The case of the Napier man who died after being tasered twice, pepper sprayed and had a dog set upon him demands intense scrutiny.
10 cops dragging a man out of a car who may have been attempting to self harm himself shouldn’t end in a death regardless of how difficult the suspect was being.
Police Cheerleader Greg O’Connor has managed to sum up the arrogance that infects Police thinking with these comments…
“Hawke’s Bay Police were called upon in the early hours of Friday morning to attend such an incident. Those of us who were safe at home should refrain from criticising police actions until all facts are known.
“Those who felt the need to comment negatively on police actions should be aware of the impact of such comments on the individual officers and their families. The officers were at the scene doing the job expected of them.”
…and isn’t it that mentality that’s part of the problem? The whole, “we made a call and our call should never be questioned” mind set creates the very culture that thinks 10 cops on one person with tasers, pepper spray and dogs that lead to a death shouldn’t be criticised because we should just trust the cops?
Our authority worship is one of our least desirable national traits.
I heard the police on tv saying that “these officers should be allowed to move on with their careers”. That was said before any investigation has taken place. We all know what’s going to happen here, it will be move along ppl, there’s nothing to be seen here.
Isn’t he saying that knee jerk condemnation should be avoided until the facts are known?
For example for all we know the male was in the car, with a knife and was trying to stab himself in which case doing nothing would have resulted in his death anyhow and before tazers criminals with knives were routinely shot.
Even if the taser was found to have contributed to a pre-existing medical condition, any discussion should also take into account how many deaths have been avoided through use of the taser.
I think it goes deeper than that. 10 Police men vs 1 person in a car that required 2 taserings, pepper spray and a Police Dog? They only seem to have noticed he wasn’t resisting arrest when he was dead.
It is akin to the African American street vendor killed in New York when he was showed clearly on video, calling out for medical help while being manhandled roughly by several NY Police officers on the sidewalk.
The desperately poor man, was calling out to the police, “I cant breathe, I cant breathe, I cant Breathe six times until he collapsed and died.
Remarkably the police report investigation found “Nothing here was wrong, so brace yourself for another carbon copy sadly also in the Napier case.
Please don’t defend the police and their actions until you have the full story and the sad facts of the matter is that the way the system is designed is that the facts are always in favor of the police as it is not an independent investigation of what took place so how can the public be assured of the truth when the truth is left to the police who committed this act of aggression in the first place.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: New Zealand, you have a corrupt police force. You might think it is only those who are naughty (and brown) that need worry but sooner or later little hobbits, it’s gonna come right back and bite ya on the bum. I hope it bloody hurts.
Exactly JS BARK, but when it starts to affect them, its already to late.
Our police force seem to have a lot of bully boys in their ranks and I also think they get an adrenaline rush in situations like this and over react. Lack of training maybe? I always thought they were trained to take things calmly. On talk-back radio on Friday, a woman ran out of time to complete her call but was talking about an incident in the road outside her house where police were called, and when they arrived she got scared and ran away. She hid in her back garden and the police found her and assaulted her. At that stage Willie and Ali had to stop the show and asked her to call back next week. I hope she calls back to tell more as it sounded as though she wasn’t part of the incident they were called to. More of the same?
Sarah;
‘Alway’s thought they were trained to take things calmly’
Maybe that was yesterday,I am not sure, but in America I know they
can be truly aggressive. It’s shocking to see some of what’s
going on there.
Some say it’s like a police state and I do know that they are now
trained to use maximum force on anyone who attempts to argue with
them and does not carry out their instructions.
Part of the problem is the type of person they are recruiting now
and let’s face it,who would want to be a police officer nowdays
with all the alcohol and drug induced violence occurring.
From experience,what happens in the UK and USA sooner or later
happens here. Only now, it seems to happen sooner.
After all,we are all part of the Five Eyes club.
Cheers.
This may provide us with an answer to another ongoing public concern. We could solve the euthanasia controversy by simply empowering our cops to contract out to “put us to sleep.” It could make policing seem to serve the citizenry.
Was this guy a threat to the public at the stage he was “set on” by 10 police officers?
So why the heavy handedness?
The pepper spray?
The use of the taser?
The dog?
Seems a bit over the top to apprehend one man! Even more so if he was unarmed.
Did all this happen while the man was still in the confined space of his car?
If so, then this point alone brings into question the aggressive actions of 10 police officers, which seemed quite unnecessary.
This leaves the big question. How exactly did this man die?
Heart or asthma attack as a result of the taser and/or pepper spray?
Asphyxiation?
Was excessive force used, dragging the man by his neck from the car, as per recent US police tactics?
I have an awful gut feeling this issue and the cause of death will be covered up!
Mary A;
See my reply to Sarah above.
And yes, they know that they will be protected by their ‘brothers.’
Cheers.
Are they not still waiting for the outcome for a police shooting of a teenager down there?
Every cop must wear a body cam at all times and in cases such as this the footage must be made available to a truly independent investigator
Comments are closed.