Taser Brutality in Salt Lake City Courtroom

[imrightyourwrong4eva]

I dont get it.... 5 men against one... and they taze him because they cant get cuffs on him... wow... I would be screwed... i have a shoulder problem right now... cant get my left arm back all the way... would i have been tazed too... in that case a one armed man would just be shot im guessing... because we all know you 5 big strong men against one slightly foulmouth angry but logical man couldnt have just walked him to another room to cool off... cuffs were realy needed.

[TruthInjector]

This very old man was trying to have his say regarding some terrible wrong that had been done to him. A decent and civil justice would have given him a clear statement of warning. He was clearly complying with the arrest and not fighting. He was simply making a clear statement that he had been further wronged. They shot so much electricity through him that they put him into a coma. It is a terrible crime of repression and torture.

[worldblogger911]

@TruthInjector, thank you for commenting. Sadly, everything you wrote is exactly right. The professor never got a chance to finish reading his complaint against BYU, the bad guys never got punished, and the judge and the bailiffs took advantage of their judicial immunity and kept their jobs. The professor, on the other hand, can never work again, as his brain is half damaged. I wonder how many of the players in this fiasco of a lawsuit can sleep at night.

[TruthInjector]

Really sick. From the standpoint of Utah we all saw a very extensive support of Bush/Cheney by these people, supposedly Christian but they couldn't have read one single word of Jesus' vital messages to us. This was a terrible crime against all of us. Reconsider any pending vacations in Salt Lake City.

[superlativeOFgood]

Five men holding one isn't enough, you have to shock him??

[Garudanime]

fk usa, sick minds...

[lawnsausages]

Cracks me up when people bitch about tasers. Before tasers they used nightsticks and if that didn't subdue the induvidual they got shot! I'm sure that a blast from a taser is no fun but 99% of the time they work as designed with no permanent damage whereas a beating from a nightstick is going to fuck you up possibly for life.

[Philip02K]

@lawnsausages People with mental illness often have cardiac complications.

[chrstman]

Boy, it seems cops really get-off on tasering people.

[ltrich50]

@613maccabee try and follow along: This whack job defied a judges lawful order to stop using profanity in his courtroom. The deputies were ordered to take him into custody and he resisted.

As for the coward remark, I've worked in jails and penal institutions for most of my adult life. Have you? No, sitting on your ass playing a first-person shooter and picking your fat ass doesn't count.

[worldblogger911]

@ltrich50, I think you are missing the point. The man was not resisting, neither is he a criminal. There was absolutely no reason for the bailiffs to use their tasers eight times. Please do not take this the wrong way, but your experience in penal institutions adds no valuable insight in this case simply because it isn't applicable. The professor is a law-abiding citizen who was trying to sue some mormon leaders who abused their power and ultimately cause his mental breakdown.

[bubthegreat1]

@worldblogger911 The guy was verbally angry and it was escalating. The judge thought it best to call it a day, and let the guy cool off, which was a prudent call if you listen to the guy's tone. Once the judge orders the man arrested, whatever force is needed to arrest him is used. Whether it was a bad call or not, it's NOT on the officers that were following the judge's order, but on the judge IF it was deemed a bad call. Officers are protected because they were following a judge's order.

[Philip02K]

That judge is one of the most corrupt, bribe takers in UTAH. I have the ulimate justice for those deputies. Swim with the fishes under the east river.

[Laid2Rest6661]

@ltrich50 You are clearly extremely uneducated and have an extremely fucked up sense of right and wrong. Go back to school.

[ltrich50]

@Laid2Rest6661 Isn't it interesting that I am the one with a f@cked up sense of reality when I am the only one who understands the meaning of a lawful order given by a judge in a courtroom. I do hope I'm in the courtroom when you and the worldblogger decided to resist arrest and they light you up with 50K volts. Give it a try. Please.

[gobbly1337]

@ltrich50 yeah, I don't see where you make the call that he was resisting. Just because someone disobeys a judges order doesn't mean he is fair game to taze, or really go beyond the actions necessary to put him in cuffs. He easily let his hands be placed behind his back, he wasn't straining, and was surrounded by 5 officers who all seem to be trying to grab him in the same place together, but can't figure out why they can't get a guy not resisting in cuffs...

[613maccabee]

ALL COPS INCLUDING DEPUTIES AND BAILIFS ARE COWARDS.

