Cops taze wheelchair-bound double amputee.
Not an Onion story.
I feel like it is foam finger time again. USA! USA! USA!
This post is in: Shitty Cops, Assholes
Cops taze wheelchair-bound double amputee.
Not an Onion story.
I feel like it is foam finger time again. USA! USA! USA!
Comments are closed.
DougJ
I hope you’re not implying that the police acted stupidly here.
georgia pig
I’m sure it’s Obama’s fault for making him all uppity when there are known racists in police forces. Also.
Brian J
Back when the problems in Boston involving that cop and the Harvard professor were in the news, my boss and I talked about it. To give you an indication of where he stands, I’d say he’s a right-leaning independent, the sort of person who would have voted for Clinton but voted for McCain over Obama. So it makes sense that we’d disagree on whether the cop was right to arrest Gates. But I think this sort of incident validates the point I was trying to make, which is that some cops abuse their power and that having the authority that a cop needs to have requires that he or she be able to recognize when to walk away. I hate to think that something like this can happen if a cop doesn’t like the attitude you’re giving him.
HyperIon
I’m on Firefox 3.104 and the box containing the video and this one I’m typing into extend way into the right margin..
And I don’t need no stinking FAQ or dictionary.
I hope to be able to edit my comments someday.
That is the plan, right?
NoVa Commie
I don’t even know how to process this.
Josh Huaco
I didn’t know Wheelchairing While Black was a crime, but we shouldn’t be surprised by anything these days.
DougJ
Someone may want to email Ben Smith to find out what Bill Cosby thinks about this, btw.
thomas Levenson
Hey, you never know. He could have used sarcasm. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evj24bXakqg&feature=related] check out around minute 4.
NoVa Commie
@georgia pig:
The race angle isn’t even the biggest problem here (go check out digby’s archives for abuse of tazer incidents across all racial lines). how are you using force of any kind against someone in a wheelchair?
asiangrrlMN
Nope. Can’t watch it. I know ahead of time that it’ll make me sick to my stomach.
smiley
Digby is all over this, of course. The problem is that tasers are not being used for controlling out-of-hand situations, which might be justified. They are being misused to “punish” people who don’t bow to the authority of the police immediately when told to do so. It’s a serious problem.
MikeJ
Ever seen that commercial for “chick cops of broward county “or whatever they call it? The one where the cop says, “it’s always a good time for a tazer.” Every time I see I wish we would switch to British style unarmed cops.
Rhoda
For all that’s fucking holy and good, how the hell did we get here?
And why the hell are tasers still being used?
At least with a gun, there’s the societal conditioning that it’s a weapon. Cops see tasers as a toy; and that leads to this shit.
IndieTarheel
Me neither. Can’t even come up with a snarky comment for this one, it’s just jacked up period.
Cain
These cops need to be fired. Immediately. Blue wall of silence be damned. Even criminals need to keep some kind of human dignity. I’m really outraged that his private parts had to be exposed. He should sue the damn city for enough money that it hurts as much as the taser. Time to get a lawyer and starts taking parts. There is a limit to this kind of thing.
cain
smiley
@asiangrrlMN: Heads up asiangrrl: Dr. Strangelove is on TCM tonight at 12:15 AM.
AhabTRuler
The only thing that is new is the Taser(TM).
Brian J
Exactly. Nobody would be protesting if the cops were using these methods to protect themselves.
And you’re right that Digby has been all over this. It’s exactly the reason I stopped reading her. I appreciate her efforts, but she was so on point that I just began to feel…helpless at what was happening. Usually, I feel annoyed or enraged, even if I laugh, but here, what’s going on is so outrageous that it’s hard to feel any other way but disappointed and depressed.
smiley
@smiley: That would be EDT. 11:15 your time.
Gwangung
It goes in one ear and out the other for a lot o cops. They get told it’s a weapon but they treat it as a toy because it’s not “lethal.” wankers. They need to di the paper work just like it was a gun sndgave administrative hearings just like a gun. Slows things down? Well, you’re not treating it with the respect of a gun, then, are you?
AhabTRuler
@Cain: If that worked, every police department in the country would be bankrupt.
The use of the Taser(TM) is already legitimized as acceptable force and the charges were dropped, so what’s the problem?
Society has pretty much decided that it is OK with a highly militarized and brutal police force. Y’know, we gotta be kept safe.
asiangrrlMN
@smiley: I don’t have cable, damn it! Otherwise I would watch. I’m in the mood for it. However, I do still have to watch Taxi Driver so I can get the DVD back to my tai chi teacher. Maybe I’ll watch that instead.
