Coachella 2009

[Jaguar]

This is Why We Don't Go to Coachella

Or for this reason

http://www.vimeo.com/4273363

Isn't that the tiniest penis you've ever seen!

Poor guy looked like a light switch.

Seriously, if he ended up getting married and they had decided to hold out until marriage, that would be grounds for divorce.

[sweetcell]

"growers vs. showers"

[Firebutt McGee]

That's some serious growing then.

Like, some major fucking erectile evolution had better be happening.

[sweetcell]

this should be the foundation of our anti-drug education campaigns.  how many guys would touch the stuff if they thought it did that to their junk?!?

[Jaguar]

Or it could just be that some guys never grow up.

The average baby boy is sprouting more than that thing. There may be a bit of drug shrinkage but I would bet that Mr. Overcompensating is just a freak of nature.

Some guys buy cars. This guy proudly shows off what he doesn't have.

Quite frankly, I was much more disturbed by the tassering. Especially by that one over-zealous freak. Nature Boy is no harm to society but excessive force is. (Note the key word 'excessive'.)

[gaaaaaaaaah]

Or it could just be that some guys never grow up.

The average baby boy is sprouting more than that thing. There may be a bit of drug shrinkage but I would bet that Mr. Overcompensating is just a freak of nature.

Some guys buy cars. This guy proudly shows off what he doesn't have.

Quite frankly, I was much more disturbed by the tassering. Especially by that one over-zealous freak. Nature Boy is no harm to society but excessive force is. (Note the key word 'excessive'.)

I knew this video would provoke "excessive force" arguments.  But really...the cops did NOTHING wrong.  They asked a guy to put clothes on.  A pretty damn simple request.  And he wouldn't do it.  Not only that, he kept arguing with the cops.  Since he was clearly on something illegal, the fact that they just asked him to put clothes on was more than generous in my opinion.  He decided to protest, and ignore them, so the cops tazed him.  If they had just seen this dumbass, and instantly taken him out, THAT's excessive force.  But they gave him the chance to put clothes on, and he refused.  He deserved it.  The cops did nothing wrong.  I would have handled it the same way.

[Jaguar]

Komrad, you would have done well in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. That is total bullshit! I'm not so much disturbed that they were arresting him (even though that itself has its arguements) but there was absolutely no call for tassering the poor guy. If 3 cops can't handle one naked dude, than maybe they need some serious unarmed combatant training along with a few more work outs at the gym. Even if things escalated to tassering level, that nut job with the gun went overboard and kept charging up the guy. Could have killed him....and yes, that has happened several times in the past. This was totally uncalled for especially given that this guy was NOT OF ANY DANGER TO HIMSELF OR OTHERS!

[gaaaaaaaaah]

They gave him a simple request, while ignoring his obvious drug use, and he wouldn't comply?  That seems like grounds to do something right there.

While the one officer may have gone overboard with the tassering(I only watched the video once, a few days after Coachella ended, so I don't entirely remember) their action was warranted.  No, he wasn't harming himself or others, but it's still indecent exposure, and he didn't really help himself out by resisting a very simple request.  They gave him plenty of time/chances.  It's simple really: don't be that dumbass who essentially mocks the police officers, and you won't be dealt with like he was.

[Jaguar]

We are not in disagreement as to whether or not some sort of action was appropriate regarding aprehending him. The dividing line is whether or not the tasser should have been used.

You know, you walk a very delicate line when you are so cavelier about allowing law enforcement full reign to use and abuse their powers for every and any kind of infringements. Again, shades of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.

There are plenty of other professions, or even everyday dealings between us common folk, where rules are broken, we are being disrespected or we are being attacked and if we did anything such as this, we'd lose our jobs or maybe even be arrested ourselves. I know this all full well being an ex-teacher. (No, I did not lose my job because of anything like this but I did quit, in part, due to absolutely no protections from actual violent assaults with absolutely no reprecussions to the offenders.) My point is that there are other ways to handle an unruly fool who is of no real harm whatsoever to others without being quick on the draw. A little Ninja power should have had that guy locked down and rendered ineffective. Now, I know they did try at first BUT you could easily see that these guys were so out of shape and didn't have enough of whatever they needed to hold this guy. It really looked like they needed some martial arts training along with looking too damned lazy to even want to bother with this guy. Maybe the other 2 didn't regard him as much of a problem so didn't put as much into their stuggle but Offr. Tricker Happy seemed delighted to try out his new toy.

