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
“At least he was a cop who tasered him, a soldier would have shot him in a heartbeat.”
Angel, you’re such an idiot it’s beyond words. Every single time you post a comment, you prove more and more that you know less and less. Believe it or not, soldiers are trained in use of force tactics, just as police are. On top of that, a soldier would never deal with a civil disturbance like that again, except for marshall law, because of the Posse Comitatus Act. Go Google that, learn some things, take a nickle, and buy a $&^$* clue.
Moron.
In case people are still having trouble seeing this incident for what it really is, here’s a quick blow by blow:
-Student is in an area that requires an official campus ID
-Student feels he is above the rules and refuses to produce said ID
-The police are called because the student can’t be dealt with
-The police can’t deal with him either
-A video ends up on youtube and the whole incident becomes a racial commentary because the guy’s parents are from Iran
Seriously, I feel sorry for you Americans. If you’re one of the ones I haven’t met yet that are sick of the bickering about civil liberty, slavery, Islamic related tension/conflict, and your joke of an electoral system, I sincerely extend to you my warmest invitation to move to the greatest country in the world, Canada.
PS I couldn’t help but laugh when he started screaming “here’s your Patriot Act”. Something tells me this guy doesn’t need a tazer hit to make his heart bleed though.
I just want to note that, it wasn’t that he DIDN’T have his ID, its that he didn’t produce it. He felt he was being racially profiled (since he was the only one asked to produce an ID out of all the people there).
Cal Guy, there is not a room for you and people like you in this world. Why don’t you die and join Hitler in HELL?
It’s just pure abuse of power – black power. I’m sure the powlice didn’t asked for the ID’s of the other students, because he was pretending to be white. lol. Inject some Megavolts in one’s body and command him to stand up, you Moron. Polpot, Idi Amin, SS, Stalin, Mao, KKK, UCLA powlice. I say stand back or I’ll taze you . . .*&^%$, because I’m god. Next time you mess with the powlice, we’ll gas you, lol. Was Lew an alumni ? what would he say ??
Anyone who would justify the polices’ abuse of authority is simply mislead. The freedoms we are guaranteed in America limit the amount of force needed to subdue any citizen. Clearly this young citizens rights were systematically violated. During a time of civil unrest ,generated by wars in foreign countries, this students skin color afforded him the opportunity to get the ass kicking of a lifetime. People BEWARE this could be YOU or someone you LOVE….. which profile do you fit into? White trash, Gangsta, Terrorists, ……..which one do THEY think your in? How could any American be expected to respect an authority that clearly can’t respect themselves. Unfortunately situations just like this happen everyday in this land of Liberty.
It’s interesting how quick the emotional response to this whole situation got out of hand, and how the media chose to portray it before more details came to light. In this situation, the student in question was in the library late at night, where there is a posted policy to limit facilities to students and staff after 10 (hence ask for ID). When asked by security to show his ID, he refused (11:12 PM). Told to leave, he did not comply, Security could have laid hands at this point, but did not. Because of continued non compliance, security calls the police department, and they arrive on site (11:32 PM). At this point he’s broken the law (Security has the authority to ‘trespass’ any person on their property), and says he’ll leave but doesn’t actually leave (it’s easy to say you will do something, not doing it really demonstrates the intention). Rather, he becomes loud, combative, and refuses ID or leave commands until he is first tazed (11:41 PM). After being tazed (remember, EVERY law enforcement official is tazed during training at least once, they know what it feels like and how you recover from it), he continues to refuse orders, and demonstrates both passive resistance (collapse) and active resistance (exaggerated yelling, profanity, kicking legs). I think if people had to sit through a FULL video of him refusing polite commands from security and library staff and then ‘leave’ commands from them for 20 minutes, and then another 10 minutes of non-cooperation with the police, they would have much less sympathy for him than the video of the physical confrontation alone gives.
The officers did nothing wrong here. Just becuase the student belonged to a minority group, he’s claiming he’s above the law and isn’t subject to questioning, have some respect for the police if you want them to protect your rights. If he had cooperated everything would have been fine, but he’s being a smart alec.
The cops went to far when they tazed the student because he asked a hard question to Kerry. Some one had to have started to provoke the cops into tazing the student