MikeJ
It won’t ever bankrupt the police department. They’ll start firing teachers and saying it’s because the courts coddle criminals.
AhabTRuler
But the cops
Kris
@DougJ:
You win DougJ.
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Damn right, AhabT. Bigger gang and all that.
Mnemosyne
Injured teenager tasered 19 times after falling off a bridge
Deaf man tased by police inside his own home for not obeying orders
Police tase a deaf (and developmentally disabled) man and then arrest him for disorderly conduct because he didn’t follow their orders
Sorry, I’m so numb at this point that I can’t even be shocked. They’re routinely tasing bedridden old men, pregnant women, and small children. Why should people in wheelchairs be exempt? I’m sure he could have run over the cop’s foot and bruised it, so of course potentially deadly force was required.
And cops wonder why people have come to hate and fear them …
Libertini
This is just sick. I think it’s time for some cops to start doing time for the abuses they commit. Maybe just a weekend jail for cops like poor people have to do for traffic tickets or bounced checks. But there seriously needs to start being a universal punishment system for cops who abuse their authority, and even minimally abusive behavior should be punished. It’s not fair to the good cops who risk their lives every day to be maligned by those who are not really cops, just sadistic assholes with badges.
Cain
@AhabTRuler:
And that’s a damn change.. that’s what these pro-gun nuts and teabaggers should be fighting. I guess we just have to hit rock bottom before we can get better. Otherwise we’re simply not going to get anywhere until people realize what they’ve lost.
cain
AhabTRuler
But the cops are themselves, or so the argument goes. Our society has also accepted the idea that a police officer or officers can empty multiple clips of ammunition into a suspect or their vehicle if they feel the need in order to protect themselves.
And I am requesting that someone delete #24, because I don’t have a spiffy button to do that (or edit).
Cain
er that should be “damn shame” not change. Where are my editable posts? :(
cain
smiley
@asiangrrlMN: Too bad you don’t have that channel. Prior to that film are two Buster Keaton silents, Brando in, “On the Water Front,” Strangelove, followed by… wait for it… 2001: A Space Odyssey. Tomorrow is Paul Muni day!
Regular Reader
I’m just waiting for the day when there’s a report of a police officer tazing a toddler. And the commentors who defend the police officer’s actions. It’ll happen one of these days…
Mnemosyne
Oh, come on, I only put seven links in my comment #27 — why moderation? ;-p
AhabTRuler
@Cain: Tell me about it. That should be “…are protecting themselves…”
Warren Terra
@ SMiley, #11
This, exactly.
I love the idea that cops, in a situation where they would otherwise use bullets, might use tasers, or use pepper spray.
The problem is that, here in the real world, they use tasers in situations where only a raving psychopath would contemplate using bullets. They seem to use them in situations that don’t remotely call for the direct application of physical force, my favorite example being that eight-year-old child some cops tased because he wouldn’t come out of his hidey-hole.
Still, my preferred solution is not to take away their tasers; my preferred solution is to automatically log any occasions on which the Taser is unholstered, and especially log when it is fired, and investigate all incidents in which the police fire their Taser, as they investigate every time a cop discharges their pistol. Still better, stick a camera in every cop’s badge, and record what they do on the job. Seal the video away for privacy reasons, keep it for a year or two, and access it by court order when there are reasonable issues of unnecessary force, due process, disputed reasons for arrest, or the like. Handled correctly we could get a better-behaved police force and get better evidence, less easily disputed by genuine transgressors. We could wind up with a police force more uniformly worthy of our respect and our trust.
AhabTRuler
What sense would Frege make of such a sentence?
jon
I want a new law that says anyone who is Tased and then released without charges gets to work for a day at an instructor’s salary showing police recruits and trainees (I assume officers need to keep up to date with their training) how much it fucking hurts to get a Taser used on them.
I was going to suggest that there be a Tase-a-Cop day, but I assume their assurances that it isn’t deadly force wouldn’t be as confidently stated if they were on the other side for even one day a year.
General Winfield Stuck
Pretty soon tasers will be obsolete. And then it’s hello to the Sonic Gun.
Isn’t it swell to be an American these days
El Cruzado
I know the police where I live (Loudoun county VA) get tased themselves as a prerequisite before they are allowed to carry the taser around. I’m not aware of many unwarranted uses of the thing around here and that might be one of the reasons.
