SUE THOSE PIGS

"Police Chief Mike Chitwood, who makes it a habit publicly to brand as "scumbags" individuals in confrontations with police, not only defended the use of the gun, but defended using violence on Beeland as a matter of course: "I was never raised on Tasers," he said. "I used nightsticks and slapjacks.""

That is the worst part, IMO. How can a police officer say that sort of thing and get away with it?

Glad to see they aren't pressing charges. Maybe she should.

Ah, Florida!

every cop that tasers someone when they shouldn't should have their nipples tasered until they smoke.

I expected the article would discuss HER lawsuit against the police and Best Buy!

Make that check out to Beeland with SIX zeroes please

@capstinence: They can say that kind of thing because they have to deal with insane people every day that seem normal and at the last minute decide they would rather fight the police than be arrested and pull out a knife, gun, needle, razorblade, shiv, etc. and try to KILL the officer instead.

For one week put yourself in the constant danger of an officer that actually does arrests and trouble calls instead of the thought of a worthless highway patrol cop that writes tickets all day and your tune will probably change.

I'm not condoning the officer that tased the woman here because I didn't witness or hear the event and therefore can't decide the course of action that a law enforcement officer should have taken.

Sick, so she got taisered for resisting without violence? What? So much for innocent untill proven guilty, why dont they just start clubbing random people to get all that anger out.

Sue the cops. Also, that police chief has no business being in the business of public safety since he obviously gets off on hurting people. I'd call that guy a thug, not a peace officer. I know a lot of officers and none that I know would tolerate that attitude. Maybe that "chief" should quit his current job (or get fired) and answer an ad for a merc in soldier of fortune magazine.

That police chief should be fired, drawn, and quartered. He's doing a disservice to the officers (you know, the ones actually doing the hard work) in his employ by being such a dickhead.

Huge. Lawsuit.

The problem with these lawsuits, and I think she should file one, is that the penalty doesn't come out of the dirty cop's pocket. The city/town/state pays it so there is no incentive for the police force to think about their actions before they go off half cocked.

Maybe the real problem is giving fat and lazy people badges. I think that a properly trained in-shape police officer would have handled this much differently (someone who wouldn't be intimidated by a small 35 year old women). But I don't fault Best Buy at all in this story.

@LionelEHutz: The majority of cops ARE THUGS. They're high school losers with no intelligence that could do something productive society so they'd rather join the cops where they can get an artificial sense of power and superiority.

Cops don't intimidate me at all, anyone can act hard with a glock 18, mace, taser and hand cuffs on their belt. It's because they need to make up for their inferiority in life they act this way.

And to the 2 cops that this doesn't apply to, well played.

It's her own fault for shopping at Best Buy...

There I got it in first.

Welcome to the corporate overlords. "Officer, this person failed to complete a sales transaction with us! Best Buy Overlord commands you discipline her".

"'Mam, once you set foot into that line, you are obligated to purchase all items you had on you. 'Mam...come back inside...just buy a few things...it won't hurt...backing away from your duty as a consumer 'mam? That's a' tasering".

Can she still be sued for the "holistic healer" part? Afterall, she's a scam artist.

@darkened: Real origional argument. That's what all the goth/skateboard/druggie loser's say about the police. I applaude their conduct, they were in the right here.

@DashTheHand:
Best Buy shopper Darwin Ingram said he watched the drama unfold.

Good enough for me, the cop was in the wrong on this. I'm not suprised it happened during a time where police went rampant with tazers all across the country, and nobody really punished them for it. I hope she does sue, and I hope she doesn't work another day in her life because of it. F*ck that whole police department for going against the protect and serve credo.

@DashTheHand: That has to be the biggest load of steaming pig crap that I've read all month!

If the job turns you into a raving psychopath - get another job!!! There is NO EXCUSE for a person whom the population has placed into authority to have that kind of an attitude. NEVER.

Damn, that Police Chief just tells it like it is, doesn't he?

Seriously though, I hope she gets some kind of justice.

It's Best Buy, so $54 million seems to be today's going rate. Go for it, lady.

