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UCLA student stunned by Taser plans suit (now racial profiling)
LA Times ^ | 11/16/06 | Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writer

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: crymeariver; extracrispy; fake; gotwhathedeserved; iamvictimhearmewhine; islam; mostafa; muslimpityparty; powelllibrary; setup; stephenyagman; tabatabainejad; taser; ucla; zaphimagain
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To: Binstence

Goodbye idiot. Your idiot "sensitivity" will be your undoing


61 posted on 11/17/2006 1:56:54 AM PST by dennisw ("For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks-- Matt. 12:34)
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To: dennisw

Oh, well. Nice to see so many of you are Judge, jury and executioner all wrapped up into one. These are the good old days. You just must be living wrong if you don't think so.


62 posted on 11/17/2006 1:58:11 AM PST by Binstence (Live freep or die)
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To: dennisw
Don't waste your time with this guy. He is a freakin moron. He thinks its OK to tell COPs to F-Off, and resist. Unbelievable...
63 posted on 11/17/2006 1:58:57 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: BurbankKarl
They should have used the real guns on him. (...and then stune his beeber!)
64 posted on 11/17/2006 1:58:58 AM PST by Redcloak (Speak softly and wear a loud shirt. (FReeping from Hawaii this week. Aloha!))
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To: dennisw

Strong and bitter words indicate a lack of education.


65 posted on 11/17/2006 1:59:00 AM PST by Binstence (Live freep or die)
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To: Binstence

OK well maybe you are anarchist. Nevertheless, you have no logical thought process. It is one of a 10 year old. No offense, but the truth must be said.


66 posted on 11/17/2006 2:01:09 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: Binstence

>>How about calling for back up?

What's the back up going to do? The officer had back up. Should they have applied batons?

In the story you cited, it seems entirely possible that the death occurred due to the physical restraint process and the fact that the guy was drugged up, not due to the tazer.


67 posted on 11/17/2006 2:01:18 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Binstence
Still without merit. Didn't you read the part about how tasers electronically record their use? This is for liability reasons. They document how they are used! So your cover up theory doesn't hold water.
As for the kindly cop, if you are taking your ideas of what a cop should be from a Frank Capra movie then you really aren't in touch with reality.
No cop is assaulting the constitution. There are bad cops just like there are bad dentists. Every profession has problems. Everyone. From the Presidency down to dog catchers there are decent and there are scum.
Try this. Go on a ride along program with your local police department. Take a citizens academy. Then, and only then, try to talk about a real world situation and not the cotton candy theoretical of dealing with a hostile crowd with an Oprah encounter session.
Your new post had no merit.
Of the deaths, any force can cause death. Physical restraint can cause people on drugs to die just from hyperthermia. The goal is compliance and reduced officer and offender injury. Not torture. Or do you think cities like lawsuits?
68 posted on 11/17/2006 2:02:16 AM PST by IrishCatholic (No local communist or socialist party chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing.)
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To: L.N. Smithee

>>In short, I don't CAIR.

Ooh, I like that! I'll use that in the future.


69 posted on 11/17/2006 2:04:04 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: Binstence
Nick Mamino Jr. — the 41-year-old son of a former Collinsville police chief — died in April after Collinsville police shot him with a stun gun...A coroner's jury later ruled Mamino died accidentally when he was hog-tied by police trying to arrest him while he was high on cocaine.

If your point was that Tasers are too deadly, I'd point out the huge numbers of dead cocaine users who get Tasered. Some coincidence, huh?

BTW: There are approximately an equal number of gang members to police officers in the US.

70 posted on 11/17/2006 2:04:35 AM PST by Eclectica (Ask your MD about Evolution. Please!)
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To: Binstence; Sprite518

Godwin invoked.

Binstence loses.


71 posted on 11/17/2006 2:08:13 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: FreedomPoster

LOL! Thanks!


72 posted on 11/17/2006 2:09:15 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: Binstence
How about 156 deaths??? Freak.

The only "freak" behavior I've seen in this thread, thus far, is the citing of well-known victimology pimps Amnesty International as a (putatively) "reliable" source for your claims. (Claims which, I might add, are promptly countered immediately thereafter, when it is pointed out that the overheated claim of "156 deaths" is based upon incidents where "there has been no such official conclusion." Try reading your own article prior to posting, next time; you'll most likely save yourself considerable embarassment, that way.

Not that I take any such "citations" seriously to begin with, when trolled out onto the stage sans the name of their (ostensible) source; the author(s) of same; and a link allowing me to read the original source material (assuming it actually exists) for myself.

Try again. L-I-N-K, this time. And without the grade school sniveling and name-calling, if you think you're up to it.

73 posted on 11/17/2006 2:11:12 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("On 11/07/06, 'true' conservatives and 'rat traitors joined forces to bring Sharia law to America.")
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To: Binstence
I believe that you will live to see the increase in police brutality and pray to God it does not happen to you.

The best defense against police brutality is compliance. Nobody has ever been hit with a taser because they were following orders.

Regardless of whether it's a police officer or a bank robber, the guy with the loaded weapon makes the rules. Resist at your peril.

74 posted on 11/17/2006 2:16:03 AM PST by L.N. Smithee (Mostafa Tabatabainejad: Like the Toyota commercials used to say, "YOU asked for it...YOU got it!")
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To: FreedomPoster; Binstence
"Binstence loses"

Lost it alright.

" How about calling for back up? How about negotiating? Do you think a little civility from our public servants is too much to ask for?"

75 posted on 11/17/2006 2:16:35 AM PST by endthematrix ("If it's not the Crusades, it's the cartoons.")
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To: Binstence

Cool it.


76 posted on 11/17/2006 2:16:55 AM PST by Lead Moderator
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To: Sprite518

It was an very reasonable request by the campus police that this Iranian proceeded to make into a huge issue. I blame him 100%. He's proven what a con man he is by getting a lawyer to sue and get money for him

WHEN HE STARTED IT ALL!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!

As far as idiot poster Bistence - FLUSH!


77 posted on 11/17/2006 2:17:15 AM PST by dennisw ("For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks-- Matt. 12:34)
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To: Binstence

Executioner???? LOL Mighty dramatic of you. See ya. I'm gone from this thread.


78 posted on 11/17/2006 2:18:56 AM PST by dennisw ("For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks-- Matt. 12:34)
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To: dennisw
Executioner???? LOL Mighty dramatic of you.

"I... I think he's on to us, Margaret..."

:)

79 posted on 11/17/2006 2:21:39 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("On 11/07/06, 'true' conservatives and 'rat traitors joined forces to bring Sharia law to America.")
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To: endthematrix

Yeah? See my #67.

I'd also suggest that civility is a two-way street, and that this punk likely started the downward trend in this encounter.


80 posted on 11/17/2006 2:22:44 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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