UCLA student abused by the cops (horrible video)

[Diffused Mind]

Truly innocent people don't need rights.

Of course they do.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Of course they do.

There was sarcasm in them there hills.

[.KICK]

There really was no need to taser the guy and also dosen't a taser make you paralysed (used to disarm you) so how was he able to stand up?? I do think the cops over-reacted way too much

[Googintosh]

In the words of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, "let the bleeding hearts bleed."

So much sympathy for a person with an obvious chip on their shoulder; who's own actions imply that he's immune from obeying the same rules as every else. From what I've read, he disobeyed student volunteers several times when told to leave, then did the same with the campus police. If I am in that students predicament and I get stunned by a taser, the last thing I want to do is further aggravate a stressful situation for all parties by a. not complying, and b. antagonizing the authorities -- I've seen criminals on COPS who show that much common sense in similar situations. Seems like he had it coming.

EDIT: I just read this:

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.

Maybe those police were a tad too "gung-ho" if that's true.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Googintosh

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I don't see how people can read the same stuff and get different ideas. Everything I've read said he collected his stuff, slipped on his backback and was heading to the doors when the campus police laid hands on him in an attempt to physically push him out the door (like they were taking out the trash). That was when the trouble started. It was all completely unnecessary. The student has 60 witnesses to back him up and the UCLA student body is rather incensed. They demanded an independent inquiry yesterday and got one.

[torrentthief]

they should put those policemen in jail!

american police SUCK, use of force culture is stupid! when will you americans learn?

[t_r_nelson]

You're right, because nobody has rights.

You should change your name to "Confused Mind." I didn't say he didn't have rights, I said not to argue them at that point in time. Nice job reading what you want out of a post.

He has rights, but the security group is not in a position to argue points with him. And from reading more posts, it appears that this prick was causing trouble. Witnesses have said he was causing problems before campus security was even there.

Things are starting to blur a little bit between who the instigator was, aren't they? That is why the video is not the ulitimate answer to what occurred. You get to see a snapshot in time. All you see is the big-bad police shocking this poor person. And, Oh-no, it's racism too since he is of minority decent. Never mind the fact that one person shocking him was black and the other was Asian. Hmmmm.....

And if you read other posts, the Taser was set to shock, not incapacitate the individual. If any of you have ever messed with a dog shock collar, it hurts like hell, but it doesn't knock you out. From the official reports, the Tasers were set to cause pain, not unconsiousness. So stop with the whole "He couldn't get up" garbage.

[Googintosh]

I suppose your viewpoint depends partially on what you read. This Daily Bruin article paints a different picture:

Most people are only aware of the latter part of the incident – the police repeatedly using a Taser on a handcuffed student.

They therefore come away with a mistaken account of the incident, missing critical events that caused the violence of the situation to escalate.

Tabatabainejad refused multiple police demands to leave Powell before any force was used, according to a university police statement. The police were called when Tabatabainejad refused to leave after being asked repeatedly to do so by CSOs.

Though the student eventually started to leave after the police arrived, he began to resist them.

At this point, when the student stopped cooperating, the police began to use the Taser on the student.

He went limp [before being tased], and asked others to join in his 'martyrdom', which I think is a form of resistance. From that perspective I can see why the police told other students to stay away or they'd get tased. Heh, myself at one point in the video I thought the students were going to storm the cops. Anyway, I'm done being an armchair critic since I wasn't there. I'll just leave saying both parties had some shoddy judgment.

[torrentthief]

im sorry, did i miss the post where you said you were a taser medical researcher, urmmmm NO!

and what if he has a heart condition, this can be LETHAL whatever the taser setting!

You should change your name to "Confused Mind." I didn't say he didn't have rights, I said not to argue them at that point in time. Nice job reading what you want out of a post.

He has rights, but the security group is not in a position to argue points with him. And from reading more posts, it appears that this prick was causing trouble. Witnesses have said he was causing problems before campus security was even there.

Things are starting to blur a little bit between who the instigator was, aren't they? That is why the video is not the ulitimate answer to what occurred. You get to see a snapshot in time. All you see is the big-bad police shocking this poor person. And, Oh-no, it's racism too since he is of minority decent. Never mind the fact that one person shocking him was black and the other was Asian. Hmmmm.....

