Learning Disability does NOT equal mentally challenged. Could they have just overpowered the kid? Sure, they could have. Is it tragic? Yes, it most certainly is. But don't be like the fucking media and over sensationalize shit by saying he was mentally challenged when the news report only said "learning disability" when even that has nothing to do with the events.

Kind of misleading with the title, no? It says he had a learning disability, not Down syndrome. But his Grandma was quoted as saying he was operating at like a 10 or an 11 year old level...not sure if that means reading/writing/math, or overall functioning.

If a person jumps out of a car and runs into an abandoned house, how can cops know how dangerous he is, if he has a weapon(s), if other are people waiting, etc.? That's not a great situation to be in. And just because the kid was small doesn't mean he can't put up a fight. That said, I'm not a fan of tasers and feel there are other, better, ways of handling people.

Like a lot of reports, it seems like we're not getting all the important info. so I think it's hard to say the cops acted appropriately or if the force they used was excessive.

*teens

Adding video to channels (Teens) - requested by kronosposeidon.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'taser, kill, teen, teens, police, brutality' to 'taser, kill, teen, teens, police, brutality, robert mitchell, detroit' - edited by kronosposeidon

Bullshit on the cops use of tasers. "Cops make split-second decisions" is not a good enough excuse in this case. Several big cops couldn't subdue a 5' 2" inch, 110 lb. (1.57 m and 50 kg, for our non-American viewers) 16-yr old kid without tasering? Bull fucking shit. At least former cop Lou Palumbo called them out for that bullshit.

God this shit is making me angrier by the day.

*promote awareness of the police state

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Saturday, May 30th, 2009 10:37am PDT - promote requested by kronosposeidon.

Ugh. Again, cops being morons does NOT equal police state.

I smell an apologetic authoritarian in the room.

Gunny, how many times do we need to see cops being allowed to use (by their own regulations) excessive force before you'll believe we live in a police state? This shit is happening all the damn time, and the cops are routinely getting away with it. When the cops have more rights than their victims, then that's what I call a police state.

I used to instinctively recoil at the use of the term "police state" as well, mainly because I didn't (and still don't) think our freedom of speech has been hampered over all. But since I've seen more and more police brutality videos, the more I'm convinced that a police state exists all the same. I don't use the term lightly. Also lets not forget that our government authorized the use of torture on "enemy combatants", and the President was given the power to designate anyone he wanted as an "enemy combatant." He still has that power, BTW. If all this shit isn't the trappings of a police state, then I don't know what is.

Don't change the title. It's apt.

"Mentally challenged just means that something can be hard for us to learn." -cited

Hence learning disability.

Pleeezzz,pontificate all u want but,ultimately,wgaf..

^God, that is SO fucking insightful. What gives, slow day at Fark today?

"Learning Disability does NOT equal mentally challenged."

It doesn't? Seriously? I would think if one has a learning disability, then they are in fact mentally challenged.

"Kind of misleading with the title, no?"

No.

Fuck the media with their bullshit
"we're waiting for the official cause of death"

He wouldn't be dead if they didn't taser him regardless of underlying pathology.

Cops don't care about public safety, they only care about using taser as convenience.

lol MG must have to read under blue light or something

In the current vernacular, the general meaning of challenged means an inability to go at a normal rate or pace... ie, retarded.

having a learning disability could mean dyslexia eh?


Hmm.. "He was petrified. He hopped out the car and ran." ... who has the learning disability



Show me someone who would take a bullet over a taser and ill show you A DAMN LIAR!1

If you're in a dark room and you're unable to see a crazy suspect's hands, you're putting yourself at risk for a knife in the face, even if you happen to have a height advantage. 

You're free to volunteer yourself for a knife in the face if you think it's acceptable, but saying if cops don't volunteer for that then we live in a police state seems metaphorical. 

How many times was your social, economic and political life repressed today by a police regime that operates outside of constitutional law?

>> ^chilaxe:
How many times was your social, economic and political life repressed today by a police regime that operates outside of constitutional law?


I believe your definition is wrong. You should've written it as "how many times was your social, economic and political life repressed today by a government regime that operates outside of the constitutional law?" Check the wiki definition, it implies a government regime, not just a rogue police regime.

Since the Patriot Act, which most certainly can be argued as unconstitutional, I'd say everyday this happens in our country, chilaxe. Every single day.

Our social, economic, and polical life isn't restricted by lawful police use of tasers, and, unlike those who live in police states, we have the freedom to change any laws with which we're unhappy.

There's a cyclical history in the US and other countries of times of war prompting more restrictive laws that are later lifted. This has all happened before, it's our fault (don't vote for Nader next time), and it doesn't really affect our lives except in an abstract sense.

>> ^chilaxe:


Extreme reaction under the guise of law is the exact problem. Because it's a law does not make it right or constitutional. If a police officer is being lawful but unconstitutional, how does that fair in your paradigm?

