Register – Thursday 16th November 2006:
According to a report on the university’s Daily Bruin, the incident occured at around 11.30 pm on Tuesday when security officers at the Powell Library CLICC computer lab “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“.
“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.”
The video shows the tasered ne’er-do-well shouting “Here’s your Patriot Act, here’s your fucking abuse of power”, while refusing to get up. Shortly thereafter, the cops tasered him a second time for his trouble.
UCPD officers later confirmed that the man at the receiving end of the righteous tasering was a student, but didn’t name him or give any further details.
Update: This one is nearly off the irony scale. Three UCLA cops were recently given “Tazer Awards” for subduing a mental patient earlier this year! Way to go guys, treat yourself to an extra donut! Maybe if you’re lucky Santa will bring you some quadriplegic kids to zap!
Update II: The victim in this attack, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, is accusing the UCLA police of racial profiling…
Associated Press – November 17, 2006:
A student who was shocked by a campus police officer’s Taser gun after he refused to show ID at a UCLA library thought he was being singled out by the officer because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer said.
Yagman said his client declined to show his school ID because he thought he was being targeted for his appearance. His family is of Iranian descent.
Update III: It appears the UCLA doesn’t trust its internal police force, as the university has ordered an outside and independent probe of this attack.
Los Angeles Times – November 18, 2006:
Hoping to calm the furor created when UCLA police used a Taser to subdue a student studying in Powell Library, the university’s acting chancellor announced Friday that a veteran Los Angeles law enforcement watchdog would head up an independent investigation of the incident.
Norman Abrams said he ordered the probe after the university received numerous calls and e-mails from parents and alumni raising concerns about the officers’ actions during the videotaped Tuesday night arrest, which has been widely seen on TV news and the YouTube website.
“I want to assure them that the UCLA campus is a safe environment. Student safety and treatment are of paramount concern at UCLA,” Abrams said. “We plan to move ahead promptly with a complete and unbiased review.”
Abrams said Bobb has a proven track record looking into allegations of police misconduct, including the Rodney King beating and more recently the riots at the L.A. County jail system.
For everyone who thinks the cops did the right thing, you might want to read this…
One of the issues Bobb’s investigation will examine is whether the officers complied with the university police rules for using Tasers.
Several local police agencies — including the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department — allow officers to use Tasers only if a suspect poses a physical threat or is acting combatively.
The sheriff’s policies expressly say deputies can’t use Tasers simply to move someone
This is what happens when you trample on civil rights. Those cops should be fired.
Just another reason not to treat police with respect. While a shame, they’re bringing it upon themselves.
That being said, to think this is a direct result of the Patriot Act is a joke. This is a result of hiring auto school dropouts as police officers.
#1 Wrong, this is what happens when you have no respect for authority and think you can do anything you want. The student didn’t have his ID, was asked to leave, didn’t and only did so after police arrived. When the police are called, they are obligated to ID the person in question, again the student was uncooperative and did not heed the officer’s instructions. He was arrested using non lethal force. No ones civil rights were trampled here.
This wasn’t an abuse of authority, maybe next time they will show some respect for the law. Or be more civil with the officer, perhaps saying “Yes, office
“The student didn’t have his ID, was asked to leave, didn’t and only did so after police arrived.”
God, remind me never to vote for you for the US Supreme Court!
First, he was a student thus he every right to be there.
Second, how was he supposed to leave when an officer grabbed and held his arm?!
And lastly, if tazers are a non-lethal means of force, then why do people die from their affects?!
This is a result of hiring auto school dropouts as police officers.
Get a clue, getting hired as a police officer is not like it was years ago. Many department require a 2 year degree, while some require 4 years. The police academy can be anywhere from 4 to 7 months depending on the agency. Officers are subject to drug and physiological screening and are considered professionals. Drop outs become corrections officers and mall security.
#5 You have to be tazzered before you are permitted to use one.
Also, although he was a student – He was in a place that at the time required proper student identification as a way to monitor who is allowed inside.
If he did not have his ID, he should have left and came back with it.
#1…unfortunately the worst punishment these cops might receive is a stern talking to on the 11 o clock news and a week of paid vacation. I say we have every right to disrespect the police. We pay their salaries, after all.
Give them power to act like thugs, and they will surely show themselves.
“He was in a place that at the time required proper student identification as a way to monitor who is allowed inside.”
