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Students Put UCLA Taser Video On YouTube
dircha writes "As widely reported, an incident in which Iranian-American student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was tasered up to five times by UCLA police on Friday, has been captured by a fellow student using a video enabled cell phone and published to YouTube. From the Daily Bruin: 'At around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies and philosophy student, was asked to leave the library for failing to present his BruinCard during a random check. The 23-year-old student was hit with a Taser five times when he did not leave quickly and cooperatively upon being asked to do so.' In a story which has raised concerns of racial profiling, police brutality and the health risks of taser use, the ubiquity of video cell phone technology has given us a first hand record of an incident which might otherwise have been a he-said, she-said affair. While the publishing of the video to YouTube has given the issue compelling popular exposure beyond the immediate campus community."
That's an interesting opinion ... I saw an idiot (possibly an asshole) refusing to leave when he wasn't following known rules and physically resisting and fighting. Someone who was given plenty of notice he was going to be tased yet continued to resist and then getting tased again.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
Yes and yes.
1. After being shocked repeatedly, could he even have been ABLE to "just" stand up?
After each time of being shocked he had plenty of time to comply instead of his fake act.
2. After being shocked repeatedly, would be have been in a mental state to understand the cops' commands?
Yes, do some research on Taser.
3. He was on the floor. An irritating act, but something deserving electrocution?
Yes, he was on the floor by his own choice, becuase of this it's quite suspicious to me why he was behaving like that. I would guess either for political attention (his patriot act comment) or something far worse (terrorist activity ect).
4. What if someone asks for a warrant, should they also get electrocuted. After all "all he had to do was let them search."
No, thats different than suspiciously not leaving a public place or providing ID when asked by an authority.
Put simply, this was WRONG. The kid deserves to be arrested, NOT electrocuted. To those of you who say "tasing is non-lethal," well, i dare you to do it to yourself. Post a video on YouTube to prove it.
While I dont have a video, I have been tased before. Yes it hurt like HELL, but its still SO suspicious why he wouldn't leave. And before you say it...yes you can stand after being tased..once again that can be easily researched. His little rants between being tased sound VERY rehearsed to me.
Every first hand report I've read said the kid deserved what he got. Perhaps you should do a little research before "applauding" those whose actions you know nothing about.
I suppose the cops should have just backed down and left the library, when confronted with the force of spoiled adolescent anger. Boo hoo, the cops won't let the college kids riot. Here's a really scary thought: some day this group of "oppressed" kids are going to be applying for jobs at major corporations.
This guy is not a troll. I hate to say, but he's right.
When the police tell you to leave, leave.
When the police tell you stand up, stand up.
When the police tell you to lay down, lay down.
When the police tell you to show your ID, you show you ID.
I don't see what the problem is here.
What you don't do is scream at the top of your lungs, "I WILL NOT LEAVE". And while this guy did change his tune after he was tazed and said he was leaving, he said it as he was lying on the ground, refusing to leave. Seeing that this guy was tazed and beaten within an inch of his life by large metal, rubber coated sticks is a testament to the patience the police officers maintained.
While I've heard people say that he could not move because he was tazed, I call bullshit. He was sure screaming loud enough. And I've seen people tazed. They get back up a second or two later. Not five minutes as some have claimed. Here is a video proving as much. You'll notice the guy keep trying to get back up as the cop zaps him again... and again... and again. The suspect continues to get back up.
I'm really growing weary of seeing good cops lose their jobs when they defend themselves. Recently in Austin, while trying to serve a warrant, a 250 lb man attacked the police officer (175 lb), had him on the ground and was on top of him. His partner, 120 lb female, shot and killed the attacker. She lost her job.
In San Marcos TX, an 18 yr old punk had stabbed his mother several times because he had an argument with his brother. When the police showed up, he had a fork to his mother's throat. After several warnings, they finally shot him, fatally. Both cops are currently under investigation, could lose their jobs and of course, the family is suing the police department.
It's a simple rule. When you attack a police officer, you need killin'!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
It's *not* what we pay them for.
Uh... what do we pay cops for? To arrest only those that cooperate?
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
the fact the cops refused to provide names and badge numbers to onlookers on request tells you either a) the cops believed they were doing something wrong; or b) the cops believed they did not need to be accountable. Either of those is a huge problem, independent of the justifiability of the initial tasering.
I agree. Next time I'm driving home drunk, I'm going to have someone follow me so they can ask the cop for his badge number when I'm getting arrested. While he's giving it to my partner, I'll drive off. 'Cause we all know that cops must drop everything and give their badge number when asked for it.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
No to mention there were at least 3 of them, they could have easily carried him away.
True, but which one gets to be the first to get stabbed in the leg with a pair of scissors?
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
From TFA:
Fine, call it racial profiling, but when I see an Iranian without a student ID, acting belligerent, carrying a backpack into a crowded place, I hope the police take whatever action is necessary to get him the hell out of there. (However, sending electric shocks through someone who might be carrying explosives is probably not the best of ideas)
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Nice knee jerk reaction, bungwipe. You're the exact target the idiotic Patriot Act was meant to placate. Now that you've got your false sense of security, what are you going to do with it?
