For All The Taser Lovers Out There.

[jayfish]

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6202747

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A Michigan State University professor whose wife coaches the women's basketball team was arrested on an assault charge after he emptied a trash bin, swung it at an officer and bit him on the finger at a Florida airport, police said.

Police said McCallie refused to clean up the mess, began yelling obscenities and swinging the trash can at the officer. When the officer attempted to handcuff him, McCallie slapped his hand away. The two began to struggle and ended up on the ground, where the professor bit the officer's finger when he tried to grab his wrist, airport police said. McCallie reportedly would not let go and was subdued when the officer pressed a pressure point behind his ear.

Hats off to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport police for a job well done.

Jay

[hardcore]

1. Agree with the praise

A lot of police departments would have called out the damned SWAT team. CATO put out a good study about the militarization of police forces. This is the way to handle the situation.

[jayfish]

4. And (From The Article Anyway) It Only Took One Officer. -NT-

Jay

[meegbear]

2. Why didn't they use the Vulcan pinch?

[jayfish]

3. Ya Know, I Don't Remember...

ever seeing where Spocks thumb was while performing the maneuver.

Jay

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. That's the secret

don't you get it?

[jayfish]

8. I Guess I Don't.

Maybe that's why it never works for me. :shrug:

May

[wtmusic]

5. Why does the officer have to endure

a lacerated (and possibly severed) finger?

Stun the bastard.

[jayfish]

7. Because That's What His Job Is...

and he did it well. A lacerated/severed finger will heal. The scares associated with tasering someone to the point of cardiac arrest might not.

Jay

[wtmusic]

9. Unbelievable.

You are saying it would have been better for the officer to lose a finger than to put this asshole out for a few minutes?

Do you have any grasp on the statistics of Taser use?

Fact: more people died before Tasers than after:

http://www.taser.com/facts/stats.htm

[jayfish]

10. What, From Choke Holds,...

baton or flashlight use? Your statistical source might be a tad biased there too.

Jay

[wtmusic]

16. No doubt

and I'd be willing to consider another statistical source, except you haven't provided one.

Here's one: does a woman have the right to tase a man who is trying to rape her? Or should she limit her defense to carefully selected pressure points, in order not to endanger him? He might be a rapist with a cardiac condition, after all... :crazy:

[jayfish]

17. Let Me Narrow My...

focus because I, admittedly, wasn't clear in my OP. I'm talking about police engaging in the use of tasers where it's obvious (to me at least) it was unnecessary. In the case of a woman defending herself from a rapist, I have to say, head-shot FTW. But I'm sure a taser would work nicely.

Jay

[wtmusic]

19. Except the obvious part is never quite that

If the officer had gotten beaned with a trash can he could have been killed, depending on the force with which it was thrown (the validity of either of our points is dependent on the size/strength of the participants).

I'm pro-taser, largely because I saw a drunk man shot twice through the heart who would be alive today--were it a taser instead of a service revolver which came out of the officer's belt.

Tasers are abused, but I have yet to see a statistic which gives clear cause to ban them. It's the abuse which needs to be addressed.

[sammythecat]

20. I just want to tell you

that I completely agree with all the points you are making.

If I'm attacked by a stranger in a blind rage I'm not going to abide by the NCAA rules of boxing. I'll use whatever I can to stop the attack as quickly as I can, and if I had a taser I would most definitely use it.

To expect a uniformed cop to behave any differently is unreasonable and wrong.

on edit: I suspect the reason this cop didn't use a taser, if he had one, is that he felt reasonably confident he could physically overpower the prof, in which case he showed admirable restraint and judgment. But what if it had been a 200lb. wrestling coach and a 110lb. female officer?

[uppityperson]

27. How many died from a bit finger?

[Solo_in_MD]

11. Under the ear pressure point also encourages the jaw to relax, which would have been helpful.

Had they been apart, I would have had no problem with him being tasered and/or maced for biting, since it is the use of a weapon but if I read the story right the perp and the cop were entangled, so it was not possible.

[Solo_in_MD]

12. The job of the office is not to accept injury at the hands of a perp so that the perp is not injured

[jayfish]

13. Let's Not Engage In A Semantic Argument.

The crux of my point was that an officer must be prepared for injury or even death while in the line of duty. BTW, I'm praising the officer here.

Jay

[ileus]

14. He should have used the taser.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

15. He should have used the taser.

Why should he risk a finger? Also, humans are the most dangerous animal to be bit by, due to disease transmission.

I know that pressure point, but I'd still taser somebody before risking losing a finger. For the record, I don't own a taser. Mostly because they're illegal in my state. :eyes:

I have this weird thing called self-preservation instincts. Good thing to have.

[Xithras]

18. That pressure point is extremely painful

I studied karate as a teen (Okinawa Te, it was a fad after the Karate Kid movies), and my sensei demonstrated for us regularly how pressure points could be used to incapacitate someone without combat. If this cop used the pressure point I'm thinking of, the result is an indescribable agony, on par with someone shoving a screwdriver down your ear and into your brain. Pain-wise, it's probably comparable to the taser.

[BreweryYardRat]

21. Where is that particular one?

"Behind the ear" isn't very descriptive.

[sammythecat]

22. I'd like a detailed description of that myself

Sounds like a good thing to know.

[Xithras]

24. It's easy to find.

Place your index finger against the back of your ear, so that one side of your finder is touching the ear and the other is touching your skull. You should feel hard bone on one side, and soft cartilage on the other. Now slowly slide your finger down your ear until you find the point where the bone falls away (usually just behind the flap at the bottom of your ear). If you push straight in a little, you'll notice that it hurts. There's a huge bundle of nerves around the ear canal (for obvious reasons), and applying even a little pressure to that spot is very painful. Apply a lot of pressure to that spot and you'll not only be in agony, but the pressure against the inner ear will make you very dizzy. Apply too much and you'll rupture the eardrum and become permanently deaf in that ear.

One of the useful things about that spot is that it can take a minute or two for the pain to subside. One really hard push and you can have someone writhing around on the ground in agony while you flee for safety. If you're talented enough to hit both sides at once, the pain is unbearable...I've seriously heard it described as feeling like you're head is being impaled or crushed.

I've only every used it once, and that was to pull an abusive drunk off of his girlfriend. It worked fairly well while I had the pressure on, but he recovered in only a few seconds when I released. When my sensei demonstrated it on one of our brown belts, the guy was on the floor crying for over a minute. I guess it's all about practice.

[sammythecat]

25. Thanks for the detailed, and very easy

to follow, description. Now I can't wait to do that to somebody.

Just kidding about that, but it is a nice bit of knowledge to have. Thanks again.

[sakabatou]

23. And pressure points do work

Like pressing one's knuckle just above the adam's apple.

[Occulus]

26. For reference, here is an illustration of some of the commonly-known pressure points:

I knew about the one behind the ear, and I also know the one between the thumb and index finger (it's in the 'meaty' part, the muscle between them) can be used to ease headache.

Aren't these points also used in acupuncture?