Where did common sense go?




An 80-year-old man filed a lawsuit this week against an eastern Kansas sheriff’s office for allegedly tasing him without warning after officers pursued him for driving 3 mph over the speed limit.

In his federal lawsuit, John Sigg said a lieutenant with the Iola Police Department in Allen County on April 16, 2021, clocked him driving 38 mph in an area where the speed limit was 35 and decided to give “chase.”

Multiple police vehicles followed Sigg for a few minutes as he drove to his family’s car lot, although he did not realize he was “the subject of the pursuit,” his attorney wrote. He parked, got out and was surrounded by officers from several agencies.

Two Chanute police officers pulled their guns on Sigg, according to the lawsuit. Looking “quizzically” at them, he raised his hands, which can be seen in a screenshot of body-camera footage of the incident.

“Get on the f—ing ground,” a now-former deputy with the Allen County Sheriff’s Office yelled, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District of Kansas.

Without warning, the deputy used a Taser on Sigg — even though the manufacturer of the TASER X2 warns about using it “on the elderly,” his lawyer wrote. Sigg dropped “like a rock,” his attorney said, and cut his head.

“Sigg mumbled and was hard to understand,” his Wichita attorney, Randall Rathbun, wrote in the lawsuit. “As officers talked with him on the scene he indicated that he did not know what was going on and did not feel right.”

Rathbun, who served as the U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas from 1993 to 1996, told The Star that Sigg required a trip to the emergency room to have the taser probes removed from his body.

“To this day, he can’t believe they did it,” he said.

Other cops at the scene knew the deputy used excessive force and “were concerned by his conduct,” the lawsuit alleges.

The petition seeks a judgment of $250,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. The sheriff’s office did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

Court records show Sigg pleaded guilty to failing to yield to an emergency vehicle after the incident.

According to an article in The Iola Register from April 22, 2021, he was doing 34 in a 25 and drove a mile with the police chasing him with their lights on. Even then, he didn’t pullover, but rather parked in the parking lot of a business members of his family owned.

"Iolan John J. Sigg, age 80, says he was tasered during a traffic stop Friday evening. Police said they attempted to stop a vehicle driving 34 in a 25 but it did not initially pull over, and a taser was deployed during the incident." Link

Common sense says the story his lawyer is giving doesn't sound right.

Talk about a chicken-shit speeding ticket.

He probably shouldn't be driving if he doesn't notice a cop in the rearview...But that cop sounds like a power tripping asshole.

The guy's 80. I hope he wins and goes to Vegas.

9 over in a 25 isn’t chicken shit. It gets you pulled over in most places I’ve lived and given a warning. Not pulling over is what got him in trouble and is in fact what he plead guilty to.

Teasing him sounds excessive, but I wasn’t there.

For this very reason, in Georgia there are a number of anti-speed trap laws.


https://www.nationalspeedlimit...ed-limit-in-georgia/

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
For this very reason, in Georgia there are a number of anti-speed trap laws.


https://www.nationalspeedlimit...ed-limit-in-georgia/

How do you know it was speed trap? I didn’t see anything in the article about a speed trap. Officer could have just been cruising around using his radar. Irregardless the officer’s actions seemed way over the top.

3 over I'd chalk up to speedometer error, 9 over is roughly 30% over the limit.

The guy had an interesting divorce. Link There’s some great stuff in there and Target reparations gal could learn a thing or two from this guy.

He didn’t like the way it went and basically sued everyone involved including the court system itself. I think this link says the case against all the defendants was dismissed in federal and state courts. Link

He did get his conviction for doing 62 in a 45 construction zone overturned on appeal though. Link

I’m done looking as the picture of the type of guy he is getting fairly clear to me.

I drove well over a hundred in the Middle East and in Europe and Germany. Hell Montana did not have a speed limit til the mid 90’s.

9 over is nothing.

It's a case with attorney fees if the geezer wins. A settlement of some kind would seem likely.

Live it up grandpa, and get a driver with some of that scratch, eh?

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
For this very reason, in Georgia there are a number of anti-speed trap laws.


https://www.nationalspeedlimit...ed-limit-in-georgia/

How do you know it was speed trap? I didn’t see anything in the article about a speed trap. Officer could have just been cruising around using his radar. Irregardless the officer’s actions seemed way over the top.

No way for any of us to know just reading news reports. We're all making a judgement from the safety of our keyboards.
That said and looking at the photo in post #1, would you like to be heading into court and defending your position based on that photo?

If not for that tazer, that guy could still be out there, roaming the highways. Ride the lightning Grandpa!

I swear too many cops on the film/internet take things too personally. Regardless of his past, he ain't going anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
9 over in a 25 isn’t chicken shit. It gets you pulled over in most places I’ve lived and given a warning. Not pulling over is what got him in trouble and is in fact what he plead guilty to.

Teasing him sounds excessive, but I wasn’t there.

Around here, other then school zones, driving 25 in a 25 zone will have people on your bumper pushing you. Even marked police cars ignore that and most other speed limits.

It was not unusual for me to write 50-75 traffic tickets a month.
Not one of them was for 3 MPH over limit.
And the old dude should have stopped when signaled to do so.

It seems that some cops have this predatory nature that takes over.
Maybe because they are bored, maybe because they are forced to justify their existence, maybe because they just can get away with it.
But in these cases, the last thing they are thinking of is what is actually right.
It does not negate good performance and good performance does not justify this behavior.
They just need to be held accountable.

Was the deputy somehow threatened by an 80 year old guy with his hands up and looking puzzled?

It's disturbing we view tasing someone like this as 'normal'. Taxpayers will pay the settlement and nothing will change in behavior of the cops, right?

Perhaps the officer(s) in this case should study the patience and resolve of the officers dealing with the woman in the "do you know who I am" case at Target.

POLAR.
OPPOSITE.
ATTITUDE.

The lawyer who agreed to take the case should be tazed, and the guy should get it again for trying to get rich off taking his lumps. I am not a cop lover, but I certainly would not second guess one for tasing someone who had led them on any sort of pursuit. The whole point of the taser is to offer a less lethal option, the dude did not get shot or curb stomped, he should be happy with that.

^^^^^Are you out of your fucking mind?

Police don't get to deliver street justice. That's what we have laws for.

A fair number of people on this board already think that the state and its agents have too much power, and too little accountability.

You want to give them more?

Let's go all Judge Dredd on grandpa! That's a country I want to live in!