The byline on the article is SHAMUS TOOMEY. I find the article much more entertaining when read with an enthusiastic Scottish accent.

"The wedding was on a Michigan beach, the reception was in an art gallery -- but a former Chicago couple's wedding night was spent in separate jail cells after both bride and groom got shocked by a police Taser and arrested at their raucous reception."

r-r-r-aucous r-r-r-eception!

Aside from the fact that these two love-birds sound like real class acts, the authorities are *way* to fond of their new electric toys, and *way* too predisposed to use them at the slightest possible provocation. Tasers are more dangerous than we know at this point. Sad wedding day.

Read the comments on the article ... multiple people claiming to have attended the reception say that it wasn't raucous, and that the gallery owner and police completely overreacted. At a minimum, the claim that a lamp being thrown through a window triggered the call to police appears to be false, since one of the commenters claims to have video of that incident occuring in the chaos after police had arrived and begun their arrests.

It also seems to me that that's a pretty rude and invasive photo of the bride that they've chosen to illustrate the story, and it's kind of unfortunate that you're spreading it around further by including it here. Even if the intention is to elicit stronger, more visceral reactions to the policeman's behavior, the poor bride is the one shown on the floor with her dress practically up around her waist.

Once again, the police are using tasers in a situation where they /absolutely/ would use a firearm, to respond to a situation where the use of a firearm would be justified.

YEEEEEEAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH

Those newlyweds must have been on PCP or something!

If the wedding photographer is defending the bride, she has to be in the right. Do you know how photographers feel about brides?

@#4 police are only supposed to use tasters in place of guns. do you think it would have been ok for the groom to be shot?

@#7 very good point

and the article is wrong.. resisting and obstructing police in Michigan is a misdemeanor.

police are only supposed to use tasters in place of guns

We're still waiting for statistics on whether the use of firearms by police has decreased with the dissemination of tasers. Until then, it is impossible to know whether tasers have replaced guns --- or replaced common sense and reason.

GOOD. Rich bastards from Chicago think they can come into an impoverished state and do whatever the hell they want because they have cash to throw around. I'd taser them a third time.

frankly, I'm disappointed at this site's admins for posting this. I thought this was supposed to be a mostly tech/gadget blog. Add to that the brief blurb from ass. prosecutor is inaccurate and completely absurd. Who doesn't like to have fun and drink a little at weddings and for the record, it was a child who accidentally broke a glass which prompted the gallery owner to call the Michigan Maniacs. Get the facts before posting such an uninformed piece of drivel.

I'm very disappointed in this site today.

bob10000@12: I'm more disappointed in the police for tazering the bride and groom.

"Sir, I didn't push IN that window, I was pushed OUT that window."

BOB1000 - have you met gadgets.boingboing.net? The BB gadget/tech site?

Yea, this story is a little drudgy for Boing Boing. Don'tcha think?

BOB This is boingboingnet, what your looking for is gadgets.boingboing.net, here people post interesting things, though I do admit with posts like this its strays from the whole 'Wonderful Things' being tasered is only wonderful when its consensual, and done safely.

bob10000@12 This is not a tech/gadget blog, it is a directory of wonderful things. And could anything possibly be more wonderful than newlyweds getting tased and arrested twice in 48 hours?

Sure, who hasn't been tased and arrested at their own wedding reception? But to repeat it again 2 days later? That is special.

Rhetorical Question: Why are the most negative comments from people who have never bothered to comment before.

Try bringing some flowers first people, add to the joy - then you may just be listened to, other wise you're just another crank from the internet.

tasers all around!

Jeez, I love it when someone gets Tasered, and then someone comments about how it was completely unnecessary, and then someone else complains that it's a situation where the police would have clearly been forced to use handguns.

News flash, bardfinn: You weren't there. Apologist.

You know something else? I don't trust most cops enough to be honest about the situation after the fact, and I'm friends with quite a few cops. It is just as likely that the police overreacted, and they attempted to save face by characterizing this as a "wedding [reception] gone bad." Sorry, but from the description in the article, I can imagine much worse. As I understand it, from the information available to us in the article, there was no credible threat posed by the bride.

Oh, wait a second. There was actually a guy drinking from a vodka bottle! Whoa, Nelly! That's like the nadir of horrible "wedding receptions gone wrong" right there. Oh noes! A lamp was thrown, and the bride and groom were wrestling on the ground. But you know what really makes this the wort wedding EVAR? The fact that the groom mouthed off to the cops.

Save it, guys. I smell a lawsuit. "It takes the cake!" Need to silence charges of police overreaction? Hit 'em with a zinger. Let them eat cake!

"Former Chicago couple"

Yup. Always the out-of-towners partying it up and causing a disturbance.

