Taser trigger happy

Mercury News - In a span of 10 weeks last year, the officer seen on video shocking a San Jose State student with his taser gun used force in four separate incidents as he took people into custody for resisting arrest, a Mercury News investigation reveals. In one of the incidents, Steven Payne Jr. repeatedly used his taser and knee on a resident he said became belligerent when Payne stopped his car in front of the man's house to assist another officer issuing a citation to a passing motorist. ... Roger Clark, a registered use-of-force force expert and a former lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said, "If this is allowed to continue, then he becomes dangerous to himself and to others.'' ... [LINK]

See also the related post at Excited-Delirium.com. [LINK] Reportedly the cell phone video indicates that the student was not resisting.

NJ cop: "I can do whatever I want."

NJ police officer demands that CBS stop video taping. Then he starts arresting people. All for no apparent reason. [LINK]

My favorite quote is in the post title.

San Jose: Arrested (and beaten) for Resisting Arrest

An investigative article in today’s San Jose Mercury News [LINK] details how San Jose policing of street crimes has led to allegations of excessive force, false arrests and racial profiling. Specifically, the paper examined what it calls the high number of cases in which police charge people with resisting arrest, without a more serious charge. It found two things: these cases often involve force and frequently start with something innocuous, like police stopping a bicyclist traveling at night without a light. [LINK]

Around the nation, many departments closely monitor cases of resisting arrest because of a concern that the loosely defined crime is a "cover charge" used by errant cops to justify unnecessary force. San Jose police officials last month said, in response to Mercury News questions, that they were instituting a policy to begin tracking such arrests.