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
#60 It is digusting, but not surprising. There are always people who can justify obscene acts in their own minds as a means of willful self-ignorance.
Of course, it’s inevitable that somewhere, sometime police are going to abuse their power. People who want to believe it doesn’t or won’t happen are living in a fantasy world. And that’s why the populace needs to be armed, for those rare instances.
And what I find even more amazing is that the officers involved were not put on leave immediately.
I heard about this before I saw the video. At first, I was mad at the cops for overreacting. Now that I’ve seen the tape, the kid got what he deserved. How do you rationalize getting tazered twice instead of taking five minutes to walk back to your dorm and grab your ID card? As soon as the cops showed up, he realized he could make a scene and provoke them. He WANTED to get tazered. If he didn’t, he would have heeded the officers’ EXCESSIVE warnings to get up. Medical condition my ass. Stupidity isn’t a medical condition.
Alright…this is getting out of hand…
The university is at fault. If you have a rule that requires students to have ID at all times, it would make sense to ask for this ID before a person is permitted to enter the building. This, afterall, would save the grief of “randomly” carding people in the building and kicking those out who do not have proper identification.
How does the university have this rule and enforce it when it does not make it a point to do this check at entrances where students would be entering?
My school had the same rule, except they carded students at the door. The security guard did not let you in if you did not have your university ID and validated for the semester. Seems simple enough doesn’t it…
2 root causes of the whole thing:
1) Young male under the influence of testosterone who doesn’t know that that most cops are borderline psychotic drama queens in their oh-so-manly paramilitary uniforms with big penis substitutes strapped to their side to whom you MUST always, always, always, say yes sir (m’am)/no sir (m’am).
2) Borderline psychotic drama queens in their oh-so-manly paramilitary uniforms with big penis substitutes strapped to their side under the influence of testosterone who can’t differentiate between college kids and turrurrists.
Unfortunately, it’s a waste of time to discuss this because everyone involved the situation is obviously an idiot. They did exactly what idoits do. THEY ACTED LIKE IDIOTS. Go figure.
To gquaglia and his ilk:
Please. What planet are you on? Apparently your home world contains no corruption or mental illness. Never you mind that literally half (at least in Ft. Lauderdale) of those fuckers are hopelessly corrupt and way past the borderline phase of psychosis. The only time we’ve ever needed them around here, it took them 45 minutes to get here and they were completely useless assholes when they did get here. Maybe we should have told them that there was a college kid here without an ID. Apparently they would have rushed right over.
2 root causes of the whole thing:
1) Young male under the influence of testosterone who doesn’t know that that most cops are borderline psychotic drama queens in their oh-so-manly paramilitary uniforms with big penis substitutes strapped to their side to whom you MUST always, always, always, say yes sir (m’am)/no sir (m’am).
2) Borderline psychotic drama queens in their oh-so-manly paramilitary uniforms with big penis substitutes strapped to their side under the influence of testosterone who can’t differentiate between college kids and turrurrists.
Unfortunately, it’s a waste of time to discuss this because everyone involved the situation is obviously an idiot. They did exactly what idoits do. THEY ACTED LIKE IDIOTS. Go figure.
To gquaglia and his ilk:
Please. What planet are you on? Apparently your home world contains no corruption or mental illness. Never you mind that literally half (at least in Ft. Lauderdale) of those fuckers are hopelessly corrupt and way past the borderline phase of psychosis. The only time we’ve ever needed them around here, it took them 45 minutes to get here and they were completely useless assholes when they did get here. Maybe we should have told them that there was a college kid here without an ID. Apparently they would have rushed right over.
65
your an idiot
the library can be used by anyone without school ID Its after 11pm that ID is required (when Incident happened) to allow only student Staff & faculty in the library. Your also required to have ID in the dorms and on campus in general. i went to UCLA and always had my ID with me. when I stayed at friends places in the dorms I needed to have school ID if I stayed past 11. Hell you can’t even enter the dorms without swiping your ID card to get in. and as for the cops over reacting. that little piece of shit could have avoided all this by simply:
LISTENING TO THE CTO GETTING UP AND LEAVING without causing a problem. But no, he had to be a smart ass and escalate the problem Hes not a freshman he knows the rules and has gone to the library to study there before.
None of this would’ve happened if we all had an RFID chip in us. The monitor could have scanned the student, without disturbing him, and everybody would be happy, see? The chip is good, take the chip, its for your safety, it fights terroism. Take the chip, take it, I TELL YOU.
also, the school ID crap was started because a freshman girl was raped in the dorms a couple years back. The 2 black high school kids from the area got into the dorms simply by walking in behind some other kids that held the door for them to enter. Another reason to carry UCLA ID with you at all times Westwood is so expensive that certain places give you discounts if you show the card
he should gotten up, walked out of powell, and gone home or hung out at a friends place
Hey, as long as these people aren’t being tortured, and we don’t have the military running the country, then we’re in pretty good shape, right? Right..?
