Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers

[AngryABCGirl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g7zlJx9u2E




http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38960


Community responds to Taser use in Powell

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Sara Taylor
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
staylor@media.ucla.edu

RAW FOOTAGE
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Click here to see footage
of the taser incident.An incident late Tuesday night in which a UCLA student was stunned at least four times with a Taser has left the UCLA community questioning whether the university police officers' use of force was an appropriate response to the situation.

Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a Taser and then taken into custody when he did not exit the CLICC Lab in Powell Library in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he failed to produce his BruinCard during a random check at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in the library after 11 p.m.

"Because of the safety of the students we limit the use after 11 to just students, staff and faculty," Young said.

Young said the CSOs on duty in the library at the time went to get UCPD officers when Tabatabainejad did not immediately leave, and UCPD officers resorted to use of the Taser when Tabatabainejad did not do as he was told.

A six-minute video showed Tabatabainejad audibly screaming in pain as he was stunned several times with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds. He was told repeatedly to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would "get Tased again."

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Tabatabainejad was also stunned with the Taser when he was already handcuffed, said Carlos Zaragoza, a third-year English and history student who witnessed the incident.

"(He was) no possible danger to any of the police," Zaragoza said. "(He was) getting shocked and Tasered as he was handcuffed."

But Young said at the time the police likely had no way of knowing whether the individual was armed or that he was a student.

As Tabatabainejad was being dragged through the room by two officers, he repeated in a strained scream, "I'm not fighting you" and "I said I would leave."

The officers used the "drive stun" setting in the Taser, which delivers a shock to a specific part of the body with the front of the Taser, Young said.

A Taser delivers volts of low-amperage energy to the body, causing a disruption of the body's electrical energy pulses and locking the muscles, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It's an electrical shock. ... It causes pain," Young said, adding that the drive stun would not likely demobilize a person or cause residual pain after the shock was administered. Young also said a Taser is less forceful than a baton, for example.

But according to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 2001, a charge of three to five seconds can result in immobilization for five to 15 minutes, which would mean that Tabatabainejad could have been physically unable to stand when the officers demanded that he do so.

"It is a real mistake to treat a Taser as some benign thing that painlessly brings people under control," said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.

"The Taser can be incredibly violent and result in death," Eliasberg said.

According to an ACLU report, 148 people in the United States and Canada have died as a result of the use of Tasers since 1999.

During the altercation between Tabatabainejad and the officers, bystanders can be heard in the video repeatedly asking the officers to stop and requesting their names and identification numbers. The video showed one officer responding to a student by threatening that the student would "get Tased too." At this point, the officer was still holding a Taser.

Such a threat of the use of force by a law enforcement officer in response to a request for a badge number is an "illegal assault," Eliasberg said.

"It is absolutely illegal to threaten anyone who asks for a badge ?" that's assault," he said.

Tabatabainejad was released from custody after being given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty.

Neither Tabatabainejad nor his family were giving interviews Wednesday.

Police officers said they determined the use of Tasers was necessary when Tabatabainejad did not do as they asked.

According to a UCPD press release, Tabatabainejad went limp and refused to exit as the officers attempted to escort him out. The release also stated Tabatabainejad "encouraged library patrons to join his resistance." At this point, the officers "deemed it necessary to use the Taser in a "drive stun' capacity."

"He wasn't cooperative; he wouldn't identify himself. He resisted the officers," Young said.

Neither the video footage nor eyewitness accounts of the events confirmed that Tabatabainejad encouraged resistance, and he repeatedly told the officers he was not fighting and would leave.

Tabatabainejad was walking with his backpack toward the door when he was approached by two UCPD officers, one of whom grabbed the student's arm. In response, Tabatabainejad yelled at the officers to "get off me." Following this demand, Tabatabainejad was stunned with a Taser.

UCPD and the UCLA administration would not comment on the specifics of the incident as it is still under investigation.

In a statement released Wednesday, Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said investigators were reviewing the situation and the officers' actions.

"I can assure you that these reviews will be thorough, vigorous and fair," Abrams said.

The incident, which Zaragoza described as an example of "police brutality," left many students disturbed.