Just asking...
Seriously, comparing a fry cook's job to a cop's job is just silly.
It is conceivable that the student could have been so shaken, fearful, and angry he literally could not stand up, that he would prefer to just sit there and try to recover.
Damn right. These cops have been tasered in a controlled environment, like their gym or something like that. They knew they were going to get tasered that day, I'd even bet most of them were even been pumped up about it, like some sort of hazing ritual among ex-jocks, egging each other on.
However, what happens when you're just a kid in the UCLA library, thinking about heading towards Noodle Planet in an hour or so, right after you finish homework or whatever, then suddenly find yourself in an extremely nerve-wracking situation that gets you tasered while being yelled menacing orders? The emotional reaction has to be of both astonishment and a sense of being profoundly violated, compounded with the knowledge of having commited no crime.
Tasers may extremely useful in many situations, much better than guns, but this is bullshit, and it happens more often than it's documented and acknowledged. It seems that some cops don't bother to always remember that they're out there To Protect And Serve. In their minds, they're in a war zone and the ultimate objective is to "watch my buddy's back - acquire target and release discharge!" And what a war zone, the UCLA library!
The video was the sickest thing I've witnessed recently, unless you count watching parts of the movie "Saw".
So check this one out: you're a middle aged lady driving in your SUV, anxious, angry and maybe a bit reckless about getting home late and missing Wheel Of Fortune, when suddenly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptRZLfw2_NI
Is this enough reason to get tasered in the middle of the street? Also, notice how this idiot cop doesn't tell her she's under arrest. He just YELLS at her to get out of the car, then fires. Is that the best this puny little mind can do? Rephrasing the question in another direction: what would an english constable do under the same circumstance, taser her? Fat fucking chance, mate!
What we're looking at is sub-par social rejects in black uniform and wearing a shiny little badge. Off the force with a dishonorable discharge, at least, for these idiots.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
Don't touch them.
Don't mouth off to them
Don't run/resist
Looks like he violated all three to some extent. Unfortunately the kid got what he deserved, maybe a bit too much of what he deserved, but definitely what he deserved.
Most people are trained from birth to kow-tow to the orders of men in police uniforms. Most people are also pretty racist. Most people also know fuck all about the effects of tasers. So if you were in the crowd, you'd probably just have stuck around and watched the show. Tabatabainejad was more likely to have recieved intervention from the campus pidgeon community than he was from his fellow students.
Moral of the story is: don't go to the US.
May the Maths Be with you!
You unbelievable dick. Where is the security risk from one unarmed male? They could easily have carried him off campus. They chose to be judge and jury and inflict some corporal punishment on him because they were on a power trip.
I hope you have to endure an undeserved police beating someday, but I'm guessing you're white and middle class so there's little chance of that happening.
And if any would-be hero pulled a gun on them, I would hope they would empty the magazines of their sidearms into his center of mass and kill him stone dead on the spot.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
I call bullshit on you.
Using what you said, if I get pulled over in my vehicle and I don't hand my ID over to the police and then when they ask me to exit the vehicle, as long as I never make a violent move and just sit there limply and passively then there's nothing that can be done.
BS
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
I am not a cop.
And what you had there is a potential mob. When you are surrounded by 50 students who think they know something about law enforcement and are watching you carrying out your training in a way you KNOW they do not understand--all they understand are the overdramatized shrieking of the trespasser--damn right that's a potential mob. Are you not reading the other tough-guy posts on this thread claiming they would have attacked the police? It's so easy for all these armchair ACLU lawyers to whine about rights and freedoms, but the fact of the matter is the police responded appropriately, and did so for the safety of the public, and did so according to their training.
What part of "Stand up or you will be tasered again" is difficult to understand?
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
Did he deserve that first tazzing?
Yes
Did he deserve the next 4?
Yes.
And probably a dozen more. He was trespassing and fighting the police. If the guy had somehow managed to break a cop's nose while he was resisting, which is far more harmful than a little tasing, no one would be giving any sympathy to the cop.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
2) I already said that it was "maybe excessive". I just don't feel one bit of empathy for the dipshit. He wanted to pick a fight with the authorities.
Whether the cops overreacted because they were nervous, stupid or acted appropriately is something that I am sure people will debate on and on about. I do think the guy started a situation and escalated it (as the cops may have done as well). I dont see him as a blameless victim. Why would he do such a thing over a Library ID card? The spouting about the patriot act and so forth may be a clue. If you walk around believing that we live in some sort of police state (and you may be right, Im not arguing that) you have to understand you now have a chip on your shoulder and have introduced the possibility that you are going to escalate any stupid issue of not having your library card (or anything involving a confrontation) into a point against living in a police state. That may be the goal whether its conscious or not.
My cousin has been a policewoman in Australia for 20+yrs, she has also won the state female championships in marshal arts and could kick your AC butt senseless without raising a sweat.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.