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.
What would you have done?
I'd have asked for his student ID number and checked it out first.
Was that done?
In short, I'd have used my brain before attaching electrodes.
Yes that was done. He did not produce the ID and then he was asked to leave. When he refused to leave the security officer called the Campus police. When they touched his poor little arm he became beligerent, started yelling and cursing and refused to cooperate and refused to leave. So at that point, what would you do?
Just walk away, or would you find a way to make him compliant?
How do you make a beligerent punk compliant?
It's your call.
Did they check the number or just stop at asking for the ID? (You didn't answer that question).
I suppose you're right. In retrospect, they should have just shot him on the spot for being disrespectful and to teach everyone else a lesson.
Have they established if he had a right to be there? Was he a student? The fact he didn't have the ID doesn't negate his right to be there.
If the campus police ask you to leave, you do not have a "right" to be there. The school policy and the penal code both state that if you are asked to leave a state run facility by the agents of the facility or by police officers and you refuse, then you are guilty of trespass.
So the answer is "NO" he did not have a right to be there. At that point he had a right to be arrested.
Now given that he has now turned into a combative and belligeret trespasser and is refusing to leave and is disturbing the peace, honestly, what would you do to make him compliant?
Everybody wants to second guess these officers, but nobody has yet stated what they would do in the same situation.
So, would you do anything or is it ok with you to let people become scofflaws in the presence of police officers?
Tell ya what - let's wait and see what happens when an actual investigation is done. That should be amusing.
You are one sick little puppy. What's it like to be a whining crybaby? For all the names you throw around and all the trash you talk, I'll bet you're a cowardly little weasel at heart.
"
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.
"
Nothing like rent-a-cops on power trips.
So college kids who forget their IDs should be tazored?
nor the one you gave a link to claims he was placed under arrest before he was assaulted.
I didn't give a link and the article said he said something to the effect of "get your hands off me" as security took hold of his arm. I wouldn't call the security personnel response as an assault.
Apparently you woke up on the wrong side of the rock.
And I don't think that a poster throwing insults at another poster has the privilege to berate another for allegedly doing the same. Rather hypocritical doncha think?
Lose the juvenile insults and deal with the issue if you can.
PS You'd lose that bet. Since a married man of 33 years, with grown children, anticipating a grandchild, weighing 220lbs, and a former active Marine is not typically considered a weasel. So enjoy you fantasy.
I do think they errored by tasoring him for not standing up.
I agree. I think it would be pretty difficult to stand up while volts are running through you body but that doesn't make him less of a jerk .
"I agree. I think it would be pretty difficult to stand up while volts are running through you body but that doesn't make him less of a jerk ."
So if your boss is a jerk, can you taser him/her?
Too bad they don't make a room-sized Taser to clear out some of the "I want your badge number" future welfare recipients.
Too bad the cop threatened her for asking for it. If this were "above-board" and justified, a GOOD cop wouldn't hesitate to provide the info.
Yeah! Anyone who questions a cop or asks them to identify themselves is asking for a tasering!
By the way, anyone admitted to very competitive UCLA is unlikely to end up on welfare.
You only need ID to use the computers. The campus is open--I've been there many times for concerts, lectures, etc.
"But you know, you find the absolute worst kinds of people hanging out reading libraries. /sarc"
You would be suprised at the riff raff that hang out at libraries.
The fact is we really don't know exactly what this kid did to get kicked out of the library to begin with. Perhaps violating a policy on viewing certain materials? Why did the cop grab him? Hmmm....was the guy walking V-e-r-y slowly in order to give him time to express his "views?" and to create a disruption in the library?
In my 23 plus years of working with a campus police department I've delt with this type of moron many times. Usually I give them a chance to move it along under their own stream, if however they choose to play games I've been known to provide some extra assistance in helping the individual find their way out of whatever building they were in. If they offer any verbal or physical resistance to the extra help I simply enhance my efforts to remove the subject that would include such customer service techniques as pepper mace, baton strikes, joint locks, etc. We don't carry Tazers...yet. There is something about this little story that is, indeed, missing. It is very possible the officers exceeded their use of force guidelines. Until I know more I will have to assume that they were acting within their use of force protocols and the loudmouth got what he asked for with his lack of cooperation.
Sorry about the reference to the link. I had you confused with another poster.
As to him being assaulted: He was leaving the building as instructed by the security guard. Nothing in any of the articles offered indicated he was a threat to anyone but the cop walked up and grabbed him. You wouldn’t call that an assault?
If you were leaving a building and someone grabbed you, what would you call it? Some here want to ignore the facts and insert hypothetical scenarios, or make claims that are demonstrably false. But the facts are, he was told to leave. He didn’t leave fast enough for the security guard who went and got two cops. When the cops got there he was on his way out like instructed. One cop grabbed him.
Now, like some here, you may wish cops could just walk up and grab anyone they want. but that isn’t the case (yet). From everything we know now, clearly, the cop assaulted the student.
Hopefully, the school will do a full investigation (not just leave it to the UCPD to investigate) and we will have more information later. Then we can make a better determination.
From the article:
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.
From one of the other sources posted above:
When asked whether the student resisted when officer attempted to escort him from the building, the witness said, "In the beginning, no. But when they were holding onto him and they were on the ground, he was trying to just break free. He was saying, 'I'm leaving, I'm leaving.' It was so disturbing to watch that I cannot be concise on that. I can just say that he was willing to leave. He had his backpack on his shoulder and he was walking out when the cops approached him. It was unnecessary."
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.