Deadspin: tasers

Tasers And Foul Balls Make For An Eventful Night In Oakland

Dashiell Bennett — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:30:54 EDT

At most ballgames, you're lucky if one interesting thing happens in your section. A foul ball, a violent arrest, dudes falling down stairs? Well, some lucky A's fans saw it all in the span of about 30 seconds.

Of course, on super lucky fan got it all on tape. This was allegedly shot at the A's-Rangers game at the Coliseum last night, and here's the play-by-play for those of you who are tube-blocked at work. It begins with Oakland police trying to remove some old belligerent man from his lower-deck seats. He didn't immediately get up and run for the exists when they told him to go, so naturally, they tased him. (Yay, for reasonable crowd control!)

Then another concerned citizen, camera phone at the ready, comes charging up to document the scene. But before he can lend a hand to the police brutality, an usher boxes him out like Charles Barkley grabbing the last seat at a $5 blackjack table. That dude goes a-tumblin' back down to the box seats. And if all that excitement wasn't enough, just seconds later a foul ball comes flying directly at the combatants, who call a truce just long enough to grab a souvenir. Quite a half-inning, huh?

Man, last time I went to a baseball stadium all I got was a free promotional bag of popcorn. Do the Ballhawks have a category for tazings?

You can watch the full video here, until it (probably) gets taken down. [YouTube, via SportsCentr Tumblr]

Not Even Tasers Can Stop The Gators

Dashiell Bennett — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:00:31 EDT

Florida's starting cornerback Janoris Jenkins had a brainstorm this weekend, powered by a few thousand watts of taser juice courtesy of the local police. As if that could ever slow down a Gator superstar.

Police arrived on a Gainesville street at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday to find Jenkins fighting with five people at once. Jenkins claimed they tried to steal his gold chain. Obviously, he ignored their pleas to stop the carnage and the threat of non-deadly force. So the cops finally brought him down with a taser ... until Jenkins got up and ran away.

Jenkins was hit with one cycle from the Taser, but afterward he stood up and ran away.

The officer reported he yelled at Jenkins to stop but he kept running. He was later arrested about one and a half blocks away. Police said Jenkins admitted he was fighting with the others because he thought they were trying to steal his chain, according to the report.

It takes a real champion to take on five criminals in fisticuffs, shake off a taser blast, and then bust out a 4.4 forty. Maybe Oklahoma should bring rubber bullets the next time they meet.

Gainesville Police arrested UF starting cornerback Janoris Jenkins over the weekend after they reported he was involved in a fight and an officer used a Taser on him. [The Gainesville Sun]

This Week's Tasered Athlete: Tim Worley

sussman — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:55:00 EDT

Wait, you don't remember him? Me neither, so let's revisit his career. Tim Worley was a great running back for the University of Georgia (an All-American, at that) and the seventh overall draft pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1989. He didn't have much of a pro career, lasting only four seasons, rushing for 1,792 yards and fumbling 20 times. He was arrested last Sunday for drunk driving and getting the ol' Taser treatment.

Yeah. When you try to encroach on Merril Hoge's touches, you're gonna have that.

More Stun Gun Fun: Tim Worley [Josh Q. Public]

Tase This Coach, Bro

Leitch — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:00:00 EST

Going under the generally accepted notion that watching someone get tased is entertaining, here's video of a high school assistant head coach being tased to fire up his team. Whatever works, man.

There's Always Room For Tasing!

Leitch — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:15:51 EDT

We've had some rather thorough discussions of tasering and its effectivness and proper dispersal. But we never thought we'd see it come up at a youth football game.

Actually, yeah: We kinda did. Parents.

Via Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, a parent at his kid's eight-and-nine year old peewee football league was so upset by a call that he had to be tasered by an off-duty cop.

"It's disappointing that two adults would come out and act like that. And I think people will see a bit of that and think it's common practice which it isn't," said Tom Lansing, president of the Gateway Football League.

You can watch the footage at WBIR's site, and while we think it's rather unlikely anyone will watch it and think, "hey, that there is common practice!" we nevertheless think an enterprising coach, eager to move his 11-year-old team to the next level, will adopt the controversial "taser as blocking alignment scheme." It's not difficult for your running back to hit the hole when the whole field is hole.

Sure, there are risks involved, but if you want to win, sacrifices must be mad. Just doin' it for the kids, you know.

Fan Cam Captures Youth Football Taser Incident [WBIR] (via Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer)

Set Tasers To, Uh, Taze? Tase?

Leitch — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:15:39 EDT

Off the Baggie brings up something we've been noticing as well: It sure does seem like lots of athletes are getting tasered lately.

The most recent was Atlanta Gold Club star Dale Davis, but there's an illustrious history, including a couple college athletes and, of course, a Cincinnati Bengal, AJ Nicholson. (We think they're probably using them as badges for succesfully completing training tasks, like Ohio State does with the Buckeyes on the helmet.)

We support the taser; we believe it would make an excellent motivation tool. Perhaps first base coaches can use it when players don't run out a pop-up, or owners can use it whenever someone's dragging their feet on, say, trading their free agent left fielder at the deadline. It sure beats macing LeBron's mom, at the very least.

Athletes And Tasers: Fun For The Whole Family [Off The Baggie]
Remember: Dale's The One Who's Always In Trouble [Deadspin]