It's OK, the police have a hard job. It's completely reasonable for them to lower their standard of behavior below those they're dealing with.

I think BOB1000 should sue Boing Boing for every penny he spent on his subscription.

Oh, wait . . .

does that mean he owes US money?

I think Brett's first post is pretty funny.
Unlike the incident itself.

Probably not the best pic to run with, esp. given the (assumed) sympathies of BB on this one.

That said, didn't we just have a post a few days ago about how newstories get totally distorted by the press and then by all the wannabe commentators that is the internets? Doesn't seem like the readership here learned too much from that.

Generally speaking I read articles like this w/ some bemusement and form very rough opinions that I am careful to not form into judgements. Why? Because I know that I'll never know more than 20% of the facts (if that much) and 40% of mis-information and 40% information-we-never-here.

All that said, I think its fine at BB as the editors do have more than a interest in these kinds of civil liberty related incidents... albeit sometimes the interest is more humorous than ominous.

I thought tasers were the traditional gift for the third wedding anniversary.

@LBER,

Actually, 3rd anniversary is being placed on the no-fly list. 5th anniversary is taser.

Speaking from personal experience, if the police brutalize you once, they will probably trigger your PTSD the second, and every following time you have to deal with them.

It can create a chain reaction, if they read fear or anger as signs of guilt.

... Besides which, nightmares of cops shooting you, strangling you, and finding other ways of killing or maiming you are NOT FUN.

I meant "incidents" in the post above..."co-incidents"?

Just recognized that it was the chief assistant prosecutor, and not the police who said it "take[s] the cake."

I don't trust his word, either. It's highly doubtful he was in attendance. Man, did he miss one Hell of a party.

And yeah, the picture's just tacky.

#21 You weren't there either. Bleeding heart.

The gallery owners are well within their rights to expel the partygoers. The gallery belongs to them. They decide when the party has gotten out of hand, and if they say the show's over, it's over.

The groom gets tazered once, I am willing to suspect the cops overreacted. He gets tazered TWICE in separate incidents, and I start thinking he's got alcohol / anger management problems.

This kind of refexive COPS=BAD bullcrap really drives me bonkers. I'm more irritated at the photographer.

Wait, aren't the bride and groom supposed to take the cake, if any of it is left over?

Ok, kidding aside, BB editors, please ignore the cranks. Civil rights violations and rampant taserings belong here just as much as the unicorns. The fact that someone is publicizing such abuses of power in this way is a wonderful thing.

Well, at least someone made for damn sure that this wedding would be memorable (and even more ridiculously expensive!) All the inaccuracies in the article noted here aside, why didn't we get a better account of the events that led to the couple being tasered the 2nd time, a couple days later? If the groom pushed the bride down in front of the cops, as purported in that incident, it was probably in trying to keep her from assaulting a police officer. If you'd just been tasered at your wedding reception a couple of days before and had to spend your wedding night apart in a cell, don't you think you'd a) have a lot of steam still to blow off about it and b) not be deliberately trying to provoke the cops further? I know we don't have all of the facts here, but what we do know surely points more to a taser-happy police force than an unruly couple of Bonnie and Clydes.

#36 Completely disagree- but then, that's the joy of a place like Boingboing.

I read the article and I see a) very drunk guests and damaged property; b) a SINGLE cop being attacked by the groom and his family; c) a family refusing to leave private premises after being asked to do so; d) Bonnie and Clyde still disturbing people two days later (note that the cops did not follow them- the second tazing was the result of a different incident).

I HATE tazers, but I can't abide how so many on this site automatically side against the police. And I'm not even a cop- I'm a treehugging dope smoking biologist.

Dude, I don't care what the cops did or thought. I want some of what they were having!

Greatest.Wedding.EVER!

I'm reminded of a story from the rival Chicago Tribune a few years ago.

There was a bar fight that moved to the streets and it turned crazy with people fighting, throwing things, beating people with sticks, fighting the cops that showed up, etc.

A woman was arrested and had blood on her and she had beaten a cop with something.

The cop was doing her paperwork in the station and she said "I just want to say ONE THING!" The cop said "Ma'am, no. Just give me this info" The woman said "I just want to say ONE THING!" and kept saying it until the cop finally gave in.

She said "This has been the greatest night of my life!"

Hahahaha! Sometimes, you have to do something completely crazy to create a memory!! Hahaha!

I love the picture. Can I get it in a higher resolution? I'd like to make it my avatar for the day.

GOOD. Rich bastards from Chicago think they can come into an impoverished state and do whatever the hell they want because they have cash to throw around. I'd taser them a third time.

Uh, the West coast of Michigan is hardly impoverished. Especially not this area. Sheesh.

There's something really funny about watching somebody try to lob a turd into the punchbowl and hit the high speed fan instead.

