UCLA student stunned by Taser plans suit (now racial profiling)

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.

First, you label these officers as bad apples without any shred of proof that they are. The video clearly shows that the officers were dealing with a kicking and screaming subject that was grandstanding for attention, and he, unfortunately for him, got his wish. As a "good law abiding citizen" I'm sure you will not have to encounter the police in the manner that the arrested subject did. Just because the guy says he was abused, just because some college kids say they think he was abused does NOT mean he was. Before we rush to judgement on this case, let the investigation take place. If the officers exceeded their use of force protocols it'll become known fairly quickly as the University will likely suspend or terminate those officers responsible in short order. The University will also likely distance themselves from the alleged guilty officers by saying they are not liable for the officers actions because they acted outside the scope of their employment by violating whatever use of force policy is in place. If the University backs the officers...bet your money the officers acted properly.

You are taking a knee jerk reaction to the situation. It's a shame really, but if that's your schtick well more power to ya.

You're kidding yourself:

The constitution is under assault in so many ways. I am afraid we will all long for the days of the kindly cop. (Go rent "It's a Wonderful Life" if you don't know what a kindly cop is." The state is slowly becoming an enemy of the people.

In the days of "Wonderful Life" cops regularly beat people with or without merit. Just read any newspaper for a week or two over any given year in American history, and you'll find plenty of citizen-police interaction. Some merited the violence, some didn't. It's an act of supreme arrogance to assume that things are different today than from before. Read up on your history -- here, headlines involving excessive use force by police over a four month period in early 1900:

DR. PETERS DENOUNCES POLICE; Says Arrest of Thousands of Small Boys a Year for Little Pranks Should Be Stopped. -- Jan 15, 1900
BLUE LAWS IN BALTIMORE.; Every Store in the City Ordered Closed on Sunday -- Police Take Names of All Offenders. -- Jan 29, 1900
POLICE KILL SAFE BLOWERS.; Quincy (Ill.) Officers End the Careers of Two Burglars and Wound a Third -- Jan 29, 1900. p. 2
HOAX MAY END IN DEATH; William Moore Shot After Giving False Alarm of Fire. POLICE SAY REVOLVER FELL Declare Policeman Haverkamp Did Not Fire, but Doctors Say the Bullet Coursed Downward.-- Feb 5, 1900
POLICE WATCH FOR NIHILISTS.; Secret Service Officers and Guards Protect the Czar.-- Mar 7, 1900
MRS. LESLIE CARTER AGAIN ILL.; Succumbs in Cleveland -- Police May Have Something to Do with It. -- Mar 8, 1900
POLICE YIELD IN QUEENS; District Attorney Says Law and Order Win first Round. Grand Jury Will Continue Its Investigation of Protected Vice -- To Call Accused Policemen. -- Apr 13, 1900
BOY SWIMS FROM POLICE.; Jumps into a Canal Twice to Avoid Being Arrested. -- Apr 14, 1900
ACCUSES POLICE CAPTORS.; Mr. Shea Charges False Arrest -- Why He Whistled in Cel --Apr 22 1900

The police do and always have represented larger policies and wishes of the public. That's called a democracy. If you want dip-wads to curse out the police who are enforcing simple rules then go ahead and defend this moron. The police in this case did nothing beyond what the larger society insists upon: safety for our students in a university library.

Look over those early 1900 headlines: blue laws, morality codes, anarchists... and so on. The cops were only enforcing democracy's will.

It would seem to me that you are either misguided or opposed to our system of government.

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