A follow up to John’s post about the cop who tasered a motorist for not signing a speeding ticket. The investigation has now “sped up” as a result of the motorist posting the video on YouTube.
Authorities are expediting an investigation of a state trooper who zapped a motorist with a Taser after video of the incident was posted on YouTube, the Utah Highway Patrol said Wednesday.
“It definitely put a little bit of conflict out there. We definitely have received a lot of feedback on it, calls and e-mail,” said Trooper Cameron Roden, a spokesman for the highway patrol. […]
Utah Highway Patrol Spokesman Sergeant Jeff Nigbur told Smith that he could not comment on whether the trooper’s conduct in the video was standard operating procedure. “We have an internal review process happening right now,” he said. “We are going to look into whether the officer’s actions were appropriate or not.” […]
“I can’t speculate on what was happening in the trooper’s mind,” Roden said. “We have an internal investigation going on. … With it coming out on YouTube, we have expedited the investigation.” […]
Signing a speeding ticket is not an admission of guilt, Roden said. He described it as a promise that a motorist “will take care of the citation.”
Well, that answers the question about whether or not signing the ticket was an admission of guilt. As for what was going on in the officer’s mind? I don’t know. Maybe, “I’ll show this motherf***er that he ain’t gonna screw with a Poh-leeece officer” Just my opinion.
An editorial from the Salt Lake Tribune here.
Added: Call me a cynic, but when I heard that the investigation was being “expedited,” I read it as “Oh, now that people have seen the video, maybe we should actually start an investigation!”