I've Been Saying this for Years...

...but I am really going to move to Canada. Yesterday, as I was searching through the latest news online in Edmonton, I do this on a regular basis of course, something I had never seen before caught my eyes—the words cop and convicted were sitting seamlessly next to each other in an article title like ebony and ivory on a keyboard, and I swear the clouds opened and the chorus from Handel's Messiah played from the heavens, or maybe it was the audio from a pop up on the side of the page. Nonetheless, there was still a special feeling from reading "Taser Cop Convicted of Assault".

The story is that a Canadian provincial court Judge, ruled that Const. Aubrey Zalaski was unjustified and used excessive force when he tased Paul Cetinski Jr. twice after jaywalking across a street one day in Edmonton, Canada. Apparently, Cetinski was in a bitter custody dispute and was in a rush to return his toddler to the mother, as well as in a rush to go to the bathroom. Cetinski jaywalked across the street, Officer Zalaski saw him and told him, "Ever heard of cross walk". Cetinski ignored him, so Officer Zalaski followed him into a building and walked him back to his cruiser. Cetinski was less than compliant but did not pose any type of physical threat, but turned towards the officer in surprise when he suddenly felt handcuffs on his wrists, thats when the Officer stepped back and shot him with the taser twice.

So common sense tells me that this officer was overreacting when he shot the taser at Cetinski, who was never even charged with anything, and that the officer should be punished for his actions. But I was shocked to discover that the Canadian provincial court agrees with me! I have no faith in the American Justice system to find such a just ruling. In the U.S. we have a culture of not making officers take responsibility for their actions in the court of law which increasingly allows cops to make decisions with lethal weapons without thinking of results or consequences of their actions. In my blog entries I have written about instance after instance of some of the most eggregious cases of police misconduct with no repercussions of any sort. If the government fails to prosecute or do anything about even the most brazen acts of police misconduct, it makes me wonder how many day to day offenses in America go unpunished.

Unlike the U.S. the Edmonton Officer was not only convicted of assault, but now faces a sentence as harsh as 10 years in prison for his actions. If it wasn't there already, I am sure this conviction will send a strong message to officers in the community that the rights of citizens are taken seriously in the city of Edmonton, that the city will not support unwarranted uses of force by officers who are trained to act responsibly, and that the punishment for excessive force will be just as any other citizen's offense would be.

I should only dream for such a stance on citizen's rights against officers in this country. I'm sure in a U.S. court of law, the judge would have ruled that the officer used an appropriate amount of force given the circumstances, which is a scary proposition because the circumstances in which the officer tasered someone until the man defecated in his pants, was for turning around in surprise after handcuffs were being placed on him for jaywalking. Isn't apart of the circumstance the actual offense? Who wouldn't turn around and look at the officer a little cock-eyed for getting arrested for jaywalking? Even with the resistance that the man put up against the officer, it was never a physical resistance, and in fact the Judge classified Cetinski as a passive resister that Officer Zalaski should have been able to handle without the use of a weapon.

If the Officer had not been punished, and the Judge ruled that the act was justified, there would be no barrier for circumstances of when Officers can use a taser. It would expand what type of force in any circumstance an officer can use without penalty. The circumstances could be as minimal as a traffic violation, or even loitering if you give the cop enough lip. That is exactly what happened in the ucla taser video where a student was tased multiple times for an incident that started with him not showing a school I.D. in the library. The Officer's explanation for tasering the student 5 times is that he refused to stand up.

I realize to some people, the traffic stop incident, the UCLA taser incident and this incident with Officer Zalaski may seem justified, because in all cases the suspect offered resistance, albeit passive resistance, against the officers and the taser is an easy and safer way to force compliance than a firearm. But people tend to forget that tasers are deadly weapons as well. Shooting 50,000 volts of electricity through your body because you didn't use the crosswalk not only sounds like an excessive use of force, it can be deadly. In some cases tasers have killed people. So for those who think that using a taser was appropriate for Mr. Cetinski, do you think he should have died because he didn't use the crosswalk? No one deserves to be killed by the police for not showing a school I.D. or for speeding on the highway, but every time an officer opts to use their taser to quickly end a situation they take that chance.