Jesus and George Bush Arrested Naked
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James Joyner | Friday, June 6, 2008 |
Now here’s a headline you don’t see every day: “Deputies subdue naked man who was claiming to be Jesus and George Bush.”
A naked Pinson man claiming to be Jesus Christ and George Bush was shot four times with a stun gun by Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies this morning after he repeatedly refused to heed their commands.
Richard Scott Odell, 30, was treated on the scene by paramedics and taken to the Jefferson County Jail.
Treated for what? Nudity? A God complex? Impersonating the president? Or getting zapped?
A motorist called deputies about 4 a.m. to alert them that the man was standing nude in the middle of Alabama 79 at Bradford Road. As the motorist approached the man, he stumbled toward the car and was struck by the car’s mirror, sheriff’s authorities said. The man then ran away.
The motorist summoned deputies. Armed with their X26 Tasers, they ordered Odell to the ground, but he refused. He was struck in the chest by the Taser but didn’t go down. He was struck a second time and fell to the ground, but wouldn’t roll over to his stomach. When he was struck a third time, the man yanked the Taser wires out of chest. After being shot a fourth time, Odell complied with deputies and was secured with handcuffs and leg irons.
Odell stated that he was Jesus Christ and George Bush and that he could break the handcuffs. Authorities said he appeared to be intoxicated.
No word on whether he broke said handcuffs.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Treated for what? Nudity? A God complex? Impersonating the president? Or getting zapped?
Yes.
When he said, "Forgive them Father...," who was he referring to?
Clearly they need a larger caliber taser.
Maybe the plans to invade Iran were in his other pants.
Hmmm..., maybe this helps explain why the police are becoming more paramilitarized.
Well, he's good people...
Why the hell did the police approach someone who was clearly unarmed (As clearly unarmed as humanly possible), and delusional, and 'appeared to be intoxicated'...with tasers, and then actually taze the man?
Do crazy naked unarmed men really pose such a large danger to the police?
Oh, wait. An injured crazy naked unarmed man. (He apparently wandered into a moving car and got hit by the mirror before all this started.)
Oh, and the third and fourth times he was tased, he was already on the ground, he just wouldn't roll over on his stomach. I'm not entirely sure it's proper policy procedure to make naked people roll around on the ground
And I am entirely sure that using tasers to enforce compliance is exactly why people objected to them in the first place. They're supposed to replace, and only replace, lethal force. Are we to assume that, before tasers, this police department regularly shot people who failed to present themselves correctly for handcuffing?
'Paramilitarization of Police' indeed. This man was barely committing a crime and clearly needed help, and was attacked repeatedly by the police.
What's next...people unconscious after car accidents getting shot at because they're not exiting the vehicle with their hands visible? People with stab wounds being charged with littering because they're bleeding everywhere? People having heath attacks in public charged with loitering and tasered when they 'resist arrest' by just clutching their chest and laying there?
Repeatedly assaulting crazy people is not the job of the police. The job of police is contain obviously crazy people and turn them over to some sort of mental health professional.
I wonder what the procedure is for determining whether a naked, delusional, ranting man in the highway is intoxicated or not.
Why the hell did the police approach someone who was clearly unarmed (As clearly unarmed as humanly possible), and delusional, and 'appeared to be intoxicated'...with tasers, and then actually taze the man?
Don't be too quick to blame the cops, on this one.
If I came across someone like that, I would assume the guy was on something. Given the schizophrenia, PCP seems a good candidate, and that makes him far more dangerous than the average human.
The analgesic properties of the drug can cause users to feel less pain, and persist in violent or injurious acts as a result. Recreational doses of the drug can also induce a psychotic state that resembles schizophrenic episodes.
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