"I realize when looking at these kind of arrest tapes that they don't always show the full picture. ... But that six minutes that we can watch just seems like it's a ridiculous amount of force for someone being escorted because they forgot their BruinCard," said Ali Ghandour, a fourth-year anthropology student.

"It certainly makes you wonder if something as small as forgetting your BruinCard can eventually lead to getting Tased several times in front of the library," he added.

Edouard Tchertchian, a third-year mathematics student, said he was concerned that the student was not offered any other means of showing that he was a UCLA student.

[Arex]

Fucking UCPD. As much as I love UCLA, I hate the cops there.

[haplesshobo]

Bad camera work by the guy who got it on his cellphone. Its like you hear all this shouting and something's obviously going down, and he's focusing on the guy next to him..

Are the police even trained on how to use a taser? You just tazed the guy, and expect him to be able to stand up immediately?

And, WTF was going on when the police threatened to taze more students in the crowd when other students were outraged about what was going on.

From what I've heard, the student never produced his ID because he thought he was being targeted because of his Iranian background.

[deez nuts]

lol that's some funny shit.

[thaite]

Are the police even trained on how to use a taser? You just tazed the guy, and expect him to be able to stand up immediately?


Heh. that's like when my mom used to beat us with a stick, and then if we cried, she'd beat us some more. that bitch.

[kasia]

UCLA student stunned by Taser plans suit
By Stuart Silverstein, LA Times Staff Writer
November 17, 2006


The UCLA student stunned with a Taser by a campus police officer has hired a high-profile civil rights lawyer who plans to file a brutality lawsuit.

The videotaped incident, which occurred after the student refused requests to show his ID card to campus officers, triggered widespread debate on and off campus Thursday about whether use of the Taser was warranted. It was the third in a recent series of local incidents captured on video that raise questions about arrest tactics.

Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest. The lawyer also provided the first public account of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library from the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior.

He said that Tabatabainejad, when asked for his ID after 11 p.m. Tuesday, declined because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Yagman said Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.

The lawyer said Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library but when an officer refused the student's request to take his hand off him, the student fell limp to the floor, again to avoid participating in what he considered a case of racial profiling. After police started firing the Taser, Tabatabainejad tried to "get the beating, the use of brutal force, to stop by shouting and causing people to watch. Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of witnesses."

He said Tabatabainejad was hit by the Taser five times and suffered "moderate to severe contusions" on his right side.

UCLA officials declined to respond directly to Yagman's statements, saying they still were conducting their internal investigation of the incident.

The university said earlier, however, that Tabatabainejad was asked for his ID as part of a routine nightly procedure to make sure that everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there. Campus officials have said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.

UCLA also said that Tabatabainejad refused repeated requests by a community service officer and regular campus police to provide identification or to leave. UCLA said the police decided to use the Taser to incapacitate Tabatabainejad only after the student urged other library patrons to join his resistance.

Some witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door.

In a prepared statement released late Thursday, UCLA's interim chancellor, Norman Abrams, urged the public to "withhold judgment" while the campus police department investigates. "I, too, have watched the videos, and I do not believe that one can make a fair judgment regarding the matter from the videos alone. I am encouraged that a number of witnesses have come forward and are participating in the investigation."

Meanwhile, student activists were organizing a midday rally today to protest the incident, and the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for an independent investigation.

The incident follows the recent announcement that four of the campus police department's nearly 60 full-time sworn officers had won so-called Taser Awards granted by the manufacturer of the device to "law enforcement officers who save a life in the line of duty through extraordinary use of the Taser." The award stemmed from an incident in which officers subdued a patient who allegedly threatened staff at the campus' Neuropsychiatric Hospital with metal scissors.

Jeff Young, assistant police chief, declined to indicate whether any of the honored officers were among the several involved in Tuesday's incident.


stuart.silverstein@latimes.com

[Banana]

I don't agree with how the officers reacted with force and how they kept telling him to perform certain functions when he was obviously not able to. The department should be punished for not training their officers. However, if they were trained correctly and just randomly started tazing him because they abused their power, they should be fired and charges should be filed.

In all honesty, he was pretty "combative."