Maybe the couple has a taser fetish and the honeymoon started the minute the cops pulled out the sex toys.

Uh, the West coast of Michigan is hardly impoverished. Especially not this area. Sheesh.

How many people have you met that actually LIVE there, as opposed to "have a house"?

"Maybe the couple has a taser fetish and the honeymoon started the minute the cops pulled out the sex toys."

The prosecutor said something about taking the cake. Did the police officers arrive in a cake? That could cause significant confusion to drunk ladies.

How many people have you met that actually LIVE there, as opposed to "have a house"?

How many of those people couldn't live there if they didn't depend on the people came in to that area? It's not impoverished.

"You may now taze the bride."

Or...with apologies to Andrew Meyer...

"You may now tase the bro."

Sorry, could not resist!

I spent the first 23 years of my life in Western Michigan fifteen minutes from Lakeside. Our area isn't impoverished...until you get an hour from the lake.

Chicagoans are for the most part welcomed, but there's still a lot of resentment there. Those who don't welcome them typically of the small town bumpkin variety who view anyone with more money than them from outside MI as some sort of ravenous plague descending on the area like Vandals, there to fuck their daughters and drive up housing prices. Coincidentally, a fair number of the police force are made up of the aforementioned bumpkins. A gaggle of cops showing up to a reception to taze the shit of any out of towners who are more successful than them doesn't surprise me.

There is only one word for people like this; neighbors.

"I now pronounce you man and waaahh-nnnnggggghhhh!"

"Having a good time", is characteristic of terrorists about to martyr themselves. Taze them quick and good!

Come to think of it, maybe many marriages would be improved if the bride and groom were abruptly Tasered a few times. Prepare them for the shock and pain they've just gotten themselves into. Certainly better orientation for married life than a damn cruise or something.

ever seen "My Neigbours The Yamadas"? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206013/

the wedding speech by the old woman has it all.

marriage is insanity. this is one of a few justified taserings. stupid humans

Point of information that is definitely interesting: the bit from the story where they mention police from 14 different departments were eventually involved.

Now, I realize that most of these departments are very small, but we're talking about fifteen cops, here, minimum. If they were completely unable to calm a party down with that many cops, they either a) were doing something very wrong, or b) were called in on one hell of a party.

So stuff happened, probably, before the other cops got there. Maybe two officers, encountering serious resistance, decided that the best course of action wasn't to go back outside and wait for the other cops, but to tase somebody. They didn't want to stop partying? Let them keep partying for a few minutes, then stop it the right way.

People are generally not good at backing away from conflict they have the force to control. Less so, even, when that force is mostly nonlethal, and they have public authority on their side.

Having been on the side f the emergency responder I see the appeal of using a taser, you dont need to wait for a dozen guys to show up for backup and I bet it is a sick kind of fun to knock a guy down with the push of a button without the paperwork.

Was this a situation where the bride and groom should have been shot? I think not.

I have never seen even the most abusive drunk not safely taken down once there were enough firefighters, cops, and paramedics in the room, even a drunk knows when he is playing a loosers game.

Pig pile=pretty safe
Taser=dangerous fun for super cops

Big Ed -

"I now pronounce you man and waaahh-nnnnggggghhhh!"

Hahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaaaa wee

Shocking news.

CHORSKE@36: I think you meant to argue with me, not yourself. CHRS@55 stole my rebuttal. Btw, I hope you don't get tasered the next time you are smoking dope at the lab...

ROSS@52: Shouldn't they be tasering each other then? (And if so, where does one register to get his & hers tasers as a gift?)

Final analysis: Clearly the officers present were just pissed off they didn't get offered any cake.

@ #34:

I never said I was there, smart guy, and I'm no bleeding heart. Remember that wedding disaster a couple of years ago? I laughed until I cried, and then I laughed some more. Adenoidal gorgule.

But seriously now... learn to spell "Taser" correctly, especially if you want to use it TWICE in the same sentence. It's not one of them there British vs. American things.

Acronym, initially. Brace yourself for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle.

Jurors, you know your duty: convict trigger- and violence-happy police, regardless of the weapon.

Where are the tasers with video cameras?

I say : don't take any chance and taser some sense into anyone who is considering to get married *before* they commit the act.

Jean

From the article and the comments on it, I'd file this one under "both sides suck." Taser-happy cops are a regular trope here, and I really have to wonder how officers from 14 police departments got involved. But... some of the commenters who claimed to have been there show an overwhelming sense of entitlement about being able to party-hearty just as long as they damn well felt like it. "iwasthere" says that, at the time of the incident, "The party had only really started, most of the alcohol inside not even having been opened yet." At 11 PM. Look, if that's the sort of wedding reception that you want to have, put up a tent in a vacant lot somewhere out in the country.

