Student tasered at John Kerry forum Update: A University of Florida student/eyewitness shares what he saw; 12:15 pm Eastern 9/18 update: Another UF student speaks; Update: UF president schedules 2pm press conference…plus: Andrew Meyer, professional taunter
Update 7:30am Eastern 9/19. Just like my sources said yesterday, Meyer is a publicity-seeking stunt boy:
Police have released the incident report detailing the Tasering of a University of Florida student during a campus forum with Sen. John Kerry Monday, and the officer who actually Tasered Andrew Meyer wrote in the report that Meyer later told police, “You didn’t do anything wrong.” In the 12-page report, which gives accounts of the incident from the perspective of eight different officers who were present Monday afternoon, Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present. “As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again,” Mallo wrote.
Putz.
Andrew Meyer, Taser Provocateur: Don’t taze me, bro
Update 830pm Eastern. The mugshot in case you haven’t seen it:
I’m sure it’ll be printed on “FREE ANDREW MEYER” t-shirts and sold right next to the “FREE MUMIA” hoodies at the next World Can’t Wait confab coming to your town. My favorite blog headline so far: “Tased and confused.”
Update 3:10pm Eastern 9/18. MSM-employed blogger Matthew Felling bemoans how video elevates a story. I think his real, underlying complaint is that it’s no longer just dinosaur broadcast producers with a monopoly on TV news footage who get to decide.
Update 1:15pm Eastern 9/18. Jawn. Kerry. Speaks. More here. Kerry claims he wasn’t aware of the tasering until after he left the campus. Hard to believe he didn’t hear all of Andrew Meyer’s caterwauling as he sat on stage. Then again, Kerry’s always been tone deaf.
One of my UF sources, Tyler Antar, took photos of the incident on his cellphone. Here’s a photo of Kerry in the crowd after his speech:
Update 1:00pm Eastern 9/18. Another UF source, alumnus Tony C., writes:
Here is a website containing old columns written by tasered UF journalism student, Andrew Meyer. I thought you might find them interesting.
It’s evident from some of his writings, that he is nothing but a spoiled little kid in constant need of attention. In one of the “personal stories” he brags about taunting Ken Griffey, Jr. at a baseball game. Now, I enjoy a good heckle as much as the next guy, but it’s just supposed to be fun entertainment at a game. In his story, he is so proud of himself that he was important enough for Griffey to take notice, not to mention all the people around him at the game. He felt the need to brag about the incident to everyone online, as if we are all supposed to be impressed.
If you watch the video of his arrest, you can see that the same mentality is on display here. He wanted to get arrested from the beginning. He was basically goading the police into doing something by shouting “what are you going to do, arrest me?” Well, Andrew, yes… When you repeatedly ignore orders to peacefully leave, that’s what happens.
As a former University of Florida student, I’m glad that they are making attempts to control these public speaking events. The university works hard to bring in speakers of all viewponts (admittedly more liberals than conservatives), and these are a valuable resource available to the students. Too many times, I have witnessed these events being hijacked by students who have no intention of contributing anything to the discussion in a civil manner. They simply want to use these events as a platform for their own crazy conspiracy theories.
Update 12:40pm Eastern 9/18. This thing is eclipsing O.J. Just obtained this e-mail from the UF president:
To students, faculty, staff:
I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.
We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:
*University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.
*Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
*We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.
*Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.
*Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.
I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.
Sincerely,
J. Bernard Machen [president, UF]
Update 12:15pm Eastern. 9/18. The usual protest mob is preparing to protest the University of Florida tasering incident. Meanwhile, I’ve heard from a second UF student source. Justin J. Klatsky is a law school student at UF, with many astute observations and questions:
Several videos are circulating showing Andrew Meyer’s crazed questioning and the aftermath, but are these videos being edited with a political motivation behind them? Tyler Antar’s information about what led up to the confrontation has been confirmed by several other students, and one such student posted on a Facebook group friendly to Meyer:
“As much as I concur that this was excessive force, let me remind you what led to this:
Andrew spoke up after the Dean of International Affairs had stated final question. The final question was being asked about Israel, and then Andrew got on the mic on the other side of the room (noting he was next on the mic), and then proceeded to tell Kerry that its not fair not to be able to ask more questions after listening to him for an hour, and the Dean exclusively asking Kerry questions for another 45 minutes, leaving students 25 minutes to ask questions. At that point, the officers try to subdue him, but Kerry sternly told the police officers to back down. Kerry then asked Meyer if he can finish the other question and then proceed to his. Meyer consented. After the last question was answered, Kerry asked Meyer, what is your question. Then you enter the video that has been circulating around, where he asks his question, not before Accent Speaker’s Bureau president, Stephen Blank (in some videos, front row left side of right aisle), signals the AV guys to cut Meyer off. Meyer then was confused what happened, and then was dragged up the auditorium. Meyer kept screaming why is he being arrested. The other videos do not show that Meyer was handcuffed, before he was tasered. I sat in the back row, with this occuring less than 5 feet from me.”