Hasnt anyone noticed that many police officers lately ARE thugs? They are not paid a lot of money and have to go through a lot of physical training. Many departments seem to emphasize weight and build over sense and honor.
That the chief mildly suggests that he would have beat her down is very telling.
I would suggest an evaluation of the department and staff as soon as possible before a young person is SHOT backing away with his/her palms up for asking some yahoo at Best Buy to fix their computer under warranty!
Their was no reason given that a taser was needed and the officer only made an unnecessary confrontation WORSE.

Although maybe she was sick of people ignoring her Authoritah.

@DashtheHand:

Pardon my French: but that is bullshit.

His comment was in RESPONSE to this particular incident. In essence HE is defending the use of the taser on a woman who, as stated by an eye-witness (and apparently proven absolutely later), did nothing the police officer says she did.

So the police officer tases her, lies, and then the chief of police defends the tasing (and again, in essence, the lying) and talks about using nightsticks and slapjacks. Again, he's basically saying "She's lucky we have tasers now, otherwise I would've condoned beating her with a nightstick for doing absolutely nothing wrong."

Abuse of power.

@mmcnary: It's her own fault for shopping at Best Buy...

Amen to that!

Best Buy shopper Darwin Ingran said...

"The situation just sort of evolved right in front of me. Hewre I was, stopping into Best Buy to purchase the God Father DVD, part one, not part two, you know..the natural selection."

@lightaugust: Today only. Its a Tuesday special.

@Benstein:
Yeah right, she knows yoga; those people are always looking to kick ass. Tasering was the most prudent course of action.

Maybe tasers for cops is a bad idea? Yes its supposed to be a "humane" way to subdue a suspect, rather than depend on beating them with a nighstick or shooting them. But it seems like cops are more willing to use tasers in situations, where in the past, they wouldnt have escalated it to the point that physical violence was necessary.

"Beeland was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest"

If you are arrested for only these two things, then 99% of the time, it is complete bullshit. It's like being arrested for resisting arrest.

Darwin Ingram? If ever there was a name that just screamed "pecker wood"...

Maybe if the cop had had the sense to wait until the woman hung up -- if she was that upset it should have been apparent that she was getting bad news by phone -- she wouldn't have freaked out. I'm sure she was worried about her kid. Did they want her to freak out in the checkout? She was polite! She stepped away and had her (couldn't wait) conversation away from other people and got tased for it!

Maybe this asshole cop could have used a course in etiquette.

@statnut:
Ok, this may or may not be appropriate for the case in question.

But every time I see one of these stories of someone getting tasered, they get the volts AFTER REPEATED INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE POLICE TO MOVE, NOT MOVE, OR OTHERWISE STOP DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

Are there bad cops out there? Yes. But there are many more bad civilians out there. People need to calm the hell down and follow the instructions of the authority. Fortunately, we do not live in a society where police abuse is rampant. Stop and think for a moment of the Darfurs of the world before you disagree with that statement.

For every story out there where the person gets tasered, and we probably see every damn one of them, there are hundreds more where the person in question did as they were told, explained the situation, and went on with their business.

Had this woman done that, she'd have been spared the shocks.

As long as people continue to fight with the police, the police will need to fight back.

Tell you what. If a cop says "stop, or your getting the taser," you won't see me moving.

@darkened: Are you going to be a police officer when you get out of high school?

Tasers are non-lethal. The police chief needs to apologize, and the woman should sue - let the court work it out.

WTF is wrong with Police Chief Mike Chitwood... one can only hope that one day he will find himself outside his jurisdiction and for whatever reason (even a mistake) subject to the same sort of violent abuse he seems to delight in inflicting to civilians.

Oh....it looks like the daughter's college education just got paid for. Oh, yes, and the house mortgage too. This lady, if she plays her cards right, will never work another day in her life again.

The cop in question should be hung out to dry. The department should endure scrutiny for it. And maybe, just maybe, we can treat the use of a taser like the use of a gun. Be damn sure you need it before you use it.

At least the woman's still alive. I hope she sues the dickens off both Best Buy and the police department/security firm this joker is affiliated with.

