by matttbastard
h/t pale via IM.
Update: r@d@r, bumped from comments:
i’m disturbed by a whole separate issue here, upon viewing the video – the shoppers that just walked by a woman lying on the floor near the entrance with a security guard over her, without slowing down or even turning to look.
what is wrong with these people? was the promise of the unbearable ecstasy of holiday shopping enough to drug them out of their basic human compassion and decency?
sometimes i wonder how our species will survive – and sometimes i wonder if it deserves to.
bastard.logic 
But mattt, she BACKED AWAY! Even AFTER the officer THREATENED to TASER her for acting SUSPICIOUS! If that’s not the definition of combative, violent, and non-compliant, I don’t know what is.
Tasers. Goddamned torture toys for kids on powertrips masquerading as “officers of the peace.” I don’t know what’s scarier – that taser-use policy is so broad, vague, and reflexive, or that there are so many thugs in police forces willing to use the bloody things as soon as someone answers anything other than “how high” when an officer says “jump.”
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Wow… if someone can get tasered for that, then you can get tasered for anything. It’s time to ban these things because they have no place in civil society, especially in the hands of certain police officers who are high on their own egos (i’m not saying all police officers are like that, but we have all come across some who are).
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I agree, Cam. And we also need to reevaluate and reorganize the priorities of law enforcement officials and society at large.
Because it’s not just the device in question that has no place in civil society. The notion that law enforcement agencies are justified to use any purportedly “necessary” means to achieve compliance and control–obedience at all costs–also needs to be purged. Police (and government in general) are granted limited authority (not absolute power–a key distinction) to serve and protect the general public.
That questioning authority (eg, the Utah incident, protests like Montebello or anti-war activism, journalists covering the actions of law enforcement officials) is now grounds for arrest or even a violent response–and that some in the general public have begun to accept the idea of unquestionable state authority as the way things are–is, to me, a disturbing trend (creeping fascism, etc).
edited slightly for clarity
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If you knew this woman it might make more sense. She has a very abusive mouth and gets wildly angry and lashes out at people in a way that really makes you think she would do anything, including get violent. Beeland is not a stable person. She can be scary. I have been verbally abused by her personally and I felt that she would hurt me if she could. Maybe the cop felt that too, who knows, I wasn’t there. Plus, little detail, she doesn’t have any kids.
I do agree about the other shoppers, that was truly weird.
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Put it to you this way… I dated her for 5 yrs in my twenties… It was a long 5yrs and she does have some issues, I agree with pantsdiva on the lashes out comment, however, the police officer was in the wrong… The constitiution of the United States protects free speech.. No laws against throwing verbal assaults.. Ms. Beeland or Mrs. Whoever… did not think she had kids as well, will be a millionaire over this one… Bottomline the Daytona Beach Police need to use better judgement… Call for back up and detrmine situation before acting…
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