First of all, I think the taser was a bit excessive. My real question is why this man who I would assume knew he was in the wrong seat, decided that he didn't have to listen to OPD? Those guys don't mess around. I've been to Raider games, and everybody knows to comply with them.

I know this is a blog about police brutality, but seriously, if the 6' 1" 280 lb man doesn't want to move, how would you handle the situation if you were them? 

A blogger noted that the original "rationale" for issuing tasers is that they replace lethal force in situations where that's called for.

I suppose you people want to go back to the old days where they shot baseball fans for sitting in the wrong seat.

What?  They didn't?

Aside from the taser, the only way I see them moving the guy is the old "frog march" which wouldn't be very smart to do on stairs. 

Why do people have to act up like that at sporting events. It seems like there's always "that one" that can't control their behavior. 

Sitting in the wrong seat, huh? Gee, I'll think twice about sleeping on my husband's side of the bed next time. Cops love these taser guns. What a great way to take out your frustrations and exert total control over anyone who crosses you!  And I just heard that they came out with one that will shoot multiple rounds instead of just one. Semi-auto, if you will. Keep watching the news and I am sure we'll see someone getting killed by one of these toys real soon.

  That man should not have been tased. For what ...? Why was he being arrested - wrong seat ?!

Excuse me, sir. You're in the wrong seat. You're 27b when you shoud be in 26a. Now, get out!

I bet they didn't even say please.

--virgil

Cops taser "OLD" man????  He was 62.  That is not old!!!  About the same age as Howdy Doody!  And, Howdy would have moved to the correct seat when the officer asked him, because Howdy is a gentleman.. 

And we all know  that if you're not a howdy doody  gentleman  then you deserve to get tased, by god.

--virgil

"Keep watching the news and I am sure we'll see someone getting killed by one of these toys real soon."

It's already happened. Quite a few times actually.

Virgil, Did you watch the video? The cops approached the man and told him he needs to move (presumably after the usher tried to do the same). The man was clearly refusing and being belligerent. You can even hear him mouthing off to OPD. You'd think he would have gotten the clue things were going wrong for him when the cops told everyone to move back. It appeared to me that the man had fair warning. I wonder what he expected the outcome would be in that situation. Perhaps he thought everyone would go away and leave him to sit in the seat he didn't pay for.

"  .... You'd think he would have gotten the clue things were going wrong for him when the cops told everyone to move back."

Pete, that's true.

From the video, it looked like the guy was sitting in an area of a lot of open seats. He looked drunk ( or, ill ). He didn't appear to pose a threat to anyone - but he was mouthing off to the police who wanted to make him move because he had the wrong seat.  They tased him more than once, too. Towards the end of the video, it looked as if people were starting to come to the guy's aid; some one pushed another guy down the stairs.

Ten years ago, before the tasers' wide spread use, what would the police have done then? I don't think he would have beatin over the head, not with all those witnesses standing around, anyway.

--virgil

When the cops tell you to get up and move, do it! It's really that simple. Whether the taser was excessive is debatable, but the bottom line is OBEY LAW ENFORCEMENT and stupid things like this don't happen to you. Too much focus on whether the police were doing their job right and not enough focus on the idiot that wouldn't follow simple instructions and decided to make a scene out of it. The idiot complies with the officer's request, no further problems happen.

Sometimes those toys just should not be used. 

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

And when they are,  they should be used by highly trained professionals.

--virgil

" Whether the taser was excessive is debatable,"

Actually,  it's not.

I'm glad it wasn't your grandpa.

--virgil

Problem: officers don't "request" anymore. They expect kow-towing from every citizen they accost. I can honestly say I am more afraid of cops than anyone else now, and not because I am a law-breaker. They are just so nasty and intimidating anymore that the respect they once commanded has turned to fear and loathing. They are so often not only disrespectful, but downright rude and insulting. Giving them those tasers was a BIG mistake. Back in the day, if they would have attacked that guy with billyclubs, they would have been prosecuted and fired.

How should they have handled the belligerent man in the wrong seat? What if they asked him to get up and come with them and he said **** you? What then?

Agree with Ghostwriter. I watched one of those cop reality shows yesterday, and the cops' conduct was so crude that they had me cheering for the bad guy.

In most cases of "resisting arrest", all that the arrestee was asking was for a little respect and to have their questions "why" answered. If the cops would just have ANSWERED their damn question, I'm sure that most of them would have cooperated a lot more peacefully.

But oh, no, the cops had to play ego trip and refuse to give an explanation, in one case tasering the WOMAN instead. They could have ANSWERED her damn question, or go for the taser. They took the ego-tripping brute's way out and tasered her.

 I can honestly say I am more afraid of cops than anyone else now, and not because I am a law-breaker.

I have feared police my whole life.  Not necesarilly because they are intimidating but because if I feel they have crossed the line or violated me, I can't just defend myself.  You may get to deal with that after the fact.

"What if they asked him to get up and come with them and he said **** you? What then?"

Pete,

It looked like the guy was belligerent in response to the police ...

I suppose, then,  the answer to your question would also be something like understanding why it was so important for that guy to be moved at that moment and with such urgency he just had to be taken down ( tased ).

The video does not show anything, that I can see,  that would justify that guy getting tased ( more than once, even ).

--virgil

  Dude was a 62 year old grandpa who had too many beers,  and perhaps a few hard knocks; but now, for sure, he's had some electrical shocks ... to contribute to those knocks.