He was asked to leave since he didn't have an ID card. He didn't leave in a reasonable amount of time and on top of that, when officers approached him and escorted him out, he got "jerky." Yes, I don't agree with him grabbing his arm but saying stupid shit to officers is just inviting trouble.

[Craig]

The guy was a student at the school. Couldn't the morons have been reasonable and accessed that in some manner. I remember before when I was an undergraduate, once one of the night security questioned me in a 24-hour computer lab when I didn't have my student id with me. The guy saw that I was working on the computer and had a backpack with folders on the table; So, he just asked to see my syllabus, and was fine after that (I am pretty sure he checked the date on the syllabus and made sure it was from the appropriate school, although he didn't explicitly say that was his intention). Something I've observed is that certain places (with extremely excessive costs of living) will get a noticeable higher portion of extremely stupid and incompetent workers at low wage jobs (compared to more reasonably priced locales).

[BigLew]

That was no last resort action, they were looking for an excuse. At the end one of the cops said "all we want you to do is stand up". WTF? Why? They already tazed the fuck out of him they should have just dragged his ass out. Maybe they wanted him to do the hokey pokey.

[Yeahman]

The guy was a student at the school. Couldn't the morons have been reasonable and accessed that in some manner. I remember before when I was an undergraduate, once one of the night security questioned me in a 24-hour computer lab when I didn't have my student id with me. The guy saw that I was working on the computer and had a backpack with folders on the table; So, he just asked to see my syllabus, and was fine after that (I am pretty sure he checked the date on the syllabus and made sure it was from the appropriate school, although he didn't explicitly say that was his intention). Something I've observed is that certain places (with extremely excessive costs of living) will get a noticeable higher portion of extremely stupid and incompetent workers at low wage jobs (compared to more reasonably priced locales).
He violated school policy and had no excuse for his conduct. Anal security guards is no excuse. The kid was clearly an ass. WTF does the Patriot Act have to do with UCLA policy on having your ID?
The only wrong that the officers committed was using the taser. They clearly used excessive force and should be fired for that.

[Banana]

I also didn't understand that as well.

The Patriot Act has become synonymous with "abuse of authority."

Per BigLew, they were overzealous when it came to using the tazer and if they wanted him to stand when he obviously couldn't, that's either poor training or malicious intent. Of either which, the police department should be kicked in the balls.

[Erendani]

I watched the video, and obviously, it is missing part of the beginning, but if the guy was already walking toward the door as witnesses say, the cops shouldn't have grabbed his arm, but instead just walked him out.

However, from the over-the-top yelling and screaming which was his response from the arm grab, the guy seems to be a somewhat combative person by nature (I doubt most students would have reacted with his volume level to an arm-grab).

But later the cops had him in handcuffs and the 2 officers holding him looked plenty strong enough to carry him out even if he "went limp." I don't see why they couldn't have just dragged his ass out, accomplishing their goal of removing him from the library and saving themselves a possible lawsuit by tazering him 5 times.

Using a tazer on an armed assailant I totally understand, but a student with his arms handcuffed behind him, I just don't know. Yeah yeah, he might not have actually been a student, he could have been armed with a hidden handgun, he might have had incredible two-arm-handcuffed ninja fighting skills, yada yada.

Sometimes cops just seem to be too quick on the trigger ("You're going to get tazered too" to the student at the end--huh?). Cops should be required to utilize better judgement. Ultimately they could have resolved the situation without tazering him even once.

[shane]

I hate cops with a passion. I have had my fair share of being harassed by law enforcement when I had done nothing wrong or illegal.

That being said, the reports I've read indicated that this guy was disobeying commonly known and posted university policy (ID checks after 11pm) and being combative before the cops were ever called. When the cops arrived, he was uncooperative and disruptive for several minutes, grabbing onto furniture while being carried/pushed out. Sounds like he deserved to get put down. Dry tasering someone on the dry-stun setting should not immobilize someone, especially not someone who is allegedly 200 lbs.

That being said, adrenaline will probably make you be unnecessarily aggressive to others around you, but the students in the library were only making the situation worse by being confrontational. Badge numbers and everything could have been gotten later (public information anyway, since arrests will have public records signed by arresting officers) at least after the cops stepped outside the library.