THE ENEMY OF THE CONSTITUTION IS A DOMESTIC ONE. OUR FIGHT ON TERRORISM IS NOT WITH AL QUAEDA OR THE TALIBAN; IT IS WITH OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND THOSE APPOINTED TO OFFICE.

[whyberb]

quite sicken..he was obviously not violent and a humans naturally reaction to being manhandle by that many men would to be resist....im sure they made him pay for the medical bills

[worldblogger911]

@whyberb Yes, saving face is more important than justice in Utah. This BYU professor (the plaintiff) is just one of the victims of the system. Both the judge and the bailiffs claimed some courtroom immunity, so the man had to not only pay for his hospitalization and treatment after the accident but for an on-going treatment ever since. Power makes people not care; it erodes their scruples.

[gearzone2611]

When the government is right, you are wrong! When the government is wrong, it means right! So people, this is Not about a person being tased. It is about your freedom. Its quite obvious the judge is a lying cheating crook enforcer, and the so called "policemen" are a bunch of gulags, ustashis, gestapos, etc.. America is heading to a totalitarian country, where every rights of freedom is being silence.

[sabonisrules]

Wow those courtroom cops were a GIANT BAG OF PUSSIES.

[ltrich50]

Boo hoo, some nutball got a zot. Next time don't be an ass to a judge.

[worldblogger911]

Even when the judge is an ass who mistakenly thinks his robe gives him the power to trample over people's lives with no regard to facts? Come on. Wake up. Learn something about the world.

[ltrich50]

@worldblogger911, you tell me to learn about the world? I suppose if this mentally unhinged man would have whipped out a gun and started popping rounds at innocent people, that would be perfectly all right?

Tell me you aren't that big an idiot, ace. And no, the deputies DID NOT KNOW if the man did not have a weapon before they tased him. That's why when he bowed up, he got to ride some lightning. Try it sometime the next time you get pulled over and see how it ends.

[worldblogger911]

@ltrich50 If you have ever been in a courtroom you would know that people are searched for weapons before they enter. Of course it would not be okay if that man started shooting at innocent people, but he was not even violent. All he said was "bullshit." Following your logic, it would be okay for bailiffs to taser ANYBODY, just because they are not sure if the person will do something or not. How would you feel if they taser you for no other reason but because you seemed unbalanced to them?

[ltrich50]

@worldblogger911, this man was NOT subdued because he was "Mentally unhinged" They were ordered to remove the man from the courtroom because he breached the decorum of the court and resisted lawful arrest. I know your sympathy for the "victim" here clouds your thinking, (not to mention your hatred of the justice system), but when you refuse to move after you've been cuffed is resisting. Cry if you must for this man's plight but he got what he deserved.

[613maccabee]

@ltrich50 How the fuck are you supposed to move when you are being tazed and hand-cuffed.

[613maccabee]

@ltrich50 He was standing up for his rights; something that you would never do.

[rewirewi]

U know life was so boring before the taser, i just dont know what i did.

[moh1612]

He got owned by da taserrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

[GDelva2003]

he's faking it. he is not unconscious

[worldblogger911]

Oh, he was totally out. I have read the medical reports. The police report also doesn't dispute this. The man nearly died. I am not sure if this has to do with the medication he was on at that time, but tasers can be lethal, as we've seen in a number of cases.

[jurcag]

unneccesary cop brutality! And US called them selfs democratic conutry ... Ya u wish faaaaaar away

[BigDickCheney]

Animals.

[mrstarbuck]

Fuck the police. Fucking Nazis

[perfectson]

I believe the cops in this situation reacted "stupidly"

[MeritisDE]

Bust up the union label! The FOP that is!

[VJnumber1]

Well, this does seem like one of those "Catch 22" moments.

Maybe this tape will attract some lawyer from another state to aid. I think the main angle to pursue is the court's lack of restraint in using lethal force, very spectacular example of that here. Whatever the guy's orignial beef was with the judge is perhaps only symptomatic of a minor problem -the court's inability to be perfect arbiters. They're only human, but this tasering was inhuman, and it's a growing epidemic.

[VJnumber1]

If they had just let the guy finish his statement and blow off steam everything would have been fine. They did not have to escalate the situation. You can see they pounced on him like they couldn't wait to try out their tasers, like it's a big kick for them to push the envelope of their power against this bi-polar guy. Really creepy. Just because he said "bullshit", and the context was perhaps not an exageration.