That was awesome! That guy was a dumbass. Maybe he will consider using proper behavior next time.
What happened to litterally throwing people out when they do this? Surely the cops could have picked his ass up and tossed him out the door. He might wind up with a bruise on his ass from the landing but thats a hell of a lot lighter than a tazer. Plus it’s a lot funnier.
But regardless of all that crap, the cops are legally required to provide names and badge numbers when requested. Refusal to do so should result in quite a punishment, specifically when threatening (warning whatever) the person just for asking. That cop is screw-diddly-ewed.
Hey kiddos. Don’t forget your library cards or you will be put to death by the Bruin Police force.
73. As much as I’m sure the cop would have liked to stop and give the lady all the ID info requested, as it turned out, he was a little busy at the time. Such a request is like asking for insurance details after a fender-bender in the middle of a bridge.
RBG
gq, I know you are going to argue that when the police tell you to do something, he must obey. Can you cite me a statute law that require free citizens to obey police commands? Can you cite a court ruling that states police may beat, tazer, or pepper spray you if you disobey them?
In other words, to assault someone who is not a danger to people or property is a crime.
70. Not to mention for reasons of people like me who used to sneak into UCLA classes other than the ones I was authorized for.
RBG
75. They should have their numbers memorized, and being 4 digits usually it takes all of 2 seconds to say it. Seriously, it would have been faster to say 4139 rather than “don’t make me taze you”. Thats not a valid excuse.
Just another day in the police state.
Get used to it . This is nothing compared to whats coming.
There is a follow-up article on video posted on the Daily Bruin.
http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38960
From the article:
“But according to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 2001, a charge of three to five seconds can result in immobilization for five to 15 minutes, which would mean that Tabatabainejad could have been physically unable to stand when the officers demanded that he do so. ”
Shouldn’t officers trained for tazer use be familiar with the physical effects of a tazer charge?
Okay, I just saw this.
Now, here’s the deal. I run a computer lab at a university. This is so poorly handled on every level I don’t even have words for it. This is a kid the faculty, staff, and administration are responsible for…and he just got tazered for not having his student ID. No matter how you spin that my stomach turns. Look him up in the system, check it against his driver’s license, ask for his name and turn him for violation of the student code, or maybe just maybe ask why he’s resisting you in identifying himself. When all of these fail…then consider calling security.
I wasn’t there, but if I had been…I hope I would have had the presence of mind to step up and indicate to the officers in question that the situation had gone beyond their control and could we find a way to end it non-violently by getting him to a location outside the building where he could recover and the situation could be reassessed before it became a riot. Further, I hope I would have demanded to be taken with him to ensure his safe arrival at the detention facility where I could ensure that he was assessed for injuries.
Why would I do these things?
Because this is a kid…whom I’m responsible for. No matter how you cut it, if I let this happen to him and he dies or is seriously injured I get to tell his parents “Yeah, I wish I had done something more. I’m sorry, I should have done or said something.” I can’t live with that and I hope most of you couldn’t either.
Hopefully the collegiate community sees this and reacts with the appropriate level of criticism. Libraries were once considered the local bastions of democracy, liberty, and higher thinking. Universities are supposed to be places of discussion and thoughtful action. Were any of these core values considered when a kid was tazered for a simple issue of procedure or poor judgment? Are those ideas not big enough to survive someone who doesn’t always do things the way you want them to?
God, I hope not.
It astounds and troubles me that, in the face of such appalling and obvious brutality, there are posts everywhere arguing that this fellow somehow deserved this treatment. The dark side of the American character is certainly evident in the reactions to this incident. There is very little difference in degree between his offence and a parking infraction and it very hard to imagine what danger he was presenting to the public. I suspect he was being a jerk, but almost everyone is capable of that in the right circumstance. I am beginning to thank that here is no degree of officlal violence in the US which would meet with overwhelming condemnation.
jd- I would send my kid to your school, that is the most level headed response yet.
F8ck the po-lice.
These cops are arrogant pricks, and I hope there’s a nice tazer room in Hell for them to enjoy.
Tazering is meant for those who pose a significant threat to law enforcement, not for unarmed students without an I.D. Those who condone this kind of crap are as guilty as the cops in the video who did it.
I remember the good old days when we only got tazered once for not having our student ID. I guess they’re more strict now.
gq, I know you are going to argue that when the police tell you to do something, he must obey. Can you cite me a statute law that require free citizens to obey police commands? Can you cite a court ruling that states police may beat, tazer, or pepper spray you if you disobey them?
In other words, to assault someone who is not a danger to people or property is a crime.
Why yes I can. In NJ there is a statute called obstruction of Justice:
2C:29-1. Obstructing Administration of Law or Other Governmental Function. a. A
person commits an offense if he purposely obstructs, impairs or perverts the administration of
law or other governmental function or prevents or attempts to prevent a public servant from
lawfully performing an official function by means of 1[flight,]1 2flight,2 intimidation, force,
violence, or physical interference or obstacle, or by means of any independently unlawful act.
