Don’t Tase Me Again, Bro

By now, most have heard of the 17-year-old baseball fan who received the Taser treatment at Monday night’s Cardinals-Phillies game in Philadelphia. When jumping a fence and running onto the playing field, certainly one cannot expect to be handled politely by security, but I’m guessing the young fan was, well…shocked…by the way it actually played out.

Although most people find the sight of an out-of-place fan making a run for it rather exciting, let’s agree on one thing up front: The playing field is for athletes, not for fans. With that understanding, a few thoughts on the matter:

1. Excessive — A Taser? Really? Then why not rubber bullets? Police dogs? A pepper spray and tear gas cocktail? Surely there are even more efficient ways to put an end to the disturbance. Why not test out those options on the kid as well?
2. Security – What was the perceived threat? Were players or personnel in danger? We all witnessed the dangers of fans on the field in 2003 when Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa was brutally attacked by father-and-son delinquents, but this wasn’t that. This was some kid skipping around and waving a rally towel. Did he look like he wanted a piece of 6’5″ Jason Werth or 255 lb. Ryan Howard? I don’t think so.
3. Gender — What if it was a female fan? I think we know the answer, but might the officer defer to the stun gun or spike strip instead?
4. Procedure — Is the Taser the new preferred method for dealing with civil disobedience? Based on similar public cases in the past few years (two specific videos come to mind, here and here), this may be the case. If so, is the intention to avoid a potential Rodney King moment? In reality, the public probably finds the Taser more palatable than the multi-officer, nightstick beat-down.
5. Disaster — Unfortunately, Taser-usage does not always go as planned, as displayed in last year’s shooting death of Oscar Grant, a detained and unarmed youth who was shot in the back by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, who allegedly meant to fire his Taser. Yes, that’s an extreme example, so let’s play “what if”. What if this kid had a heart condition? What if that Taser blast stopped his heart? What if that kid was taken off the field in a body bag rather than under his own power? Would Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies, or the Philadelphia Police Department be content with their actual respective responses to this incident of “wait and see”, “I commend the guy that took him down with the Taser”, and “the officer…acted appropriately”? It would be a financial and moral tragedy for all parties involved.

Now, I’m not agreeing with what the kid did. FANS SHOULD NOT BE ON THE FIELD. However, I’m not agreeing with the way it was ended either. I go to baseball games to watch athletes perform at their highest level, not to watch kids prove their cleverness by jumping on the field or to witness police officers get Tase-happy on offending fans.

That being said, I would have been perfectly fine if Werth decided to light that kid up, a la James Harrison. And perhaps not surprisingly, I think the kid would have preferred that too.

- Matt

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UPDATE (5/6/10) – It appears the Phillies have made a quick change in how they handle on-field disturbances.  During Tuesday night’s game, another fan jumped onto the field and according to the Philadelphia Inquirer article, “Despite appeals from some people in the stadium to “Tase him,” security personnel at Tuesday night’s Phillies game removed the second fan to run on the field in two nights the old-fashioned way. They waited until he got tired, surrounded him, and walked him off the field.”

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