I first read about this on BoingBoing and the UCLA student paper, and was infuriated. After I read everything else on it, it just seems to me like this guy deserved what he got, and I hope he gets his lawsuit laughed out of court.

[kasia]

He violated school policy and had no excuse for his conduct. Anal security guards is no excuse. The kid was clearly an ass. WTF does the Patriot Act have to do with UCLA policy on having your ID?

maybe his beef wasn't with the policy itself but how it was selectively enforced.

[kasia]

I hate cops with a passion. I have had my fair share of being harassed by law enforcement when I had done nothing wrong or illegal.

That being said, the reports I've read indicated that this guy was disobeying commonly known and posted university policy (ID checks after 11pm) and being combative before the cops were ever called. When the cops arrived, he was uncooperative and disruptive for several minutes, grabbing onto furniture while being carried/pushed out. Sounds like he deserved to get put down. Dry tasering someone on the dry-stun setting should not immobilize someone, especially not someone who is allegedly 200 lbs.

even given that, you'd have to justify the fact that he was tasered again and again even after he was cuffed.

[haplesshobo]

maybe his beef wasn't with the policy itself but how it was selectively enforced.

Huh? From what I remembered, the CSO check everybody's ID. They do it for the protection of the students. He's not the first, and won't be the last student, who'll be asked to leave the library for not having their ID.

[kasia]

Huh? From what I remembered, the CSO check everybody's ID. They do it for the protection of the students. He's not the first, and won't be the last student, who'll be asked to leave the library for not having their ID.

that's why i wrote maybe, genius.

[Arex]

Huh? From what I remembered, the CSO check everybody's ID. They do it for the protection of the students. He's not the first, and won't be the last student, who'll be asked to leave the library for not having their ID.My experience with the policy was kind of spotty. They would often announce that everyone should get their IDs out, but they usually didn't come around and check individuals. Of course, my last experience with this was when studying for the Bar, before 9/11 and the days of profiling mid-easterners. I'm not saying the rule was necessarily being enforced in a discriminatory manner, but selective enforcement wouldn't necessarily surprise me, even at UCLA. And really, this is all besides the point. Regardless of how dumb this guy may have been, if he was already leaving, the cops shouldn't have laid a hand on him.

[Chad]

seems like they get the idea that since the taser is "non-lethal" it's OK to use it anytime, on anyone.
citizens should also start carrying their own tasers, it's not illegal. when the jehova's witness won't go away, taser him. if the guy at mickey d's gets your order wrong, taser him.
notice also how that cop tells the other angry student where to stand. i have experienced this a few times with aggressive policemen. they like to tell you where you can and can't stand. it's not a matter of where you are actually standing, it's just a test of compliance. if you disobey then they have a reason to start a fight with you.

[deez nuts]

omgpewpewtasergun

[Arex]

http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_326115429.html

UCLA Has Most Lenient Stun Gun Rules Of All U.C.s

(AP) LOS ANGELES UCLA is apparently the only University of California campus that allows security officers to use stun guns against against noncombative suspects -- as well as those putting up a fight.

Police at six of the 10 U.C. campuses carry stun guns. But according to interviews with U.C. officials, most officers are
restricted to only using the guns against violent suspects.

UCLA's police rules allow officers to use stun guns on passive resisters as "a pain compliance technique," assistant Chief Jeff Young said.

An investigation is under way at UCLA into the use of a stun gun against a student. On Nov. 14 a senior was repeatedly stunned when he refused to show his student I.D. to officers doing a late night check at Powell Library.Well that's kinda fucked up. I wonder when this policy was implemented. Those Bruins can be dangerous!

[BigLew]

Huh? From what I remembered, the CSO check everybody's ID. They do it for the protection of the students. He's not the first, and won't be the last student, who'll be asked to leave the library for not having their ID.

Denying certain things may happen to some people more because of profiling is just purposefully turning the blind eye. Just like everyone is subject to "randomly" getting pulled out of line and searched at the airport but somehow it "ramdomly" happens to certain people everytime they fly.

