edited: Tasering at Club Nationals Afterparty

Good for him.

Now will see how long the officers "story" holds together.

malmo wrote:

Read my answer "you won't donate anyway."

Altruism has no strings.

FWIW, Ayn Rand would not agree.

any news?

Gerber,

Why the hell did you even say anything to begin with? If you didnt know the dude, you didnt know what happened to begin with. in my opinion you got what was coming to you. i agree he was not right in the amount of force, but dude, you put yourself in a weird position. stay out of things..

yes, if you see someone being beaten it is better to look the other waybetter off protecting your own ass i always sayin this day and age, i applaud someone who actually sympathizes with another human being and has the stones to act on it - it doesn't sound like he did it in a threatening waythe ones who should get what are coming to them are those that ignore an injustice

The Duder wrote:

Gerber,

Why the hell did you even say anything to begin with? If you didnt know the dude, you didnt know what happened to begin with. in my opinion you got what was coming to you. i agree he was not right in the amount of force, but dude, you put yourself in a weird position. stay out of things..

anon for reason -

very well said.

it's called the bystander effect, and fortunately for the guy being harrassed, Gerber wasn't falling for it (bystander effect).

that's the problem in the world today, everybody just thinks about themselves. as long as they are "ok", then who cares about the guy getting beat up across the street, or who cares about the old lady who can't walk on ice to get groceries, let her walk. right?

i applaude gerber for what he did.

Ummm, I don't think the other guy was being "beaten" by the police as some have recently said. Even if he was being harrassed that's a far cry from being beaten.

By Gerbers own account he was drunk and decided to basically stick his nose in police business.

I'm not saying it was ok that he got tasered, but don't try to make him out to be some kind of hero citizen sticking up for his fellow human beings. He was a drunk guy who mouthed-off to cops.

were you there?

Random task wrote:

Ummm, I don't think the other guy was being "beaten" by the police as some have recently said. Even if he was being harrassed that's a far cry from being beaten.

By Gerbers own account he was drunk and decided to basically stick his nose in police business.

I'm not saying it was ok that he got tasered, but don't try to make him out to be some kind of hero citizen sticking up for his fellow human beings. He was a drunk guy who mouthed-off to cops.

Hmm, last time I checked, asking a cop a question (or even mouthing off) seems to fall under Freedom of Speech. Maybe those Ohio cops are able to waive our Bill of Rights, as they demonstated so well at Kent State.

Freedom of Speech?

Sober cops vs mostly drunks in a bar...I believe the cops

When you start drinking your right to Freedom of Speech is Suspect at best and you have the right to remain silence!

Michael Gerber you are not special!

Drinking does not change freedom of speech. In addition, the right to remain "silence" (sic) is just that. It's the RIGHT to remain silent. It doesn't mean that you have to be silent, it means that you don't have to talk if you don't want to.

This guy may well have been out of line. I wasn't there so I don't know. What I do know is that tasing a guy who is unarmed is not acceptable unless the guy is going completely ape shit. If the police officer felt that the guy was breaking the law, he should have arrested him without the use of a weapon. If he's unable to do that, he probably shouldn't be a cop.

I think there is a difference between someone being beaten and someone being removed from a bar by cops. Have you ever been in a bar when the bouncers are (rather forcefully) removing someone? Did you jump in? From the recap of the story from Gerber on page one of this thread it doesn't sound like he knew what was going on before he walked up.

If all he said was "what's going on?" I think he has every right, but if he touched the cop or anything like that I think he is totally wrong.

The stories differ so I am just basing an opinion of what is known, but I disagree that a person should jump in against police.

[quote]anon_for_reason wrote:

yes, if you see someone being beaten it is better to look the other way

better off protecting your own ass i always say

in this day and age, i applaud someone who actually sympathizes with another human being and has the stones to act on it - it doesn't sound like he did it in a threatening way

the ones who should get what are coming to them are those that ignore an injustice

Harry, my friend, you don't have a clue about Law enforcement!

I read every post here and to me Michael Gerber seems guilty as charged! Drunks usually are!

ps...A cop does not have to wait for "a guy going completely ape shit" to taser him(by then it maybe to late for his safety ). I say it was "good call' by the cop considering a drunk man (.18) was monthing off to him. There are other things to consider that only the police officers may have notice to...... When a drunk looks at you in way that causes you to protect yourself... "glassy eyed, reckless eyeballing, or aggresive fear look" that might to the cop you might want to fight! Who knows for sure, but cops are trained and experience in this area. So the Flea or fight reponses come into play here.....again I think the cop made the right cop choice based on what I have read. Only the cop knows for sure. The cop was sober and the the big mouth was drunk....so I believe the cop.

Michel Gerber is not Special! Everything about him that I read on these posts saids to me he thinks he is "special" and deserves special treatment!

realXCrunning wrote:

ps...A cop does not have to wait for "a guy going completely ape shit" to taser him(by then it maybe to late for his safety ).

I'm still not convinced that tasering was necessary. Ok, so I'll assume for a minute that the guy was way out of line and posed some risk to the cop. Why can't the cop arrest him without tasering him? This is a guy who is trained to deal with violent criminals going up against a skinny distance runner. I'm pretty big for a distance runner myself and I'd be ashamed of my local police department if they couldn't cuff me and throw my skinny ass in the back of a police cruiser in about 4 seconds without using a taser, even if I was fighting against them.

I'm not saying that the runner is special. I'm not even saying that he did nothing wrong. I wasn't there, so I don't know weather or not he did. It's possible that they were both wrong. As far as I can see, the cop had no need to tase a guy that he should be able to arrest without using a weapon.

There is no doubt you are associated with the cop in some way.

You read every post? Did you read the sober eye witness accounts?

I don't recall anyone saying he went completely ape shit. I don't actually recall him mouthing off.. wtf reckless eyeballing? Be serious

No one can even confirm he touched the officer.. Even if he did... he is a 150lbs runner...

read:

One of them, Kelly Nielan Kruell, a lawyer from Portland, Ore., wrote: "In observing the Taser incident, I did not see Mr. Gerber talk, move or act in a threatening or aggressive manner ... the officer's actions were much more forceful than necessary."

anon_for_reason wrote:

yes, if you see someone being beaten it is better to look the other way

Yep - this worked out pretty well for Seinfeld and the rest of the gang...

Oh wait - that wasn't technically a "beating" though.

"wft..reckless eyeballing"....Yes that is what I said! You don't have to wait for some drunk to hit you with a beer bottle to defend yourself against a drunk in a bar! Believe it or not bars and people drinking a alcohal have a reputation for fights. Drinking causes liquid courage even even against law enforcement types. Training is provide to recognize body language, tone of voice, and especially the eyes! The "crazy eye look" that one gives.....actually meaning "you have f***ed with the wrong person today" LOOK! This happens a lot with drunks in bars. It is not uncommon. Only the cop knows what happen here for sure! Get it! I drunk man (a popular runner with letsrun...runners)in a bar did something to cause the cop to teser him, the cop must of seen something that the others didnt see and I believe the cop before I would be a drunk or someone the a .18 level of alcohal level. Good guy or not!

This might be the most retarded posting ever on letsrun and I am not just talking about horrible spelling, and lack of sentences. If you can find the message hidden you will see it is pretty stupid.If some guy looks at you wrong you have a right to beat them up. Maybe you should at that to the advice thread.

I second wow's assertion of realXCrunning's audaciously eloquent remarks. I will single out the following quote as being especially worthy of comment:

realXCrunning wrote:

Only the cop knows what happen here for sure!

You see, thats the thing about a room full of people, many know what happened, some drunk but some totally sober and one a lawyer.