Who's fault is it?

[Cowboy]

Personally I wouldn't mind removing the firearms and taser's from the police and go back to letting them sort things out with trunchens/knight sticks. Don't ming if idiots in a brawl end up with broken bones, just don't kill anyone.

How could a police officer ever be expected to make a decision like to Taser or not to Taser based on the word of a bystander who might or might not be related to the offender who currently is putting you in danger in that moment? If they had obeyed the law in the first place there would not have been a problem.

[Stone Cold]

A flying headbutt on a copper should automatically get a jail sentence. End of story.

[.X.]

A little off topic but......

A year or 2 ago in Victoria a 15 year old kid went off the deep end. Mad some mischief at a shopping centre and stole some knives. When confroted by Police the kid went nuts and charged the police - 4 Officers got off 13 shots (don't quote me on the numbers please) and the kid was dead.

The difference in the situation in WA is that WA Police are issued Tazers and Victorian Police are not.

This story was featured on 60 Minutes a week or 2 ago and praised the WA Police for having Tazers.

At the end of the day I believe that all Police Officers should be shown respect, for the uniform, the badge, and the job that they do.

[blueandblack]

...

At the end of the day I believe that all Police Officers should be shown respect, for the uniform, the badge, and the job that they do.

[Lonzy]

I just don't get how hard it is for people to take responsibility for their actions, seriously! It's not that hard!

there is a link here with the video footage from the night. (I couldn't see it because these stupid work computers are eviL!)

You can get up to 7 years for assualting a taxi driver but you get off scott free for asualting a cop... It just doesn't seem to weigh up! The WA justice system is a joke!

Ex I totally agree all cops should have the taser, that kid would still be alive today. But they want to spend their money on portable finger print scanners instead! to make it more convenient for people who get pulled over by cops, who cares about the cops protection?!

[zimeric]

Guys although i also believe they should have been convicted purely on the grounds of assaulting a police officer, i also believe the Police officers should be held accountable for their actions... Noone is above the Law.. and the one thing that seems to have been missed is that the Man that was Tasered suffered cardiac arrest ( i.e. he was DEAD) fortunately he was revived at the scene and as a result is currently still hospitalised...
Tasers are NOT non-lethal they carry enough current to be life threatening to some and this has to be taken into account in their use...

again, as i said i do not condone a flying headbutt (DUH!!) but based on what i've read the police also had the opportunity to deal with the situation differently and chose not to...

[Burgs]

You would wonder what the silly old goat was doing getting into the situation in the first place though...

[zimeric]

apparently they were initially trying to break up a fight between the Poms and another group of drunks... the Poms turned on them and that was when the police arrived... the police naturally dived in to break them up and the rest is history...

so the real question should be what did the Pommy painters say or do that got the good samaritans that angry that they retaliated... was it justified or was it simpply the alcohol talking.

[jargan83]

apparently they were initially trying to break up a fight between the Poms and another group of drunks...

according to what I have read from several sources it was initially the Painters and the McLeod's sons who were the parties involved in the disagreement

[zimeric]

fair enough - i will re-read the article that I got my info from as i might have mis-understood.

[Lonzy]

i also believe the Police officers should be held accountable for their actions... Noone is above the Law.. and the one thing that seems to have been missed is that the Man that was Tasered suffered cardiac arrest ( i.e. he was DEAD) fortunately he was revived at the scene and as a result is currently still hospitalised...
Tasers are NOT non-lethal they carry enough current to be life threatening to some and this has to be taken into account in their use...

So if everyone says to a cop oh my dad has a heart condition don't taser him... were would we be? The police still acted within their training, they were in a threatenig situation where there safety was in question, they warned the man that they would use the taser, so he shouldn't have resisted, by resisiting the cops had the right to taser him just because he suffered a cardiac arrest after the fact doesn't mean the cops acted outside of the law.

Why do so many people question the acts of police officers? it makes o sence to me unless you have proof of corruption or a history of neglect in your job, there should be no question. I want to join the police force to give back to the community and I'm sure thats why alot of others join, but to have their integrity scrutinised so often makes me wonder why should I even bother? but alas I have been working for this for a while so I'm not going to give up on it. the world may change by the time I join!

[zimeric]

So if everyone says to a cop oh my dad has a heart condition don't taser him... were would we be? The police still acted within their training, they were in a threatenig situation where there safety was in question, they warned the man that they would use the taser, so he shouldn't have resisted, by resisiting the cops had the right to taser him just because he suffered a cardiac arrest after the fact doesn't mean the cops acted outside of the law.

Why do so many people question the acts of police officers? it makes o sence to me unless you have proof of corruption or a history of neglect in your job, there should be no question. I want to join the police force to give back to the community and I'm sure thats why alot of others join, but to have their integrity scrutinised so often makes me wonder why should I even bother? but alas I have been working for this for a while so I'm not going to give up on it. the world may change by the time I join!

To be fair, you make a strong argument...I guess cops get a bad rep from the media and in the isolated cases that spring up showing blatant brutality and stupidity...
a certain clip of a cop tasering a motorist who walked away from him after being stopped for speeding and who was clearly in the right... comes to mind.

Thinking further into this though...
The police DO have the right to detain but they also have a duty of care and in the heat of the moment this duty of care took a back seat over the right to detain...
its the same reasoning that now forces police to break off a vehicle pursuit due to the danger that pursuit may create to the wider public and the offenders. they have a Primary duty of care over & above the right to detain or arrest.

im not saying i care for it but I understand it and until this changes you will continue to see cases like these pass through the courts with the perpetrators usually getting off lighter than they should...

[AndyS]

Why do so many people question the acts of police officers?

I understand your sentiments and will leave my own opinions regarding this case unspoken. However, there have just been too many deaths in custody and work for the Corruption and Crime Commission to allow this statement to go unchallenged. The acts of police officers sometimes positively demand questioning.

[welshrugbyfan]

To be fair, you make a strong argument...I guess cops get a bad rep from the media and in the isolated cases that spring up showing blatant brutality and stupidity...
a certain clip of a cop tasering a motorist who walked away from him after being stopped for speeding and who was clearly in the right... comes to mind.

Thinking further into this though...
The police DO have the right to detain but they also have a duty of care and in the heat of the moment this duty of care took a back seat over the right to detain...
its the same reasoning that now forces police to break off a vehicle pursuit due to the danger that pursuit may create to the wider public and the offenders. they have a Primary duty of care over & above the right to detain or arrest.

im not saying i care for it but I understand it and until this changes you will continue to see cases like these pass through the courts with the perpetrators usually getting off lighter than they should...

Pursuits have guidelines to follow and public safety is paramount, if the pursuit breaches the guidelines it is aborted, duty of care is a little different to this.

Duty of care is more along the lines of how you treat people. Detain usually means arrest and detain, or detain on suspicion of an offence. People don't get detained for no reason. The duty of care usually comes into effect once someone is arrested on suspicion or just arrested. For example treating an arrested person with respect, ensuring any medical conditions are met and so on.

You don't give a drunk driver his keys back and drive him back to his vehicle after he's been arrested for drink driving for example and tell him not to drive. Thats duty of care for example.

It's easy to critisice from an armchair.

[slomo]

if the feeling is so strong on this matter, what do you replace the jury system with ? trial by media.....