Two-Wheeled Tasering

Tech student arrested, stun gunned at Tour de Tech Terrace
By Jon Vanderlaan/ Daily Toreador

Officers with the Lubbock Police Department used a stun gun on a Texas Tech student Saturday afternoon during Tour de Tech Terrace while the student was being arrested for evading arrest with a vehicle, resisting arrest, failure to identify and public intoxication.

Hunter Temperton, who according to the Tech directory is a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, was arrested at about 6:40 p.m. Saturday at the Tech Terrace Park at 23rd Street and Gary Avenue, according to Lubbock Police Department officer Sgt. Jon Stewart.

Stewart, who was not one of the arresting officers and said he could not identify the arresting officers, said the subject was in the street when officers told him to go into the park.

Temperton did not comply with officers and was subsequently arrested, he said.

Stephanie Kelley, a senior criminology major from Fort Worth, said the arresting officers had no need to use the stun gun.

Temperton was walking to a group of students while one of the officers was writing him a ticket, she said, and the officers then tackled him from his bicycle and pinned him to the ground.

“The Tasering was just unnecessary violence,” Kelley said. “There was no need to Taser him. He was already on the ground.”

Temperton was not violent with officers, and if he was resisting arrest it was not noticeable to the crowd, she said.

While the department does not have a set protocol for when officers should use stun guns, Stewart said, an officer will use his or her judgment if the person being arrested is physically resisting and if it is necessary.

Fast forward to 1:25 for the taser stuff.



Damn, a tasering goes down in my own stomping grounds and I'm not there to chronicle it. That's truly disappointing. Odds are this kid was probably mouthing off and the cops got a little heavy handed. There's always two sides to the story so I'm not going to completely bash the LPD yet.

I will bash this kid though. If you're truly the James Dean of the Tech De Terrace scene you've got to throw out a 'Don't Tase Me Bro!' while they're tasing you. Right now you're an unfortunate mishap. With a funny quote, you're a campus legend.

P.S. - What's up with the cop's name being Jon Stewart. That has to be a goof, right?