Show me that rule please. That ULCA students are required to have their ID or the university reserves the right to use force.
“If he did not have his ID, he should have left and came back with it. “
How was he supposed to leave when the police grabbed his arm and wouldn’t let go? Heck, how was he supposed to leave after the first tazer attack when he was on the ground asking for medical help?!
And if you just spent a hour or so working on a project, wouldn’t you take the time to save your work before you left?
I say we have every right to disrespect the police. We pay their salaries, after all.
And they have the right to arrest you each and every time. Maybe you would rather there was no police, just like the wacko San Francisco official who doesn’t think we should have a military. Then you could do anything you wanted until you met someone bigger and then he could do whatever he wanted to YOU.
“Then you could do anything you wanted until you met someone bigger and then he could do whatever he wanted to YOU.”
Wow, you just perfectly described exactly what happened in this very incident. Thanks a lot!
Actually I would rather not have a public police force. If I’m going to pay someone to protect me, I want to choose who to pay for. Doesn’t it seem a little silly that we’re forced to pay for THE police force, and if we don’t, the police will come and threaten us? Sounds a lot like….oh I know! The mafia!
Blind obedience of authority… yeah, that’s just what we need people.
‘ ¡ PAPERS, PLEASE ! ‘
Welcome to al-usa’s christofascism.
Allen McDonald, El Galloviejo®
WTF.
I can’t believe there are people defending the cops’ actions in this. Amazing.
The guy was assaulted by the police because he pissed them off. It happens all the time. This time, they were video recorded doing it.
Sorry, SN but you are wrong again.
– The student did not have proper identification and the school chose to enforce that rule through police action. I suppose it was technically trespassing.
– The student DID NOT leave right away, but waited until the police arrived.
– While leaving the police roughly grabbed his arm to stop him. You see he no longer had the option to leave. He had lost that option when he chose not to use it.
– He immediately began resisting the police. Even in Canada that is a big no-no. Just because YOU don’t it was that important doesn’t matter.
-The police told him several times, in clear plain language what they wanted him to do and he refused.
-They told him the consequences and he still refused.
-After they tazed him, the other students began to crowd the area.
These cops did absolutely nothing wrong. even threatening to taze the other students wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t a threat, it was a warning. Three officers in a crowd of agitated people need to maintain control of the situation.
The actions of the student were understandable. The actions of the police were understandable. The ONLY question here is does the UCLA want to use police to enforce it’s rules in the future?
Why do we have to lay a think layer of political commentary on every incident we see or hear about! It just confounds things and locks down logical problem solving and prevention.
My bet is the root cause of this problem has to do with poor security personnel selection and lack of training. IF so the HR director of this University should be fired along with the officers who turned a simple student oversight into a disgusting YouTube event
This is the most egregious use of tasers I’ve witnessed on videos yet. Those cops didn’t follow the proper use for escalation of force. Tasers are a great thing in theory. In practice, many cops are abusing tasers to save themselves the trouble of doing the hard work that comes with the job.
And the cops’ logic was great, too:
“GET UP! GET…UP!”
Hmm, he’s just been tasered and is probably incapable of standing up under his own power now… So let’s taser him again! Brilliant!
#19 – While leaving the police roughly grabbed his arm to stop him. You see he no longer had the option to leave. He had lost that option when he chose not to use it.
The police handled this all wrong. If the student was leaving, then the police should have just followed the student out of the building. The police had no cause to grab and harm this student. The police have no right to touch you unless you touch them first.
The police in this incident should be arrested for assault. Someone on the scene should have called the police to arrest the police doing harm to the student.
The police harming the student do not deserve respect. They deserve jail time.
“The student did not have proper identification and the school chose to enforce that rule through police action.”
Where is university that rule. I’m waiting.
“The student DID NOT leave right away, but waited until the police arrived.”
He was saving his work?! I don’t know. But I do know he was a student who had paid a lot of money to attend the school. Does sending someone to jail and the hospital merely for not having his papers really fit the “crime”? Think about that before answering!
“While leaving the police roughly grabbed his arm to stop him. You see he no longer had the option to leave. He had lost that option when he chose not to use it.”
So the police forced him to stay so they could use force to make him leave?!
“He immediately began resisting the police. “
He was a student working and he was saving his work. God, how difficult was that to understand?!
