Nate, you are SO right! There is no way police could have considered shooting a 14 year old in the back with a traditional gun instead of continuing to run after him. (That happens too, but it attracts more attention in the news.)

In many cases, shooting someone with an electrocution device is just as dangerous as shooting them with a gun. If someone is on a ledge threatening to jump and you shoot him with an electrocution device, you may as well shoot him with a gun. The result is the same.

And yet, there are SO many cases when police kill members of the public with electrocution devices where guns would clearly have been out of the question and even hitting them with a baton would smack of police brutality.

That CRAP about the electrocution device being an alternative to shooting someone is just a testilying rationalization, like the fear that causes police to shoot people in the back when they're handcuffed and face down on the ground.

There is NOTHING that compels us to buy into this bullshit about electrocution devices being a safer alternative to a gun. The same could have been said of the whips that were used on slaves (safer than shooting them) but that's not the only criteria. If it were, then you could also say that shooting someone with a gun for speeding was better than drowning them in a tank of battery acid. The fact that there is a worse alternative does not make all lesser alternative appropriate.

Another criteria in my mind is that the force used not involve an unreasonable risk of serious injury to the member of the public who has caught the attention of police. That's the test the police so often fail, and comparing lesser failures to shooting someone in the back doesn't prove that all lesser overreactions are appropriate uses of force.
Francis L. Holland | Homepage | 08.11.09 - 12:22 am | #

Police Brutality Blog

Electrocuted While Black


Electrocuted While Black
Francis L. Holland | Homepage | 08.11.09 - 12:27 am | #

Thanks for stopping by Francis! I'm always glad for your input.

"The fact that there is a worse alternative does not make all lesser alternative appropriate."

Amen to that. It's telling that when you talk to a taser fanboy or police apologist, red herrings abound. To me, that speaks volumes about the firmness of the ground they're speaking from.
n8 | Homepage | 08.13.09 - 9:29 am | #