In any case, as a nonlethal deterrent, I think it’s a good idea that those given the authority to use it know exactly what they’re subjecting other people to.
JK
@asiangrrlMN:
You Talkin’ To Me?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e9CkhBb18E
AhabTRuler
But that’s the insidious thing: the use of the Taser has nothing to with whether an individual is charged with anything, or even guilty of anything. The use of the Taser is just one of many methods endorsed in order to enforce compliance. If the cop says the guy in the wheelchair wasn’t complying, the benefit of the doubt goes to the police officer, and the use of the Taser is considered completely legitimate. Its not like cops didn’t beat the shit of of suspects, or even kill them, completely “within the law” before Tasers.
Sadly, I fear the only change is the ubiquity of cameras has made easier for such acts to become known.
Gwangung
and have a refresher course every year.
smiley
@El Cruzado:
I’m pretty sure people have died after being tased. Don’t have the sites now but you can check Digby’s archives for them.
AhabTRuler
I have been hit in the head with an ASP Tactical Baton(TM) (it wasn’t fun!) and I wouldn’t hesitate to paste someone upside their dome with one if I felt it was warranted. The problem isn’t “unwarranted use,” it is the definition of “warranted.”
El Cruzado
@smiley: Oh, I’m well aware of the risks especially to people with heart issues.
The more the reason for the (necessarily healthy) policemen to be aware of what they’re subjecting others to.
Brachiator
@Warren Terra:
This is worth a try. However, here is the universal “get out of jail” card for cops: the officer believed that his life was in danger. Once this has been invoked, review boards and juries fall all over themselves to excuse a cop’s actions, no matter how abhorrent.
kay
@Mnemosyne:
Ten years it’s going to be outlawed. That’s my prediction. We’ll convene panels to determine when, exactly, we lost our goddamn minds.
I’d also like to see some data on what lasting effect, if any, tasing has on brain or body function in children, because they’re tasing children, and children’s bodies are different than adult’s bodies.
In the interim, however, tasing has a chilling effect.
My big fear is people are going to be afraid to verbally challenge a stop or any police questioning, prior to arrest, because they’re afraid they’re going to be tased.
That’s dangerous. I’m willing to bet it’s already had an effect.
AhabTRuler
Ohhhh, oh, ohhhh, I know this one.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I’m sure that any second now, all of the police apologists will come rushing in to tell us that for all the cops knew, that guy in a wheelchair / old man in a hospital bed / pregnant woman had a gun so of course the cop was justified in doing any and everything to protect his or her own life.
My question is, when did we as a society decide that police work should be 100 percent risk-free, so therefore any action a cop takes to protect his/her safety is always justified? It’s like they’re replaying the puppy scene in Apocalypse Now over and over again every goddamned day and never learning a thing from it.
kay
@AhabTRuler:
Did you see where they dropped that 14 year old kid who was running away by hitting her with a taser prong in her head?
Yeah. She was a real threat.
The first state legislator who musters up the courage to introduce a bill to ban this is a hero.
Makewi
I am against tasering people in wheelchairs in all but a handful of exceptional cases. The article linked only says that the tasering has been alleged and an investigation is ongoing. It also says that the police were there because his wife alleged he hit her.
So, I guess I’m curious if it turns out he is a wife beater, would it change your opinion on his getting tased and/or manhandled during his arrest?
kay
@Mnemosyne:
How is it different than bashing him over the head? It doesn’t leave a mark?
The punishment comes after the trial, not before, and it’s meted out by a judge or a jury, not the police.
Why bother talking to people at all? Just hit them with a “safe” amount of voltage when they resist. It’s easier, and certainly safer, unless you’re the person objecting to being detained and questioned.
kay
@Makewi:
Of course not. He has to be CHARGED and FOUND GUILTY prior to punishment.
Why is this so hard? I mean, seriously. Have you gone mad?
You viewed a video and you have him convicted? He “deserves” tasering now?
Good God. Completely unmoored from the most basic shared principles and rules.
Makewi
@kay:
I hate to tell you this, but you are a bit hysterical. I’m merely asking a question. Try not to read into everything so much.
rikyrah
ok, please explain it to me like i’m 3.
how the FUCK is a double AMPUTEE going to be ‘ threat’ to anyone in law enforcement..because you know that’s the excuse that they use…. no matter how old, or incapicitated they are… no matter if they look like your Mama on a cane could take them down…they are always a ‘ threat’.
i’m telling you… these damn cops have lost their fucking minds with these tasers.
kay
@Makewi:
Forget it. I’m sorry I bothered.