--virgil  

I wonder if that hurts when you're drunk ?

--virgil

 I wonder if that hurts when you're drunk

When those coppers go clunk clunk

Don't be acting like a punk

When you're drunk as a skunk

You may feel pain and be in a funk

When at the game leave booze in trunk

It was important to move him because he was sitting in someone else's seat. By the looks of it he could have gotten up and moved to any number of thousands of seats that appeared empty. If the rightful ticket holders wanted their seat, he has to move. If he was bothering the other fans, he would likely be ejected too. I've been around obnoxious fans that end up getting kicked out. They make the whole experience miserable for everyone around them. Sorry, but I have very little sympathy for someone that acts up like that in a public place. I've had games that I paid good money for ruined by idiots like that.

" It was important to move him because he was sitting in someone else's seat. By the looks of it he could have gotten up and moved to any number of thousands of seats that appeared empty."

LOL ... !!

I promised my daughter we'd take the dog for a walk.

See you guys !

--virgil

Hey, it is funny that he didn't move, or that whoever paid for that seat couldn't sit somewhere else, but if they paid for that seat, it is not the old man's to take. Themz the rules.

After watching parts of the vid again, the guy wasn't pushed down the stairs. It looked like an usher was backing up into him and he got bumped down the stairs. 

  Pete,

I'm sure that those holders of the ticket for  the seat the old man was taking-up would have let him know.  That man, though probably drunk, would've understood and then moved to the next available seat, or perhaps made it back to his own.

It happens all the time, especially when there's an abundance of emty seats available.

They tased him for being in the wrong seat.

--virgil

Don't get me wrong, either. I don't condone drunkeness at public events - that's dangerous and inappropriate.

But it does happen.

--virgil

ProgressivePete, there's manhandling options beyond the taser and club you know. With enough of them, they could have picked him up and carried him out. If he tried to flail out at them then, well that's assault on an officer and even a decade ago the club and cuffs would have come out and he'd have a nice comfy seat in the back of a squad car. There's plenty of steps between belligerent and taser, just some cops are too lazy to try them and jump straight to the taser.

I do agree that some cops do skip straight to the taser. I don't know if it's lazy, but I'm sure it puts things under control very quickly.

Virgil, I'm sure the ticket holder asked him to move, then the ushers asked him to move, then they asked the cops to handle it. That's usually how these things work. If he had moved in the first place, none of this would have ever happened.

Pete,

Perhaps you're right.

From the reactions of the bystanders in the video, it didn't look, or sound, like the guy was being a jerk until he started to not comply with the police officers commands to move outta that seat. 

--virgil

"If he had moved in the first place, none of this would have ever happened."

Certainly, no doubt about that.

Yet the 62 year grandpa would have been treated differently if the tasers were not so culturally accessible as the they are today and their use so easy to justify.

It's alarming, in my opinion.

--virgil

 I am so sick of cops acting like a bunch of roided out scumbags. We are not your enemy!! The corrupt government you work for is the enemy! You are nothing to them!! Wake up cops!!! You are supposed to be PEACE OFFICERS, NOT JACK BOOT THUGS!! STOP ABUSING YOUR POWER OVER THE CATTLE!! JOIN THE FIGHT FOR THE REPUBLIC & STOP FOLLOWING UNCONSTITUTIONAL ORDERS!!

Virgil, both of my grandfathers would have had enough sense to follow the cops requests...and enough decency to move out of the wrong seat to begin with. That's something that this 62 year old jackass wouldn't do.  Both of my grandfathers were very stubborn men but they respected authority figures.

bsc sounds like you are a cop or someone close to you is a cop. I guess you think it's just fine to tase the crap out of someone instead of simply grabbing the guy & putting him in handcuffs the old fashioned way.

bsc1960 I just read your profile and it seems like you are on the right path. I don't understand why you think cops are justified in using their tasers every damn time they get a chance. 

It's not that infowar. Some of us were raised to realize that you're supposed to obey cops, otherwise bad things happen to you. The New World Order has nothing to do with someone who refuses to leave a seat at a ball game that he didn't pay for (not that you said it did or anything).

Pete what? I never said the new world order had anything to do with this. HA HA Pete you are one disingenuous dude.

(not that you said it did or anything)

Are you assuming again Pete?

In the old days...or not so old days, real police officer(s) would have put hands (twist lock) on the old guy and escorted him out. He would have gone and there would not have been a story.

Unfortunately there are officers out there that are scared to go hands on because they may end up in a fist fight. And some of them can't fight!

ghost: Officers don't have to "request". Depending upon the contact with the subject/suspect, he may be looking at the business end of a Glock! It's not about "kow towing". Officers are people just like you. They're not out there trying to scare and intimidate folks. The old guy was wrong and the old guy was drunk. He has to comply with the officer (es la ley) and if not he can go to jail.

Don't lump all officers together because of some ugly behavior by a few...and yes it's only a few. The incidents highlighted by the media are an embarrassment to law enforcement and those (officers) guilty of a crime should be fired and prosecuted, but on the whole coppers do a hella good job and I'd rather have a cop standing behind me at the ATM than...you know.

That dude got what he deserved.  What upsets me is white officers tasing a white guy, what is the world coming to .  I was sure it only happened to minorities.  Serious lapse in procedure.

Dude got tazzed....who cares.....

"

 Dude got tazzed....who cares"

 I'm sure dude cares.  I think there were a few spectators who thought the tasing was inappropriate, as well.

--virgil