found Robert Heston 85% comparatively negligent for the incident which ultimately resulted in his death. Only the compensatory damage award will be reduced by his percentage of comparative negligence.
On February 19, 2005, Robert C. Heston began acting erratically inside his family’s Salinas, California home. Believing his son might be under the influence of drugs, Heston’s father called the police reporting his son’s bizarre behavior and asked them for help in removing his son from the home. Officers from the Salinas Police Department responded to the Heston home and confronted Mr. Heston. Three police officers used their TASER ECDs repeatedly subjecting Mr. Heston to nearly 75 seconds of continuous TASER discharges as other officers attempted to handcuff Heston on the living room floor. While being subjected to the TASER discharges, Heston suffered a cardiac arrest causing irreversible brain damage. He was removed from life support the following day and died shortly thereafter.
In their lawsuit, Heston v. City of Salinas, et al., N.D. Cal. Case No. C 05-03658 JW, Heston’s parents alleged that TASER ECDs are unreasonably dangerous and defective for use on human beings because they are sold without adequate testing and without sufficient warning about the effect of multiple shocks for extended durations, particularly on people who are under the influence of drugs. They further claimed that the weapon, when used repeatedly, causes cardiac arrests and unnecessary deaths.
I think all tasers should be taken from the police. They seem to be abusing the use of them left, right and center. take away the tasers now!
LindyLou,
That was a very interesting article. Good argument for citizen video. It’s scary when the police flat out admit they used the taser just to cause pain and over a stadium seat. If they think that’s exculpatory evidence, well, I’m nervous!!!
Let me tell you how glad I am you posted this. I was a little amused because I had understood a slightly different story regarding this incident, and I just assumed that Alex Jones was jazzing up his version a little bit. And then I saw the video.
Here is an excerpt from the version in the Badger Beat, mostly provided by the UW Police themselves.
“The brawl between the Hiebings and the cops started when too many people were trying to sit in Row 69 of Section U on the stadium’s east side, said UW police Sgt. Jason Whitney.
“We asked her to go to her seat because she was sitting in the aisle,” Whitney said. “We made attempts to contact guest services to help her to her seat, but that didn’t happen, so our policy is if you’re not in your seat, you get ejected.”
Other fans also seated in the aisle cleared out after many in the stands complained about the congestion, Whitney said.
“Fans even moved down in the row so she could sit down, but she refused,” Whitney said.
“When we were trying to place handcuffs on her, she started kicking and screaming,” Whitney said. “That’s when one of the officers discharged a Taser weapon on her.”
The Taser was used in the “drive stun” mode, meaning the propellant cartridge was removed and the Taser held against the body to cause pain without incapacitating the person, instead of firing projectiles from a distance to demobilize a suspect.
Whitney said the department will conduct a “use of force” review about the discharging of a Taser, but no disciplinary action has been taken against the officer.
Three officers were slightly injured in the fracas, mainly from kicks from the arrested parties.
The Hiebings were the only two fans involved in the fight.
And no, they weren’t drunk.
“They both blew zero blood alcohol content,” Whitney said. ”
Officer Whitney is full of self-serving bull, as one can see in the glaring differences between his story and the story of more credible witnesses with nothing to hide or gain by coming forward with the truth.
I have more than a passing interest in this, since I work for UW Hospital, and the campus police are our first responders. I’m really seeing this a different way.
The police would be in trouble if they beat her with a billy club. A taser gun is no different. I am amazed that police get away with this.
I am tired of all of these crazy taser incidents. It is time to put that deadly weapon away for good. The overreaction by the police and security personnel seems to be exploding in growth. These weapons are not safe and are not harmless. They need to either be used more widely or banned entirely.