Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers

Youtube # 5g7zlJx9u2E

Welcome to post Anti-Patriot Act USA. "Where are your papers?"

[BREAKING NEWS]: Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers
Incident occured around 11:30 p.m. in the Powell Library CLICC computer lab

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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.

With reports from Lisa Connolly, Derek Lipkin and Saba Riazati, Bruin senior staff.

[ashke]

A clip of what happened:

[brady_44]

Damn... that's pretty crazy.

[Ibby]

Jesus fuckin' CHRIST.

Fuck that, man. Theyre gonna be cops for maybe another... three days.

[Undertoad]

Connecting this with the Patriot Act and/or Homeland Security is ridiculous.

[Ibby]

Not if you believe that soon ALL cops will be like this, because each thing like the Patriot act that gets passed is yet another foundation of your rights being destroyed...

(disclaimer: I'm not saying that I believe all of that... but I'm not saying I don't believe it.)

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Connecting this with the Patriot Act and/or Homeland Security is ridiculous.

Bullshit. The government is the authority that sets the tone for what is acceptable in our society.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Not if you believe that soon ALL cops will be like this, because each thing like the Patriot act that gets passed is yet another foundation of your rights being destroyed...

(disclaimer: I'm not saying that I believe all of that... but I'm not saying I don't believe it.)

You believe it or you wouldn't have said it. You just doubt that a reality so horrible sould actually be unfolding. Welcome to what we asked for.

[Undertoad]

Parents tell their children the story of "The boy who cried wolf" for a reason.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Parents tell their children the story of...

The Frogs Who Desired a King

Originally Posted by Undertoad

...for a reason.

According to the story, a group of frogs lived happily and peacefully in a pond. Over time, however, they became discontented with their way of life, and thought they should have a mighty king to rule over them. They called out to the great god Zeus to send them a king.

Zeus was amused by the frogs' request, and cast a large log down into their pond, saying "Behold, your king!" At first, the frogs were terrified of the huge log, but after seeing that it did not move, they began to climb upon it. Once they realized the log would not move, they called out again to Zeus to send them a real king, one that moved.

Annoyed by the frogs, Zeus said, "Very well, here is your new king," and sent a large stork to the pond. The stork began devouring frogs. In terror, frogs called out to Zeus to save them. Zeus refused, saying the frogs now had what they'd wanted, and had to face the consequences.

To some, the simple lesson of the story is "leave well enough alone," or "be careful what you wish for."

More politically minded readers would interpret the story to mean, "Never give too much power or authority to your rulers." In times of crisis, people may desire a strong ruler to protect them, but a strong ruler can quickly and easily become a tyrant.

[Sundae]

My initial reaction to this without watching the video (it's going to be too obviously NOT work for this time of day!) is that it's an adolescent with an attitude.

If he was using facilities without proper identification he should have left when he was asked to. I know ID cards & such are a contentious issue at present, but restricting access to areas without ID is reasonable and hardly new - it was a student facility and not a public area right?

As he had already proved unwilling to follow a request and responded to a hand on the arm by yelling, I can't help feeling he escalated the situation himself.

Rather than shouting and thrashing about on the floor, if he had followed the requests of the officers and left he would not have been Tasered again.

I accept my opinion may change when I've watched the video, but at present it sounds as if the officers over-reacted, but the student was the one primarily at fault.

[Undertoad]

That does not appear to be a *popular* fable, and so my statement still applies.

Two-bit University cops tase somebody and it's a Patriot Act thing? I guess the LA riots, just miles away from this location, were brought about by Clinton's lack of respect for the law, just like the right claimed.

[Flint]

:::slow clap::: Yes, there is a mocking, belittling interpretation for what I'm saying here, IE the easy rebuttal to what I'm not actually saying, and then there is the reality-based interpretation a reasonable adult could form: that authority figures, from the top down, set examples for what is acceptable in society. Does that apply directly in this case - is that a provable, direct cause for this, from point A to point B? No, that's not demonstrable, obviously. But, is this direction in society something to be mocked, something to be ignored, something that doesn't really exist? I guess we'll find out. But, hey, I'm sure it's cool. Let's just not talk about it, because it makes us feel icky. Let's go eat some ice cream.

[Happy Monkey]

In this case, university cops are real cops.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Rather than shouting and thrashing about on the floor, if he had followed the requests of the officers and left he would not have been Tasered again.

The taser should only be used when the cop feels that someone is in physical danger. Shouting and "thrashing about on the floor" (I didn't see any thrashing about except during the actual tasering) do not qualify.

Not to mention the stupid thuggishness of screaming at someone who has just been tasered to stand up - much less someone who has been tasered multiple times.

This reminds me of the idea of a girl in a miniskirt "asking for" rape.