It would be irresponsible not to speculate that he’s lying about the tasering. Plus, he’s probably a wife beater.
Drop him out of the wheelchair. It would be dangerous not to.
joe from Lowell
“When I tell you to stand up, you stand up! Faggot.”
I swear to God, cops aren’t like that in Lowell.
The Grand Panjandrum
2nd Amendment.
Makewi
@kay:
The reason the police were there is because his wife said he hit her. I’m not making that up, it’s actually in the article. I also never said he deserved to be tased, but that the article only says he has claimed he was tased.
Svensker
What does his guilt or lack thereof have to do with the rightness of the cop tasing him? He wasn’t hitting his wife when the cops arrived. He wasn’t disorderly, threatening, or going for a weapon.
Aren’t you one of those ‘FREEDOM!’ guys? How do you square ‘freedom’ with cops being able to punish anyone who irritates them?
AhabTRuler
Well, I guarantee that you’ll get their attention, but I don’t think that Tasers are what you should worry about.
joe from Lowell
Tasers were supposed to be used as “less-lethal” weapons; meaning, they were meant to replace guns. In situations in which the police might shoot somebody with their sidearm, we were told, they would have the option of using a Taser, which wouldn’t kill the attacker.
This isn’t me making this up; the possibility of Tasers being used to enforce compliance was brought up when these things were introduced, and the idea was roundly denounced by their advocates. That agreed that they were not meant to be used that way, should not be used that way, and assured us that police would be trained not to use them that way.
And now, they laugh at the “Don’t tase me, bro!” video. Ha ha, the cops tortured that guy and he’s screaming in pain. He sucks. Ha ha.
General Winfield Stuck
@Makewi:
Ha. Herein lies a primo example of wingnut logic. If he was a wifebeater, would it be ok to waterboard him, fry his testicles, or put a diaper on his head?
Never occurs to folks like our Scarlett, that one thing has nothing to do with the other. The arrest is completely separate to the alleged crime in our system. The only question that matters is is it necessary or even rational to tase a man with no legs in a wheelchair to force compliance for what, running away? All the cop has to do is push the WC to wherever he wants, and get a van with a lift.
kay
@Makewi:
I understand why he was being questioned. I understand speaking with people who are mad as hell is potentially dangerous.
We’ve spent 25 years in this country training police officers to de-escalate situations, and it works. It’s difficult. It’s boring. It’s more potentially dangerous than incapacitating people with voltage.
But, it’s worth the trouble, because they have to be trusted by the people they serve. They have to have the authority that comes from doing a difficult job well.
This is a short cut, and it was BOUND to be abused, and it IS being abused.
I’ll make my prediction again. This reaches critical mass, and is outlawed. My only concern is these nearly daily taser abuse videos are inuring people to what should be horrifying.
Makewi
@General Winfield Stuck:
Eaten. By. A. Bear. I’d stay far away from the woods if I was you, and for Gods sake avoid honey at all costs.
kay
@joe from Lowell:
Excellent comment. That’s it exactly.
AhabTRuler
@General Winfield Stuck: Well, we only have the man’s word that he has no legs. He could be hiding them, and that would definitely be worth a
paddlin’Tasin’.Makewi
Time for me to say goodnight, but let me leave you with 2 thoughts on this case. First, as of right now there is only the allegation of a tasering incident. Even the cops deserve due process, No? Second, if they did tase the guy then they need to be dealt with according to the facts of the case.
kay
@Makewi:
I have to say, conservatives are consistent in one area.
You never, ever recognize a real threat from the state.
You chase all these imaginary threats, and when the state completely and outrageously negates the real essence of liberty, which might mean, at it’s most basic level, “the ability to retain some control over my basic bodlly functions while being questioned” you simply don’t see it.
handy
I think we can all agree that if it was ACORN tasering people Fox News would be on the case!
General Winfield Stuck
@Makewi:
NIght Scarlett.
And remember:
With Gawd as my witness, I will never be stupid and wrong again
joe from Lowell
I hope and pray these cops get due process, but they won’t. And when they don’t – when they just walk without the slightest process – you won’t be the slightest bit troubled.
The cops’ due process, right. That’s the real danger here – that the due process rights of cops who screw with a poor black man might not be respected. Thank God people like you are on the case, or they might join the long line of cops who were denied the due process rights and railroaded for unnecessarily Tasering somebody.