[friedfishribs]

The guy doesn't seem particularly combatative. From the video, it seems like most of the melodrama came after the guy was already tased, which isn't surprising given that it's an electric shock sent through your body and your brain. He was yelling that the police don't touch him, but that isn't hard to understand either. If I was in my school library, and I was required to have a student ID and didn't have one, it's not unlikely that I'll want to finish studying a chapter out of my book before I go (uncooperative). If after that, when I do decide to leave, I'm confronted by police at the door, I might panic at the situation (supposed combativeness).

[capacitor276]

Denying certain things may happen to some people more because of profiling is just purposefully turning the blind eye. Just like everyone is subject to "randomly" getting pulled out of line and searched at the airport but somehow it "ramdomly" happens to certain people everytime they fly.

If you watch the video and read some more detailed statements, you'll find that the student did later agree to voluntarily leave the library when refusing to show his ID. From the video it is clear that as the student was leaving the library, he requested not to be aggressively pulled by one of the officers, and that was when the trouble began.

[power puff girl]

this really isn't that surprising with bush as president. its not that big of a leap from torturing prisoners at abu grahib to what happened at ucla. this student is just lucky there were cameras that caught this, or, it would have been swept under the rug. this same cop has had a controversial history of violence, but he was never fired when he denied those allegations.

[Arex]

I'm not so sure Bush--failure as a president, asshole and scapegoat that he is--or his policies had anything to do with this.=) I'm guessing that as long as there have been police officers, there have unfortunately been incidents of excessive force by police officers.

[Yeahman]

this really isn't that surprising with bush as president.
Bush merely inherited Clinton's UCLA library security guard taser training programs. :biggrin:

I'm not so sure Bush--failure as a president, asshole and scapegoat that he is--or his policies had anything to do with this.=) I'm guessing that as long as there have been police officers, there have unfortunately been incidents of excessive force by police officers.
Of course Bush is responsible! He's a Republican president! Anything bad that happens in this world is his fault. Only the bad stuff though. Come on Arex. It's not that hard to understand! Why are you protecting Bush?!

[hooligan]

Bush merely inherited Clinton's UCLA library security guard taser training programs. :biggrin:

Of course Bush is responsible! He's a Republican president! Anything bad that happens in this world is his fault. Only the bad stuff though. Come on Arex. It's not that hard to understand! Why are you protecting Bush?!

Man, I bet it's only because we live in a country that sympathsizes with Judeo-Christian religious values, this wouldn't ever have happened in a secularist nation.

[haplesshobo]

But according to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 2001, a charge of three to five seconds can result in immobilization for five to 15 minutes, which would mean that Tabatabainejad could have been physically unable to stand when the officers demanded that he do so.



Its funny how these articles work. I tried googling this article, and all I got were articles that referenced it and said the exact thing. Somebody summarizes it, and then everybody just regurgiates the facile summary without going back to the source and reading it themselves. It seems the original Lancet article was refering to cartridge taser, not the drive stun taser that was the UCPD actually used. The drive stun taser will deliver the lowest shock, while cartridge taser the highest shock. Plus, given the other symptons the Lancet refers to along with immobilization, it doesn't appear the student was actually immobolized. Not that this excuses what the UCPD did to the student.

[haplesshobo]

The guy doesn't seem particularly combatative. From the video, it seems like most of the melodrama came after the guy was already tased, which isn't surprising given that it's an electric shock sent through your body and your brain. He was yelling that the police don't touch him, but that isn't hard to understand either. If I was in my school library, and I was required to have a student ID and didn't have one, it's not unlikely that I'll want to finish studying a chapter out of my book before I go (uncooperative). If after that, when I do decide to leave, I'm confronted by police at the door, I might panic at the situation (supposed combativeness).

Reports are that he was combative before the cameras rolled, when he refused to show his ID to the CSO(fellow students) at the library despite this being the policy where everybody's ID is checked, and it just escalated from there.

[otter p.]

Those campus security officers are some of the biggest assholes around; they get off on that power trip. If they're going to assault some student for not showing his ID, I hate to think how they'd react when I turn in my overdue books in.

