taser guns make me nervous

Back during carnival time this winter, we went to a parade in Metairie. I noticed several of the JPSO deputies carrying not only their regular sidearms, but taser guns. Two of these deputies and their rank (a captain) were so obese that I seriously doubt these men would be capable of subduing a drunk female teenager, much less a seriously violent criminal.

Now, I've always had a problem with giving guys fatter and more out of shape than me deadly weapons. Should one of them ever get into a situation where they're forced to choose between running after a bad guy and shooting him, they may pull the weapon way too fast. Those same fat guys now have non-lethal taser weapons. We're talking about guys who can't see their shoes when they look straight down, mind you, so I'm not joking when I say they can't subdue a thirteen year old girl if she struggles.

When I read stories about taser abuse like this one, my thoughts flash back immediately to Carnival in Metairie:

Allen Nelms, 52, was suffering said seizure "during the early morning hours of April 28 when his girlfriend, Josie Edwards, called 911 to request paramedics".

A police officer duly turned up at the house on Waxahachie's east side, "inquired as to what was going on", then called for back-up. Shortly after, and as Nelms was "in his bed in the couple's bedroom", cops "burst in with their guns drawn and yelling at him to get on the floor".

Edwards recalled "about six or seven police officers kicked the front door in and stormed the back bedroom where she said she could hear one telling Nelms to get on the floor". Her statement, which forms part of an written complaint made by Nelms to the Waxahachie police department, says: "Allen was shouting, 'Please don't do me like this. I just need help.' Next thing I heard some 'zing' noise and Allen was shouting. I asked what were they doing to him. One policeman replied, 'We just took care of him.' ... After they did their shooting and laughing, they came out [of] the rooms. The paramedics had to pull out the Tasers."

this is just sick. It's just the sort of thing I can see three fat JPSO deputies having a laugh over.

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