@DashTheHand: You sound like my cop cousins every time a cop is caught on tape beating the shit out of someone lying motionless on the ground. You call it common sense. I call it brainwashing.

More alarming... "The police officer, Claudia Wright, has said that Beeland used the word "fuck"

Since when did profanity become a tasable offense? I understand disorderly conduct, but this woman, f-bomb or not, was clearly taking a passive approach to the situation, anyone who knows anything about body language can tell you that.

@Derp: And by the way, I would love to know how you feel that the officer was right for tasing an innocent, non-aggressive woman.

@Murph1908: And clearly, the cop in this case handled it wrong. The woman did nothing wrong, or did you miss that part of the story. I'm betting that if she didnt have a taser, none of this would have happened.

@Murph - People are not robots that can merely shut off their emotions at the instruction of a police officer. I believe the prudent thing to do in this situation would be to instruct this lady that she needed to calm down or she would be subject to arrest on the grounds of disorderly conduct. After ignoring 2-3 separate instructions then the officer should have called for backup and notified the customer that she would be arrested if she were not calm by the time backup had arrived. If the lady then resisted an actual arrest then she should have been tasered. Would it have taken longer and consumed addittructions as quckly as I deem necessary? ZAP! I don't like the way you're looking at me? ZAP! Fart in my direction? ZAP! Now, I think 98% of the officers in this country do things the proper way and tend to give people the benefit oional resources? Yes. But I think that's warranted when you're talking about using this kind of force against a citizen.

Are any charges going to be filed against the pig who attempted to electricute this poor woman?

Have the police officer fired. Have the Cheif demoted as well, for lying.

@Murph1908: No. Cops do not have the right to tazer innocent civilians. No matter how much authoritarian types want to believe it's true, it isn't. The only part you got right is that the smartest thing to do is to follow directions from a police officer, and that's true only because some cops are indeed incompetent. There are times when following orders could be difficult, as is the case with this woman. If I got a frightening phone call about my child, I'm not sure anyone could stop me from getting their as quickly as possible. And if I'm an innocent civilian you better bet I have the right to get there without being tazed by an idiot cop who doesn't know how to do her job. And the authoritarians can huff and puff about it all they want to while I collect my hefty court award if it does happen.

Raised on nightsticks? His mom must have been one tough broad...

SUBMIT TO THE FEEDING.

So what is a cop supposed to do when someone disobeys his order. Just say "well she isnt cooperating but isnt violent so Ill just stand here and let her not cooperate for 12 hours?" Does she expect him to let her go just because she said she didnt do anything? If that worked, then NOONE would get arrested.

@capstinence: Way to not read my entire post. I'm done with you.

@ceejeemcbeegee: I have several members of my family that were beat cops. You want to keep on thinking we live in candyland or an superhero movie where the bad guys are clearly labeled and the cops always take bullets and knife blades in the kevlar vest or easily mendable appendage, you're the one thats brain washed.

To reiterate my original post for the apparent reading impaired: I DON'T CONDONE WHAT THE OFFICER DID TO THIS WOMAN. However, MANY officers are under constant duress in locations and by confronting people that DO wish harm upon the officer because not every person is a smiling, happy, law abiding person and those that aren't really would prefer not to be caught.

One of my family members was seriously injured in the line of duty protecting harmless civilians by someone under the influence of narcotics. A second was injured by someone resisting arrest because they decided they didn't want to pull over for a traffic stop because they would have gone BACK to jail on a DUI. So before all you decide to rip into EVERY officer for being a gun-toting redneck thug testosterone injecting ex-jock, maybe you should realize that they already have the most despised positions of authority.

@Derp: Just curious, do you just say things mindlessly just to spite others?

---

I would say that this case was mishandled by the police. Given the circumstances, the officer seem to have a knee jerk reaction out of context and the Chief naturally did his job looking out for his own, but it was still a very mishandled case.

@Gorky: Yes. That's what the cop is supposed to do. They don't have the right to detain innocent civilians. She hadn't done anything wrong. No one had observed her doing anything wrong. The cop hadn't observed her doing anything wrong. So, yes, the cop should have let her go. Walking away from a retail transaction isn't against the law.