Through the years I have come across all kinds of unexpected reasons why people have found themselves on the wrong end of a police Taser (here and here, for example). This week's reason for an unexpected Tasering: trying to use a garden hose to fight a fire that is threatening your house.
Of course, the police would phrase that reason differently. Probably something like: "refusing to stop fighting a fire with a garden hose that is threatening your house after being ordered to do so by police."
Either way, Dan Jensen of Tampa Bay, Fla., took a Taser shot to the back last week after he awoke from a nap to find his next door neighbor's house on fire. Jensen saw that the flames were starting to approach his house, so he emptied a fire extinguisher and then began spraying the fire with his garden hose. The Daily Mail reports that the police arrived on the scene before firefighters did, and instructed Jensen to "back off." Jensen did, but lost patience waiting for the fire department while watching his house start to burn and decide to reengage with the garden hose. As he picked it up, "Jensen felt electricity run through his body and he collapsed to the ground."
Jensen says he never received a warning from police, which reportedly violates police procedure for issuing a warning before using a Taser. "It was wrong," he said. "I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me." The police say that Jensen was putting himself and officers in danger by not backing off, and that it only took six minutes for fire fighters to arrive on the scene.