Comrade Dread
So, let’s see… I predict that the officers will be on paid leave for a few days during the investigation that will say they acted in accordance with department policy and will probably be promoted.
joe from Lowell
You know, like the massive nation-wide campaign which had denied police officers their due process rights.
Let’s make sure we look out for that. That’s the real problem.
Yeah, so, in order of importance, when it comes to violations of civil liberties:
1. Affirmative action policies in grad school admissions offices.
2. Denial of due process rights to police accused of excessive force.
3. Letting employees sign up for a union instead of holding a ballot election.
4. Fairness Doctrine revival.
5. Limits on the capacity of magazines for semi-automatic rifles.
6. Obama’s brownshirts.
Have I got that about right?
Kirk Spencer
@rikyrah: OK, I’ll explain how a double amputee CAN be a threat. In return, I’m going to ask you to keep in mind I do NOT think this applies here.
I worked in a prison for a while. In that prison was an individual. He was an assassin – killed people for money. He finally got convicted of a few of the murders and was (and is) going to spend a very long time behind bars. Thing is, he was a very good killer and there are people behind bars others would like to see dead. He had more murder convictions for inside murders than he had for outside.
The kicker to that is that after his second murder, friends of his victim retaliated. He’s a paraplegic – no control whatsoever of the legs and only partial control of everything in the pelvic area. He killed at least four people after that, two of them the people who put him in a wheelchair.
Dangerous? Oh, yes. One of the smartest people I ever met, with zero conscience whatsoever. The searches were a joy – he’d hide things in the armrests (they detach, you know) and the foot rests and his colostomy bag and… yeah. If we went more than a week without finding something on him a SERIOUS search was scheduled.
He put some officers in the hospital, too. Almost killed a couple. He’s staying in that prison forever. If it weren’t for the wheelchair he’d probably be in max but as it was he was in the next level down.
Again, I don’t think the man in this case was like that or doing jack to threaten the officer. However, thinking a man in a wheelchair can’t be a threat is a mistake. Just for your education.
Mike in NC
Not until tomorrow, when the troll emerges from its hole and sees its shadow.
Donald G
@Kirk Spencer:
Will your paraplegic wheelchair bound assassin be played by Ian McKellan in the movie, as per this parody video clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8plKD704g4
Sorry, Kirk, I am not denying that your assassin remains a dangerous man, but there is probably a great deal of difference between that guy and the guy who was tasered.
Little Macayla's Friend
@joe from Lowell:
I also remember the civil liberties people warning of the greater temptation to use what were considered at the time non-lethal weapons.
I hope those discussions are documented and every use of tasers investigated by police oversight committees for the day when they want sonic/microwave/etc. weapons for crowd control. It will be the same problem, but with a lot of innocent bystanders, regardless of how well the beams are confined.
Comrade Darkness
@Gwangung: Is there any kind of policy that requires all cops who carry a tazer to have it used on them regularly, to make the point?
Or, perhaps, given the personalities involved, that might not help.
Roger Moore
@joe from Lowell:
I think you missed the most important one: charging taxes. This is a terrible civil rights violation that is the root of all other civil rights violations. If the evil government would stop abusing its citizens with those evil taxes, everything else would be sweetness and light.
Mnemosyne
@Kirk Spencer:
I have to say, it freaks me out to realize that when a cop looks at me, he spends all his time trying to figure out how I’m going to kill him when all I’m doing is trying to get my driver’s license out of my purse, and that even, say, refusing to sign the ticket means they’ll tase me because I’m clearly dangerous if I won’t even sign a ticket I don’t think I deserved.
Roger Moore
@Comrade Darkness:
I can think of at least two counterproductive responses to police being tasered themselves. One would be from the tough guys who would think that if they get zapped without lasting damage, it must be safe to zap anyone who annoys them. The other would be from mean ones who would see how unpleasant it was to be zapped and want to use it even more now that they knew how much their targets would suffer.
drillfork
The cops will get theirs.
http://www.tasermart.com/
We can all buy our own tasers, people!
Someone’s going to taser a cop — you KNOW it will happen. Then we’ll start hearing about how very dangerous these devices are.
When they’re in the wrong hands, of course…
gwangung
Of course not. Are you an idiot? You handle a person based on what he DOES in front of an officer, not what he’s alleged to have done.
And due process FOR A COP involves a higher standard than it does for civilians. You seem to forget this, given your bent for authoritarianism.
