Cops at CBP Officially Not Messing Around Anymore

Photo via TSNProducerTim    (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

During Monday's Phillies game, a person in attendance at Citizen Bank Park ran onto the field while the Cardinals were up to bat. According to those at the game, this fan was promptly tasered.

Here's the best video we've found yet of the taser incident.

We've done the crack reporting to bring you this amazing photo of the man on the field via StephAnnBury.

It makes you wonder if it's in any way a response to criticism of Phils/security/police at CBP after the very nationally publicized puking incident. I've never heard of a fan getting tased for running onto the field at a baseball game. UPDATE: Via commenter Mark, "uh, Epic Beard Man got tased at an A's game last summer...."

What exactly the fan did to deserve the shock treatment was unclear as the televised broadcast did not show the fan on the field. Perhaps the highlight of the whole ordeal was seeing Ryan Howard with his face in his glove trying to hide his laughter.

Luckily, Charlie Manuel was allowed to leave under his own power.

UPDATE2: Awful video from the crowd:

 

Here's the video from the Oakland incident:

Comments

[Kevin McGuire]

You teased me with that one!

[loctastic]

Eh, more like StephAnnBlurry, amirite?

[Uncle Mike]

Oh, is THAT what the Phils did to the Mets the last 2 nights? Tased 'em, bro?

[Mark]

"I've certainly never heard of a fan getting tased (sp?) at a baseball game."

uh, Epic Beard Man got tased at an A's game last summer....

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=6952731

[Benjamin]

THX 1138 anyone?

[Scott B]

make an example of him.

[Number3]

DON'T TASE ME BRO!

[stevefredericks]

Number3, i dont get it

[AB]

did he piss himself???

[joe wade (IPWT)]

yeah i was there. didn't necessarily see him get tasered because when he finally gave up he slid down onto the field BUT if he did it's kind of ridiculous.

[Ryan H]

a step in the right direction. I wouldn't mind if you shot these fools who do this type of shit. maybe not in the head. maybe just in the leg or something

[phillyfan412]

I've always wondered what possesses people to do this. Usually I think they're crazy but this looks like a perfectly normal kid.

[Watrick]

He did it because it was dollar dog night, and he was drunk, like most of the people there, even though you can only buy 1 beer at a time.

[EricStAngelo]

NOT cool.

[JMS]

And we thought Eagles Jail was a little rough.

[EricStAngelo]

WOW, then I watched that Oakland vid...
Crazy. Tazing a seated man. I don't care WHAT he did, cops used to be bigger men than that.
They have this fun weapon now and they all can't WAIT to use it. I don't wish harm on an unfortunate soul, but I'm hoping they do it to a couple of people with heart conditions and they die, so we can be done with this shit.
I wonder why people hate authority. Maybe cause they abuse it??

[EricStAngelo]

P.S. This is what happens when they get into the practice of giving fat men jobs as cops.
Sorry fat guys, no disrespect, so long as you're not a cop.

[Scott K.]

I have seats in section 204. What was priceless was Werth's reaction when he noticed the fan running towards him, considering The Beard didn't notice him until he was like 10 feet away.

[John]

I was at the Phils game and watched the whole thing from 108 by the right field pole. Looked like the guy came out from right field foul territory and ran right at Werth. Werth looked pretty startled at first and looked like he was ready to defend himself, but the guy took off toward centerfield. He made a couple of nice juke moves to evade security. From our vantage point, it looked like he just did a voluntary head first dive in shallow centerfield, and didn't look at all like he was brought down by a taser. Security was on him pretty quckly and cuffed him while he was down and took him away.

[becca]

hahahahhah that A's fan getting tased is awesome

[somebodybetterduck]

what are the chances this kid gets banned for life?

[will.H]

ericstangelo, not to follow your lead and be disrespectful, but you may need an officer one day. Think you'll sing the same tune if someone breaks into your house? Would you avoid calling the cops because they're fat? C'mon man, don't represent like that.

John, from what i saw, it looked like he dove on his own.. I didn't realize he was tazered. If that bellyflop was unintentional.. it becomes pretty hilarious he went down like a sack of shit after running around on the field like a cockbag. It's not impressive.

[Loqiel]

Things like this make me miss Morganna the Kissing Bandit.

