| UPDATE: According to the Times Argus, he is planning on suing the city. We know what to expect, don't we? Once again, the Barre Police have assaulted a harmless, unarmed person with their Tasers, this time in the context of what they referred to, apparently without embarrassment, as a "welfare check". I guess they determined that the welfare of a human being is adversely affected by the introduction of 50,000 volts. Then, once they took the guy down using their Tasers they did what any self-respecting police department would do: they arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct. After all, the police would never let someone get away with being assaulted and injured by the police without charging him with something, right? This time the judge wouldn't hear of it. At a preliminary hearing this week district Judge Brian Grearson threw out the charges, concluding that there was no evidence that the injured victim's behavior amounted to disorderly conduct, even though State's Attorney Tom Kelly argued valiantly that yelling was enough. Grearson listened carefully as States Attorney Tom Kelly repeatedly attempted to make the case that Magoon engaged in either "violent, threatening, or tumultuous behavior" during a brief confrontation that stemmed from a report he was carrying a knife and might be suicidal.
Although Kelly conceded that Magoon complied with a police request that he drop the backpack he was carrying at the time and never actually threatened any of the three officers on the scene, he insisted there were grounds for the criminal charge
"At the very least his behavior was tumultuous," Kelly said, suggesting Magoon's alleged shouting in a public place was enough to clear that bar.
Not according to Grearson.
"Anything other than yelling?" the judge asked. What comes next? Well, now that the charges have been dismissed the victim's lawyer indicates that he is likely to sue the Barre police. In addition, as with the incident earlier this year, we can expect that the Barre Police Department will conduct an investigation and conclude that its officers were blameless and acted in conformity with the Taser policy. But what about this: How about taking these deadly weapons away from the police? they've already shown that they can't be trusted with them. |
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