Police (or security) are often present when important guests speak at college campuses – I should know, I was President of the Johns Hopkins College Republicans when you spoke there a few years back. Never in my experience are police as close and as focused on a questioner as the police in the videos, which should spark some questions from the media about the sources and length of the proffered videos that purport to show an unbiased look at the truth.
The people offering these videos claim to be offering an unbiased view of the events. As I type this to you now CNN had a video and interview with one of its “IReporters,” a UF student that filmed the incident, and the student’s video has her standing next to Meyer when his question started. What made her film him then?
I do not mean to suggest that every video was planned by Meyer as part of his plan to capture his lunatic rantings, but instead that the people submitting the videos should have the integrity to show the incident in its entirety. These videos are out there, since many of the attendees were likely filming the entire speech – it is not everyday that a failed presidential candidate comes to UF.
The creative cuts shown of the videos cannot even be blamed on the MSM, because even on YouTube and Facebook the videos are cut to focus only on the question and the ensuing events. The MSM does deserve the blame for not asking these questions about the videos and what went on before the question started.
I have two explanations for why these questions are not being asked and why the videos have been only posted in a blatantly biased form. One explanation is that the MSM and the
videographers are acting with clear political intentions and that this is a clear political strategy. The other explanation is just as plausible and perhaps more disturbing – the MSM does not think to ask these questions out of pure lack of ability or incompetence and the students that filmed the event do not even think of how their editing affects the perception of events.The MSM is beyond hope for now, and students are the only hope for the future. These videos suggest that the corruption and crumbling state of higher education, which has been so infiltrated by the pseudo- and un-intellectual false scholarship of the far Left that bias is not even considered or bias is taught as the norm. These videos may be the product of the teachings by Leftist professors that if the facts do not fit your thesis, then ignore them.
Just a few thoughts for your consideration, and I’m sorry to see the moonbats have come home to roost at UF – I thought I had escaped most of them when I graduated from Hopkins,
Justin J. Klatsky
J.D. Candidate
Levin College of Law
University of Florida
Now, compare Klatsky’s informed, calm analysis to this hysterical one likening Meyer to a “pig” being “dragged” to “slaughter.”
Update 10:00am Eastern 9/18. Andrew Meyer’s milking his 15 minutes of fame. Check out his email address: “famouswriterman@aol.com.”
Update 12:15am 9/18. UF student Tyler Antar was there and e-mails his account of what happened. Looks like there was more to the story than meets the eye:
So I went to the John Kerry town hall forum this morning trying to get students registered to vote. I run a student government organization called Chomp the Vote. Anyway I went inside to watch the event. Senator Kerry took the podium and began delivering a speech about the Middle East, Iraq, dimplomacy, etc. Anyway, after he was done, a university ambassador asked Kerry a few premade questions. Once that was over, Senator Kerry announced he would take questions from the students. There were two
microphones placed on each side of the aisle. One on my side and the other on Andrew Meyer’s side. Senator Kerry began answering the student’s questions from each aisle. Eventually it was announced that there would only be a few more questions answered. Since Meyer and I were both in the back of each line, it did not seem likely that our questions would be answered.However, while Senator Kerry was responding to a student’s question, all of a sudden Meyer rushed to the microphone with cops in pursuit. At that point no one knew what was going on. Could he have a gun, a bomb? Immediately, Meyer began yelling into the microphone that he had been waiting in line forever and that Senator Kerry should “spend time to answer everyone’s questions!” Senator Kerry tried to calm the student down by telling him that he would “stay here as long as it takes to get the questions answered.” The police approached Meyer who began taunting them by saying “what! are you going to taser me? are you going to arrest me?!” The police grabbed Meyer, but Senator Kerry asked the
police to let him go and that he would answer his question. Senator Kerry finished answering the other student’s question and then proceeded with Meyer. (*This entire scene is not in any video I can find so far. This is why 2 cops are seen right behind Meyer at the start of some videos*).Meyer approached the microphone and began to talk about a book he had which stated that Kerry won the 2004 election because of disenfranchisement of black voters and faulty voter machines that produced “Bush” as the winner. He then posed another question about why President Bush had not been impeached. “President Clinton was impeached because of a blowjob, why not Bush?”. The third and strangest question he posed to Senator Kerry was asking him if he was part of the skull and bones society with Bush at
