Univ. Florida student Tased!?!?

**Tomcat088** · September 18th, 2007, 09:40 PM

I'm not sure if many of you read this in the news but it was pretty strange, I was just wondering about some people's positions on everything. Here is a link to the news article and some youtube videos of the incident. These videos are from different sources and angles, some of them let you hear what's going on during the arrest, some after, some up close when the police have him on the ground, etc.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3616977 <news article
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVv...elated&search=

Basically I had a few questions and some that the LEO might be able to assist in. Is it normal to arrest someone for "disturbing the peace"; especially when they make no physical confrontation and the rest of the onlookers (including kerry) seem to have no problem with his "disturbing behavior"? Some people said that the officer said that the young man had exceeded his time limit and been asked to leave. I thought it was interesting that if you watch some of the other videos where he thanks John Kerry first, he wasn't up there very long, and Kerry had no problem with his time up there and wanted to answer him. Why would police officers choose to just drag him off? In the second video, the female officer says that they're charging him with "inciting a riot". For the LEO's, can you change what you were arresting someone for after you've told them you're arresting them for something else? He ended up not getting charged with "inciting a riot" but with disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. I'm also curious about how most precints would define "excessive force". When the police officers have the young man on the ground, he is telling them, that he will walk out of there with them, if they will take their hands off of him. Not very long after he's made this statement, they tase him. Obviously the officers might have felt he could have been lying, but is this what most LEO's would do? Later the police seem to be pretty mad because one officer won't even let him sit down on the bench.

These were just some questions that I had running in my head. Sure the kid was pretty "out there" and into some conspiracy theories, but was all this necessary? John Kerry seemed to be pretty interested in answering (in Kerry's words) "this very important question". What would make police officers feel that he was such a threat that he had to be taken out, right then, when nobody else saw a problem with this actions? I will note that this kid does like to stir things up, he likes to challenge authorities, do you think he got what he deserved? I think that the actions of the police officers might have been at least questionable when they first started to escort him out. The rest, I can understand if they felt like he might not comply, etc. Do some of you believe that this is suppression of his freedom of speech? Just curious, I'm not sure what I think about all this, and would like to see more accounts given before I make up much of an opinion.

**God's Country** · September 18th, 2007, 10:18 PM

I feel the police, or rent a cops, or whatever they were, handled it well up to the point where they tasered him. He was cuffed. No need to tase at that point.
I smell a law suit.

**Tomcat088** · September 19th, 2007, 05:10 PM

I guess I'll give this a bump. I'm not sure if others haven't seen it, or just don't care about it, lol

**GRoPA** · September 19th, 2007, 05:38 PM

He should have listened to the instructions given to him by the law enforcement officers. He needed to be shocked. It will help him build character. His dad should also beat the crap out of him for way he acted.

**ReefBlue** · September 19th, 2007, 05:55 PM

http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=157250

Here is what led up to him being removed.

He isn't participating in a Q&A session, he was grandstanding. The police led him away.

But he just couldn't let it be, he had to be a hero to a bunch of college students.

He got what he asked for, they wanted him to leave, he wouldn't stop creating a disturbance.

If I buy a cheeseburger at McDonalds, which validates me being there, does that mean I can stand up on a table and start screaming and hollering, then resisting, even if in a minor way, the police when they get there to physically remove me?

Not everything the police do is a violation of rights.

**NineseveN** · September 19th, 2007, 06:27 PM

I'm kinda torn on this one, the video ReefBlue linked was pretty of bad quality, and it starts a little too late to get the full picture, so here's another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgrFSHZfD1o

It's not clear to me why the security/cops came up to him in the middle of his question (though it appears that the campus officials wanted him escorted from the event). Kerry acknowledged the guy and his question, and then he seems to get irritated when the security/cop tries to interrupt him. Kerry is repeatedly saying that he'll answer the question, I don't see why the cops interfered in the first place.

Edit: it seems like the officials of the event wanted him out of there in a hurry. If the cops were just following protocol for doing that, and the officials have the authority (which they obviously do) to have someone removed, then the cops pretty much did what they were supposed to do. He was resisting, if the order was lawful, he doesn't have much of a case.

**D-FENS** · September 19th, 2007, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by NineseveN

It's not clear to me why the security/cops came up to him in the middle of his question (though it appears that the campus officials wanted him escorted from the event). Kerry acknowledged the guy and his question, and then he seems to get irritated when the security/cop tries to interrupt him. Kerry is repeatedly saying that he'll answer the question, I don't see why the cops interfered in the first place.

The question were timed.

He jumped the line, first of all. Secondly, when his time was up, he snapped at whoever did it and continued with additional questions. Once he snapped at the A/V guy (whoever cut the mic), the security started to try and escort him away. Here is where most videos start.

My assessment. Were his questions valid? 100%. Was he following the established format? No. Did the police have valid reason to escort him away? Yes. Was he being an asshat? Yes. Should they have tased him? HELL NO!

First of all, tasers have replaced sweat and a cool head for many police officers. With that many cops, and no overt offensive acts, there is no excuse to taser this guy. Frankly, I hope the cop that fired the taser is fired, charged criminally and sued into extreme poverty. I think cops have way too many toys and they're itching to take em out on to the range (A.K.A. My face). I might feel differently if there weren't 5+ cops there pinning the guy to the ground but that's not the case. Any citizen in a similar situation would be prosecuted for Assault with a Deadly Weapon.

**Punisher** · September 19th, 2007, 07:41 PM

let me just ask this and possibly stir up a hornets nest - why the big deal over getting tasered?? it's over with in a few seconds and most police officers get tasered during training - it's not the end of the world and wouldn't it be better than old skool ass whoopin?? everyone's always crying about tasers and pepper sprays - what happened to being tough enough to get a little roughed up and then get over it? shit happens........ i understand, it's unecessary use of force and all that, but the cop could have just over tightened the hand cuffs and no one would have been any wiser and that hurts like hell...........

yeah, maybe the cop should get in trouble, but again - WE WEREN'T THERE ! video tape is nothing compared to the real situation.........

**ReefBlue** · September 19th, 2007, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by D-FENS

First of all, tasers have replaced sweat and a cool head for many police officers. With that many cops, and no overt offensive acts, there is no excuse to taser this guy. Frankly, I hope the cop that fired the taser is fired, charged criminally and sued into extreme poverty. I think cops have way too many toys and they're itching to take em out on to the range (A.K.A. My face). I might feel differently if there weren't 5+ cops there pinning the guy to the ground but that's not the case. Any citizen in a similar situation would be prosecuted for Assault with a Deadly Weapon.

Tasers have also filled the void between doing nothing and shooting someone.

Not that they would have shot the guy 10 years ago, but......

What do you do with someone who is being unreasonable but not violent. You can do something that is non-permanent and definately non leathal (or less than lethal if you buy into the bs).

If someone has 5 cops pinning them to the ground, and they're still acting up, maybe they need a little reminder to shut the fuck up.

5 cops holding someone down, telling themto be quiet. They refuse and continue to act like a douche cannon. He had every opportunity to shut the hole in his face. They gave him a little bit of real world consequences.