Ark. Cops Use Taser to Subdue Nude Jogger

[Rose Siding]

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. -- Arkansas' naked jogger has been zapped.

For months, officers have been getting reports about a man making late-night runs in the buff. On Monday, police said they think they got their mystery jogger.

Fate Patterson, 39, of West Memphis, was arrested after he ran past a police car and failed to stop when he was ordered to do so by officers. Police chased him and were able to rein him in by using a Taser.

Patterson was charged with indecent exposure, fleeing and resisting arrest.

Mike Allen, assistant chief of the West Memphis police department, said that it did not initially appear that the man was mentally ill. He did not disclose his reasons for running without his clothes.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-naked-jogger,0,4243076.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

A taser to keep everyone safe from concealed weapons? This article is written as though the nudity were a greater controversy than the zapping!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Once again:

A fine example of a new toy, a burning desire to use it and inflict punishment.

Another Product from The Good Folks at Bernie Kerik Productions.

[jukes]

2. yo've nailed it, T_S

gives cops the ability to punish rather than just apprehend; lots of cops want that, really badly. use of tasers will continue to be abused.

[MemphisTiger]

3. It's not like he was running in the middle of the day

And how bad are the cops that they feel the need to use a taser on a nude man. That should be an easy target to arrest. All weak spots exposed.

[KansDem]

9. IIRC, shooting a nude enemy in time of war is considered a war crime...

...because it is obvious he is unarmed.

Don't know how this applies to tazering a nude suspect as a precondition for an arrest...

[TryingToWarnYou]

4. Ouch! Thats gonna leave a mark!

[Bat Boy]

5. Well of course they did..

"I don't want to accidentally touch his weiner...."

"Shit, Cleetus, I ain't gonna touch it."

"Get the taser...."

[quaoar]

6. The jogger should not be surprised that he got tasered

He ran from the police. In the real world, that means you get your ass kicked.

If I were the supervisor for those officers, however, I would ask them, "If you were close enough to taser him, weren't you close enough to tackle him instead?"

[Canuckistanian]

7. Laziness. Sheer laziness.

Easier to inflict intesnse pain to render a person immobile than to actually work up a sweat.

[dbt]

8. Sissies.

Let a NEKKID man elude you "for months?" Then had to use a Taser on him? What was he gonna do? PEE on you?

:evilgrin:
dbt

[ecoalex]

10. He's lucky they didn't shoot him

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. Since when does the ass't chief of police get to make a diagnosis?

Mike Allen, assistant chief of the West Memphis police department, said that it did not initially appear that the man was mentally ill.

Why was this quote used, and where does this assistant chief get off making a statement such as this? I don't see a PhD. or an M.D. after this guy's name...

[0007]

12. After six months, one would think the police would have some

photos of the man.

Welcome to "New America"

[xchrom]

13. did he have something really big that they

had to use a taser?
damn, that's harsh.

[IA_Seth]

14. Am I the only one who doesn't see the issue?

If I am a police officer and I order someone to stop, or if I am trying to arrest someone and they resist, it tells me that they are obviously not a rational person. I don't know about you but I am not going to put my life in an irrational person's hands.

I understand that sometimes the use of tasers go a bit overboard, but a grown man, regardless of what he is (or isnt) wearing isnt going to wrestle with me when I have a loaded gun on my hip. It doesnt take much for him to get that and then the situation gets a lot worse.

I dont think the taser use in this instance seems out of line.