I dont know if this video has been posted yet or not ....so here it is
UCLA Student Tasered by Police in Library
UCLA Student Tasered by Police in Library
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UCLA student tasered by police (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Natalia
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The Bystander Effect (also known as bystander apathy) is a psychological phenomenon in which someone is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation when others are present than when he is alone.
This is really sad... what makes it worse is the idiots who comment on the video saying "the idiot deserved it. All he had to do was stand up". I'd like to see how quickly they can get up after being tazed
This is really sad... what makes it worse is the idiots who comment on the video saying "the idiot deserved it. All he had to do was stand up". I'd like to see how quickly they can get up after being tazed
So I saw the video, and not to defend the police actions, I know nothing about the situation that lead to this -- nor the reasons why the student is being intercepted by the police to begin with. In short, I can see video, but I know jack sh*t about the background. So I'm afraid I have to reserve judgement without more facts. The guy could have been on a PCP high and have a record for assault for all I know. Not likely, but it's possible.
If someone can explain to me what lead to this in the first place, I'm all ears.
As for the crowd being too passive -- c'mon! The police are faced with a situation where they are using potentially excessive force on a perp. What are you going to do, punch out the cop in that situation? Make them pull out guns by escalating the whole affair into a potential mob response shoot-out and get more innocents threatened?
Seriously... it's easy to be all brave and noble on an office chair in front of a computer monitor.
If someone can explain to me what lead to this in the first place, I'm all ears.
As for the crowd being too passive -- c'mon! The police are faced with a situation where they are using potentially excessive force on a perp. What are you going to do, punch out the cop in that situation? Make them pull out guns by escalating the whole affair into a potential mob response shoot-out and get more innocents threatened?
Seriously... it's easy to be all brave and noble on an office chair in front of a computer monitor.
I dont believe law enforcement(In this case the university police/security) are required to expect someone to "stand up". Inability or refusal to "stand up" does not constitute reasonable grounds under which they can taser someone.
Unless this was shot for a remake of 1984.
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http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38958
[BREAKING NEWS]: Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers
Incident occured around 11:30 p.m. in the Powell Library CLICC computer lab
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your fucking abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.
As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.
"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.
Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.
"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."
Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.
Unless this was shot for a remake of 1984.
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http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38958
[BREAKING NEWS]: Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers
Incident occured around 11:30 p.m. in the Powell Library CLICC computer lab
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your fucking abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.
As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.
"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.
Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.
"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."
Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your fucking abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.
As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.
"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.
Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.
"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."
Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your fucking abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.
As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.
"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.
Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.
"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."
Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.
All the guy had to do was rise to his feet. He conributes very much to making this "scene". I see it as a mixture of (tazer)trigger-happy cops and an idiot. But at least the guy was warned several times. I suspect he thinks he's some kind of hero/victim and enjoyed all the attention he got. It made taking the tazing worth it for him.
And like you said.. Why should ppl who probably don't even know him or know about the situation take action? What if he was guilty of something horrible?
Natalia that looks like a pretty biased article. I would never post that here. Whats your source?
here's the story picked up by the LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cellcamera16nov16,0,4794591.story?coll=la-home-headlines
A cellphone camera captures UCLA police using a Taser on a student who allegedly refused to leave the library Tuesday night.
By Amanda Covarrubias and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers
November 16, 2006
Grainy video of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library was broadcast Wednesday on TV news and the Internet, prompting a review of the officers' actions and outrage among students at the Westwood campus.
The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
According to a campus police report, the incident began when community service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.
For the Record: In a earlier version of this article, a quote from Mostafa Tabatabainejad read: "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power." The corrected quote reads " "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power."
Campus officials said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.
When Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave "multiple times," according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building."
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling "Get off me" several times.
"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.
The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he used a profanity.
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."
Campus police confirmed that Tabatabainejad was stunned "multiple" times.
By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge numbers.
Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.
Tabatabainejad declined to comment. He was arrested Tuesday night and cited by campus police for resisting and obstructing a police officer and was released.
The incident was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.
One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.
Pg2
That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.
UCLA Assistant Police Chief Jeff Young said Wednesday that he had viewed the video of the campus incident on the Internet and would view any other videos that were shot.
"We will gather as many samples as we can find, from different sources," Young said. "We'll use it for our own administrative investigation."
UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that university police are investigating the incident and the officers' actions.
"The investigation and review will be thorough, vigorous and fair," he said, adding that compliance with the ID policy is "critical for the safety and well-being of everyone."
Young said Tasers, which discharge an electric current to incapacitate a suspect, are seldom used by the campus police department.
On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.
"UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I've seen people without ID cards who are removed. But none of the time has it been this dramatic."
Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."
"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd."
Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.
"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone."
[email protected]
[email protected]
here's the story picked up by the LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cellcamera16nov16,0,4794591.story?coll=la-home-headlines
A cellphone camera captures UCLA police using a Taser on a student who allegedly refused to leave the library Tuesday night.
By Amanda Covarrubias and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers
November 16, 2006
The latest in a recent spate of cellphone videos documenting questionable arrest tactics surfaced Wednesday, this one showing a UCLA police officer using a Taser to stun a student who allegedly refused to leave the campus library.Grainy video of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library was broadcast Wednesday on TV news and the Internet, prompting a review of the officers' actions and outrage among students at the Westwood campus.
The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
According to a campus police report, the incident began when community service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.
For the Record: In a earlier version of this article, a quote from Mostafa Tabatabainejad read: "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power." The corrected quote reads " "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power."
Campus officials said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.
When Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave "multiple times," according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building."
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling "Get off me" several times.
"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.
The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he used a profanity.
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."
Campus police confirmed that Tabatabainejad was stunned "multiple" times.
By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge numbers.
Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.
Tabatabainejad declined to comment. He was arrested Tuesday night and cited by campus police for resisting and obstructing a police officer and was released.
The incident was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.
One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.
Pg2
That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.
UCLA Assistant Police Chief Jeff Young said Wednesday that he had viewed the video of the campus incident on the Internet and would view any other videos that were shot.
"We will gather as many samples as we can find, from different sources," Young said. "We'll use it for our own administrative investigation."
UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that university police are investigating the incident and the officers' actions.
"The investigation and review will be thorough, vigorous and fair," he said, adding that compliance with the ID policy is "critical for the safety and well-being of everyone."
Young said Tasers, which discharge an electric current to incapacitate a suspect, are seldom used by the campus police department.
On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.
"UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I've seen people without ID cards who are removed. But none of the time has it been this dramatic."
Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."
"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd."
Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.
"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone."
[email protected]
[email protected]
Sounds like cops that got lazy and used more force than necessary...
and an assh*le with a point to prove that decided to test the limits of what the cops would do to him...
and a body of student witnesses who either think the guy deserved it or that the guy is completely innocent and that a bullet to the head is more humane than a taser
and an assh*le with a point to prove that decided to test the limits of what the cops would do to him...
and a body of student witnesses who either think the guy deserved it or that the guy is completely innocent and that a bullet to the head is more humane than a taser
from what i saw in the tape....he was leaving....and even though i dont know the whole story i still feel that tasering someone who does not pose a threat is wrong. there were at least three cops there why not carry him out, and expecting him to stand up right after tasering him is stupid and to do it more than once is just cruel. And if im not mistaken he mentioned? that he had a medical condition
I'm sure he will.
But jeeze -- doesn't matter if the guy is white, black, pink, or chartreuse. This is no innocent bystander we're talking about here. The guy was trespassing without proper identification and decided to do a belligerent sit-in, refused to move, and yelled profanities at the security guys. I would not sign him up for cannonization for sainthood on this one.
Believe me -- if that guy turned out to be some disgruntled ex-boyfriend of a student who was out to cause harm on her (and how could you know?), you better believe your ass that the parents of that student would sue the campus police for not hauling him outta there by his gonads, using tasers and beating him with their nightsticks.
But jeeze -- doesn't matter if the guy is white, black, pink, or chartreuse. This is no innocent bystander we're talking about here. The guy was trespassing without proper identification and decided to do a belligerent sit-in, refused to move, and yelled profanities at the security guys. I would not sign him up for cannonization for sainthood on this one.
Believe me -- if that guy turned out to be some disgruntled ex-boyfriend of a student who was out to cause harm on her (and how could you know?), you better believe your ass that the parents of that student would sue the campus police for not hauling him outta there by his gonads, using tasers and beating him with their nightsticks.
I've already had this discussion elsewhere so I'm not going to bother with it again, but I will say that I'm appalled by the lack of humanity people show towards another person. On the tape the guy is clearly screaming in pain and people find it appropriate to respond "he brought it on himself for being an asshole". What the fuck does it matter what he said? Does verbal abuse justify physical abuse? According to reports, he was on his way out when the cops grabbed him, he told them to get off and they stunned him. For absolutely no reason. He wasn't being a threat to anyone and if they had to they could easily overpower him (given that there were like 3 of them). Then they tell him to stand (which is pretty much the most absurd demand to make, given that the whole point of the tazer is to incapacitate a person by paralyzing muscles) and when he says he can't, they stun him again. In all five times, including after they already cuffed him. Meanwhile the other students and telling them to stop, which they ignore, and upon being asked for their name and badge number, the cop says "go back, otherwise you'll get tazered too". For what? Let's throw a parade for the freest nation on earth.
