If you did any shopping at the mall or other retail store over Christmas, you probably experienced the headache of shoppers jawing away on their cell phones in store aisles, in line for the cashier and generally all over the place.  It can get quite uncomfortable when an oblivious cell-phone-talker starts airing personal business over the phone while ignoring those in his or her physical presence.

Common courtesy (and probably common sense) dictates that if you have to take or make a cell phone call, you should move to a more private location than a bustling retail store.  But in this day and age, don’t be surprised if a bit of common courtesy confuses the heck out of people. 

Take the case of Elizabeth Beeland, a holiday shopper who stepped out of a Best Buy to talk on her cell phone, forgetting her credit card at the cashier’s desk.  The ever-vigilant Best Buy clerk, surprised by Beeland’s beeline for the door, suspected she was fleeing the scene after using a stolen credit card, and called over a police officer to confront her.

According to the police report that officer Claudia Wright filed, when Wright confronted Beeland outside the store, Beeland was “verbally profane, abusive, loud and irate.”  After warning her to calm down or face arrest, Wright shocked Beeland with a Taser.  Security video of the incident shows Beeland backing away and trying to avoid the officer, then falling to the ground as the Taser strikes.

Officer Wright was not disciplined for using the Taser on Beeland.  The Chief of Police defended Wright, saying that Beeland was disobeying an officer’s orders and that the Taser was a better alternative to another weapon.

Beeland has reportedly hired a lawyer and is looking into the possibility of an injury lawsuit, since she was not behaving violently or attempting to flee from the officer when she was shocked.