[hooligan]

Those campus security officers are some of the biggest assholes around; they get off on that power trip. If they're going to assault some student for not showing his ID, I hate to think how they'd react when I turn in my overdue books in.

We call them "one-timers" because it'll only take one time to piss you off.

[sageb1]

Those campus security officers are some of the biggest assholes around; they get off on that power trip. If they're going to assault some student for not showing his ID, I hate to think how they'd react when I turn in my overdue books in.

It depends on how hard you slam those books down and if you are psychotic.:mad:

[sageb1]

FWIW, the cop that tased the kid is known to use excessive force.

If he wasn't on shift that night, then the incident would not have happened.

As well, the student tased felt that he was being singled out because none of the white students were being asked to show ID (mainly cos I suspect the CSOs are white and know most of the white students but have NEVER socialized with the Iranian-American students so consider them all to be TERRORISTS).

IMHO these Iranian-American student protestors should be glad that the kid was only tased.

In my parents' time during WW2 Japanese were herded up and put into prison camps.

In Canada, Vancouver to be precise, the men were put into a building and made to wait until they rioted and then considered enemy aliens to be shipped to a couple prison camps in Ontario. Missing their families, many young men opted out of the nationalists' "conscientuous objection" in order to be returned to their families in prison camps back in B.C.

Today, racial profiling replaces racism. Instead, right-neck psychos accidentally murdered a Sikh for looking like a Muslim. A handful tried to burn down mosques.

In short the reason why Middle Easterners aren't hauled into prison camps today is because of the hardships the foreign-born Japanese had to endure.

Aside from that, tasing was overkill and did not render the kid compliant thus proving that had they been less aggressive he would have eventually complied.

This incident is just part of the policy of enforced compliancy through brutal means that has occurred with increasing frequency.

[haplesshobo]

I'm surprised that another new incident of a student getting tasered at UF isn't getting a reaction here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw

Of course, this was a white student being obnoxious at a Q&A with John Kerry and that might explain that. Imagine if this had been a muslim student doing that at George Bush.

At first, the other students were cheering that this student was getting arrested by the police but then they start screaming in horror when he gets tasered. Its funny that during this entire incident you can hear Kerry mumble along in the background.

[AngryABCGirl]

I'm surprised that another new incident of a student getting tasered at UF isn't getting a reaction here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw

Of course, this was a white student being obnoxious at a Q&A with John Kerry and that might explain that. Imagine if this had been a muslim student doing that at George Bush.

At first, the other students were cheering that this student was getting arrested by the police but then they start screaming in horror when he gets tasered. Its funny that during this entire incident you can hear Kerry mumble along in the background.

I actually just saw this on the news a few hours ago. On the Taiwanese news network ironically because that's the only channel my family watches. What the hell is wrong with security on college campuses. I'd hate to accidentally run a stop sign with my bicycle or something. Even if the kid was being an obnoxious little bastard, it doesn't mean you whip out a taser. The officers could have easily dragged the skinny guy out and dumped him there.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered/index.html

CNN) -- Two University of Florida police officers were placed on leave with pay after using an electronic stun gun to subdue a student who was questioning Sen. John Kerry at a campus forum, the school's president said Tuesday.


Student Andrew Meyer is surrounded by university police in Gainesville, Florida, on Monday.

But the student's behavior and past activities are prompting questions about whether the incident was part of a stunt.

The Florida Division of Law Enforcement will investigate Monday's arrest of Andrew Meyer, said University of Florida President J. Bernard Machen. Machen called the incident "regretful for us."

"The thing that I regret is that civil dialogue and civil discourse did not happen," Machen said. "That's fundamental to a university campus. Why it didn't happen is what we're trying to sort out."

During Monday's forum, Meyer came to the microphone to question the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee from Massachusetts. Watch the incident unfold »

"You will take my question because I have been listening to your crap for two hours," Meyer told Kerry, according to the police report of the incident.

He then turned to a woman and said "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?" the report said.

Clarissa Jessup, who contributed I-Report video of the incident to CNN, said Meyer gave her his camera and asked her to shoot video of him posing his questions to Kerry.

