The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Utah Highway Patrol officer John Gardner. He gets the award for the following.



Dr. Steven Taylor at Poliblog sums things up nicely.

1) The officer is clearly of the opinion that the Mr. Massey should simply comply, no matter if Massey had legitimate questions. How about being professional and avoiding escalation? At worst, the officer could have simply noted on the ticket that Massey refused to sign–it isn’t as if that would obviate the charge. I will allow that it would have behooved Massey to be a calmer, but the notion that citizens aren’t allowed to ask questions of the police is absurd and anti-democratic.

2) The officer tases Massey without first giving a warning.

3) The officer later lies to his partner, as he says that he gave Massey a warning before tasing him, yet he did not.

4) The officer arrests Massey without reading him his rights. Indeed, even when Massey requests that he be read his rights, the officer refuses to do so.

5) The officer searched the Massey’s car without a warrant and sans probable cause (unless one takes a rather expansive view of “probable cause”).

One can fault Massey for trying to point out the speed limit sign, but there is nothing that Massey does that should require the use of the taser.

Also note how Gardner threatened Massey's wife. That was uncalled for. What crime had she committed to warrant being threatened with arrest? Oh she questioned his authority. That tells you exactly what was at play here.

Is the Utah Highway Patrol going to do anything about this rogue cop?

Massey filed a complaint with a local patrol office, according to Roden, the Utah Highway Patrol spokesman. Gardner has not been reprimanded for the incident and, Roden said, has not been disciplined for incidents in the past.

The department has a nine-page Taser policy, Roden said, and this is an incident that will be taken "very seriously."

It will get brushed under the rug rather than Gardner being fired for abusing his authority. Tasers can kill, this is just the most recent example. For being an out of control goon rather than a law enforcement officer, Utah Highway Patrol officer John Gardner is today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Linked to- Big Dog, Blue Star, Bright & Early, DragonLady, Leaning Straight Up, Rosemary, Third World County, The World According to Carl,