And if you read other posts, the Taser was set to shock, not incapacitate the individual. If any of you have ever messed with a dog shock collar, it hurts like hell, but it doesn't knock you out. From the official reports, the Tasers were set to cause pain, not unconsiousness. So stop with the whole "He couldn't get up" garbage.

[spenser.d]

The dumbest thing you could ever possibly do is to resist the police. They get enough ****, they don't need uncooperative b******s making their job more of a pain. All the idiot had to do was walk with them. They even said they would tase him, so it's not like he didn't know what was coming by resisting them.

I go to University. In fact I go to a University renowned for being a party school (Univ. of WI-Madison), so there are plenty of police around. They're generally pretty lenient, especially when you cooperate, but when you don't, things are going to get ugly really fast. All you have to do is cooperate and things end nicely.

Saying they're in no right here to subdue this kid is like saying the police force out on State Street for Halloween (which, if you've never heard, gets packed with 100,000+ drunk, rowdy college kids) are in no right to tear gas the mob that hangs around at the end of the night chanting "we want tear gas" and "f*** the police". The kid is practically saying "tase me" by not cooperating.

-Spenser

[MetaLRasaM]

I don't see how people can read the same stuff and get different ideas. Everything I've read said he collected his stuff, slipped on his backback and was heading to the doors when the campus police laid hands on him in an attempt to physically push him out the door (like they were taking out the trash). That was when the trouble started. It was all completely unnecessary. The student has 60 witnesses to back him up and the UCLA student body is rather incensed. They demanded an independent inquiry yesterday and got one.

You rock.I gave up but you didn't. Some of the folks here are just...ignorant.They don't read the article, they don't ask questions. They just want to think that their world is perfect.If anything like this ever happens in front of me, I am not going to stand and watch it. Call me stupid, but what they did to this kid has a name, and it's called tortur. It was a punishment. They tried to make an example out of him and they did just that. Dude was no angel. He was being a prick, no doubt, but what he did doesn't justify him getting tasered 5,6 times in 5 minutes. These "officers" were sick, sadistic bullies.

[Googintosh]

im sorry, did i miss the post where you said you were a taser medical researcher, urmmmm NO!

and what if he has a heart condition, this can be LETHAL whatever the taser setting!

The setting they used on that taser, it's lethal enough that when police (in Ontario at least) are trained, they voluntarily use it on themselves to feel its effect [Craig Bromell, a former police veteran provided this insight way back on his radio show]. They're lethal enough that they use it to temporarily immobilize suicidal people who threaten to jump (yes i realize the irony). I think that argument for a lack of a better word is lame. There is a risk in everything, including not following your schools ID protocol! You know, xxxxxx people who are handcuffed lose their balance and fall down stairs every year. Oh noes, the horror, the brutality!

You rock.I gave up but you didn't. Some of the folks here are just...ignorant.They don't read the article, they don't ask questions. They just want to think that their world is perfect.

If someone doesn't agree with your opinion then they're ignorant. Lovely ad hominem. Thumbs up.

[jooface]

I'm suprised at most of your responses. I go to UCLA and I've got to say that if i pay 25k for my education I ought to be able to use my library. This isn't some public area, this isn't a haven for terrorists, it's a freaking college library.

You guys need to understand that although the STUDENT might have acted like an idiot in the begining, that didn't warrant 4 taserings. Tasers are meant as a way to counter force. Since when was deadweight force? You have 3 cops in that video not counting the others not in the video; you're telling me 3 cops couldn't carry out one student?

Tasering would only be necessary if there was some sort of threat present. All of you that said he was trying to resist them realize that all he was trying to do was leave the library he was not 'resisting arrest'. He started screaming about the patriot act AFTER he got shocked. If I got tasered for no clear reason I'd be screaming too (just listen to his screams of pain; his words after were not of anger they were of pain).

This was a gross overstep of police power because there was no clear threat to warrant use of a taser. When do cops use guns? To 'make their job easier'? No they use them when there is an imminent threat of deadly force and the ONLY recourse is a drawn weapon. When was the last time you saw a cop with a drawn gun at ALL times?

When was the last time a high school student was tasered because he didn't have his ID in his OWN school's library?

[Diffused Mind]

You should change your name to "Confused Mind." I didn't say he didn't have rights, I said not to argue them at that point in time. Nice job reading what you want out of a post.

Excellent, lets just insult people.

