Man To Sue Highway
Patrol After Traffic Stop Tasing
www.kutv.com
Last Update: 11/20 11:28 pm
The man refused to sign a ticket for
allegedly speeding and after that a Utah Highway Patrol trooper
tased him in front of his pregnant wife and baby.
Now the man is planning to file a lawsuit against the Utah Highway
Patrol.
Jared Massey may or may not have been speeding but he was arrested
when he refused to sign the speeding ticket, not knowing he had to.
Now you can see it all unfold on Youtube. (continued below)
Massey says, “I thought he was going to
go after someone on the other side.”
Jared Massey says he was already slowing down as he approached this
40 mile per hour sign in a construction zone outside of vernal on
September 14th.
But then trooper John Gardner pulled him over.
“How you doing, going kind of fast, license and registration.”
Massey was asked how fast he was going. The two exchanged words we
can’t hear because of traffic going by but after about a minute
trooper Gardner goes back to his car, and returns with a ticket.
Massey is asked to sign the ticket but refuses. Trooper Gardner
asks him to exit the SUV.
At this point, Massey says he thought they would talk about the
circumstances.
Massey fell flat on his back as he was tased. His pregnant wife,
Lauren, came out of the car screaming.
“I see this guy pull gun on me,” says Massey. “I thought it was a
real gun.”
Trooper Gardner had ordered Massey to turn around and place his
hands behind him twice, and it is an officer’s prerogative whether
to arrest someone for not signing a ticket.
Jeff Nigbur from the Utah Highway Patrol says, “It’s easy for us to
say this is what he should have done, but other hand could have felt
very threatened.”
The Utah Highway Patrol tells us it will speed up the internal
investigation based on a complaint Massey filed two months ago. They
will also look at the use of the taser.
“We take using taser very seriously,”
says Trooper Nigbur.
But for the moment Trooper Gardner is still on the job and Massey
thinks his demeanor at the end of tape says everything people need
to know.
Trooper Gardner is heard on the tape saying, “He was over there
jumping around...I said, ‘naw, not going to play that game.’ I
pulled out the taser, ‘turn around right now or I tase you.’ I tased
him.”
If Trooper Garner is found to have acted inappropriately it is
highly unlikely he will lose his job.
As for Massey, all charges except for the speeding ticket have been
dropped.