[worldblogger911]

And what's creepier is that the professor (Dr. Lowery) couldn't find a lawyer to help him (lawyers don't like to sue judges, as this may have a negative impact on their careers). The latest news from the litigation is that Dr. Lowery was denied his pro-se claims because he didn't formulate them correctly!!! Mentally disabled plaintiffs should be allowed to make mistakes, but apparently the judges have stopped caring about justice.

[FCBSERIS]

fucking pigs die!

[nottsfhj]

tasered for saying bullshit?

[soawesome]

Tasers are great, they punish people for being fuckheads with little risk to the officers.

[VJnumber1]

tasers are crap, and their use escalates simple misunderstandings or, in many cases, ego problems of the cops themselves into cold blooded torture and murder. It reminds me of the use of lobotomies and shock treatment in the 50ies. It's sick.

[VJnumber1]

The idea of a new weapon that is less dangerous than a gun was moving in a good direction, but the reality is that hotheaded cops treat innocent suspects like criminals, and they get trigger happy when the innocent citizen gets sassy for being....well...innocent! In this case, the guy even had a note from his doctor, and he was not threatening anybody. He was even perhaps reacting rationally to an irrational provocation, we don't know the full story here. No police states, thank you.

[ZejithThemis]

torture tools for psychos, nothing more.

[VJnumber1]

They could have easily killed this guy and they may have given him a blod clot to the brain. The fact that these court clerks and the zombie judge are so impatient, so brutal, and so carefree about it is a pure horror. The tasers should be outlawed and the company should be sued out of existence. Everyone in this video should pay the guy they tazed at least 5 thousand dollars apiece to make up for what they did.

[worldblogger911]

I totally agree with you. The judge and the bailiffs (and I guess Utah state) should pay Dr. Lowery for damaging the professor's brain and nearly killing the man. But how much does a brain cost? A lot more than a few thousand dollars.

[Sh2theB]

call EMS dick heads...............

[jonnanw]

Taser. Police Brutality for those too out of shape to use billy clubs.

[jrballe]

The police officers in this country are such cowards.

[Santino2k1]

6 officers and 1 guy. Your telling me they cant handle one guy with 6 officers? and they tazer him? Wow..

[worldblogger911]

Pathetic, isn't it...

I know you don't have to be brainy to become a bailiff, but apparently being in shape isn't required either.

[tkodawg9]

lol kill the bastard

[nobody8499]

only americans are enough stupid to legalize weapons like tasers..

[sammytav]

Right, and all the other countries that use them.

[jokerkiwi]

Thanks for posting this. Tasers are not used for the officers' "safety" but rather for coercion. And this is HOW THEY ARE TRAINED TO USE IT. It is a lie that tasers are used for self-defense. Cops are TRAINED to use it as a cattle prod.

Tasers should be banned. Taser International makes the bucks, cop thuggery increases and human rights go down the drain. The losers in this will always be the citizens.

[sammytav]

Gosh you are absolutely right, cops should just go to lethal force or brute physical force putting thier own selves in harms way. You know what, a shotgun beanbag sounds a whole lot better to the face of a scum bag then a simple 5 seconds of being tazed. Amen, yea lets ban them.

[jokerkiwi]

Where in this video are cops put in harm's way? You seem to have missed my point, and also the point of why this video has been posted on YouTube.

Cops are trained to use the taser NOT for self-defense but for coercion. There are plenty of instances on YouTube where tasers are NOT used in self-defense. Its a shame that you don't find that disturbing in the least.

[sammytav]

I'm glad you have shared your cop training with me. Now let me tell you how real life police officers are trained. They are trained to use tasers in self defense, when I went through training I even took a full 5 second hit. Tasers are the safest most effective non-lethal weapon and people like you should like the fact that law enforcement can use a taser instead of just upping the force level to lethal. But I guess people like you who have never had any real life experience just love complainin

[rogerpenna]

@sammytav

fuck you pig. You are defending the indefensible. You pigs are trained for one thing, but all these Taser videos prove something completely different!!!

[sammytav]

This video showed one incident out of the thousands in this country. I understand that you would rather have all the cops just up the level of force to lethal force. If it wasn't for tazers then many of your ilk would be dead.

