Police: Off-duty cop used Taser to detain fellow officer

[Bluebear]

Off-duty now too? Shouldn't Tasers be checked out then back in at the end of a tour or is it just me?

====

Don’t Tase your bro in blue, bro!

One off-duty cop is accused of Tasing another during a late-night fracas in Haverhill, police said.

Joshua Wallar, 26, of Methuen was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for using his Taser on Daron Fraser, 39, of Raymond, N.H., cops said.

Wallar, a Kingston, N.H., cop, used his Taser to keep Fraser, a Lawrence cop, from fleeing a fight Tuesday night at 11:45 p.m. with a pregnant woman, according to Haverhill Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson.

“Waller went a little too far,” Thompson said. “At that point, the woman was no longer in danger.”

Waller has been suspended without pay and ordered to turn in his weapons pending an internal probe and court action, Kingston police said. Fraser was charged with assault and battery and assault on a pregnant woman and released on $500 bail. He was placed on paid leave, Lawrence police said.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100716police_off-duty_cop_used_taser_on_fellow_officer/

[Hydra]

1. Wow

Tasing isn't just for random citizens anymore! Hit your brother in blue! He won't mind...

[noamnety]

2. Assault and battery on a pregnant woman = paid leave

tasering a cop who is assaulting a pregnant woman = unpaid leave.

Interesting.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. If he was running away after assaulting a pregnant woman..........

he's lucky that all he got was a tasing! I'm sorry, but in this instance I can't be mad at the taserer.

[Bluebear]

12. Is tasering not meant to stop an act of violence? The violence was over and he was fleeing.

I guess I'm alone on this one that tasering should be used to stop an imminent threat and not to fell somebody who is running away from a scene.

[The Magistrate]

14. Police May Use Force To Halt Flight, Sir

Generally, deadly force may be used to halt flight only from a felony, but tasers are not considered deadly force.

[Bluebear]

16. Well, the Deputy Police Chief evidently feels excessive force was used

in this case. Also, the tasering police officer is not even from the state in which the tasering occurred, I don't know if that exacerbates things.

[The Magistrate]

19. Again, Sir, So What?

This is something any citizen would have been justified in doing. It is exactly what our 'Second Amendment' types envision as the reason citizens should be able to carry concealed firearms, so they can intervene to halt crime or the flight of criminals from crime.

[Bluebear]

20. Oh, OK.

[Axle_techie]

3. WHAT???

He is being disciplined for restraining someone who was attacking a pregnant woman??? Is this country still sane, or am I in the minority? I see someone attacking a pregnant woman, a taser is the least of their worries...

[Bluebear]

4. Yes, well, we are weak on crime and all.

:crazy:

“At that point, the woman was no longer in danger.”

Did you read that part?

[The Magistrate]

13. Self-Delete: Bobbled Placement

[Bluebear]

15. Well, the Deputy Police Chief evidently feels excessive force was used

in this case. Also, the tasering police officer is not even from the state in which the tasering occurred, I don't know if that exacerbates things.

[The Magistrate]

17. So What, Sir?

It is true the report is sketchy in its detail, but do you seriously imagine that if the person tazed was simply a citizen this officer would be under suspension?

[Bluebear]

18. Are off-duty police officers allowed to operate in this fashion in other states?

I don't know, I just didn't think they were supposed to. And certainly I question why an off-duty police officer has a department taser on him while in another state.

[The Magistrate]

21. Any Citizen, Sir, May Defend Another, And Even Make A Citizen's Arrest

No one denies the assault and battery was committed against a pregnant woman; any witness had a perfect right, some might even say a duty, to intervene, and hold the perpetrator for the local police.

[Bluebear]

22. Not with a taser, 'so what's' notwithstanding. They are not legal in Mass.

Waller committed a felony for possessing the Taser in Massachusetts. Only certified MA officers are allowed to possess them. The Haverhill Police were correct in stating that Waller is a civilian in Massachusetts because he is a NH officer only. If Waller is convicted of felony weapons possession, his police career is also over:

Massachusetts State Law. Ann. Laws of Massachusetts. Chapter 140. Sale of
Firearms. Section 131J: Sale or possession of electrical weapons; penalties.
Section 131J. No person shall sell, offer for sale or possess a portable
device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave or beam may be
directed, which current, impulse, wave or beam is designed to incapacitate
temporarily, injure or kill. Whoever violates this provision of this section
shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one
thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than
two years in a jail or house of correction, or both.


SUMMARY: Possession and sales of Stunning Devices are banned in Massachusetts.

http://www.snkoutlet.com/page/902038

[The Magistrate]

23. That Does Open Some Question, Sir

Things can get a little sticky in assessing criminal liability over this, as we will be deep in thickets of local regulations. Some police departments expect their officers to carry their service weapons when off duty, while others discourage the practice. It might be very difficult to demonstrate criminal intent in the part of the New Hampshire officer. Have you found any indication charges are being preferred against him in Massachusetts?

[Mariana]

10. It was another cop. That's probably why.

I've wondered why we rarely if ever hear of any cops who arrest and charge their criminal colleagues. Maybe this is the answer.

[CraftyGal]

5. Wow!

Unbelievable! :mad: :mad: :mad: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[Meldread]

7. What the hell? Am I misreading?

Here is how I understand it: Joshua Wallar shows up to some type of dispute or fight, and he is apparently off-duty at the time. Another cop named Daron Fraser (it doesn't say whether or not he was in uniform) is engaged in assault and battery of a pregnant woman. Daron Fraser then attempts to leave the scene of the fight with the woman in question. He then gets tasered by off-duty officer Joshua Wallar.

Now, Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson is punishing Joshua Wallar for tasering Daron Fraser... what the hell? Why? Since he's charged with assault and battery and attempted to leave after being told not to... it seems like an appropriate course of action.

If I understand the story correctly, it sounds like Joshua Waller was doing his duty, in attempting to protect a pregnant woman from assault and battery, but is being punished because he tasered another cop. If that's correct - then I think Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson needs a few thousand volts to the face.

Someone needs to explain to me what I'm missing. :crazy:

[The Magistrate]

8. No, Sir, You have It Right

At least on the rather sketchy information provided in the news report.

[Bluebear]

11. 'I think Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson needs a few thousand volts to the face' - Wow.

[snot]

9. k&r'd