Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Public meeting about the GGNRA taser incident


Now we know why City Councilmember Len Stone was excused from Monday's Pacifica City Council meeting, Monday, September 10, 2012.

Escape, we're next
San Mateo County Times/Joshua Melvin, 9/11/12.  "Residents slam park officials over peninsula taser incident."

"MONTARA -- Residents still angry over the Taser shooting of an uncooperative dog walker in January blasted National Park Service officials Monday over their handling of the incident.

During a meeting intended to clear the air after the shocking of Gary Hesterberg at Rancho Corral de Tierra near Montara in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, residents repeatedly said they were outraged at the ranger's use of force. Officials have cleared Ranger Sarah Cavallaro of any wrongdoing, but residents still wanted to know what was being done to dial down the potential for official violence. 

Despite Dean's defense of the ranger Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, and Pacifica Councilman Len Stone both questioned at the meeting whether the shock was necessary. Speier, who said rangers should have Tasers, noted they also need to follow Park Service policy which limits their use to people "who are in active resistance."   Read article.


Posted by Kathy Meeh

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh God! This won't die. The guy disobeyed a sworn officer. He deserved to be tasered.

Anonymous said...

No he didn't. Dog Walking , without leash , is not a serious crime. Not a serious crime. Not a serious crime. Get it? No one was in ANY DANGER. Until, the Ranger made it DANGEROUS.

Anonymous said...

Don't be stupid. Disobeying a peace officers direct order not to leave IS A SERIOUS CRIME. Get it? Do you? It doesn't matter if you broke the law or not. If you don't follow a police officers orders you could go down. Try walking away from a policeman when they are giving you a ticket and see what happens. Some people are so stupid.


She was giving him a citation and he refused to show ID. All the guy had to do was stay put as ordered. But no, he wanted to be a big man and mouth off to a woman park ranger

Hutch said...

Yeah, the guy definitely deserved to be tasered. Not for walking his dog off leash, but for resisting arrest which IS a crime. You can't go around refusing to follow a sworn officers order not to leave. He only did it because she was a woman (IMO). And if she were my daughter I'd want her to do exactly what she did.

Anonymous said...

A couple of years ago a guy was camping illegally in a National Park in Utah. He gave the ranger a smiling song and dance that his ID was in car, and heck, no problem, the ranger didn't cuff or detain him, go get your ID! That Ranger is dead.

Tasering this a-hole was appropriate. Jackie Speier beating up on law-enforcement for doing their job makes her out to be really, really dumb!

Kathy Meeh said...

"All the guy had to do was stay put as ordered." Anonymous 12:49 PM

Except the DA refused to prosecute 3 misdemeanor charges filed against the dog walker by the GGNRA. And he did leash his dogs.

Hence, now the dog walker has filing a $500,000 lawsuit against the GGNRA for injuries and violating his rights leading to arrest. So, how "stupid" is that?

With regard to city police and sheriff, I'm with you and Hutch. To that list add park ranger. What happens with the lawsuit/settlement will be of interest.

Anonymous said...

The fact that the DA didn't prosecute strike me as strange. I wonder how much pressure Speier put on the DA? I wish "someone" from our civil Grand Jury would look into this and inspect email and other correspondence between Speier and the DA. What a journalistic coup it would be if Speier was shown to have interfered with a DA's investigation. Does the Fix Pacifica crowd DARE ?????

Anonymous said...

More likely the evidence supports the DA's decision. And that's why the DA ruled "not a criminal case."

Your want to complain, that's your business.

Anonymous said...

Standard procedure for the DA not to prosecute if the guy had no priors. Plus they prob figured the tasing was enough punishment. The fact that the officer was not reprimanded shows the internal investigation showed no wrongdoing.