Student Tasering at Kerry Q&A

[Agathon]

Originally posted by DaShi

But what would you have Kerry do? He tried to talk to them to stop and allow them to speak. But generally, when the police are in the act of taking someone away, you don't interfere, politician or not.

If it was me, I would have yelled at the police to let the man complete his question, and I would have said that this was America, that I was a public representative (in effect an employee of this man), and that I could not agree to people being forcibly ejected for asking a question, no matter what I thought of the question.

Whatever happens, this was in no way as disgraceful as the last incident, where a man was tasered about a dozen times, and which amounted to torture IMHO.

I hate tasers though. If there were some non-painful method of restraining people, it would be good, but because tasers are supposedly "non lethal" there isn't the taboo about using them that there should be.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Huh.. this is interesting:

http://www.starbanner.com/article/20070918/NEWS/70918007/1053/BREAKING_NEWS

Police have released the incident report detailing the Tasering of a University of Florida student during a campus forum with Sen. John Kerry Monday, and the officer who actually Tasered Andrew Meyer wrote in the report that Meyer later told police, "You didn't do anything wrong."

In the 12-page report, which gives accounts of the incident from the perspective of eight different officers who were present Monday afternoon, Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present.

"As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again," Mallo wrote.

Mallo was one of two officers who actually rode in the vehicle as Meyer was escorted to the Alachua County jail, and she said said he told them during the ride: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job," according to Mallo's account.

Mallo also wrote in her report that he asked, at one point, if cameras would be present at the jail.

[snip]

[Agathon]

I don't think it makes a difference.

If a black guy agreed that the Klan had not overstepped their bounds by castrating him, that would not make their actions excusable. It's the tasering that's the problem here – it's clearly excessive.

On the other hand, Mitt Romney has the best response

When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked about the incident this morning on Fox News, he said: "Gosh, normally you Taser the candidate, you don't Taser the questioner." Amid laughter in the Fox studio, Romney said that candidates are "the ones that go on and on and on. 'Can't we get him off the stage?' You don't Taser the people who've come in to ask questions."

[Agathon]

Here's videos of a number of university tasering incidents.

The skateboarding one is just sad, but the last one is really funny, although I bet the cop got into trouble.

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/09/18/university_taser/

[DinoDoc]

That sounds like some cover your ass rhetoric on the part of the cop.

[Wiglaf]

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

"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.

From CNN.

Anyone who tells Kerry he should take his question because he has been listening to his "crap" is clearly causing a disturbance.

Sounds like the kid wanted this to happen. Look at the video, he was clearly trying for attention.

[Wiglaf]

TheAndrewMeyer.com

He even had a business card advertising this site on it when he was detained. It is a collection of egotistical crap about his life.

Again, he wanted this to happen and clearly needed to be arrested.

[Wiglaf]

To be fair, his article on Iraq is a little dumb, but it's not "incoherent" like the media portrays it.

http://www.theandrewmeyer.com/columns/iraq_the_media_and_shannons_dad.asp

Anyone who signs things "The Andrew Meyer" is a douchebag.

[Berzerker]

tasering the guy while he's handcuffed on the ground with 5-6 people on him is over the line, but this guy brought it on himself by disrespecting, then resisting the campus police.

[MosesPresley]

I don't think the kid brought tasering on himself, although he certainly deserved the bum's rush from the facility after he started getting belligerent with the cops.

[Shrapnel12]

All I saw was a small video segment on the news, but it did not look favorable to the cops. While I certainly sympathize with the student and my gut reaction is to cry out at what I see as a violent oppressive act on behalf of the cops, I also sympathize with the cops. Police in the USA are caught between a rock and a hard place. If they police had not reacted and the student became violent and someone got hurt, they would be facing just as stiff criticism as they are now. With public paranoia over events such as Columbine and Virginia Tech, cops are under a lot of stress to provide adequate security. The cops probably felt they needed to maintain control, but it turned out to be a mistake. Once the mistake was made, the student probably had the right to be mad, but once a cop gives an order or attempts to restrain a civilian, that civilian must comply. I don't agree with the right to resist an unlawful arrest (the only exception would be if the person thought their life was in danger). I do agree with a lawsuit or some kind of sanction against the police after the arrest is made if it is found to be unlawful. I think the student should get compensation for being unlawfully arrested in the first place, but should be found guilty of resisting arrest lawful or not (probably just probation or a fine as punishment). He might also deserse something for being tasered. Though it was indeed better then getting beat up, I don't know that it was needed. The video looked like the police had it under control, but I could not see what the student was doing.

[BeBMan]

This is idiotic (I mean the entire thing happening, not any posts).

[BeBMan]

Oh, and just curious - does every uni have "Campus Police" in the US?

[DinoDoc]

The larger ones do.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by BeBro
Oh, and just curious - does every uni have "Campus Police" in the US?

Mine did, and it's not that big even.