A Good Samaritan got tazed when he tried to help put out a fire at the Pickering home in Jones County. The Laurel-Leader Call reported this week:
SMDH.
A construction company owner who was responding to help at a huge house fire in Hebron was hit with a conservation officer’s Taser after driving past where the road was blocked off to get to the scene.
Tim Parker, 50, was charged with three misdemeanors — simple assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and disre- garding a traffic device. After being tased, he was allowed to assist at the fire, then he was taken to the Jones County Adult Detention Center, where he was held overnight. He made his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court on Sunday afternoon, where he pleaded not guilty. Judge Billie Graham released him and set his trial date for Sept 13.
“The only thing he’s guilty of is being a Good Samaritan,” said attorney Noel Rogers, who was representing Parker at the hearing. “He was not aware of any traffic devices.”
Retired federal judge Charles Pickering called Parker to the scene with a trackhoe to pull back the tin roof so firefighters could get to the flames in the attic of the home, which belongs to Pickering’s daughter’s family. When Parker pulled up and got ready to drive the trackhoe off the trailer of the 18-wheeler, conservation officer Richard Holifield of the Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Department confronted him.
Law enforcement officials were set up on Hebron-Centerville Road on either side of the burning home to help with traffic control, and Holifield had apparently tried to get Parker to stop. MDWFP officials said Holifield was almost struck by the truck. The officer had blood trickling down his wrist and forearm. When Parker didn’t stop, Holifield confronted him and shot him with his stun gun. Witnesses said Parker was walking away from the officer at the time. Blood stains could be seen on the back of Parker’s T-shirt.
Rogers said his client was walking away to start getting the trackhoe off the trailer so he could get it up to the fire and help. And he said his failure to stop wasn’t defiance, it was physics.
“He had a 90,000-pound truck and piece of heavy equipment on the trailer,” Rogers said. “You can’t stop on a dime with that. He also had two fire trucks bearing down on him from behind with their lights on, so he was trying to get out of their way. If he hadn’t gotten out of their way, he would have been obstructing an emergency vehicle.”
Vehicles lined both sides of the road between where law enforcement officials had been stopping traffic. Pickering was talking to a reporter behind his daughter’s house when he got word that Parker had been tased on the road in front of the house. He went down and talked to the officer and Parker, and after Parker was checked by EMServ paramedics, he unloaded the trackhoe, drove it across the yard and helped firefighters.... Rest of article.
39 comments:
Barney Fife with a taser.
What we have is failure to communicate.
This trial should be fun watching, with Judge Pickering defense witness #1.
I don't believe that all cops are bad. But if these guys seriously think everyone needs to lick their boots or else kiss the dirt, we've got some serious problems. I don't have the solutions but I've personally encountered several police that you could suspect of using steroids.
Why didn't Judge Pickering go to the jail and at least pay to bond him out? On the phone with Trump?
What we have here is a failure in genetics. Diminutive cops usually have short tempers. Hard to feel in control when you are a manlet. An officer who is not confident with himself is more likely to resort to his weapons.
Good Grief!
Using MDWFP as adjunct law enforcement has always been a problem just waiting to happen.
The lower down the totem pole, the worse the law enforcement attitude. If you have ever encountered a MDWFP officer, you know what I am talking about.
Taze a guy in the back trying to put out a fire. Winner.
MDWFP. Enough said. Those clowns think they are the DEA, ATF, and Billy Wayne Bad Asses. I've been stopped before by them and this cat had full on SWAT attire. Bullet proof vest, pistols strapped to his legs and one on his chest. They think they are something other than 'possum cops.
“Possum Cops”
TDF!!!!
Wow. What a well laid out, easy to read newspaper. Clear, salient writing. Nice photos. Click on it and look around, and then click on the CL website to see the contrast.
Thank goodness it was a Taser and not a 9mm!
So they tased him, then let him help with the fire, then took him to jail? What the everloving f*ck is going on with these MDWFP yokels?
It is not unlawful to disregard the unlawful, absurd, foolish and/or dangerous "order" of any law enforcement officer - particularly, given the circumstances when life and property are placed in jeopardy by such an "order."
I’m sure he had plenty of time to see emergency vehicles ahead, stop, pull over, and allow the fire trucks to get by. This is totally his fault. You play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Simple assault on a law enforcement officer is a felony and NOT a misdemeanor. Section 97-3-7(1)(b) provides for a penalty of a fine of not more than $1,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than 5 years.
Nothing worse than a possum cop on a power trip.
Don't TAZE me bro!!!
Butt-head law dog who won't back down. He should be ashamed to file such charges. He should admit his mistake and let it go. Citizens are not servants to law enforcement.
Possum Police on a power trip... There are way too many of these out of control Wildlife officers in recent years... They either need to up their training or re-educate a few...
Possum cop! I don’t care who ya are! That there’s funny! Git ‘er done!!!!
Look folks,
Keep in mind none of us were there and newspaper accounts of these events are always questionable.
