Tasered At Kerry Event

I know he resisted arrest, but come on. The kid was unarmed. I swear its just cops being to lazy to force someone out of a building.

And if the cops put the guy in a choke hold you would say they were wrong for that and too aggressive. The guy is totally in the wrong but the cops are too lazy, that's funny and just another great example of how unappreciated police officers are in this country.

There were 5 cops there. Are you telling me that they couldn't have subdued the guy without tasing him? One of the cops alone looked like he could have eaten the kid for lunch. Cops aren't all lazy. They have a tough job. But I'll tell you from looking at the video, that there were other ways to get the kid to stop resisting and they don't include putting him in a choke hold. "Cops" like these, which are probably campus police, aren't trained properly to handle these situations. They are being over reactionary to a situation that could have easily been diffused. Cops as a whole aren't unappreciated, these ones were just too aggressive and went straight for the taser.

All I'm saying is that there were like six officers, they could have picked him up and carried him out of the building. They had him on the ground, they had cuffs on at least one hand. I don't feel that they needed to taser. It's one thing to put a full body's wait to hold them down, it's another to shock him with electricity. I'm not saying that this guy was right. He was obviously resisting arrest. I don't think all cops are lazy. I think more could've been done on the cops side before tasering. And that's the issue here. I think that law enforcement in a country is necessary and can have both positive and negative impacts on a community. There are good and bad cops. I fortunately have witnessed a lot of good from my local law enforcement and appreciate the times that they have helped me. So just because I say that these cops were lazy doesn't mean I think all cops are lazy. I think having the access and ability to taser, makes "some" cops lazy.

Well put Carrissa. I'm surprised that they would use a taser in any case, given the past controversy surrounding tasering on campus, in addition to how high profile an event this was and the potential bad press that could be spun against the school and the police.

Since when has being obnoxious deserved a tasering?

I like the funny clicking noises the taser makes.

"Since when has being obnoxious deserved a tasering?"

Since now, Winters- *tzzk-tzzk*

Excessive force. Nothing more, nothing less. He wasn't some enormous dude that couldn't be stopped - they had restraints on him BEFORE he was tased - what's that about? My Dad, a retired police chief, worked for over 30 years and used his gun a handful of time. When I say "used," I mean he drew his weapon. In the line of duty, he only fired his weapon twice - both time his life was in danger and both times he did not kill anyone. 30 years in police work, and only using deadly force twice? That's got to be some kind of record - and something I would HOPE officers of the law aspire to. Granted, most of his years on the street were prior to the fancy new gadgets that police are equipped with these days, but the bottom line is he didn't have one and he was able to make arrests without electrocuting people. This kid was surrounded by officers - we can't seriously be expected to believe that after the restraints were on this boy, the 4 or 5 officers NEEDED to electrocute him because he could not be controlled.

One could argue about using the taser and/or whether the student was resisting arrest. (Shouldn't the police have been protecting his right to free speech?)

The really troubling effect is that police tactics like this one stifle dissent. Will others now think twice before asking uncomfortable questions?

His questions were legit - all Kerry had to do was answer them. Maybe Kerry's answer would have been satisfying and the student would've sat back down. We'll never know. Kerry could have done more to deescalate the situation.

The police huddle around the student and the police woman repeats, "Stop resisting arrest! Stop resisting arrest!" Even if he wasn't resisting, since we can't see him clearly the assumption would be that he was. Sounds like he wanted to know why he was being arrested. "What did I do?!" Why didn't the police explain what he did.

Some people wonder why the other students didn't come to his aid: They were probably terrified. He was only asking the kind of questions our now corporate media will seldom, if ever, ask.

Recently we've had the LAPD shooting rubber bullets into a crowd at a peaceful demonstration.

We've had another student Tasered in a school library.

And now this.

While we sleep, more and more of our Civil Liberties are eroded. We need to liberate our media from Corporate clutches so they can be fearless about being our watchdog. The only way our democracy can work.

Good luck.

He was arrested for speaking out at a public university, funded with taxpayer dollars, for speaking freely. ON CONSTITUTION DAY.

Well this is one more reason why we need a consolidating feature on articles like this. This is what I posted in a similiar link:

I'm more offended by Kerry standing by and continuing with his speech like nothing is happening. Yeah that is the guy I want leading our country in dark times. Give me a break. I'm not a Bush fan either, but Kerry just lost any respect I ever had for him.

I guess I should elaborate a bit more on that in case some misunderstand what I mean. There are many times in life when you have a chance to show your true character and more often than not we are seeing a lack of that in the masses, including our politicians.

Not only did no one stand up for this man and come to his aid, the man that very likely could have been the leader of the "free world" did not difuse the situation on all sides like a real diplomat and leader should. Nor did he go to the aid of a concerned citizen that was in need of assistance against a tyranical police force. Seems like that is kind of what we want right now in our leaders, we just can't find any that qualify.

Now I'm also saddened by the public's response by not assisting the man in this case and in the case at UCLA(?) earlier this year. I can't imagine standing by while an innocent person is having their rights trampled on and then being physically abused by a bunch of rent-a-cops.

We are living in a time where more often than not we are going to have to stand up for ourselves as citizens and change the world with our own two hands. We can't rely on others to do it for us anymore. With that said I really hope that Current helps to builds the backbones of the next generation. They are going to need them.

In response to dkelly about police officers being underappreciated, well that is a true statement. Do you want to know why that is as well? B/c way too many instances like this are popping up and few point out that these are likely not real cops.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of the police in general, but most of that has to do with the low ranked authorities like meter-maids, traffic cops and campus/rent-a-cop police units. I'm also not one to break the law so it's not like my bias against them comes from personal encounters with them.

I just believe that the police are here to enforce the law and protect it's citizens, even if that protection is from the police themselves. In this case can you tell me which of the two duties they were engaging in? Were they enforcing a law? Hmmm...don't think so unless I misunderstood the years of constitutional law classes that always started off with the first amendment. Were they protecting citizens? Seemed like the opposite again.

Now as to the police especially the campus police having the right to physically touch you and arrest you, well that isn't true either. Maybe everyone in this country is brainwashed into compliance with irrational request simply b/c they have a badge, but that's not how I roll and neither should the rest of the world. You have a right to know the charges against you. They informed him of no charges and did not even ask him politely to leave. They simply grabbed him and tried to escort him out, then arresting him when he refused their request.

I'm a bit of an anarchist in believing that the government and civil authorities work for the people I guess. I hope everyone enjoys the lawsuits that come from this which is a whole other area of our country that is broken at the moment.

My basic opinion is this.... if you are going to make the decision to be an asshole, then you've got to understand that at some point, you'll probably get tased.