More overuse of Tasers — this time at Coachella

 Posted by on 24 April 2009  Modern Life, NSFW
Apr 242009
 

I’m no gigantic fan of public nudity, but it’s pretty de rigeur at large music festivals. I’ve seen penises walking around at Winnipeg Folk Festival, for example. Mostly, they’re attached to harmless types like the guy in the video above.

Something about him rubs the police the wrong way, though. I’m of the opinion that part of the definition of “criminal behaviour” should be “causing harm” and it’s hard to see what the harm is in letting this guy continue to go nude.

When he refuses to get dressed, though, it’s physical force, then electric shocks.

I don’t think it’s out of the question that he ‘s be on some kind of drug — a risk factor for Taser death. Plus they kneel on his chest and at one point appear to clasp fingers around his windpipe.

But what’s particularly alarming is how extensively the cops apply the Taser on this guy’s chest — over his heart — and near his head, after he’s down. Those are both HUGELY dangerous — and should be clear no-no’s in the Taser handbook.

This just seems like yet another case of the Taser being deployed as a police version of the Staples Easy Button.

(hat tip to Boing Boing, where one of the 200+ comments was “would [it] have gone down anything like this, had it been a beautiful woman choosing to be naked at coachella, rather than a portly man. i suspect not.” The answer, a few comments later: “No one harassed any of the topless women, or the dude wearing the Borat swimtrunks with his balls hanging out.”)

Grant Hamilton

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Amy Breen

    Disturbingly, most of the comments I’ve seen about this story have been in the vein of, “oh, look at the silly hippy getting tasered, har har.”

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    That or “OMG! Small penis!” … both of which are unfortunate and juvenile distractions from what could be at least two different discussions here:

    1) Acceptability of public nudity and/or public drug use, especially in an alternative venue where the social acceptance of such appears to be, um, high.
    2) The response of the police in the video above, and in general, what they should do when the community they’re policing doesn’t appear to endorse the rules they’re enforcing.

  • Juel

    How unfortunate, looks like the only people bothered by his nudity were the police.
    It also bothers me the contnued tasering when he is on the ground…sad.

  • Stumpy

    Holy excessive force, Batman. So, are tasers an excuse not to cuff a guy, take him to the drunk tank, and slap him with a fine for public nudity? It’s interesting that the officers violated so many safety guidelines – taser companies and police departments would rather have us believe that officers are trained extremely well on techniques of Staples Easy Button deployment with little risk to the poor guy on the ground.

  • http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com Villager

    Many of us are participating in a Day of Blogging Justice against the type of flippant taser use by police shown at Coachella.

    I invite your blog readers to see what I had to say about taser torture in America and sign online petition seeking congressional hearings.

    peace, Villager