Monday, February 23, 2009

Head to church for help…..but don’t forget your clothes



A man in Bay City Michigan was arrested outside St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church while a funeral was taking place inside the church. Police said he was verbally abusive to them and they found it necessary to use a Taser to subdue him. Oh, did I mention he was nude?

Yes, the man had not one piece of clothing on. According to the story I read, people called 911 after seeing the naked man outside the church. When police arrived at the scene the man cursed at them. He told the officers he was having problems at home with his parents and that he wanted to attend church. I assume that the cursing became out of control even though it doesn’t say that in the story. Why else would police resort to using a Taser gun? Those things are only used when the police can’t handle the person being shot with a barb that sticks into your skin and sends electric jolts through your body temporarily paralyzing you right? They wouldn’t use it just to make their job easier would they? Nah, I doubt it.

If you’re wondering about that last comment then I’ll go ahead and confirm what you are thinking: I was being sarcastic.

How in the world could that man have been such a threat that they felt the need to Taser him? Did he have a weapon hidden somewhere on his naked body? If he did I certainly don’t want to know where it was hiding! Was he so enormous in size that the police didn’t think they had a chance to take him down physically? How about some mental help? Don’t the police have people who are trained to talk to people with mental issues? I’m pretty sure they do. I even think I know what they are called: negotiators. Hello? Was that tried? I don’t know because the story doesn’t say. Why would it? That would just make the police look incompetent and lazy if they hadn’t taken those steps.

The story concludes by saying the man was taken to the hospital for treatment and that he probably wouldn’t have any charges filed against him. Well at least there’s some good news. I hope he gets the help he needs and I’m glad he won’t be spending any time in jail. I feel sorry for him. I think he really must have some sort of issue if he was outside naked but he also has some good to at least know enough to go to a church for help.

5 COMMENTS:

maryt/theteach said...

Hi Kathy, I feel bad for that guy. He certainly did need a mental health professional... :)

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Tazers are the lazy option. Possibly the sadistic option, too.

pammie said...

im not sure when the time came for our police officials to decide that it was ok to electrocute people with a taser but i DO know of MANY occassions where they have accidentally KILLED a human while using these devices...i guess this guy is LUCKY...good thing he was wearing his birthday suit...no telling what they would have done if he was dressed in clothing

Unknown said...

I have to take the other side here.
I know the knee jerk emotional reaction is against Tasing, but there are logical reasons to prefer it to physical control means. The rate of injury and lasting harm is almost 50% less for Tasing than for physical control. Many police departments now use Taser as first line of control after verbal failure for exactly that reason. It also cuts injuries to the police officers by a factor of 2.

And FYI, yes I have been Tased. Although not pleasant, I'd still prefer it any day to most of the physical control holds used by police.

maryt/theteach said...

Kathy, I was a little nervous getting out of my car to take pictures of that Dodge Daytona... I though someone would come out and yell... Did you do a Ruby Tuesday post for me to see?

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