Carry a taser if you have the option

[5811]

Hey guys, currently I'm sitting at home safe enjoying a 3 finger glass of single malt Lagavulin 16.... My night could be very different if I didn't have the right tool for the job.

My partner and I got dispatched to a call where a guy was doing push ups in the middle of the street and doing other strange shit. We get there and we see him sitting on the road smashing his hands against the ground and yelling. He was about 5'10, 230 or so and looked like a college sized linebacker. The guy was out of his mind, I figured PCP, I found out later I was right. So my partner and I try to talk to him, no response, more hand smashing and yelling. The guys knuckles were all bloody and you could just see the crazed look in his eyes, almost like he was possessed. My partner and I glove up while trying to talk to him, still nothing. We call for another car and an ambulance. We both knew, for sure, without even speaking g to each other, this was going to get bad. The guy gets up and starts walking around. My partner and I are just trying to ki d of corral him where he is so he doesn't get far from the area. Any time we get near him his fist clench up and we can see from his posture it's going to be "go time". I'm not a huge guy, about 5'8, 215, in moderate shape. My partner is in good shape but smaller, maybe 5'6, 165. Due to the PCP and the fact that people on that shit just don't feel pain this is a fight we don't really WANT to get into. This guy is basically a smaller, more angry, version of Mr. T. (And high as shit). THESE are the calls I worry about, the ones where you may have to shoot someone or actually fight for your life... then there's the public backlash and inevitable law suit against you because BLM.

We are still biding our time until back up arrives but the guy starts quickly walking down the street towards an intersection. I deploy my taser, the guy goes down and my partner cuffs him up in front because that's what was available. Then we just get control of his arms and keep him there until another car gets there so we can cuff him properly and get him to the hospital. He went to the hospital safely and my partner and I went home safe tonight, all because I had a taser.

The fact that this guy was walking towards an intersection, at that point we HAD to do something. With no taser that would have ended up in a fight, for sure.... And a serious one at that. Backup didn't arrive for about another 3 or 4 minutes after I tased the guy. That's a long time to fight a linebacker sized PCP guy.

Here's the crazy part. I'm switching to a separate unit that works out of a sub station next week. I won't have the option to check out a taser from there. I told my partner earlier tonight that I might stop carrying a taser because of the inconvenience of having to go to the station twice a day to check out/in my taser. I told him "I have been carrying this thing for 2 years and I've never needed it, it takes up some good real estate on my belt and it's gonna be a hastle to get it every day." That was about 3 hours before this shit show happened.

OK world.... Lesson learned! I'll never go out on the street without one again. 2 years of carrying something that I didn't need, but I am glad as shit I had that thing tonight! I'm safe, my partner is safe, PCP Mr. T is safe, all is well.

So, if you have the option, please learn from this story and carry a taser. Shit gets crazy out there.

Stay safe

 

[Frizzle Fry]

I'm not sure I'm allowed to carry a tazer here... The SCOTUS (Caetano case) says the law that disallows them is unconstitutional, but for some reason the law is still in place? Not sure I'd like to pony up the dough to fight it on a personal level, thanks. Can anyone explain why the law still exists?

We carried X2s from time to time at my old job. The training sucked but I respected the unit after. Not too obnoxious to have on you, for sure.

 

[chopper_man]

Must it be department supplied?

 

[Len-2A Training]

Must it be department supplied?

My understanding of the enabling law, yes. And it specifies the training requirements plus logs that the PD must create/keep, etc. They made it an onerous burden on the departments implementing them. Only municipal and state police agencies qualify (unsure if law may have changed to add other LEOs since then . . . I read it originally and not since).

Civilians . . . it is still illegal. USSC turned down AG argument on why it is illegal and tossed it back to MA, who ignored it so that they didn't stand to lose the banned status. So donate to Comm2A as they are suing the AG to force the law to be dropped completely.

 

[weekendracer]

Hey guys, currently I'm sitting at home safe enjoying a 3 finger glass of single malt Lagavulin 16.... My night could be very different if I didn't have the right tool for the job.