Just a thought…

There are a lot of weddings each weekend. And a lot of receptions afterwards. I’m sure at a lot of those receptions there is some drinking – maybe even to EXCESS – oh noes! Sometimes the reception may get so out of hand that the police are called.

And somehow… SOMEHOW… police officers, not just in the US, but around the world manage to quell the crowd at any given reception without TASERING the BRIDE and GROOM.

I really don’t believe that this particular reception, even with broken lamp and cake taken into consideration, ranked in the top 100,000 ‘weddings gone wild’, yet the super-zapers had to get used.

Regardless of what happened later on, I’m leaning towards some premature zapulation from the peace officers. (Are we still alowed to call them peace officers?)

#5 bardfinn: "Once again, the police are using tasers in a situation where they /absolutely/ would use a firearm, to respond to a situation where the use of a firearm would be justified. YEEEEEEAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH."

#21 Takeshi: "Jeez, I love it when someone gets Tasered, and then someone comments about how it was completely unnecessary, and then someone else complains that it's a situation where the police would have clearly been forced to use handguns.

News flash, bardfinn: You weren't there."

-1 for not understanding utterly obvious use of sarcarsm...

[unless... Takeshi's post was also sarcasm, in which case it went over my head....]

maybe it's time to rethink the idea of police. Since the corporations has attained ultimate ascendancy it might be a good idea to have state police and private police deal with different things. At least officially. One could do littering, the other murder - or should we call murder "destruction of property"?

Here is a couple who may need to be Tasered:

Man Banned By Court From Girlfriend's Home After Noisy Sex

A man has been banned by a court from having sex with his partner at her home after keeping neighbours awake with loud shouting and banging in the night.
Brighton council obtained an injunction against Adam Hinton, 32, of Brighton, for threatening neighbours whose complaints had led to legal action.
Last week he was fined £200 for breaching a noise abatement order.
Partner Kerry Norris faced eviction and Mr Hinton has been banned from going within 100m (109 yards) of her one-bedroom council flat in Brighton.
Neighbours said they had suffered two years of the couple's noise throughout the night.
Some suffering sleepless nights had to be rehoused by the council.

And they are doing it right.

Thank you, SamSam.

Well, when you say blatantly provocative and offensive things to the police, like, "What are you doing? This is my wedding! You're making my wife cry!", you should expect to be tasered.

@ TTR

Let's just contextualize that quote.

"The officer called for backup and told everyone the party was over. Many guests left, but some refused and began cursing at officers, police said.

"Andy got angry and started yelling, 'What are you doing? This is my wedding! You're making my wife cry!' " Skowron said.

"The crowd was trying to hold back the groom from mouthing off more, but finally he broke free, and they had to take him down," Sepic said of police. "He was heading for the officers. . . . Then the bride moved in and tried to interfere."

I imagine when he broke free he wasn't heading towards the officers to high five them.

Anyways the best thing to come from this thread is the revamped anniversary gift list.

1st anniversary - His/Hers identity theft
2nd anniversary - His/Hers RIAA Lawsuit
3rd anniversary - His/Hers Tasers
4th anniversary - His/Hers Foreclosures
5th anniversary - His/Hers No fly lists
10th anniversary- His/Hers Rubber Bigfoots.

OK.
Anyway, 69th post! (above, not this one)

4th Anniversary is just about right for the foreclosure, since they probably bought a house with a 3 year ARM soon after they got married!

It does seem like a bad idea to bring lots of liquor and a DJ into an _art gallery_, FWIW.

TRR@71 (not 69:) "It does seem like a bad idea to bring lots of liquor and a DJ into an _art gallery_"

Ever been to an art opening?

@ SamSam:

Takeshi's posts are always sarcastic, thanks. Note: sarcasm.

yeah, my experience with art openings is that they're usually pretty drunken. although i live in the (self proclaimed) "indie art capital of the world."

Nª74: "yeah, my experience with art openings is that they're usually pretty drunken."

Ever been to the after party?

@#27: Yeah, that's what I was thinking. There are too many competing interests to get at the truth here. And there don't seem to be any useful witnesses at all to the second incident.

The way I read the scenario, the arrests could be justifiable or not, but once you resist arrest, the cops are going to tase you. 1) Party gets a little rowdy 2) Gallery owner panicks that the place is going to get trashed and calls cops 3) cops arrive and some drunk gets belligerent 4) melee ensues, damage is caused, 5) cops tase the groom (and bride) either because they were actually involved or to make an example (shock and awe) of them.

@#5, #8: The police are supposed to use tasers instead of the old "billy club", not instead of fire arms. It's debatable which is more dangerous, since the club is more likely to cause brain hemorrhage while the taser is more likely to cause a heart attack.