To tase or not to tase- that is the question. This after Philadelphia police used a taser gun on 17-year old fan Steve Consalvi at Citizens Bank Park Monday night. Consalvi hopped the fence in the bottom of the 8th inning, eluded several security officers, and decided to run through the outfield. That's when he was tasered, and went down like a sack of potatoes.
The use of a taser gun on a fan holding up the game by running on the field is unprecedented. Normally, the scene plays out like this...the fan either gets tired and stops, or is eventually tackled by security. So on the surface, the decision to taser Consalvi seems like excessive force. He wasn't really hurting anyone, and like his predecessors, would have been caught after a minute or two.
Here's the issue...in today's world, it's too hard to determine intent. How is security supposed to know who's harmless, and who's not? In September of 2002, Royals 1st base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked by two White Sox fans who came out of the seats. The career of women's tennis star Monica Seles was derailed in 1993 when she was stabbed in the back during a quarterfinal match in Hamburg, Germany.
I'm not saying every fan that jumps the fence, or runs on the field should be tasered. The last thing I want to see is that naked guy who streaks across the court at Wimbledon lying face down in a heap. Can you imagine the alternate ending to the movie Fever Pitch if after failing to catch Drew Barrymore, police at Fenway Park used a taser on her? Actually...that would've been funny. But I digress...Here's the way I see it...if you're on the field of play, and have no business being there, all bets are off. In other words, once that fan is told to stop, and they don't comply, the procedure should be very simple...shock the sucker!
No comments:
Post a Comment