[EcPercy]

So I take it this one is also justified....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/...er_video3a.html

[t_r_nelson]

Diffused, I won't if you don't take my posts out of context. So easy for people to see what they want with a snapshot in time, or a single word in a reply. People need to take a step back and see the larger picture.

And EcPercy, yes. Very justified. How many times did he tell her to put the phone down? He was not rude. He gave her a direct order. It all goes back to LISTENING to what you are told and taking responsibility for those actions. She didn't listen. She just kept yakkin' away.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Tabatabainejad refused multiple police demands to leave Powell before any force was used, according to a university police statement. The police were called when Tabatabainejad refused to leave after being asked repeatedly to do so by CSOs.

^Emphasis mine. Every eyewitness account that I have read contradicts this. I think we have some CYA going on.

You guys need to understand that although the STUDENT might have acted like an idiot in the begining, that didn't warrant 4 taserings.

Five actually.

[tomwarren Veteran]

So I take it this one is also justified....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/...er_video3a.html

Precisely, these un-educated idiots shouldn't be allowed such weapons. Telling people to get up and move etc after they've been shocked to hell - idiots.

[scumdogmillionaire]

Whatever, the kid had that coming.

I freakin hate college kids that think they know everything about government and all this "patriot act"crap, what is that?

This is a NON-LETHAL form of compliance. The dumbass didn't comply.. he got tasered. Simple as that. He should have just stood the hell up. They gave him plenty of time, and plenty of warning.

I would have been asking if I could zap his dumb ass, too just for making such a scene and distracting me from whatever it is I might have been doing.

If he couldn't get up, he should have said so, rather than continue to swear at them. Police know the affects of a taser, I'm sure it was set low enough to give him a jolt and to continue on after a few seconds, admittedley sore and shocked, but not enough to stop motor functions.

Edited November 20, 2006 by rev23dev

[EcPercy]

And EcPercy, yes. Very justified. How many times did he tell her to put the phone down? He was not rude. He gave her a direct order. It all goes back to LISTENING to what you are told and taking responsibility for those actions. She didn't listen. She just kept yakkin' away.

Aside from the fact that he didn't even tell her what he was arresting her for until AFTER he shocked the hell out of her....

Anyway, I don't feel it was justified. It wasn't like she was a real threat. She was asked to get out of her car, but you are fully justified in asking why. I would have told her to let whomever she was talking to know that she can be picked up at jail in the morning and that she was under arrest for a suspended license. Then I would be old school. They didn't always have tasers. I would have warned her that she was about to be hit with the pepper spray. Yes, that sucks too. I bet it would still be better than getting shocked and risking a heart attack or something like that.

As for the college student. He was walking out. If I was the cop I would not have touched him. I would have walked with him to ensure he left. That was all that was needed. Maybe we aren't getting the whole story, but there was no need to use the taser 5 times. He was already in handcuffs. If you watched the video about the lady, you will see that it took her awhile to be able to move as well.

I have been shocked with electricity and it hurts. I can't even imagine what 50,000 Volts feels like.

I will close my argument with this:

In the next video you will see a situation involving an elderly woman. She will be nearly 80. She will be having a hard time getting off of a ride at the amusement park. A cop will tell her to get out of whatever the ride is. She will not be able to move fast enough for the 30 something year old officer. He will use the taser on her. She will hit the ground. He will yell at her 100 something times; "GET UP NOW". He will use the taser a couple more times. Then he realizes the hard truth. The lady had a heart attack and died right on the concrete at the amusement park.

It's fully justified right? I mean he did give her an order to get off of the ride.

My 2?

Edited November 21, 2006 by EcPercy

[MR.T]

Man this thing got blown way out of proportion. The idiot disobeyed the CSO multiple times so they got the UCLA police, and he disobeyed them multiple times. They warned him ahead of time if he didn't do what they said they would tase him, and he ignored them. I can help but think he wanted to cause a scene, how else would a person be that fundamentally stupid.

As for the whole "how is he suppose to stand up if he got tased" bit, Didn't anyone actually read the article? If he couldn't stand why didn't he say so? he certainly was well enough to scream obscenities and all that other crap.

Granted the UCLA police probably could have handled this better, but they don't deserve to lose there job for it. Plus they had no way of knowing if he was a student, dangerous or even armed.

The only thing I see wrong about this is the that there was a report that they tased him once even after he had the cuffs on, although he still could have been struggling and making the officers jobs difficult, so they still had the right to do it if that was the case.