“The police told him several times, in clear plain language what they wanted him to do and he refused.”
Wait, I thought you said the victim gave up his right to leave?! I’m confused. Are you saying that police wanted him to leave? So, explain why they grabbed him, refused to let him go, and then tazered him? How does that process facilitate him leaving? If I wanted someone to leave the last thing I’d do his grab him then tazer him!
“They told him the consequences and he still refused.”
Was that before or after they grabbed his armed and refuse to let go?
“After they tazed him, the other students began to crowd the area.”
Oh, so police have the right to tazer someone on the ground when a crowed gathers. I’ll have to remember that, thanks!
“These cops did absolutely nothing wrong. “
I don’t know, asking someone to leave and then using force to keep him from leaving seems pretty wrong to me!
The other students should have rushed these rent-a-cops and put them all down. I’m sick of this crap.
I’m also sick of these idiots with the blind allegiance to authority. To them, cops can do no wrong.
Also, these are not real cops, these are the ones that couldn’t get hired on a real police force and are shuffled off to campus police. Legally they’re cops only in name…but in practice and attitude, they’re all waiting to get a job on a real police force. I’ve worked with quite a number of these people.
But what transpired before this? Did the security guy in the computer lab ask the student to leave since he didn’t have ID…then how long did he give him? Was he reasonable? Or was he a total dick? Couldn’t he have given him a few minutes to pack his stuff, save his work and leave? What if the student WAS taking too long, couldn’t he just have gone back there and said “hey, you gotta go pal, thems the rules, let’s go”. Sounds more like this guy gave the student the order, and when the student didn’t hop-to, he called the campus cops.
Is judgement not allowed anymore? Just strict adherence to rules without question? It’s like there being a rule in a high-school of not running down the halls…then a teacher is walking down the hall and he sees a student running. Does he just say “hey, no running, knock it off”…or does he call the police to escort the student off campus because the student was breaking a rule? You decide.
You guys are all missing the point.
I just saw Gquaglia and James Hill disagree.
Starting gun for the end times, kids. We should be stocking up on bottled water and ammunition.
Two large mistakes happened here. One, for his own benefit the student should have opted to stand up if he could. I would have been crawling toward the door and the nearest law firm. The second was made by the, soon to be former campus cops, who tazered the guy, stated clearly for the audio record “stand up or you will be tazered again” and then to be abso-f%$king-lutely sure a jury would find for the plaintiff, zapped him again. It’s hard to get this much stupid on a short video. And for anyone who thinks this is an example of a lack of respect for authority, you are absolutely right. The problem is, it is also an example of why attitude is so common.
1. You don’t taser a guy and then immediately force him to get up. The police escalated the situation by repeatedly yelling out commands in the library disrupting the entire building.
2. I AM GUESSING (since we don’t have all the facts) that the student was asked to produce a STUDENT id. He didn’t have it and wouldn’t leave. Police are called. Student sees police and decides to leave. Police ask him for any identification and student refuses and tries to leave. That’s when the crap hit the fan.
This belongs in omfg magazine 🙂 ! That guy was an a-hole… big time. He deserved everything dished out to him… he practically demanded it.
Use your imagination as to why a non-student would want access to restricted areas. The security is there to protect the students and university property. Without ID you are essentially trespassing and you should look at the rules and liberties allowed for the apprehension of trespassers.
Copied from the UCLA site:
“A valid Registration Card (Reg Card) is the official student identification and is required, along with the UCLA Student I.D. Card, for all University services and student activities. Students should carry it with them as they are asked to show it for student health services, library privileges, athletic and cultural student ticket rates, recreation center, check cashing, and many other campus services.”
And this (related to use of student lounge):
Security and periodic identification checks will be conducted at random by the UCLA Police Department (UCPD) and/or Community Service Officer (CSO). Any unauthorized person(s) will be removed from the center and/or charged with trespassing.
The police have no right to touch you unless you touch them first.
HAHA I love this. So, next time I rob a liquor store, I can just thumb my nose at the cops when they tell me to “HALT”? After all, they can’t touch me unless I touch them first.
I’M NOT TOUCHING YOU, I’M NOT TOUCHING YOU!!!!
Stupid ass pompous college kids asking for badge numbers. Funny. Not like there wasn’t enough witnesses or anything.
#5 – How did they know he was a student – He didn’t have his ID!