Police Brutality

Two Nottinghamshire Police officers arrested a 40-year-old man coming out of a nightclub. They alleged that he assaulted a police officer and tried to resist arrest but none of that is shown on the video. Instead, what we see are two coppers standing over a downed man and one using a Taser to administer a 50,000-volt shock on to him, then kick the man while the other cop tries to force his hand behind his back. Two more coppers grab the man’s legs, the man is subdued and not resisting, but the cop again unnecessarily Tasers the man. Then one of the other coppers punches him repeatedly in the head.

If there was a need for further evidence that the police shouldn’t be armed with tasers this is it. But this is entirely predictable. Taser are an ineffective and unpredictable weapon. It’s impossible to know what will happen when you Taser someone but if all goes well and they don’t die from the initial shock, they should recover in seconds. So if they were a threat before they’re a still a threat afterwards, and you can bet that is what those coppers will be arguing during the investigation. What that incident shows is that police don’t use Taser for self-defence they use it as an instrument of torture. It also shows that Taser are utterly useless for forcing compliance.