If you ask me he got what he deserved, a good lesson on why not to act like a smart ass and a prick to the authorities.

[tony-inpo]

He should have done what they said, but it did seem unnecessary/excessive

[redfish]

Man this thing got blown way out of proportion. The idiot disobeyed the CSO multiple times so they got the UCLA police, and he disobeyed them multiple times. They warned him ahead of time if he didn't do what they said they would tase him, and he ignored them. I can help but think he wanted to cause a scene, how else would a person be that fundamentally stupid.

As for the whole "how is he suppose to stand up if he got tased" bit, Didn't anyone actually read the article? If he couldn't stand why didn't he say so? he certainly was well enough to scream obscenities and all that other crap.

Granted the UCLA police probably could have handled this better, but they don't deserve to lose there job for it. Plus they had no way of knowing if he was a student, dangerous or even armed.

The only thing I see wrong about this is the that there was a report that they tased him once even after he had the cuffs on, although he still could have been struggling and making the officers jobs difficult, so they still had the right to do it if that was the case.

If you ask me he got what he deserved, a good lesson on why not to act like a smart ass and a prick to the authorities.

he was in an emotional state, and probably didn't even think of telling the officers he couldn't stand up. i think the reason people are focusing on this is because they don't think tasers should be used just because the person doesn't behave the way you expect them to behave. the point isn't to make the officer's jobs as easy as possible. its not necessarily a violation by the officers if they are given the authority to do this; but you could still argue they're doing a bad job. if you were running a service company where your employees were causing more harm than they should you'd want to replace them, retrain them, or change policies. if anything the taser policy by the police there will be modified

[Andy1369]

Man this thing got blown way out of proportion. The idiot disobeyed the CSO multiple times so they got the UCLA police, and he disobeyed them multiple times. They warned him ahead of time if he didn't do what they said they would tase him, and he ignored them. I can help but think he wanted to cause a scene, how else would a person be that fundamentally stupid.

As for the whole "how is he suppose to stand up if he got tased" bit, Didn't anyone actually read the article? If he couldn't stand why didn't he say so? he certainly was well enough to scream obscenities and all that other crap.

Granted the UCLA police probably could have handled this better, but they don't deserve to lose there job for it. Plus they had no way of knowing if he was a student, dangerous or even armed.

The only thing I see wrong about this is the that there was a report that they tased him once even after he had the cuffs on, although he still could have been struggling and making the officers jobs difficult, so they still had the right to do it if that was the case.

If you ask me he got what he deserved, a good lesson on why not to act like a smart ass and a prick to the authorities.

*scoffs*

No wonder America becomes hated and hated more everyday.

[Andy1369]

I have no sympathy for this idiot. Absolutely none.

First off, we see/hear none of the conversation before the taping starts. Someone heard a bunch of noise and started taping and paying attention. I guarantee they asked him to leave before this whole thing escalated. And if any of you think they didn't ask him nicely to leave the first time, which none of us have heard, you're just kidding yourselves. They didn't walk in there and start pushing students around. No one else was having this problem.

Second, if you think you are being treated unfairly, file a complaint with UCLA about the security. Don't try and spout off about "Your rights" and try and win an argument. They don't care. You don't have an I.D. and they are told to kick people out that don't have an I.D., then they are going to kick you out. They don't have a gray area with their instructions.

Third, this is a simple thing. They ask you to leave, LEAVE. Don't ask questions, LEAVE. Don't start spouting about "your rights." Get your **** and LEAVE!!!

These are campus security. Do you people realize how many asshats they have to deal with on a daily basis. They don't have time to mess around with people. They have a job to do. Next time, when they ask you to leave, again for the cheap seats, ****ING LEAVE!!!

Bottom line, if he would have done as they asked the first time this wouldn't have happened. 'Cuz as much as you whiney, liberal ****-ants want to believe "The Man" is out to get everyone, deep down you all know they asked him nice the first time.

And he should be glad that it wasn't me with the taser. I hate pukes that can't listen. Rules are rules and, someone in college should understand that simple fact.

Ever heard of the saying, rules are supposed to be broken?

Honestly. I'm a "whiney, liberal ****ants"?

How ****ing stereotypical.

I keep losing faith in America everyday...people are mindless followers who believe the authorities are always right. THEY ARENT!