[EricStAngelo]

Will I don't really need the whole speech, being as how I work hand in hand with them on a daily basis, but thanks.

[EricStAngelo]

Damn that came across as kinda disrespectful too. Sorry, I realized when I read it. But seriously, I know first hand that the main reason these things are even in existence is that cops aren't in shape anymore, and it really bothers me.
The ones who are in shape are kinda against using these things too.

[will.H]

nah no big deal, just made it seem like cops are fat and unruly people are justified because one cop out of 92,004 abuse their power of authority. i understand what you mean if your comments are isolated to personal experience.

[Joe Manning]

Does anyone remember the Jim Thome 500 HR game ... where a fan ran onto the field during POURING rain, slid across the tarp, evaded security - and then crawled into the tube that the tarp is brought out on???

[phillyfan412]

@ Watrick

I guess you're right. In most cases, alcohol is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, with the Phillies' success has come more drunken idiots ruining the experience for the rest of us.

[the real ryan h]

why do so many people get agitated by fans who run out during play? 1.) crowd's entertained as hell 2.) that kid will NEVER forget this night - whether he gets a lifetime ban or not (or worse?) 3.) i'm honestly a bit envious of them; not every day you drink enough to have the balls to pull that shit.
as for the taser, whatever, it's fucked up - serves as entertainment for everyone else til someone gets killed

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/nyregion/25tased.html

[the real ryan h]

State Farm: "Are You in Good Hands?"

[Phillip Michael Thomas: The EGOT King]

I can't even understand why this is a discussion. If you keep your ass off the field, you're safe. If you make the choice - inebriated or not - to put your ass on the field, you deserve what's coming to you. Whether that's a cop tackling you, tripping you or tasing you in the back.

I know it's all fun and games and the majority of us (even players) are entertained by this stuff, but don't forget about those two idiots who attacked a first base coach earlier in the decade, either.

[ThatsWhatSheSaid]

@Joe Manning

i remember that, there were 2 or 3 people on the field that night during the rain delay, one ran and dove on the tarp at 3rd base and hydroplaned all the way to 1st base, i nearly pissed myself, it was classic

[silence_dogood]

I was at the game, sitting in left field. The guy was wheeling around in shallow center field, eluding about six guards who were running after him--they kept trying to surround them and he would wheel around and get away from them again. Like the other commenters here, I thought he looked like he gave up and did an exaggerated head-first slide type of thing, and he was quickly surrounded, cuffed, and led away to many cheers. However, my friend said, "He was tased." I didn't think he was, as he seemed able to walk, but she insisted he was tased, and then I pulled out my phone and brought up Twitter and Zolecki and Lawrence were both saying on Twitter that he was tased.

I was also at the game with the barfing guy. I think I need to stay away from the Bank for a while.

While I understand the need to keep the players and officials safe, tasing fans is messed up. The guards just couldn't catch the guy. I don't know if they were slow or stupid, but he made them look like the Keystone Kops, that's for sure.

[Jordan]

There was no reason for a cop to use a Tazer in that situation. It is idiotic and brutish and at the very least shows a level of poor fitness for that officer to not be able to catch and subdue a scrawny 17 year old.
I mean the cop got owned by the kid and resorted to a lazy and brutish way to deal with a centuries old PRANK. This has been going on for as long as humans have played games in front of crowds which is going on thousands of years. We have made in this far with out the use of Tazers. No need to start now. Very thuggish and brutish for the crime. This is not how this type of situation has ever been handled.

[Murph]

No problem with this dbag getting tased. This shit needs to stop. Its embarrassing and potentially dangerous for the players if one of these guys happened to be deranged and not just drunk. See Monica Seles, 1993.

[Phillip Michael Thomas: The EGOT King]

See Tom Gamboa, 2002.

[Grant]

Not sure if anyone else noticed this to, but did you see all those camera flashes from the crowd during the whole ordeal?

Would have though Howard had just hit a grand slam!? Ha

[Mark]

Nice haircut champ.

[Dan Francisco]

You know it's getting ugly when we look to Oakland for validation...

[bmac]

god, if i was that kid, I would make that my profile pic for years to come...classic

[JoeInMontco]

@EricStAngelo

1) I know some fat cops that can run CIRCLES around so-called skinny cops. Just because a guy is fat doesn't mean he is out-of-shape (and before you go off, I am not fat myself).