JHD
Oh you liberal fools: That man was *ARMED*! He had two of them! This is Obamamerica, where black folks can parade around on their luxury rides in front of the police with *ARMS*! And the witnesses will just say, “Right Arm!” Wake up! Or must I use MORE CAPS????
brantl
Did you see the video, dopey? Witnesses, witnesses, they are so inconvenient.
kay
@brantl:
Forget the witnesses. Just read the prosecutor’s statement.
He spent 6 days in jail on “suspicion of domestic violence” and was not charged. Why wasn’t he released pending the charges that never came?
He’s a flight risk?
He wasn’t resisting arrest, and that’s why he wasn’t charged with that. He was resisting turning his 2 year old over to a children’s service’s worker. The rationale for removing the 2 year old was domestic violence.
Let’s review: he was tasered and spent six days in jail for “suspicion of domestic violence”. “Suspicion of domestic violence” isn’t actually a crime, so, sadly (for him!) it appears he was punished prior to charges, let alone a conviction. Oh, well.
Ken
@Regular Reader:
Ask and ye shall receive: Police tase a six year old boy
Eric U.
the cops near here tazed an old geezer that was pointing a rifle at them. That’s what they are for.
I remember an incident in front of the White House before the tazer was in wide use. A crazy person was threatening people with a large cooking knife. The cops ended up killing that person. Nowadays they could tazer him and be done with it. It could be a valuable tool, it really seems to have gotten out of hand.
canuckistani
If the Black Knight was a danger without all his limbs, surely a black man would be too.
norbizness
He’s coming right for us!
Kirk Spencer
@Donald G: Odd. I could swear I already pointed that out.
Makewi
@kay:
You’re funny, because you don’t so much respond to my comments as you respond to the worst interpretations of what my comments might be if they were written by some horrible arch conservative caricature. I comment about verifying allegations and due process and you, oddly, act as if I am calling for the removal of personal liberty. What’s up with that?
Mnemosyne
@Makewi:
You mean other than the fact that you ignored that all charges were dropped against the guy, so your hypothetical “what if he was a wife beater?” scenario looks even more disingenuous since they tased and jailed an innocent man?
kay
@Makewi:
So dishonest, Makewi.
Look, we have an honest difference of opinion. You think it is perfectly acceptable for the state to use 40,000 volts as a persuasive tool to ensure compliance with a lawful or unlawful order.
I don’t.
It isn’t even a close call.
I do hope you’re never tased, though. I watched a demonstration. It hurts like hell, and we have no earthly idea if it leaves lasting damage.
kay
@Makewi:
I do abuse neglect and dependency work. I think this is what happened.
They had a complaint of domestic violence. They took a children’s services worker, because there were children in the home. That would be standard practice.
When they reached the home, they needed one of the following to remove the child: an order from a judge, exigent circumstances (they witness the violence) or consent from the father.
They couldn’t get his consent, they didn’t have an order, they didn’t witness anything, so they zapped him, and removed the child.
he doesn’t have to consent. He didn’t,so they tasered him.
I bet that’s what happened.
Makewi
@kay:
Your problem is that you are arguing with phantoms in your head. I never said it was ok for them to tase the guy, but being the absolutely starkers sort that you are, and being incapable of arguing in good faith, you will continue to pretend that I did. Because you crazy, and apparently not honest enough to argue against what I actually said.
Makewi
Clear indications of abuse would provide exigent circumstance, and consent from the father would not be required in a case in which he was the accused in a crime and they had consent from the mother or guardian.
kay
@Makewi:
No. There are two complimentary actions here. There’s a potential criminal action (DV) and the civil action that (sometimes) accompanies DV charges (abuse neglect and dependency).
Child abuse is also , of course, a crime, but he wasn’t accused of child abuse. He was accused of DV. The children’s services worker is the tip-off.
Children’s services are called in DV cases because a child witnessing DV is itself a reason for removal, under abuse, neglect and dependency statutes. BUT, you need an order. Or consent. Or exigent circumstances.
Finally, if they were married, the mother may not consent on behalf of the child’s father. It isn’t 1954. They have equal rights regarding that child.
The right to retain care and control over your child is a fundamental constitutional right. He refused. They required a court order.
Most people consent, because they mistakenly believe the state has power it actually doesn’t have. This person (rightly, as it turned out, he wasn’t even charged) did not consent.
He suffered for it though, and therein is the problem.
Mr Furious
@Mnemosyne: That’s a fucking disturbing collection of links.