Yale. Meyer’s mic cut off after that, probably because he had mentioned the word “blowjob”. The cops grabbed him, but Meyer was able to get away several times. Eventually more cops were brought in to help subdue Meyer. Meyer continued to resist arrest, scream, curse; however he was enventually subdued by about six cops up around the entrance. As he is on the ground, he is told several times to put his hands around his back. He is also warned that he will be tasered if he does not comply. Eventually he is tasered twice. The video does not show whether he complied or not.Senator Kerry was trying to answer his question to the audience, mostly the one about faulty voter machines. I am a die hard conservative Republican but I do respect Senator Kerry for trying to soothe the situation as best he could and trying not to escalate the situation. He DID intervene by letting the student at least present his question. I never received an opportunity to ask my question, but when Senator Kerry ended the show after the Meyer incident, he did come off stage to shake hands and give autographs. At that point, I was able to ask him my question, shake his hand, and get a autograph at the same time. Now why couldn’t Andrew Meyer do that?
I don’t know if this is relevant or not, but Andrew Meyer is a former sports writer for the school newspaper The Alligator. In his columns, he has been known to make ridiculous statements in order to gain attention for himself. Was today a publicity stunt?
Tyler also sends this link to another video of the incident that gives a different angle and length of the event.
***
Everyone’s sending me the video of the University of Florida student tasered at a John Kerry forum today. The police start to take him away as he’s challenging Kerry on the Dems’ failture to contest the 2004 election. The student takes one last jab at Kerry, questioning whether he is a member of a “secret society.” It degenerates from there:
Stop the ACLU wants the ACLU to get involved.
Ace points out liberal/conservative speaker security double standards.
The Gainsville Sun reports:
U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s speech at the University of Florida came to a dramatic close Monday, shortly after a vocal audience member was hauled off by police and shot with a Taser gun.
The audience member was preliminarily identified by UF officials as Andrew Meyer, a UF student in the College of Journalism and Communications.
Toward the conclusion of Kerry’s UF forum, Meyer approached an open microphone at the University Auditorium and demanded Kerry answer his questions. The student claimed that University Police Department officers had already threatened to arrest him, and then proceeded to question Kerry about why he didn’t contest the 2004 presidential election and why there had been no moves to impeach President Bush.
A minute or so into what became a combative diatribe, Meyer’s microphone was turned off and officers began trying to physically remove him from the auditorium. Meyer flailed his arms, yelling as police tried to restrain him.
He was then pushed to the ground by six officers, at which point Meyer yelled, “What have I done? What I have I done? Get away from me. Get off of me! What did I do? … Help me! Help.”
Police threatened to user a Taser on Meyer if he did not “comply,” but he continued to resist being handcuffed. He was then Tased, which prompted him to scream and writhe in pain on the floor of the auditorium.
You know what the lamest part is? Listening to impotent John Kerry’s voice droning apathetically during the entire incident.
***
Update: Speaking of tasers, did you know that immigration officers cannot use them against illegal aliens in federal detention facilities? Yep. Tom Tancredo is challenging the differential treatment. Too bad Meyer didn’t claim he was “undocumented”…
Update: A few more details…
Meyer was charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, according to Alachua County jail records. No bond had been set. Meyer was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, a jail official said. It was not known if Meyer had an attorney.
***
Commenter ThackerAgency: “John Kerry should have stopped it. Great ‘leader.’”
Commenter TrinityTim:
My take is a little bit di[f]ferent. Once the police ordered him to stop and comply he had an obligation to obey the orders of the officers. He could contest the arrest later if he so wished but the officers had no choice but to force him to comply.
After the decision to arrest was made, the student must comply by law. The use of multiple officers was for the protection of both the student and the officers. A one on one fight could have resulted in injuries to either one. Strength in numbers prevented the injury of the student and allowed for the arrest to be completed. The use of the Taser was justified by the continued resistance by the student. If he would have complied with the directives of the officers, the taser would not have been used.
