Apalling Lack of Respect for Authority

Here's the video you might have heard about, where the Utah Highway Patrolman tasers a man he pulled over for speeding.

The idiot in the SUV thought he was in charge from the first moment, and amazingly, even after being tasered, he still didn't understand who was in authority.



From KUTV, apparently this idiot is still high on himself, as he plans to sue the highway patrol. But look at what else he says:

“I see this guy pull gun on me,” says Massey. “I thought it was a real gun.”

Most people have the sense to chill out and get compliant when they see a real gun pulled on them--yet you can see from the video that when the cop pulled out the taser, it had not the slightest impression on the guy. When someone is that unresponsive to police authority, there's also a good chance he's intoxicated on something, which can make the situation even more volatile (I'm not saying this guy was high, but it was hard for the patrolman to be sure, given how he was acting).

When I was in law enforcement several years ago, tasers hadn't yet come on the scene. Back then, we would have had to subdue a smart-alleck like this the hard way: wrestle them to the ground. The taser hurts like heck, I'm sure, but the old fashioned way usually results in more lasting injuries, like scrapes, bruises, dislocated sockets and sometimes broken bones--not because of police brutality, but because some people are so arrogant that they refuse under any circumstances to submit to authority.

I've been in situations where it took several cops to subdue someone who was resisting arrest--and several people usually got hurt during the process. One guy, we had to flexicuff his ankles after cuffing him and putting him in the back of the patrol car, to keep him from kicking out the windows of the car (and then he spit in my boss's face as we were carrying him in to the station). Tasers aren't pretty, but they're a lot better than the old way. Especially when it's just you, with no backup on hand, as it was for this patrolman.

Here's another of a woman who refuses to listen to instructions.



Sadly for them, these people are too caught up in their own arrogance to realize that even if they honestly believe they're innocent (most of them have to know they aren't), on the roadside isn't the place to argue it--that's in court, as the Utah patrolman tried to tell the guy. But when you're the center of your own world, and you hold such contempt as this for authority, you ego's going to get WAY ahead of your brain.

I'm glad I'm not in law enforcement anymore. There were enough idiots back then. And since it's become politically incorrect to teach people right from wrong, the crop is growing like weeds. That first video revealed not just an arrogant idiot driver, but his wife was just like him. If I heard correctly and there was also a child in the SUV, undoubtedly these arrogant parents are raising that child to provide the single-finger salute to authority as well.

When widespread contempt for authority begins to characterize a culture, it's a good bet that order and public safety are on their way out the window.