Posted on 11/16/2006 4:57:59 AM PST by radar101
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.
Nope, I actually have a balanced approach to things. I don't believe everything I read, nor everything a LEO says. But I’m slow to convict on the reporting of 2 UCLA writers. The police may be right or wrong, BUT with the little I’ve seen I’m not as adamant about the outcome as you are. Your response (and others) to the situation is very revealing.
Did you read the penal code? He was leaving as instructed by the CSO when the cop who committed battery arrived. He wasn’t refusing to leave. He was walking out of the place.
Are you saying that someone is trespassing when they are prevented from leaving a place by a cop? Please show me where you see that in the penal code.
Where did you get your legal training?
They questioned him because he was in the UCLA library after 11pm and wouldnt show his student ID. The library closes at 11pm, but apparently they let people with valid UCLA ID remain afterwards.
These types of checks became standard after the large number of sexual assaults, laptop thefts, and other crime on campus by people who didnt belong there.
from UCLA.com
Non-Residential Buildings
Most University facilities are open to the public during the day and evening hours when classes are in session and events are occurring. During other times, University buildings are generally locked and only faculty, staff and authorized students are admitted. To ensure building access is possible for only authorized individuals, it is essential that students, staff and faculty work together to keep the doors closed after hours. Do not leave doors propped open or unlocked after hours. Do not open the door for unfamiliar individuals. Remember, if your campus keys/access cards are lost or stolen, report the loss immediately to the issuing party.
Bad manners are not a crime, but people often commit crimes due to their bad attitude that is engendered by their chronic bad manners. Sorry, but this kid refused lawful requests to comply with campus rules which then led to his criminal acts of trespass and resisting arrest.
No doubt he thinks he's a crusader, but he's just another dumbass kid with a limited understanding of real tyranny.
All I've said is based on what we know from the school newspaper and from NBC 4 TV, the cops are the ones who committed a crime.
If the situation is as reported in the only information we have available, what do you think?
Yep.
"lol, I'd like to see you stand up after you have been tased. Thats like convicting someone of failure to breath after they have drowned."
Drowning and being tazed is not a solid comparison. Being tazed generally results in momentary loss of muscle control and a fair amount of pain. Drowning usually results in death.
Standing after being tazed is not really that unrealistic especially when the cops were trying to pull him up.
You keep ignoring the FACT that he was leaving when prevented to do so by being assaulted by a cop. If you were leaving someplace and were prevented from leaving by a cop would you be trespassing?
I don't think you have your facts straight. The CSOs tried to ID him, and he refused, so the PD was called.
This is all a setup for a lawsuit.
He was not leaving "by all accounts". He was belligerent with the CSO before the UCPD were called, which is why they were called according to the university account. That he suddenly decided to leave when the uniforms showed up is no surprise, but was too little, too late. UCPD has a duty to investigate him at that point because he could have left the library and still been a danger to himself or other students.
Also, I don't believe he is muslim, I think he may be of Armenian Christian background based on a book review he wrote on a book about the Armenian Massacre. Not a typical muslim point of view. JMO.
He committed battery when he grabbed the student who was leaving as instructed by the CSO. Cops are not above the law. They can’t just batter people at will any more than you or I can.
If you were leaving a building and I came up to you and grabbed you that would be battery. You seem to want to ignore the facts and operate some hypothetical situation that you make up as you go along.
Contrary to what the article says, the perp was not shot with a tazer, he was administered a shock from a tazer, similar to a stun gun. His skin was not penetrated with the probes. The police officers showed remarkable restraint in my opinion. They should be commended for their restraint in the face of a hostile and combative perp and a hostile crowd.
SUSSA has suggested that the police had no right to take the perp by the arm and escort him out the door. SUSSA apparently did not bother to read the statute on criminal battery before he/she/it decided that the police had committed a criminal battery on this idiot.
I frankly don't know how the police are supposed to carry out their duties with people like you and SUSSA cheering on the anarchists and shooting down the police at every opportunity.
Police work is a thankless job. The fact that this idiot wasn't shot is a testament to the professionalism of these fine young men who have sworn a duty to protect and serve. I'm sure you would have loved it if the perp had shot one of the police officers. You guys are here demanding that they lose their careers over this incident. Why don't you go a step further and demand that they lose their lives?
If it is a set up, the cops didn't just fall into it. They jumped head first.
You keep ignoring the fact that he refused to comply with the CSO before the UCPD arrived.
If I refused to leave at the library CSO request, then yes, I am tresspassing and would not be surprised if law enforcement then detained me to determine my status on campus. Could I be on drugs, suffering a schizophenic break (not uncommon on campuses since most suffer their first break between 15 and 25) or just an every day theif/pickpocket laptop lifter?
This kid's attitude drove events. What his motivation was is now open to investigation.
WRONG.
Cops are not above the law. They can’t just batter people at will any more than you or I can.
They didn't break any law. You don't know the law.
If you were leaving a building and I came up to you and grabbed you that would be battery.
Again that is not true. You obviously have not read the statute on battery. I posted it for you before. Did you read it?
You seem to want to ignore the facts and operate some hypothetical situation that you make up as you go along.
You are an ignoramus.
California Penal Code section 242: "A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another."
Grabbing a person by the arm to escort them out the door is not a use of force or violence.
Now where did you get your law degree? Did you find it in a box of Craker Jacks?
Actually you are correct - there are videos of cops and reporters being tased all over the internet (plus plenty of reading material) - I just watched three videos - the effects are over within seconds.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.