Park Ranger Tasers off leash dog walker

[Dainerra]

wrestle people to the ground and cuff them forcefully? Honestly, that pretty much covers it. Or they would use the baton if a suspect was really combative.
DH has been tasered several times as part of training as well as used it on someone. He said it's not that bad, though if you fall down you might get bruised. He said he'd rather get tased than "taken down" because much less chance of injury.

I saw that someone asked "why did it make the news if it wasn't excessive"? Because interesting headlines sell papers? Because "Pit Bull Attacks Eldery Lady" is more interesting than someone doing a good deed?

[Dainerra]

was he actually listening to the officer? Did she never tell him ANYTHING? I find that hard to believe. Either way, though, she told him that he was being detained and that he couldn't leave.

Do tasers get over-used? Maybe. They are just a tool and some people DO think that non-lethal = can't hurt anyone. Of course that isn't true. But, that really doesn't have any bearing on whether it was a valid use in this case.
I'd say yes, based on the things written.

[selzer]

I have never met anyone who had a family member shot to death by the police. I have never met anyone with a family member that was beat to death by police with their night sticks. I know of these cases, but have never met these people personally.

I have met someone, talked with her for a while, whose husband was killed with a taser. So I opened my eyes and my ears and find that it is NOT just a freak accident, a lot of people have been killed with them. So, I think using them in situations where the use of lethal force would be incredible, like J-walking, dogs off leash, shop lifting -- that is disgusting in my opinion.

If this ranger told her dog to take the man down, and he was on suspicion of what, loose dogs in the park, well, I think that would lose her job too. Dogs are considered non-lethal force as well.

Again, our park rangers here do not get police training at all. Most of them do carry some type of weapon because they may have to deal with a critter. They are employed by parks or the state park system, but they generally do not have much more power than store security workers. They are generally called in to help with minor first aid, for searches, for wild life problems, and let people know they can kick them out of the park. They would have to call in the police to handle anything serious. For the most part, the officer's personal presence, coupled with the uniform, should be more than enough to manage a situation. We are not talking about people being accused of drug dealing, serial killers, rapists, etc. We are talking about noise after a certain hour, off-lead dogs, litter.

I think that another officer would have never let this situation go so far as to need a taser. If a police officer or a park ranger does not have a personal presence that will alone cool most situations, then maybe they need to be in a different job.

What would she have done without the taser? If the guy had become hostile to her and had threatened to hurt her, tasing him would make sense, so she could manage the situation until back up was called. Tasing someone who was not violent, I just think she should have handled it totally differently.