And what does voting for Nader have to do with anything related to this?

Maybe the root of variation of opinion on this issue is that some of us do actually risk being tasered by police, and others of us are rational agents who see no incentive to physically resist arrest, or to even be arrested in the first place.

I think there's far too much good work we can be spending our lives on than to waste time baiting cops.

If we don't like GOP laws, then next time we shouldn't willfully increase the chances of electing Bushes and Stephen Harpers. As long as we admit past mistakes and become first in line to criticize them, we should be alright

^I'm not baiting cops. I just don't want the cops I am forced to pay for tasering people until they die.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Saturday, May 30th, 2009 10:43am PDT - promote requested by kronosposeidon.

Chilaxe, are you saying that every day every single citizen in China
experiences repression from their government, and if some of them
manage to go a few days every week without feeling the government's
jackboot on their necks then they don't live in a police state?
Actual repressive acts don't have to happen every day in order to feel
repressed; it's the ever-present FEAR that attends your daily life
that causes repression more than anything else.

I can tell you right now that I'm outright scared of cops in this
country, because they have the right to assault you to death with
their tasers or other weapons, almost always without repercussions.
The exceptions to this rule are generally the ones where video
evidence was available to prove police assault, but even then it's not
a slam dunk. Just ask Rodney King.

Just because we don't have men in SS uniforms patrolling the streets
with sub-machine guns doesn't mean we don't have a police state. And
yes, I already said we still have freedom of speech. So right now
we're still free to speak about police brutality until we're blue in
the face, while another Robert Mitchell gets killed by taser-happy
pigs. Yes, we're totally free, aren't we?

Sorry, I don't care what the medical definitions are; "learning disability" and "mentally challenged" are two very different things in the eyes of the average person. The title is misleading.

I think tasers not being as harmless as they're sold off as being is a real issue here. Some cops abuse their authority, some don't. Which side the cop who tazed this kid on is unknown, but was the cop told that tasers will always do no harm to the victims? What's the orientation video / sales brochure, self produced by Taser, Inc(tm) like?

"In some cases, some of the people who volunteered to be tased said they even ENJOYED the experience! Ha Ha Ha, now lets see what Little Billy says after his first taising....".

>> ^Xax:


When Einstein referred to "god" and meant a natural god (nature as creator), we should just assume he was talking about a man with a white beard who sits on a cloud in the sky because that's what the average person believes when someone mentions "god"?

>> ^Xax:
Sorry, I don't care what the medical definitions are; "learning disability" and "mentally challenged" are two very different things in the eyes of the average person. The title is misleading.



I don't know about that, besides..

I'm pretty sure 'mentally challenged' is a valid description for someone who hasn't committed any crimes and has no criminal record but decides to run from the cops on a simple traffic stop.

350 deaths in how many years? this is a ridiculous crazy small idiotic % of deaths in the overall usage of these. more people die from falling down stairs for fucks sake, should we ban stairs? how about all the lives *saved* because a cop had another option besides using a gun when physical force couldn't be safely used? either the cops life was saved or the suspect, either way.

is it perfect? no, but for crying out loud NOTHING is. when it comes to stopping one human from doing something they shouldn't be, there will always be risks. there's no telling that just trying to wrestle the kid down to the ground wouldn't have increased his heart rate to the point of failure and the end result was the same. saying some bullshit statistic like "50k volts!" tells you nothing btw, the amperage is a far more important number.

when your in a situation where you don't or can't know whats going to happen, you fall back on your training instinctively. a suspect just ran away from a routine stop, continued to attempt to evade capture, ran into an unknown building (likely with no active light source) and is not following even basic instructions, you have NO idea what its like to be in that situation. yes it was a 5'2" teenager, but you dont need to be large to use a weapon with deadly force. hell for all they knew he might have had a gun stashed away or hidden on him.

finally, all this crap is so typical of us as a race. we almost never notice when something works, but if it doesn't we fly off the handle. for every 1000 police out there just doing the job, being helpful and *actually* serving/protecting there are a few who act inappropriately. but those few are all you ever see or hear about these days. thats all you ever find video's of. because thats the only entertaining part of it, is finding the bits that stick out.

>> ^Xax:
Sorry, I don't care what the medical definitions are; "learning disability" and "mentally challenged" are two very different things in the eyes of the average person. The title is misleading.


Sorry, but no it's not. And I'm not changing it. Mentally Challenged refers to those whose IQ is below 70-75 and who lack proper adaptive social behavior.

5'2 and 110 pounds.
" they told him several times to quit resisting"
This tells me that they were in control of the situation. They had him down and applied a tazer while repeating "do not resist".
Come on! We have all seen this scenerio played out many times. I can picture the cops holding him down and electrocuting him while commanding him to not move. What a bunch of shit. That was a kid!!!
I'll say it again, Its no wonder that cops are afraid of being killed... some of them need it!