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
121. Yes, you need to go to one of the universities where they don’t care who’s there after 11PM or at least have security people who respond with “None? No problem, have a nice evening” when asking for authenticating ID.
RBG
122. Try forcing your way in, or even calmly walking into a football game or a concert without the ticket you bought to understand how this works.
RBG
112. No one can enforce a rule that a student “must” carry an ID card, only that they “should” carry one should they wish all the priviledges and access that the card can offer.
RBG
0. Update: I smell troll. Like you believe all mental patients are the benign Jack Nicholson type. The real irony is your belief that your comment somehow diminishes the cop’s Tazer training and response.
Update 2: Well knock me over with a feather. You missed that the guy was also charging the cops with eating donuts without a license.
RBG
Um… SN…. #29 that was my post. and I also quoted UCLA security regulations: “Any unauthorized person(s) will be removed from the center and/or charged with trespassing.
Security asked him to leave and he didn’t. There must have been a refusal to leave or the request was ignored. There was also a time interval between when he was asked (and he didn’t comply) and when the police arrived. So he had no intention on leaving on anyone’s terms but his own.
This kid is a self centered brat. Do you honestly want kids like that calling the shots at university? Would you send your kid to a university that allowed kids to ignore orderly conduct and safty regulations? Okay, I admit hat the tazer was a bit much, but it was either that or to get physical with him. I bet it’s standard policy to resort to a tazer in a difficult apprehension… and they gave him a choice. He CHOSE the tazer.
#123, J you are trying to argue a point that none of the reasonable people here are making. I do not expect someone to blindly obey every order given to them by a police officer. If, however an officer is investigating a crime, which they were, and you are questioned, you are required to stop and give at least your name. You do not have to give any other info, but the cop also has the right to take you to the station. If the cop is questioning you, you do not have the right to leave.
SN, how is it that you are a moderator on this blog? Are you 10 years old or something? It doesn’t matter if the kid was a student. It also doesn’t matter if he had his ID or not. If the school decides that the student is no longer welcome on the school grounds, he is a trespasser and they can call the cops on him. A reasonable cop would say that since the trespasser was formerly allowed on the premises, it would be unreasonable to charge them with any crime and just ask them to leave.
In this particular situation, the police never got the chance to assess the identity of the trespasser because the trespasser refused to give his name as he is required to do by law. He made it worse by trying to ignore the police and leave.
The cops were not trying to get him to leave, SN, they were trying to investigate a crime.
**This is speculation**
The cops should win this one. The kid didn’t want to leave because he thought he was being profiled…Not smart. I’m guessing he thought he would look brave or something. You have to do what a cop tells you even if you think is wrong. They are the law. If he thought it was wrong, he could have just brought it up to the school board or the officers captain or chief. Filed a complaint. If you are told to leave or get out of your car or whatever by a cop, do it without delay. If you procrastinate, it is a sign that you are doing something wrong… I know that is taught in POT (peace officers training). This is speculation, because I don’t know what he said exactly to the cops when asked to leave. I am assuming that he said he wouldn’t leave right away. The video does not start until after words were exchanged about him leaving. Need another video or recording of the first few sentences for any of us to make a real judgment.
““Any unauthorized person(s) will be removed from the center and/or charged with trespassing.”
As far as I know, the UCLA does not enact criminal statutes. They can say anything they want about what they think the law is, but that does not make it the law.
My point is that under the law the student was not trespassing. The fact that he was not charged with trespassing only backs up my point.
You are misunderstanding the situation jtoso. The cops did not profile him or ask him to leave. A security guard, referred to as a “civilian officer” in the statement made by the police chief, carded the student and asked him to leave. The security guard or Library Security person was the first contact and that person called the police. The real police are the people we see in the video.
He was trespassing. If the owner of the property no longer wants you there and you do not leave, then you are trespassing. Even if you were invited there in the first place. Even if you paid for the right to be there.
#129
“J you are trying to argue a point that none of the reasonable people here are making”
In #104 Adam responded to post #101 and he presented case law that doesn’t apply. That’s all I am saying. Some people here think that the police have absolute authority. They do not. Some people think that they have to obey a police officer at all times. They do not. Some people questioned that. They asked for a law that shows that because they knew it didn’t exist. Adam tried to cite case law to defend that position that you must obey the police or else. He was wrong!
“If, however an officer is investigating a crime, which they were, and you are questioned, you are required to stop and give at least your name”
Not unless you are suspect of that crime. Which in this case he was. but if I were there and stopped having nothing to do with the matter I would say “Am I a suspect? If not am I free to go?” I would not give my name I would not show ID until they told me I was a suspect. I would be well within my rights. If the cop said you can go once you tell me your name I would say ” no, am I under arrest? If not I am leaving”
” If the cop is questioning you, you do not have the right to leave.”
