Posted on 11/17/2006 12:03:43 AM PST by BurbankKarl
The UCLA student stunned with a Taser by a campus police officer has hired a high-profile civil rights lawyer who plans to file a brutality lawsuit.
The videotaped incident, which occurred after the student refused requests to show his ID card to campus officers, triggered widespread debate on and off campus Thursday about whether use of the Taser was warranted. It was the third in a recent series of local incidents captured on video that raise questions about arrest tactics.
Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest. The lawyer also provided the first public account of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library from the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior.
He said that Tabatabainejad, when asked for his ID after 11 p.m. Tuesday, declined because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Yagman said Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.
The lawyer said Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library but when an officer refused the student's request to take his hand off him, the student fell limp to the floor, again to avoid participating in what he considered a case of racial profiling. After police started firing the Taser, Tabatabainejad tried to "get the beating, the use of brutal force, to stop by shouting and causing people to watch. Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of witnesses."
He said Tabatabainejad was hit by the Taser five times and suffered "moderate to severe contusions" on his right side.
UCLA officials declined to respond directly to Yagman's statements, saying they still were conducting their internal investigation of the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Setup...setup...setup...
Yagman represented the North Hollywood Bank Robbers families and their lawsuit against the City of LA, claiming the robbers who shot 1200 rds rights were violated.
Yagman is famous for these kinds of suits. My guess is he'll probably get some dough whether deserved or not.
This stinks so much of BS....Corn is growing out of my monitor...
Sounds like it to me too. If you were REALLY concerned your civil rights were being violated, you show them the id card THEN complain. This guy has a martyr complex.
Could we ask the question...."Is he a Muslim"?
I watched the video. The kid was unneccesarily uncooperative. He was looking for a fight. Wait till one of these guys goes into a library with a bomb and kills kids, then people won't care id spoiled little kids don;t carry their id. The story title should be "Why does Mustafa think school policy doesn't apply to him?" or we could write a social studies paper - "Sources of social entitlement in the upwardly mobile Persian community of West LA"
Set up or not. Liberal, Communist, Christian, Jew or Atheist, the use of tazers is wrong. The wimpy student was no match for the several police officers. The more comfortable the police are with this sadism the more they will use it and want further blood lust. We have lost America. This obviously was no Rodney King and lying on the floor in a peaceable fashion does not constitute resisting police. The LAPD has a history of violation of its power and clearly this act of violence threatens us all. Many innocent people have died from these evil weapons. We are on the slippery slope to a police state. If this video does not trouble you it is time to check your heart and conscience. The culture of death has affected your judgment. The more we witness crimes against humanity and cruel and unusual abuses of power the more desensitized we become to that which is unacceptable. The cops were wrong. How does one set up the police to use excessive force??? I live in NYC where the cops face real threats every minute of every day and they police dept here does not use these inhuman devices. Satan himself is smiling as he watches this sick video. God help our once great nation.
I hear there is a waiting list for the class "How to file Lawsuits 101".
WHY would he not show his ID? He gave reason for concern, especially after 9/11. Glad I don't live in LA.
Who won the suit?
It's a setup. No question about it.
Why in God's name is this kid keeping these police officers busy with his self-righteous crusade. These police have bigger responsibilities than this kid's grudge. If you want culture of life, then go to gd abortion clinic. Get out of here. Its a fricken tazer. Have you ever been tazed?
I'm waiting for the terms, Bush,Iraq and 9/11 to be inserted into this "lawsuit"
You are wrong on so many levels.
Just listen to the tape, before the kid gets tazed he's bitchin about a police state.
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