The guy was a student, which many of us here are. He was in the lab, where many of us go every week. He didn't have his id, which could happen to anyone. I've had my id checked lots of times late at night. He gets electrocuted for not "exiting quickly enough" whatever that means and then curses out the cop. What the hell would you say? "Is there anything else I can help you with, officer?" Yeah, he was clearly milking it and enjoy every second, right.
I wouldn't wish this on any of you, no matter what the circumstances were. And judging by various drunken stories and miscellaneous youtube videos isn't a very long trip from what happened here. I'm forced to ask, do you burst into laughter when seeing people being killed on the news? Are you the guy standing next to the bully saying "kick him again"?
The human race is so fucking disappointing.
The guy was a student, which many of us here are. He was in the lab, where many of us go every week. He didn't have his id, which could happen to anyone. I've had my id checked lots of times late at night. He gets electrocuted for not "exiting quickly enough" whatever that means and then curses out the cop. What the hell would you say? "Is there anything else I can help you with, officer?" Yeah, he was clearly milking it and enjoy every second, right.
I wouldn't wish this on any of you, no matter what the circumstances were. And judging by various drunken stories and miscellaneous youtube videos isn't a very long trip from what happened here. I'm forced to ask, do you burst into laughter when seeing people being killed on the news? Are you the guy standing next to the bully saying "kick him again"?
The human race is so fucking disappointing.
Sorry, Martin. Gotta disagree with you on this one. And I'm coming to you live from bleeding-heart liberal San Francisco where we preach peace, love, and free daisies to all.
And while I do not approve of how it appears this situation was handled by police officers in any way, the guy was being a an obstructionist jackass. Cry me a river if you think this guy was some innocent who just accidentally stumbled into the library and was walking out on his own volition before he was gang-tackled by trigger happy cops. That's painting it with pretty naive, broad strokes. Sure, he didn't exactly warrant excessive force. But he wasn't exactly compliant either.
I would have prefered that they would have dragged his ass out in handcuffs, given the situation. But again I don't know enough about the background and the danger profile he may have presented to the cops in the situation. I'm not a cop, but as a disclaimer -- my brother is. And I trust his judgement when he tells me that he has to be trained that pulling over someone for a speeding ticket is a potentially life-threatening situation. So I cannot comment whether there are repercussions about dragging a handcuffed, belligerent guy presents that would require the use of a taser (over just dragging him out).
Seems to me that the greatest objection here is over the use of the taser, and whether the taser, and its application, constitutes a humane use of non-lethal force or not. That seems to be the heart of the issue here.
But I suppose that because a guy refuses to leave a building without identification and I believe he should be removed instead of coddled, and because I believe a cop should try to keep the surrounding crowd calm and uninvolved in a hostile situation, that makes me a sadist?... :confused2
I was happy to see the LAPD get called on the mat for Rodney King. But I never bought that King was just "minding his own business" as a completely innocent, fine, upstanding citizen either. Or to the extent that other people wanted to paint it.
And while I do not approve of how it appears this situation was handled by police officers in any way, the guy was being a an obstructionist jackass. Cry me a river if you think this guy was some innocent who just accidentally stumbled into the library and was walking out on his own volition before he was gang-tackled by trigger happy cops. That's painting it with pretty naive, broad strokes. Sure, he didn't exactly warrant excessive force. But he wasn't exactly compliant either.
I would have prefered that they would have dragged his ass out in handcuffs, given the situation. But again I don't know enough about the background and the danger profile he may have presented to the cops in the situation. I'm not a cop, but as a disclaimer -- my brother is. And I trust his judgement when he tells me that he has to be trained that pulling over someone for a speeding ticket is a potentially life-threatening situation. So I cannot comment whether there are repercussions about dragging a handcuffed, belligerent guy presents that would require the use of a taser (over just dragging him out).
Seems to me that the greatest objection here is over the use of the taser, and whether the taser, and its application, constitutes a humane use of non-lethal force or not. That seems to be the heart of the issue here.
But I suppose that because a guy refuses to leave a building without identification and I believe he should be removed instead of coddled, and because I believe a cop should try to keep the surrounding crowd calm and uninvolved in a hostile situation, that makes me a sadist?... :confused2
I was happy to see the LAPD get called on the mat for Rodney King. But I never bought that King was just "minding his own business" as a completely innocent, fine, upstanding citizen either. Or to the extent that other people wanted to paint it.