It's just a very, very scary precedence to set when allowing law enforcement to pull this crap on someone who is of no harm to anyone whatsoever. Now, if he had been physically assaulting another, my only concern would have been the excessive tassering. It's just another step on our freedoms from Big Brother's police state mentality.

[gaaaaaaaaah]

Fair enough.  I'm not at all advocating the police being able to use however much force as they want, but from what I saw, tazing that guy seemed reasonable.  Also, consider the fact that that video is just a few minutes long.  There could have, and probably was, more going on before the video was filmed.

Yes, there probably were safer ways to get this guy to go away, but maybe the cops tried them, and the video doesn't show this? 

All I'm saying is, that guy was an idiot, and he deserved to be taken down.  I'm not at all saying that we should follow Nazi Germany's lead, and allow the police "full-reign."  That's a shitty idea.  I just have a problem with people who do illegal things, then bitch about the police being "oppressive", or whatever.  Being in a college environment doesn't help, as I've heard countless stories from douchebag-types about cops being "unfair" or "ridiculous" in ruining underage drinking.  It's simple...don't break laws, and the cops won't have a reason to use ANY amount of force.  If you're being nice and law-abiding, and a cop does something, you have a reason to say those things.  But if you're breaking a law in the first place, don't whine about the police when you're caught.

That's a bit off-topic, but I think it kinda applies here.


Also consider that, in a festival environment, what will happen if people see the cops just ignore and walk away from a drugged-up naked wizard?  That seems to me to be a flashing "anything goes" light.  Which seems like an awful thing, especially considering how much I imagine ALREADY does go on at a place like Coachella.

[betao]

The taser usage was warranted. Notice how after they got him down, he broke free and then tried to make a run for it. If a suspect tries to make a run for it, I'd say that taser is fair game. Was he going to harm someone? Probably not. But he was breaking the law and not cooperating with police officers who treated him fairly (at one point they offered to dress him). He didn't cooperate, broke free, and made a run for it. Bam. It's not like they used it "just because they could", they used it for a reason.

[Jaguar]

As much as we seem to disagree here, for the most part, I think we both pretty much walk the same line. It's just that you have one foot on the side of dogma where I have one foot on the side of being very fearful of that very dogma.

Believe me, I fully get what you are saying about the psychology of what others think. Any good manager or teacher should also be fully aware of that. With that said, too much of a show of force and/or power can backfire or even be dangerous. It's not as clear cut a formula as any higher boss or other group expects.

Regarding only seeing what was in the video, that too I fully understand but somehow I have a pretty good feeling that anything outside the video frame wasn't anything of concern here. Or, at least, nothing extra. No juicy Director's Cut to follow. For one, 2 of the officers seemed kind of relaxed and laid back about the whole thing. It was just that one crazy ass nut job. Once he pulled the trigger, then a sort of us and them team mentality kind of went into overdrive. The crazy one raised the bar for the other 2 which really wasn't fair at all to them. In my opinion, I am much, much more afraid of him than the man from Eden.

As far as laws being laws, I've always been one to question authority. In no way am I an anarchist but I do believe that sometimes certain laws and such aren't set quite right. Yes, I know there are ways of dealing with that but that's a whole other issue of bureaucracy.

[betao]

considering how much I imagine ALREADY does go on at a place like Coachella.

this year, i got asked roughly 7 times if i had anything to sell.

[Jaguar]

The taser usage was warranted. Notice how after they got him down, he broke free and then tried to make a run for it. If a suspect tries to make a run for it, I'd say that taser is fair game. Was he going to harm someone? Probably not. But he was breaking the law and not cooperating with police officers who treated him fairly (at one point they offered to dress him). He didn't cooperate, broke free, and made a run for it. Bam. It's not like they used it "just because they could", they used it for a reason.

You scare me! Bet you would say the same thing if a bullet was lodged into this guy's bare ass.

[betao]

No, that'd be excessive force for this scenario.

A taser is not excessive force for this scenario.