My partner and I got dispatched to a call where a guy was doing push ups in the middle of the street and doing other strange shit. We get there and we see him sitting on the road smashing his hands against the ground and yelling. He was about 5'10, 230 or so and looked like a college sized linebacker. The guy was out of his mind, I figured PCP, I found out later I was right. So my partner and I try to talk to him, no response, more hand smashing and yelling. The guys knuckles were all bloody and you could just see the crazed look in his eyes, almost like he was possessed. My partner and I glove up while trying to talk to him, still nothing. We call for another car and an ambulance. We both knew, for sure, without even speaking g to each other, this was going to get bad. The guy gets up and starts walking around. My partner and I are just trying to ki d of corral him where he is so he doesn't get far from the area. Any time we get near him his fist clench up and we can see from his posture it's going to be "go time". I'm not a huge guy, about 5'8, 215, in moderate shape. My partner is in good shape but smaller, maybe 5'6, 165. Due to the PCP and the fact that people on that shit just don't feel pain this is a fight we don't really WANT to get into. This guy is basically a smaller, more angry, version of Mr. T. (And high as shit). THESE are the calls I worry about, the ones where you may have to shoot someone or actually fight for your life... then there's the public backlash and inevitable law suit against you because BLM.

We are still biding our time until back up arrives but the guy starts quickly walking down the street towards an intersection. I deploy my taser, the guy goes down and my partner cuffs him up in front because that's what was available. Then we just get control of his arms and keep him there until another car gets there so we can cuff him properly and get him to the hospital. He went to the hospital safely and my partner and I went home safe tonight, all because I had a taser.

The fact that this guy was walking towards an intersection, at that point we HAD to do something. With no taser that would have ended up in a fight, for sure.... And a serious one at that. Backup didn't arrive for about another 3 or 4 minutes after I tased the guy. That's a long time to fight a linebacker sized PCP guy.

Here's the crazy part. I'm switching to a separate unit that works out of a sub station next week. I won't have the option to check out a taser from there. I told my partner earlier tonight that I might stop carrying a taser because of the inconvenience of having to go to the station twice a day to check out/in my taser. I told him "I have been carrying this thing for 2 years and I've never needed it, it takes up some good real estate on my belt and it's gonna be a hastle to get it every day." That was about 3 hours before this shit show happened.

OK world.... Lesson learned! I'll never go out on the street without one again. 2 years of carrying something that I didn't need, but I am glad as shit I had that thing tonight! I'm safe, my partner is safe, PCP Mr. T is safe, all is well.

So, if you have the option, please learn from this story and carry a taser. Shit gets crazy out there.

Stay safe

Check and see if there is some way you can 'memo' getting one assigned to you. Most of our stations have check out tasers, but at smaller stations we can get them assigned to us. Write a memo addressing the loss of time to your dept with you having to go somewhere to check it out/in and how that is a detriment to your new position. Pushing the loss of time to your dept may get more weight than your 'want' to have it.

It could backfire, but I think it's worth the effort. I carry one and have had similar situations where the taser simply stopped something bad from happening.

 

[BakerBingo]

I carried one at my last department and it was the greatest tool. It de-escalates so many situations cause people know you're probably not going to shoot them, but there's a good chance they're gonna get tased if they fight. I only had one deployment where I was getting charged by this guy that had been throwing chairs at my partner and I, and I was about to get muffled but fortunately it worked and it was game over.

My new agency finally purchased them after a few lawsuits for going "hands on", but they've been in the armory for about 2 years for reasons we can't understand. I had a close call with a Q5 guy with a knife about a month ago, and I wish we had them. It can really be the difference between a shooting and having all involved come out safe. I can think of at least a half dozen instances where I could have used a taser over a baton in the last year.

Glad you came out ok!

 

[Bostonian23]

Glad it worked out OK for you. My department does not carry tasers, but I see it coming down the pipeline. They are just to useful for any department not to carry them.

In my academy during SFST our instructor always told us "you get nystagmus with no other sings of intoxication hold on to your butt" luckily I have not come across anyone on it and I'm not looking forward to the day I do.

Glad you got out of the situation without anything going south.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[5811]

Check and see if there is some way you can 'memo' getting one assigned to you. Most of our stations have check out tasers, but at smaller stations we can get them assigned to us. Write a memo addressing the loss of time to your dept with you having to go somewhere to check it out/in and how that is a detriment to your new position. Pushing the loss of time to your dept may get more weight than your 'want' to have it.

It could backfire, but I think it's worth the effort. I carry one and have had similar situations where the taser simply stopped something bad from happening.

Once I start there I'm going to see about trying to get a couple assigned to the sub station. I will likely go directly to the training officer that runs the taser program first.

Definitely a great piece of equipment. It can definitely prevent some very dangerous situations from happening. Even if I go another full year or 2 without NEEDING it. It will be worth carrying it every day for that next time that it's the only safe way to diffuse a situation.

 

[Admin]

I'm glad it worked out, Mr. T is lucky the taser was deployed and nothing else. Glad you guys are safe.