This section does not apply to [flight by a person charged with crime, refusal to submit to arrest,]
failure to perform a legal duty other than an official duty, or any other means of avoiding
compliance with law without affirmative interference with governmental functions.
I’m sure California has a similar law. They were called there for trespassing, the suspect refused to stop and be identified. He was restrained, he resisted and the police use a level of force needed to make the arrest. Case closed. All your arm chair liberals can argue all you liked. No law was broken here. I can only guess from the negative posts here that many have had run ins in the law in the past and that you no longer have a objective opinion on the matter.
Listening to the kid scream made me sick to my stomach. How someone could stand there tazering someone like that is beyond me…
The student’s crime is not having an ID and the punishment is assault. I suppose if I do not have my drivers license on hand then my punishment should be assault. Has anyone that has posted here, forgot to have money, ID, keys, cell phone or any other item on hand in their entire life? Does anyone know why the student didn’t have his ID with him?
The person performing the random ID checks should have just told the student that the next time he visits the place to be sure to have ID on hand.
Okay gquaglia…we’re a bunch a of criminals. I’ve never had worse than a court date for an accident. No blemish on my record.
Some of the people I respect most are police officers. Hence the approach I espoused above about trying to intervene and prevent injury to the student, the officers, and the crowd by defusing the situation.
However, as a University employee this is a kid, a student in a place he should be safe in…and he wasn’t. Instead he got tazered. Doesn’t that bother you on some level? If he were your brother or nephew or friend would you feel different. This isn’t a liberal argument…its a human one. This could have been handled better and any officer of any court or any member of any academic administration will agree with that. All they’ve done is prove to a room full of young people they can’t trust someone in uniform not to swagger in and abuse them. This undermines authority instead of endorsing it. The true test of leadership is the grace to defuse the nightmare situation, the presence of mind for mercy, and the capability to step back emotionally and evaluate one’s options appropriately. I didn’t see evidence of that in this video in th slightest.
You may be right that the letter of the law protects the officers in this case, I don’t know…but thats a different thing than what happened in this instance being right.
The cops’ mindset is the scariest thing. It seems to be that “authority must be obeyed at all times, no matter what.” That is not consistent with the student’s constitutionally protected rights, which place his inalienable rights far above any sort of convenience achieved by granting limited authority to officers of the peace.
I’m sure it would be much more convenient to give police officers unlimited power to use and abuse as they saw fit, but such an arrangement is totally incompatible with the concepts of freedom and liberty for which our forefathers fought and died. Freedom is far more important than being quiet in a library or being cooperative with police.
#86…gquaglia….I’m an arm chair Conservative…..your wrong on so many levels.
All of the witnesses state that the guy was leaving when the cops(and they ARE cops) arrived. They stopped him, and one grabbed him after he said clearly that he was leaving. He told the cop to let him go, and then another grabbed him and held him, thats when he went limp(standard protest procedure, taught in protesting 101). the cops told him to stand or be tasered, he didn’t, and he added **fuck you**, they tasered(at this point 3 experts on KTLA news stated that he wouldn’t have been able to stand on his own), all of this is on one of what is 9 tapings of this event so far. When they told him they would taser him again or stand, other students tried to get them to just remove him, several asked for the officers badge numbers(UCLA campus police policy is to give your badge number when asked by ANYONE), the officer threatened to taser one girl who asked or anyone else if they didn’t back off.
At no time did the officers ask him for ID….no one had asked for ID since the CSO had earlier. At no time did any responsable adult member of staff attempt to intervene and de-escatle the situation.
The guy was tasered twice in the computor lab and once more in the entrance vestabule, he was screaming in pain each time, there were 4 officers, but apparently they couldn’t just haul the guy up and carry him outside.
My old Ethics in Law Prof. is a member of the UCLA faculty and said these men will be fired, that what they did was way beyond the accepted way of doing things, even if the guy had been actively resisting. Apparently not only were the homemade video’s damning, but so is the computor labs survailance tapes.
I know that some here thing conservatives are hard liners, but thats not true, real conservatives will always be on the side of those whose constitutional rights have been violated, as this guys were.
He was guilty of being Arab without student ID, and nothing more apparently.
I haven’t heard one single reasonable argument in favour of the student yet. Just a lot of overblown hype and name calling.
Please, try to get the facts straight as well. The student was NOT tasered because he didn’t have his ID. He was asked to leave by library security because he didn’t have his ID.
Library security called the police.
The police came to investigate this incident and found the suspect still on the premises. The suspect then refused to cooperate with the police and tried to leave.
That’s why they tased him and they were very clear about it. They definately COULD have handled it better, but they didn’t have to.
#88, jd your arguments are very compassionate and that’s great, but if you were to step in while the police were getting control of the suspect, you would become part of the problem. I’m not sure what the official stand is on taking extra people along for the ride to jail, but I doubt they do it. Your best bet would have been to not call the police in the first place.