Yes you do unless they place you under arrest. Is it wise to just walk away? No. A lot of cops have an authority complex and will put the beat down on you for disrespect.
I’ve been in law enforcement for going on ten years, and the biggest mistake the police made was seeing things in black and white.
Nothing in le is black and white, they should have been operating with shades of gray. Here’s a link to one of the use of force models: http://www.batons.com/mptc/uof2.html
I mean, for christs sake, this was all over a college kid who didn’t have ID at a library. Police went there with the wrong perception of events or something…god what an embarassment.
Not every call is for a high profile collar.
“You are misunderstanding the situation jtoso. The cops did not profile him or ask him to leave. A security guard, referred to as a “civilian officer” in the statement made by the police chief, carded the student and asked him to leave. The security guard or Library Security person was the first contact and that person called the police. The real police are the people we see in the video.”
I see. Either way the cops should win the case.
But Matt (135) they got to use their tasers on snotty college kids who scream about their rights and at the same time act like wannabe anarchists. How cool was that? 😉
Seriously though, how many episodes of Cops do they have to watch before they figure out how to play The Cop Game?
I fight authority, authority always wins.
So I call up my preacher
I say: gimme strenght for round 5
He said: you dont need no strength, you need to grow up, son
I said: growing up leads to growing old and then to dying,
And dying to me dont sound like all that much fun
#126 RBG
I agree with you. No one can enforce a student must having to carry ID. Just that the student must present proper ID in order to enter and use campus facilities…
“If the owner of the property no longer wants you there and you do not leave, then you are trespassing.”
I’m sorry, I’ll have to watch the video again. Next time I watch I’ll be extra careful to see the owner of the UCLA tell him, “I don’t want you here.”
And if he is guilty of trespassing, why didn’t they charge him with it?! Could it be because he is a student there and has a right to be there?! Mmm….
See? That’s the 10 year old I’m talking about. Of course the owner of the UCLA didn’t ask him to leave personally. You knoiw as well as I do that they have rules in place so that the owners don’t have to be there.
Why they didn’t charge him with trespassing is a different matter. Maybe the UCLA dropped the charges or just asked the police to make him leave. Did you read post #29 above that clearly points out the student was trespassing?
135. Definite agreement on that from me.
139. Make sure you also watch the video of Security telling him “I don’t want you here.”
After investigating, the cops and security determined he wasn’t a threat.
All of which makes me wonder if it is a practical solution for security people to have easy access to pictures and names of registered students.
RBG
OK, time for me to eat crow. I just looked through the California Penal code as it pertains to trespassers on university property and you have to show damage or interference with school activities. SN, I concede to you.
I’m no expert, but I wonder how, as a peace officer, you can use force when you haven’t discovered a ‘clear and present danger’ or an illegal act. Was he notified that he was trespassing? Was he told that if he refused to leave he would be arrested? Once he was tazed, why was he not cuffed and removed?
Unless that guy was as big as a house, one tazing and the cuffs should have been it.
Then again, if they had cuffed him, they wouldn’t be allowed to taze him again, as that be cruel and unusual. By not cuffing him, they got to play with their toys, and really torture him because he pissed them off.
I don’t care what the circumstances were. That type of force is only justified in the case of clear danger or truly unusual circumstances. I’d taze a rowdy on a plane, but on the ground, that guy better be rushing me or my buddy. These guys are screwed.
So if the cops weren’t there to investigate a trespasser, then what was their reason? Did the security call up and say “I have someone here that I would like to have charged with an unspecified crime. Please come assault him?”
Perhaps “I have an iranian here who needs a good beating.”
or “I’ve got a student bucking authority here. Please come and teach him some respect.”
I’m sorry JimR, but I don’t see why the cops would even show up if there wasn’t a concern. In any case, though once they are investigating, whatever they were investigating, the kid was still a suspect.
#143….your so wrong….and grasping at straws isn’t making you look any better.
Maybe the kid was/is an asshole. But being an asshole isn’t a crime.
But assulting a college student for not having his/her ID, and attempting to intimidate and threaten other students who are not committing any crime, will get your sorry ass fired. And a big bill for the tax payers of the State of California.
the title of this video is wrong. he was tazered at least five times. you should actually watch the video and get other news accounts before declaring that the police “did nothing wrong”. that’s excessive use of force, if i’ve ever seen it.
There’s no reason to tazer the young man because he doesn’t follow the law. Maybe they should of hugged him. He probably had a bad childhood. I’m sure if the cops lit up a joint and sang anti-war songs everything would be fine.