[Frozin1234]

@sammytav Typical bull crap propaganda. Tazers are not NON LETHAL, they have killed. Secondly, they are not used in self defense, they are used to force compliance. Your nothing but a drone. We aren't as stupid as you wish us to be. Your the enemy.

[sammytav]

@Frozin1234 Where are all the deaths related to the tazer? The ones that the person wasn't already doped up on meth or crack? There are none. Your a moron. Like I said you would rather cops just either shoot people or beat the crap out of them wouldn't you. I understand you have a small, incoherent mind and I forgive you for being that way.

[salers2]

stop taser use now! taser international, the company who sells these devices to police/citizens are the ones who test the products. of course they are going to say their safe! cops use this as a first resort now. tasering women, children (yes its happened in florida!), unarmed people, elderly. what a bunch of sissy cops

[DingusStudley]

It takes 4 cops to cuff him, and they somehow STILL can't do it? They had to taser him to get the cuffs on? Wow. Whether or not it's brutality or misconduct, one thing is for sure, these cops suck at their jobs. 4 grown men should be capable of contrlling an old out of shape nut like this without the use of a taser.

[worldblogger911]

The Plaintiff was a former professor of political philosophy and jurisprudence at Southern Virginia University and an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University. He suffered from major depression, bipolar disorder, paranoia disorder, delusional disorder, and psychotic disorder. (1)

[worldblogger911]

The Plaintiff entered the Utah Third District courtroom alone on November 22, 2004, to make oral argument before Judge Anthony Quinn. Two deputy sheriffs sat at the back of the courtroom, others were in the foyer. No members of the public were present. (2)

[worldblogger911]

A couple of minutes into the hearing, Quinn granted one of the Plaintiff's motions made under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II, which allowed the Plaintiff reasonable modifications of court rules, policies, or practices in order to accommodate his multiple mental disabilities. (3)

[worldblogger911]

Near the end of his oral argument, the traumatic content of the argument moved the Plaintiff into mild mania, and he characterized a previous ruling by Quinn as "bullshit."

The video shows what happened next... (4)

[worldblogger911]

What it doesn't show is that the bailiffs then took the unconscious Plaintiff to the basement and threw him on the concrete floor on his back, which caused the handcuffs to dig into his wrists. The impact with the floor caused the Plaintiff to regain consciousness, and he heard the bailiffs taunting him. The Plaintiff also heard one bailiff using a walkie-talkie say, "Hey, this guy is a mental case!" The bailiffs then became silent. The Plaintiff lost consciousness again. (5)

[worldblogger911]

Paramedics took the Plaintiff to LDS Hospital, where he was awakened with a medical substance and had been handcuffed to his hospital bed and was in a state of cycling bipolar mania and major depression. While the doctor questioned the Plaintiff about the beating and the electric shocks, one of the deputies told the Plaintiff to shut up. (6)

[worldblogger911]

The police refused to allow the Plaintiff to phone his psychiatrist or his psychotherapist. The doctor induced the Plaintiff to sleep for some hours. When he woke up, the Plaintiff was in the presence of only the doctor and a new deputy sheriff who was very kind, and his last name was the same as the Plaintiff's. (7)

[worldblogger911]

The doctor wanted to put the Plaintiff in the hospital's psychiatric ward, but the policeman forbid it. The "nice" deputy took the Plaintiff to jail instead. He was released the same night; no charges were filed against him. (8)

[worldblogger911]

The Plaintiff has filed a criminal complaint with the United States Attorney for Utah, Brett Tolman, against the State of Utah, Utah Third District Court, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department, and Judge Anthony Quinn. (9)

[burnedandtortured]

How could any decent judge order such brutality against a mentally disabled litigant in what is clearly a civil case? The Americans with Disabablities Act, Title II,and the Fourteenth Amendment provide for damages and punitive damages for failing to accommodate this this litigant's mental disabilities in the courtroom. WHEN WILL THE POLICE BRUTALITY STOP?

[IPOMonster]

Quit your crying you stupid bleeding heart fuck.

This guy is a whacko and he deserved exactly what he got.

In fact, they should have shot his ass and done the world a favor...

[worldblogger911]

The man wasn't violent. He posed no threat to anyone in the courtroom. He was given no warning to what was coming.

[ericcartman321]

Police brutality effectively