I'm going to anyway.
There is a story in the Kitsap about a police officer who Tasered a guy earlier this week while said guy was using a 'baby as a human shield'. (Their choice of alarmist headline, not mine).
Reading through the story, I'm not 100% certain the police officer made the same decision that I would have...but it's tough not knowing everything that might have been going on.
First of all, what kind of parole violation was this guy on the hook for? Something violent?
Second, the story says he had a 'small child in tow', and that he picked up the 1-year old in an attempt to use "the child as a shield"...or maybe he just wanted to move faster than the child could walk.
Finally, the officer used the Taser again, at which time the 30-year-old "released the child carefully to the ground and lay face down"...which I need to call B.S. on...I've seen plenty of videos of people being Tasered, and not one of them looked like they could carefully release a child to the ground. It would be more like 'drop the child to the ground while trying not to soil yourself'.
I'm just not sure I would Taser someone holding a 1-year old for having a parole violation unless I felt there was an imminent risk to someone's health.
Now, if it turns out he was high on the meth from that pipe they found on him, I take it all back...
I like the idea of a taser, but the recharges/rounds/what-ever-you-call-them (R/R/WEYCT), are really expensive, and it is hard to practise with them, as even the practise R/R/WEYCT are expensive.
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