Maybe the officer is an idiot. It happens. But, there was another party involved that may very well have caused the problem.
Let's see how this ends.
Sympathies to the family who lost their home.
My dad (RIP) Ted Brown, worked for Wildlife for 20 years, he said if you see us getting involved in a non-WILDLIFE-involved situation, call in and complain. So, here goes....
Hail government @ 3:08! Praise our masters! Bow down before citizens deemed greater than you! Drink your soy! Eat your fluoride! Diminish thy testosterone so that you won't offend! Smile your best soyboy fear-grimace as your picture is taken while you hold your Nintendo Switch!
So many people commenting on something they know absolutely nothing about other than what a defense attorney has said. All of you should have glass belly buttons installed.
This was downright crazy. Keep letting a house burn because someone's ego got bruised. Get out of the damn way if you don't want to get hit.
Most of these possum cops are like the Reservoir cops...they want to be viewed as real cops. Thank the legislature that they don't have radar. When they are issued a new truck, you'll see them in their driveway at home every night for a week flipping on the blue lights to show the kids and mom and the redneck across the street.
Watch this here shit, man! Get in the house Honey! Call yu momma 'nem.
In Rankin County MDWFP officers are know the "Possum PO-leese"
I'm surprised no one has joked that every time a Pickering is involved, someone seems to get it in the ass.
That said, I'm curious as to why a MDWFP officer called to assist at the scene of a fire has a Taser. Obviously, it is better then his using a firearm, but it does beg questions.
With nothing to go on but the newspaper account, both parties appear to have made mistakes. If the officer did shoot the guy in the back as he walked away, that is a very serious problem. And just as an aside, while "possum cops" is funny, I'm pretty sure MDWFP officers have to meet educational and experience standards that many local and county officers do not. That doesn't make every individual a model officer, but it does earn them at least SOME respect as a group.
I know several wildlife conservation officers who work for MDWFP and they are all good, dedicated people. I don’t know what the situation was at the fire, but I do know (having served as a fire chief on a rural volunteer fire department for many years) that some law enforcement officers think that they have the authority to hinder firefighting operations. They absolutely do not. It will be interesting to see how many zeros will be on the check the State has to write Mr. Parker, not to mention the personal judgement that he is likely to get against this “jackass with a taser”.
@&;42, absolutely there are some good MDWFP officers. Most of the good ones are getting old though and retiring and giving way to the new breed of muscled up, strapped up, half cocked-ready to rock vigilantes of the gravel roads.
"...the new breed of muscled up, strapped up, half cocked-ready to rock vigilantes of the gravel roads."
Remind me....are we talking here about Trace Rangers, Deputies or MDWFP Officers? (Reservoir cops don't qualify - They're too fat)
In the days of my yute...
The guy would have been using something like a Crackerbox Jimmie with a Buzzin' Dozen to haul that trackhoe. Barney Fife and the boys would have heard him pulling the hills and barking the Jake Brake for five minutes. Plenty of time to get their stuff together and the possums all lined up in a row.
Whether or not the trucker donated bigly at the last fire department fundraiser bbq.
Don't have factual knowledge but was told that MDWFD officers receive a high level of training. They are very well outfitted and equipped. Supposedly they have law enforcement powers, priorties above the average law officer that were "grandfathered" in back in the day. Just repeating what was mentioned to me and can't say this is true or not. Perhaps someone can confirm, yes or no. Parker, the trackhoe man, has been known for helping neighbors in these emergency situation in the past.
Don't have factual knowledge but was told that MDWFD officers receive a high level of training. They are very well outfitted and equipped. Supposedly they have law enforcement powers, priorties above the average law officer that were "grandfathered" in back in the day. Just repeating what was mentioned to me and can't say this is true or not. Perhaps someone can confirm, yes or no. Parker, the trackhoe man, has been known for helping neighbors in these emergency situation in the past.
If Judge Pickering thought enough of a friend to call for him to bring a trackhoe to help the firefighting effort(which he obviously did), seems to me like a LEO would have heard him coming in an 18 wheeler well before contact could be made with the OFFICER. No disrespect to MDWFP Officers but sometimes Major decisions are not made on the Radio. Main issue here is Common Sense or lack thereof on behalf of the MDWFP Officer, you know the neighbor was seemingly doing as asked- had his mind on getting there to HELP--
We always called them "fish cops."
this MDWFD possum cop must have gotten his training by the reservoir patrol. hes a s fat as the reservoir chief , got a mouth full of rotten teeth like that clown from oregon, and the wise ass attitude of the' lootenant'.
7:58...Forgive me for I have sinned. Your post made me hang my head and laugh. For a good while. And then some more.
But, seriously....they ain't a fish/possum cop in the country as fat as the Rez Chief. They could never get out of the truck with a ticket-book in hand.
Lootenant and clown from Oregon. Har. Howl. Yuck.
Since the Reservoir is a body of water, is it true that the Reservoir Cops carry water-pistols?
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