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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A driver who was zapped with a Taser by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper says he is surprised at how much a video of the incident has been viewed on the Internet.
Jared Massey says he may not have been completely right in the confrontation, but he also doesn't believe he deserved to be immobilized by the Taser when he walked away from Trooper John Gardner.
Massey posted video of the Sept. 14 incident on YouTube and it has been viewed more than 700,000 times. He used a public records request to get the video of his traffic stop on U.S. 40, where he argued with the trooper and refused to sign a speeding ticket.
The video shows the trooper use a Taser to subdue Massey after the confrontation.
"All we are trying to do is say maybe there is something as a public that we need to look at. I'm not going to say I'm 100 percent right about how I acted," Massey told the Salt Lake Tribune for a story Sunday.
UHP is investigating whether Gardner followed policy on using the Taser.
The video from Gardner's patrol car shows the confrontation between Massey, who questioned whether he was speeding through the 40 mph construction zone between Roosevelt and Vernal, and the trooper.
Massey refused to sign the citation and demanded that Gardner show him the 40-mph sign. Gardner responded by telling Massey to get out of his car. Massey did, then later was hit with the Taser when he walked away from Gardner.
"It's a terrible, terrible pain. I thought I had been shot," Massey said.
According to the UHP, Gardner could have just noted that Massey refused to sign the ticket and handed it to him. UHP expects the internal investigation to be finished sometime this week.
Massey said he is still considering whether to file a lawsuit.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
