New Hampshire Cops Use Taser On Woman Buying Too Many iPhones 936
turbosaab writes "A woman who said she was asked to leave New Hampshire's Pheasant Lane Mall because she wanted to buy too many iPhones was pinned down by Nashua police and zapped by a Taser (video) as she shrieked in front of crowds of shoppers Tuesday. The Chinese woman from Newton, Mass blamed a language barrier for the confrontation outside the Apple Store in the Pheasant Lane Mall Tuesday afternoon. Police say Li knew exactly what they were telling her and simply refused to comply. Police said Li had $16,000 in cash in her purse at the time of her arrest and may have been purchasing the phones for unauthorized export resale."
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:4, Informative)
Certain cryptography software is legally blocked from export, and as a result any software that includes those crypto features is also restricted. PuTTY is a great example.
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:4, Informative)
That is totally irrelevant here. Only a few nations are on the list of "rogue states" that you can't export cryptography tools to, and China is obviously not one of them.
Re:The taser was excessive (Score:5, Informative)
But the lady clearly knew what was going on:
Jay said her mother bought two iPhones last Friday, and was told that was the limit. When she took video of others she claimed were buying more, the store manager asked her to leave.
And she was asked to leave and refused:
"The management of the store asked us to have her removed. The officer approached her, told her she wasn't welcome in the store, and she refused to leave," Nashua Police Capt. Bruce Hansen said.
Important part you left out:
The confrontation involving the Taser happened when Li went to the store on Monday to pick up two iPhones she ordered online.
So, here's how it appears the situation played out (Cliff's Notes for those too dumb or lazy to RTFA):
Incident 1 - Chinese lady goes to the store, tries to buy more than 2 iPhones, is told 2 is the limit. She pre-orders 2 iPhones, and begins to video the other customers, as she is convinced that the store has sold/is selling more than 2 iPhones to other people. Store manager asks her to leave, presumably for filming other customers. No charges files.
Incident 2 - Chinese lady goes back to the store to pick up the 2 iPhones she paid for. Store management tells her she must leave (no mention as to whether or not she had picked up the items she paid for, or if there was a new incident that prompted the request for removal). Confrontation ensues, cops attempt to confiscate the woman's cell phone and purse, then pin down and taze the 80 lb Chinese lady; some kid films it and posts on Youtube. Cops claim she was "resisting," because they always do.
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
"What this proves is that Apple is jacking up the price and availability more on some markets than other."
Exactly. Whenever something doesn't make sense, ask who benefits.
Re:The taser was excessive (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
That is totally irrelevant here. Only a few nations are on the list of "rogue states" that you can't export cryptography tools to, and China is obviously not one of them
Which isn't exactly true. While the iPhone is classified 5A992 and OK to export to CN, 5A00* items are restricted from export to CN without a license or exception.
Re:Yes, Unauthorized export IS a crime (Score:5, Informative)
Whether or not Ms. Li knew enough English to know what her situation was will without a doubt become clear.
It's already clear in this case. She had gone to the exact same store the preceding Friday attempting to buy dozens of iPhones, and on that particular day understood quite well what the manager meant when he said "Please leave and do not return to this store." Yet we're to believe that the following Monday, when faced with the same situation and the same "Please leave and do not return", she's now a poor Chinese immigrant fresh off the boat, struggling to break through the language barrier.
Huh. Apparently, you can unlearn a language over the course of a weekend.
Re:Title Is stupid (Score:4, Informative)
Because now we live in a totalitarian regime, where the "authorities" must be obeyed?
The authorities should be obeyed, in most general situations, unless they are asking you to do something unlawful. If you're an idiot that is refusing to leave a place of private business when the business owner's representative asks you to leave, and then calls the cops when you refuse to leave, everything else that happens after that is a simple preventable fact.
There is a way of handling the police or other law enforcement officials. Be polite. Be courteous. Follow simple directions, with the above limits. Have a plan to contact an attorney with full details, names, and badge numbers at the soonest available opportunity if the need arises.
You are not going to out-argue a police officer. You are not going to outfight a police officer. You are not going to kill more police officers than there are willing to kill you. Physical or verbal confrontations with a police officer are pointless; they will all end in the same result. The way to fight police injustices is through the courts and media, not through sparring of any kind.
Keep in mind: police officers in any individual incident, above all else, are trained to MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION, using any necessary means. If you're the idiot trying to take control of the situation away from the police officer (rightly or wrongly), guess who's going to end up next on the target list?
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:4, Informative)
Gray market seeks way around iPhone 5 restrictions
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/2012-09/20/content_15770744.htm [chinadaily.com.cn]
It's really a battle for unlocked mobile phones that don't have registered users. Locked-in phones have your government ID registered.
Same think happened to someone Iranian:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/06/21/does-apple-actually-understand-the-export-restriction-laws/ [forbes.com]
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
You're right. But then they should stop selling her phones lol that seems much easier than chasing her with a taser.
They did try to stop selling her phones. She would not leave, so they called the police. She refused to leave, so they tried to arrest her, and she resisted.
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
They handcuffed one of her hands and she resisted moving her other hand to be handcuffed in the back, so they tased her. Of course, she was actually already outside of the store when they tased her.
She was taking video of people buying multiple phones because she didn't understand why she couldn't also buy multiple phones.
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
Local police officers being qualified to deal with international export laws? Not likely. There's a whole government branch set up for this, the ITA I believe.
The cops were not doing that. They were called in because a person would not leave a store after being asked to leave. This is something they do every day of the year. The whole export thing was a private dispute between Apple and the woman.
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:2, Informative)
it wasn't the store manager that tasered her, it was the cops...
i know people don't like to RTFA around here but it says it in the title of the post...and also in the summary
Re:Unauthorized export resale? (Score:5, Informative)
No, but the police can zap you with electricity for peacefully spending your own money.
Don't argue like a child.
1) She wanted to purchase multiple iPhones. There is a limit of two iPhones per person. When the staff recognised that she'd already purchased at least 2, they refused to serve her.
2) She then behaved inappropriately inside the store, including but not limited to videoing other customers purtchasing iPhones. She was asked to leave as is the right of a store.
3) She refused to leave. At which point the police were called.
4) She refused to co-operate with the police officer asking her to leave for a further 15 minutes. At some point the request to leave the store had escalated to a request to leave the mall as a result of the non-cooperation.
5) A second police officer arrived, and still not cooperating, she was arrested. She actively resisted arrest, and was tazered as a result to get her to comply.
I don't think 2 male policemen should be tazering an unarmed middle aged woman that is resisting arrest. However on every other point it was the woman behaving unreasonably and forcing the escalation.
But she certainly wasn't tazered for spending her own money.