UF student gets tasered...

[Ecofarm]

1. 99.9% of taxes in Gainesville come from UF. The town would not, I repeat, would not exist except for UF. If a few tax dollars gets spent on a student who wanted to get tasered, good.

2. No tasering all UF students, I veto this policy proposal.

3. I WISH this had been at a republican event. This entire forum would be crying "oppression, fascism!", "evil Bush is anti-free speech!", "we are not free/there is no democracy", "OMG 1984"... such fun... oh well, the republicans will be a part of a similar event soon enough.

 

[warpus]

He was physically resisting arrest. Short of beating the crap out of him, what else do you propose they do? They asked him to leave, they physically pulled him away, and they didn't tase him until he literally pulled a couple of the cops to the ground when he tried to run back towards the stage, and then wouldn't stop physically resisting and screaming and everything.

The blame for this one, I think, rests solely on the shoulders of this idiot who started it all, and kept it going by physically resisting arrest.

And considering that he's bragging about how he made the front page of FoxNews.com, it doesn't appear that he was seriously traumatized by the event. He seems like a blowhard who gets his rocks off causing trouble, to me.

He was already on the ground when they tasered him - surely 4-6 cops can handle 1 unruly guy without tasering him?

It seems excessive... and lazy.

 

[Elrohir]

He was already on the ground when they tasered him - surely 4-6 cops can handle 1 unruly guy without tasering him?

It seems excessive... and lazy.

Handle him in such a way that he can walk away afterwards in good enough shape that he can inquire about his camera, and ask people to ask about him so that the government doesn't have him killed? He was a pretty big guy, and wasn't cooperating. How exactly do you propose they handle him without hurting him worse? As far as I can tell, he wouldn't listen to reason, which left brute force - either taser him, or smack him around until he shuts up. And the second would cause more permanent damage, so....

 

[QuoVadisNation]

Yeah... I'd say that second video pretty ends the dispute. That guy was pretty crazy. The taser didn't even look as severe or excessive as the first video made it out to be. My opinion of cops is generally pretty low, but I really didn't see anything stupidly excessive or brutal. It seemed what they did was a routine procedure to sedate the individual and 'calm' him down so he would leave. Does anyone see it as brutal?

 

[GinandTonic]

I dont understand what crime he was being arrested for. He was not asked to shut up or to leave.

Over here the use of a taser under these circs would have all the police up on charges and potentially booted out without their pensions.

Doesnt look much like the land of the free to me.

 

[JollyRoger]

3. I WISH this had been at a republican event. This entire forum would be crying "oppression, fascism!", "evil Bush is anti-free speech!", "we are not free/there is no democracy", "OMG 1984"... such fun... oh well, the republicans will be a part of a similar event soon enough.

The tasering zone for such events is generally a half mile away.

 

[Bill3000]

3. I WISH this had been at a republican event. This entire forum would be crying "oppression, fascism!", "evil Bush is anti-free speech!", "we are not free/there is no democracy", "OMG 1984"... such fun... oh well, the republicans will be a part of a similar event soon enough.

And you claim to be a libertarian?

 

[Fifty]

The "Don't taze me bro!" line made it all worthwhile.

 

[JollyRoger]

The "Don't taze me bro!" line made it all worthwhile.

And defensible.

 

[JohnRM]

... at a John Kerry lecture! Or so the Youtube description says;

WARNING: The audio maybe disturbing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag

Now I'm tempted to say it was just some college kids trying to raise a ruckus but I've never heard of an instance where anyone was tasered for disrupting a political lecture.

The logical part of me says that this kid should not have resisted arrest. If he was unduly detained, then he has legal routes to satisfy those claims. Resisting arrest is not the right thing to do.

Then the passionate side of me says that this continues to happen where we have unpopular ideas and questions and we end up being hauled away for speaking our minds and when the police do something wrong, they get on camera and apologize, and maybe the victim gets compensation, but this kind of thing never ends. It keeps on happening. At some point, you simply have to resist.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Kerry was answering some student's question when this nutbar jumped the queue and grabbed the mic to rant about Tinfoil Hat secret society BS. The cops of course eject him because he's insane so he makes a giant scene and takes a swing at one of them.

 

[JohnRM]

He was physically resisting arrest. Short of beating the crap out of him, what else do you propose they do? They asked him to leave, they physically pulled him away, and they didn't tase him until he literally pulled a couple of the cops to the ground when he tried to run back towards the stage, and then wouldn't stop physically resisting and screaming and everything.

The blame for this one, I think, rests solely on the shoulders of this idiot who started it all, and kept it going by physically resisting arrest.

And considering that he's bragging about how he made the front page of FoxNews.com, it doesn't appear that he was seriously traumatized by the event. He seems like a blowhard who gets his rocks off causing trouble, to me.

Who are the police? Where is it that they have the right to ask someone to depart from a location, because of speech that they don't like? If this was public property, then this guy's first amendment rights were violated. If it was private property, then the police are certainly not the owners and have committed kidnapping, assault, and probably a few other crimes that I can't think of.

 

[JohnRM]

Kerry was answering some student's question when this nutbar jumped the queue and grabbed the mic to rant about Tinfoil Hat secret society BS. The cops of course eject him because he's insane so he makes a giant scene and takes a swing at one of them.

I didn't see him jump in line.

EDIT: I just watched it again, there is absolutely no evidence WHATSOEVER (from the video) that he jumped ahead of someone else in the line.

 

[Elrohir]

Who are the police? Where is it that they have the right to ask someone to depart from a location, because of speech that they don't like? If this was public property, then this guy's first amendment rights were violated. If it was private property, then the police are certainly not the owners and have committed kidnapping, assault, and probably a few other crimes that I can't think of.

Nonsense. Do you really believe that John?

This was at a university, the University of Florida, I believe. He was breaking the rules of the event by cutting in line, and being obnoxious and not allowing a true Q&A session to take place. He got combative when they cut his microphone and attempted to escort him out - they only arrested, and then taserd him when he physically resisted arrest.

 

[JohnRM]

The "Don't taze me bro!" line made it all worthwhile.

Yeah, dude, that was hilarious.

 

[StarWorms]

That's what you get from a trigger happy nation.

 

[JohnRM]

Nonsense. Do you really believe that John?

This was at a university, the University of Florida, I believe. He was breaking the rules of the event by cutting in line, and being obnoxious and not allowing a true Q&A session to take place. He got combative when they cut his microphone and attempted to escort him out - they only arrested, and then taserd him when he physically resisted arrest.

Again, where is the evidence that he cut someone in line, cause the video does not show that.

All that I saw was a kid being thorough in laying the groundwork for a question and trying to get it all out at once, and as far as being obnoxious, I didn't realize that it was against the law. That is a public institution, paid for by the tax dollars of the citizens of Florida. You DO NOT forfeit your rights at the door.

I saw the police grab at and begin harassing him way before he became "obnoxious" and "combative." If they had just let him finish his question and Mr. Kerry refused to answer it, then fair enough, but this conflict was begun by the police and for no just reason.

 

[Red Door]

Why'd they do this loser when they could've tasered the following:

 

[Godwynn]

Meyer was charged with resisting arrest with violence -- a felony -- and a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace.

Where was the violence at?

 

[Irish Caesar]

It's probably because the cops were Skull and Bones members.



I don't really see much justification for this. Disturbing the peace does not merit such force.

Why'd they do this loser when they could've tasered the following:

I would've picked the guy on the left in the bottom picture, too!