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Tasering stubborn motorist okay, Utah state officials say

A Utah state trooper who used a Taser stun gun to subdue a stubborn motorist who was walking away from him during a traffic stop acted reasonably, state officials said.

Trooper Ron Gardner remains on leave, primarily for his safety, after several anonymous threats were made against him, Superintendent Lance Davenport of the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) said on Friday.

SPEEDING TICKET

Gardner twice zapped Jared Massey with a Taser when the driver walked away and refused to sign a speeding ticket on Sept. 14. The incident was recorded on Gardner's dashboard camera. Massey filed a public-records request and posted the video on YouTube, which said it has been viewed more than 1 million times.

"We found that Trooper Gardner's actions were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances," Davenport said at a news conference, joined by Scott Duncan, commissioner of the UHP's parent agency, the Utah Department of Public Safety.

The investigation was conducted by officials in the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the highway patrol.

The video showed Massey arguing about whether he was exceeding the speed limit on US 40 in eastern Utah. Massey got out and walked to the rear of his vehicle. The trooper pulled out his Taser when the driver tried to return to his seat.

Massey shrieked, fell and said: "Officer, I really don't know what you're doing."

"Face down! Face down! Put your hands behind your back," Gardner said.

When Massey's wife emerged from the passenger side, the trooper ordered her to get back in -- "or you're going to jail, too."

`RIDE WITH THE TASER'

Moments later, when another officer arrived, one of them said: "Oh, he took a ride with the Taser."

Davenport said that comment was inappropriate.

The UHP received thousands of phone calls and e-mails after the video was posted online, many of them critical of the trooper. There also have been threats against Gardner.

"I think mostly it's people blowing off steam, and that's fine," Jeff Nigbur, a UHP spokesman, said on Friday before the investigation's conclusions were announced. "But you can't say you're going to endanger somebody's life."

Nigbur said there was no evidence that the trooper's life is in danger.

Massey has pleaded for the online threats to stop.

"I wish people would have some common decency every once in awhile," he said earlier this week. "When I posted the video it wasn't to vilify the guy, demean him or destroy him and that's one of the things I hate about this."

Tasers use compressed nitrogen to fire two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing to deliver a 50,000-volt shock to immobilize people.
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