This Week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Overkill Enforcement
Some laws are meant to keep us safe, but sometimes, enforcement goes completely off the rails. This week, we’re looking at cases where law enforcement took things way too far—whether it’s tasing a handcuffed man, running officers through brutal fight training, or turning minor traffic violations into a cash grab.
Tased While Changing a Tire
In Alabama, Micah Washington was simply changing a flat tire near his aunt’s house when Officer Dana Elmore rolled up. Washington, knowing the drill, informed the officer that he had a legally owned firearm. That didn’t stop the officer from allegedly tasing him multiple times—while he was handcuffed. Now, Washington is suing for $20 million, arguing that he was wrongfully detained and subjected to excessive force. Getting a ticket would have been bad enough, but getting electrocuted? That’s a bit much.
The Training Drill That Turned Deadly
Police training is supposed to prepare officers for the dangers of the job, but in Evansville, Indiana, they might have taken things too far. The department ran an infamous training exercise called “The Big Fight,” designed to push recruits to the limit. Unfortunately, it pushed one officer, Asson Hacker, beyond his limit—he died during the drill. Investigations have since questioned the excessive nature of the department’s training methods and whether they were breeding brutality rather than readiness.
A Traffic Ticket? Or a Revenue Stream?
Getting pulled over for a minor infraction is annoying, but in Lexington, Mississippi, it’s also a business model. The U.S. Department of Justice recently found that the city’s police department routinely targeted Black residents, arresting them for trivial violations and using fines and fees as a major source of revenue. The DOJ concluded that these aggressive enforcement tactics weren’t about public safety but were part of an intentional effort to generate money for the city. Imagine getting a speeding ticket and realizing it’s basically a tax disguised as law enforcement.
That’s it for this week’s edition of Weird and Wacky Wednesdays! See you next week for more weird and wacky stories from the world of law.