#140 – Why they didn’t charge him with trespassing is a different matter. Maybe the UCLA dropped the charges or just asked the police to make him leave.
Or more to the point, he wasn’t trespassing.
Did you read post #29 above that clearly points out the student was trespassing?
I don’t know if you are wrong if if you are a liar, but since #29 is easy to scroll up to we call all see clearly that it says no such thing.
#143 – I’m sorry JimR, but I don’t see why the cops would even show up if there wasn’t a concern. In any case, though once they are investigating, whatever they were investigating, the kid was still a suspect.
Blow some more smoke out your ass… The cops showed up because they were called. That much at least is what they were supposed to do. After that, they are supposed to handle the situation with sound judgement, but instead they violently assaulted a kid and scared the shit out of a bunch of students.
This is most certainly a question of abuse of power… A kid in handcuffs is tazered four times and you manage to reach down into some primordial core cough up a defense for so barbaric an act? Your character is seriously called into question by your relentless defense of these soon to be ex-cops.
Racial profiling? I guess it worked in the past with blacks, why not with Arabs. Nothing like calling someone a racist or a profiler to get your way. Most back off when these words are used, justified or not. Hey, its how OJ got off.
Student defied authority, and the authority abused it’s power. Once the guy was tazzed then handcuffed it shouldn’t of been too hard for 2 officers to lug his butt to the squad car and sent “downtown”. Instead it turns into a frightening situation in front of students who are perhaps traveling in groups (with video cameras in hand) on campus because they fear the UCLA police. And who’s doing the investigation I wonder? Does Internal Affairs have any jurisdiction here? Or does UCLA have their own “version” of IA? I’m pro police but in this instance the officers REALLY screwed up royally.
#150 Most back off when these words are used, justified or not. Hey, its how OJ got off.
Comment by gquaglia — 11/17/2006 @ 2:41 pm
No. It isn’t.
OJ got off because the LAPD and the prosecution so badly bungled the case. Lesson #1 – Never try to frame a guilty man. Further, the jury was not privvy to all the evidence that the home audience was. It was Sidebar City at Judge Ito’s Three Ring Courtroom. If I had been in the jury box, rather than watching from the outside, I might have aquitted him too.
It was a travesty… But OJ isn’t walking free because the judicial system was afraid of looking racist. And any serious observer of that fiasco knows that. Especially Christopher Darden…
On the other hand, maybe it is a testiment to the legal system. Maybe it is a good thing that we see an example of a man walking free because the prosecution and (moreso) the LAPD could not prove the case. It’s a shame this “good thing” is marred by the fact that its a sham and OJ is a murderer… :-/
And another thing…. I doubt this student was “profiled”… I doubt that the community officer and the cops were looking for Arab looking (this guy’s actually Persian) people to hassle…. But I do believe his being Abab looking, and to a lessor extent male, resulted in treatment far different from what some other kind of student would have recieved.
“Never try to frame a guilty man.”
God that’s probably the funniest thing I’ve read this week! Funny cause it’s true.
Powell Library Investigation Report
Investigator: Tell us what happen Officer 1.
Officer 1: We were called to the library about a student who wouldn’t produce his ID after 11pm and refused to leave. Upon arriving at the library we found the student apparently trying to leave without showing ID. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. The student began to yell ‘get off me’, repeating himself several times. It was at this point we handcuffed him for non compliance of the ID Rule.
Investigator: What happen after that?
Officer 1: We commanded the student to stand up and he refused mumbling something about a medical condition. So we tased him for non compliance of the Stand Up Rule.
Investigator: Did the student stand up after this?
Officer 1: No he refused to stand up after being tased. After ordering him to stand again he refused my direct order so I tased him again for non compliance with the Direct Order Rule.
Officer 2: At this point several other students asked for my ID. I threatened them with my taser because I felt in fear for my authority.
Investigator: What happen next?
Officer 1: I commanded the student to stand again. Again he refused so I tased him again for non compliance of the Stand Up Rule. This continued 6 or 7 more times until myself and officer 2 decide to just carry the student out of the library.
Investigator: Did it ever occur to either one of you that a student who has been tased perhaps can not stand immediately after such an event?
Officer 1: No, thats not how it happened, we tased him then demanded he stand up. He violated the ID Rule, the Stand Up Rule and the Direct Order Rule.
Officer 2: What he said.
Investigator: Do you two idiots realize you have opened the University up for a major lawsuit?
Officer 1: Doh!
Officer 2: What he said.
Chancellor Norman Abrams: Compliance is critical for the safety and well-being of everyone. Whats the problem here?