Organizers had cut off questioning before Meyer went to the microphone, she said. Watch Jessup describe the incident

Meyer asked Kerry why he did not contest his loss to President Bush in the pivotal state of Ohio over allegations that African-American voters were disenfranchised.

Meyer also questioned Kerry about why he did not support impeaching Bush and whether he belonged to the Yale University secret society Skull and Bones, as Bush did.

One of the police officers on the scene observed that Meyer was "yelling as loud as he could as to sensationalize his presence," according to the police report.

Meyer had about a minute and a half at the microphone before police stepped in to haul him away. As he tried to escape their grip, Kerry protested, "That's all right, let me answer his question."

But as Meyer repeatedly questioned why he was being arrested, officers dragged him to the back of the auditorium and then used a Taser on him when he continued to struggle.

Meyer responded, "What did I do? Get off me ... get the f--- off me, man, I didn't do anything. Don't Tase me, bro, I didn't do anything."

Police noted that his demeanor "completely changed once the cameras were not in sight" and described him as laughing and being lighthearted as he was being driven to the Alachua County Detention Center.

"I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to do your job," Meyer said, according to the police report.

At one point, he asked whether there were going to be cameras at the jail, according to the report.

Meyer was charged with resisting arrest with violence -- a felony -- and a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace. He was released without having to post bond Tuesday.

Machen said the clips posted online paint an incomplete picture of the scene. Watch the university's reaction

University spokesman Steve Orlando said before police moved in, Meyer was asked to relinquish the microphone because he was "being disruptive."

But the arrest triggered a protest by a group of University of Florida students Tuesday. One of them, Benjamin Dictor, called the arrest "an assault on reason itself."

"For a question to be met with arrest, not to mention physical violence, is completely unacceptable in the United States," Dictor said.

Some students cheered Meyer's removal, and others looked on quietly. But several screamed in protest when officers prepared to shock him.

Meyer was carrying a business card advertising "TheAndrewMeyer.com 'Speak My Mind,' " the police report said.

The Web site features videos of Meyer taking part in several practical jokes. It also includes a "disorganized diatribe" that criticizes the war in Iraq and the media.

The Web site said his friends had posted coverage of his arrest.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Kerry said he didn't know a Taser had been used on the student until after he left the event, and said he hoped no one was injured.

"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way," he said.

"I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but again, I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention."


Machen said authorities have not determined whether Tasers were used improperly.

In addition, he said a student-faculty review panel will examine "all of our protocols relative to student dialogue and faculty interaction" in the wake of the incident.

[snow ninja]

that's bullsh*t. This is so typical.. the ganging up and excessive force by the police.

[cloudzero]

being in front of a camera doesnt stop them either
reminds me of that adam sandler movie: anger management?

"sir, im going to have to ask you to calm down"
"I AM CALM"
ZAPPP

[popculturepooka]

"Don't taze me, bro!"

[Faithless]

"Don't tase me bro" could become a ringtone, as Verizon pays Meyer for the rights.

Verizon wants you to buy "Don't tase me bro" ringback tone (http://www.intomobile.com/2007/12/12/verizon-wants-you-to-buy-dont-tase-me-bro-ringback-tone.html)
Posted by Will on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 5:54 pm

Does the sound of a panicked protester about to get a 10,000 volt shock from a ‘taser make you laugh? Well, Verizon Wireless is betting that it will. They’ve just started offering a new ringback tone - musical tones that your caller will hear in place of a more traditional ringing sound. The “Don’t ‘tase me bro” ringback tone features the infamous Andrew Meyer pleading with security officers to not pump his body full of electrons.

Is this in bad taste? Verizon actually paid Andrew Meyer to use his recorded voice, so he obviously consented to the ringback tone. Apparently, it’s funny as long as the victim gets paid in the end.

Verizon Wireless subscribers will find the new ringback tone on Verizon’s website. Go ahead and give your callers something more annoying to listen to than that Britney Spears ringback tone you love so much. We’ll stick with out old-school ringer, thanks.
Crap, if you want to spend the dough for tasteless, how about a ringtone with Tila yacking, "Here's to a shot at love."