UHP (Utah Highway Patrol) tasers man in front of pregnant wife and baby over an alleged speeding ticket. Outraged? Call the Vernal, Utah UHP Office and let them know!

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• CBS Early Show

On a desert highway in Uintah County, a couple of hours before high noon, a standoff. A couple of surly dudes with attitudes.

One was filled with indignation over a traffic citation, and carried a bit of a chip on his shoulder. The other had the indignation and the chip, but also carried a badge and a Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle, aka, a Taser. You can probably guess who won.

The veteran Utah Highway Patrol trooper zapped the unarmed motorist as he turned and walked away that sunny September morning – shot him in the back – and the rest is Internet history. The police dashboard video of the incident somehow wound up on the popular Web site YouTube. And there’s been a cloud hanging over the Highway Patrol ever since.

Long-time trooper John Gardner, now the subject of a UHP internal investigation, did the zapping. Vernal resident Jared Massey absorbed the 50,000-volt jolt, and was not permanently harmed.

Massey was traveling, by his own admission, at 68 mph. And the video clearly shows he had just passed a 40 mph speed-limit sign when Gardner made the stop.

When Gardner arrived at his window, Massey, who said he had not seen the sign, was in a state best described as denial. And when Gardner returned with a ticket, and Massey refused to sign until he saw the speed sign, Gardner told him to get out of the vehicle, that he was under arrest.

Chances are you’ve seen the video on television, YouTube, or sltrib.com. If you watched closely, and heard Gardner order Massey to put his hands behind his back, there’s no doubt that by walking away, Massey was resisting arrest. There’s no doubt that the use of the Taser was justified; that an attempt to physically subdue Massey may have forced both men into oncoming traffic.

But we feel safe in saying that the incident never should have happened, and an incident like this should never happen again.

Under Utah law, when a motorist refuses to sign a ticket, a police officer can do things the easy way, or the hard way. He can make an arrest and jail the offender, or he can simply write “refused to sign” on the dotted line. Either way, the motorist has to pay the fine or show up in court to fight the ticket. Either way, justice will be served.

The law needs to be changed to prevent these needless confrontations. Nobody should be taken into custody for a traffic violation. It’s a waste of a trooper’s time, and the taxpayers’ money. Where possible, police should be made to do things the easy way.

From the Salt Lake Tribune – http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7544654