2) I work for the FBI (yeah, yeah what is an FBI guy doing on a website? I love the Phils and the Birds, that's why!). Tazers were NOT invented because cops are too damn fat. Tazers were invented because law enforcement departments were tired of being sued by defendants when they needed to use non-deadly force, and would crack him with the billy club.

Cops still carry the club, but they have a LOT of restrictions on using it, since it can easily break bones, crack skulls, etc. Also, the military started the tazer development as a non-lethal disabling weapon for the Special Forces. It got handed down to law enforcement officers when they realized its effects didn't last long enough for their needs.

So really...stop spouting off like a clueless dick.

[Ben E.]

Hey, I have that shirt. Neat.

[norma stitz]

kid is definitely from jersey. the puker kid was from jersey too. can we please close the bridges when there are home games?

[Keith]

Kid obviously, with rally towel in hand, was trying to start a good ol' fightins comeback. Good effort and definitely entertaining. You really can't even mention the whole jersey lardass puking incident when writing about this. Anyways.... Photoshops?

[mustardstache]

I met someone who ran onto the field in the past and all he got was a slap on the wrist; $200 fine and 24 hours community service.

[Mellie]

Hey guys, I work in software development (yeah, yeah what is a software girl doing on this website? I'm awesome, that's why) and I think we're forgetting he is 17 so it wasn't alcohol. I'm conflicted since I have cops in the family (yeah, yeah..) but being tazed is AWFUL and I think if he could do it over, that kid would rather have been tackled by the plump security guy than be zapped again.

[Mellie]

And it wasn't a NJ guy who ran down those two women after a game...

[Walklett]

How awesome would it have been if they shot him with a net gun?

Anyways, I always knew one of you commenters was wearing a wire. JoeInMontco has been Donnie Brasco'ing us the whole time.

[Benjamin]

@stevefredericks - number3's post is a reference to the college hippie who was disrupting either a political debate or a candidate's speech on a college campus, and was tazed by security as he shouted out, "don't taze me bro".

[John]

Can any of you spell fascism? Plutocracy? Oligarchy? Don't interfere with corporations when they are exploiting the rubes for every dime they can squeeze out of them. Hell, some of you are calling for shooting the guy with real bullets.

The country, this culture is down the tubes.

[John]

Can any of you spell fascism? Plutocracy? Oligarchy? Don't interfere with corporations when they are exploiting the rubes for every dime they can squeeze out of them. Hell, some of you are calling for shooting the guy with real bullets.

The country, this culture is down the tubes.

[John]

Human beings in this country have died from being tazered.

[DarthLawyer]

Let's forget for a minute that this was a baseball game. Running onto the field is a low misdemeanor or two. People don't usually get tased for trespassing.

Police are advised not to tase passively resisting people. Although the liklihood of permanent injury is relatively low, tasing somone who is running significantly increases the risk. Taser use is supposed to be limited to situation where the officer may be harmed. (by the assailant, not due to the officer being fat and slow and blowing out a knee.)

For those of you that think the kid deserved it, what level of force do you think is unacceptable to use in that situation?

[botch]

Kid should be glad Frank Rizzo isn't still mayor.

[Dan]

"If you keep your ass off the field, you're safe. If you make the choice - inebriated or not - to put your ass on the field, you deserve what's coming to you. "

Wrong.

PS: you're a terrible person.

[TomR]

@mustardstache, Altho the official news report has stated he wasnt under any outside influence, what world do you live in where 17 yr olds dont go down to the parking lots and tailgate all the same as those 21+?!?

Cop = totally justified btw, totally agree w/ the Seles/1st base coach arguement. What if instead of just having some fun he actually tackled Werth in Right Field?

[Phillip Michael Thomas: The EGOT King]

@ Dan

That's a well-thought out response.

P.S. for you: And if what I said makes me a horrible person, then I'm fine with that. I stand by what I said.

[Ben E.]

Ok Tom, I'd reeeeeeally like to see a 17 year old kid that size try to tackle Jayson Werth. And afterwards he'd wish he had gotten tased instead

[TomR]

just an awkward bump could send a player to the ground, sprained ankles/wrists could happen in a freak accident like that. And I guarantee if he had put someone on the DL, we'd all be asking for his head on a plate