• home
• Results
• Biography
• How to Hire a Criminal Lawyer
• FAQs
• Criminal Law Blog
• Testimonials
• Press
• Resources
• rss

phone
512-451-5885

600 W. 13th Street Austin, Texas 78701 Corner of West 13th Street and Nueces.

Map

Board Certified - Criminal Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Criminal Law Blog

October 07, 2007

How To Get Through A Traffic Stop Without Getting Shot With A Taser.

First let me explain why I offer this blog as a public service announcement. 

The Austin American Statesman reported on September 30, 2007 that Austin Police Department Corporal Thomas O’Connor tased driver Eugene Snelling within 45 seconds of ordering him out of his car. 

A Taser delivers a shock of up to 50,000 volts.  The device is intended to render a person unable to attack another (or defend himself) and is meant to be an alternative to deadly force. 

Surprisingly, Cpl. O’Connor’s immediate supervisor and internal affairs investigators exonerated him of wrongfully using his Taser. 

They said that he was justified in using the Taser because he “perceived a threat.”

APD Chief Art Acevedo said he was troubled by the officer’s quick use of his Taser on Snelling and by internal affairs detectives’ decision that Cpl. O’Connor had done nothing wrong by using the weapon.  Chief Acevedo said: “our job is to de-escalate stops, not escalate them.  The way the officer conducted business, he absolutely escalated the situation.”

Police officers are trained that if the officer has commanded someone to do something, and the person repeatedly disobeys the order, then force may be used, if appropriate.  They are also trained to use a “continuum of force,” which means that officers are generally supposed to begin with the least amount of force needed to obtain compliance with the order.  If the person still refuses to comply, then the officer may increase the amount of force. 

Police officers have all kinds of tools at their disposal to avoid using deadly force.  They are trained to assume a “command presence.” By their demeanor, by how they use body language, they are to non-verbally communicate that they will obtain compliance with their orders.  Period. 

They can call in back up officers, both for their own safety and to communicate the non-verbal message that “we can make you comply even if you don’t want to.”

Officers are taught how to use martial arts maneuvers, such as joint locks and pressure points to gain compliance without hurting the citizen. 

Officers can use police batons, both as threats and as weapons.  Same thing with their chemical mace spray. 

The very end of the continuum of force is deadly force, namely a firearm. 

And right before the very end of the continuum comes the Taser.  Corporal O’Connor’s mistake, to say the least, was in skipping all of those other tools in the continuum of force and jumping right to using the Taser. 

With that in mind, I hope that drivers will follow these suggestions so that they do nothing that would give an officer any reason to perceive a threat.  Here they are:

1. Before the officer approaches your car, keep both hands holding the top of the steering wheel until the officer tells you to do something else.

2. Tell the other occupants of your car to stay still. 

3. If you keep your insurance card or driver’s license in your glove box, tell the officer where they are and ask for permission to get them before reaching to get them.  More than one client has told me that they have reached to get them and tried to look back at the officer only to find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun.

4. Even if the officer seems rude, remain polite and calm.

5. Choose to argue later.  The officer is going to do what he is going to do.  The time to argue about whether he was right to do it is not when you’re on the side of the road. 

6. Sign the ticket.  If you don’t, you’ll go to jail.  Signing the ticket is not admitting guilt.  It’s a promise to appear in court.  Nothing more. 

Most recent entries.

All past entries.