Wait… what?
Today’s voice is Jared Massey’s from Utah.
I was merrily surfing around, catching up on the news when I came across a video that at first glance got me a bit confused. This video is about a man who was allegedly speeding and got pulled over, he asked to know how fast he was going and what the speed limit was since they (again, allegedly) had not passed a sign where the 40mph limit that the officer states was indicated. Now, the officer here seen does not respond to that and just keeps asking for license and registration, to which the man ultimately gives up and provides. The officer in question goes back to his cruiser to produce a ticket which the man refuses to sign, and at this point the officer gets him out of the car for “not complying with instructions”. Now, here’s the kicker: it’s not an african-american, a hispanic nor an asian… it’s your regular all-american blonde-haired Joe. After being thrown off for a moment, what happens next is the reason for this post.
Now, I may be wrong, but don’t you have a right to disagree whether to sign a speeding ticket or not? I believe that you can decide not to sign a speeding ticket and dispute it in court, since signing it would mean that you agree you were speeding. I’m not quite sure about that since I do not live in the states, so if someone has the correct information on the matter I’d be grateful to get a reply on that.
So our Joe (who you’ve inferred by now is Jared Massey, 28) got tasered by John Gardner, member of the Utah Highway Patrol. The reason provided by Gardner is that Massey failed to comply which is true to some degree: Massey did not comply at one point but an arrest for a situation that escalated because of the officer’s behavior is just downright wrong and an abuse of power which was used without the proper responsibility/wisdom in my opinion. You already saw the video, so let’s fast forward to the arrest. The officer arrests our Joe but does not read him his rights even when Massey demanded to have his rights provided which I believe is legally mandatory at the time of arrest, is it not? Now, almost at the end of the video, another officer’s voice is heard discussing the event and when officer Gardner briefed officer X, we hear officer X replying “Good for you” to Gardner. Wait… what?
Up to this moment I do not know if Gardner has been reprimanded or even studied for that matter. The course of action taken was not an appropriate one and should be analyzed since officers work for the people who sometimes step out of line, but even when they do there are different ways to get them back in and I hardly believe this was a right one (despite officer X’s approval); if officer Gardner had handled the situation with knowledge in hand, he could’ve easily gotten Massey to comply (of course, we’ll never know if Massey’s intention was honest to just know or if he would not have complied after knowing…). On the other hand, we don’t even know if officer Gardner really just pulled him over blind without a radar gun. A lot of ifs, but not enough if you ask me.
Take care and misbehave.
Source: Fark
Tags: arrest, cop, gardner, highway, joe, massey, officer, officer x, patrol, speeding, taser, ticket, uhp, utah
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
November 22, 2007 at 10:58 am
Instead of walking away from the cop just stop when he told him to. Pretty easy.
December 6, 2007 at 4:06 am
In Utah, signing a ticket is not an admission of guilt. Signing a ticket in Utah is merely a promise to appear at the appointed place within the designated time frame.
When you appear as directed on the ticket, you then enter a plea (guilty/not guilty/no contest) and pay the fine if you plead guilty or no contest. If you plead not guilty, you then go home without paying anything and wait for a letter that tells you when your court date is.
Now, when a person refuses to sign a ticket, the officer has two choices. He can either write “refused to sign” on the ticket and give the driver his copy or he can arrest the driver and take him before a judge right away. If the driver refuses to sign, a bench warrant is issued in the amount of the fine and the cops will show up later with the warrant demanding payment or arrest.
Anyway, in Utah, the best course to avoid a speeding fine if you feel you were in the right is to simply sign the ticket, appear at the designated location, and enter a “not guilty” plea. More than half of the traffic court judges in Utah are actually quite sympathetic toward drivers that assert their right to trial. Usually, you get a reduced fine just by contesting the ticket. If you do well at trial or if the cop that gave you the ticket fails to appear, you get acquitted and it never shows on your driving record.
January 12, 2008 at 9:12 pm
He should’ve signed the paper and taken his argument to the court about the ticket. Why escalate things by arguing and refusing orders from an officer? Especially to walk away (with hand reaching in pocket) while an officer has a taser gun pulled and gives an order to turn around. Did he think the officer wouldn’t really fire? He should accept that his resistant behavior [from the start] alarmed the officer and escalated the entire incident. Next time he’s pulled over 4 speeding, hope he makes a wise choice.
June 2, 2008 at 5:22 am
Why did the DRIVER escalate things??? Why did the OFFICER escalate things by pulling him out of the car for refusing to sign a ticket??? Why not just put refused and let him go on his way?
And the excuse that the guy had his hand in his pocket….the guy had his hand in his pocket the whole time the cop was talking to him, but he then uses it as a piss poor excuse to tase him?!?!?!
Why tase him a second time, because he didn’t roll over fast enough after the first tasing?
How fast can you comply while being shocked???
The investigation was just grasping at ANYTHING to try to clear their boy….and they found an excuse….I guess a poor excuse is better than none.