As to why he was ordered to leave the open mic, I don’t know. It looked like the first officer was directed to remove him be someone associated with the forum. The officers seemed to me to be responding to a directive by someone in authority. That’s usually how that works. Officers at such an event would not intervene unless directed to do so.
Bottom line: Student arrested with no injuries to anyone involved.
***
Flashback to another student tasering under much different circumstances: Screaming UCLA student tasered
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Ask a liberal a question they don’t like and apparently you get attacked. Tolerance and free speech, liberal style.
I believe the saying is “Free speech for me but not for thee”, katieanne.
Liberals are notorious in their wishy-washy application of the First Amendment.
When Ward Churchill spoke here at UW-Whitewater, a group of counter protesters stood outside to voice their objections to Churchill’s “little Eichman” comment.
Liberals saw that as silencing Churchill and wanted the protesters arrested…even though Churchill got to speak and wasn’t uninterrupted by said protesters.
Meanwhile, liberals throw food at, shout down, and all-around harass conservative speakers and they’re merely engaging in noble civil disobedience. You know, dissent is patriotic and all that.
Panties on the head = torture.
Ask Lerch uncomfortable questions, whip out the taser.
Granted, the young man seemed over the edge.
Probably a Troofer.
You’re right though, it’s really pitiful how Kerry just kept rambling on.
I don’t think there was anything wrong with what the young man asked John Kerry. It was kind of a snotty question but John Kerry could have easily answered with a quick reply. It didn’t have get to that level.
WOW! Just WOW! I can’t believe I just saw that. Sure it was crazy the whole ’secret society’ thing. . . but where are these guys during the ‘truther’ debates?
I mean I’ve seen ridiculous disruptions of meetings by ‘code pink’ and nothing near this happened. Unbelievable! Talk about police overkill. That guy did nothing wrong and threatened no one. It was 8 officers against one guy.
John Kerry should have stopped it. Great ‘leader’
Update Florida:
450 Lawyers were seen by witnesses trampling over one another leaving Tropicana field in a wild dash. Film at 11:00
j F’n Skerry indeed.
That “protester” was pathetic.
Okay, so he looked like a nut, but so did all of those morons demonstrating against the war this last weekend. No one arrested them for asking loud, obnoxious questions.
He resisted arrest (or whatever you call it) and was tased, but what right did they have to lay hands on him for speaking at an OPEN MIKE in the first place?
I agree with Michelle, the lameset part is hearing JFnK droning on and on. Why didn’t he fight for this guys rights? Why didn’t he speak up for the downtrodden?
sKerry was down right creepy as he authoritatively spoke during the incident. Him and eGore have this type of thing coming by refusing to accept their defeat in fair elections.
Thanks! I feel so much better now.
It was obvious from early on that he wasn’t going to leave that mic without a fight.
And when the police says your time at the mic is up, and you start flailing and whining and yelling, don’t expect a pat on the back as they escort you out the door.
Good thing for the police that he was not an illegal alien…
Look at that brat in the yellow shirt in the background, sitting there grinning, laughing while someone is being arrested for asking a question. Look at the rest too – bored, embarrassed, smiling. There’s the “majority” party.
What a bunch of little thugs.
Michelle could draw a bigger crowd than that for a book signing in Bumfuzzle, FLA
My take is a little bit diferent. Once the police ordered him to stop and comply he had an obligation to obey the orders of the officers. He could contest the arrest later if he so wished but the officers had no choice but to force him to comply.
After the decision to arrest was made, the student must comply by law. The use of multiple officers was for the protection of both the student and the officers. A one on one fight could have resulted in injuries to either one. Strength in numbers prevented the injury of the student and allowed for the arrest to be completed. The use of the Taser was justified by the continued resistance by the student. If he would have complied with the directives of the officers, the taser would not have been used.
As to why he was ordered to leave the open mic, I don’t know. It looked like the first officer was directed to remove him be someone associated with the forum. The officers seemed to me to be responding to a directive by someone in authority. That’s usually how that works. Officers at such an event would not intervene unless directed to do so.
Bottom line: Student arrested with no injuries to anyone involved.
Looks like the poor guy may need further electro-shock therapy.Sorry about that.
“Respect my authority!”
– Cartman
@trinitytim
Is that what you see? Because what I see is a guy in a suit (does campus security wear suit & tie or was that one of Kerry’s men?) slice his hand in front of his throat in a “cut his mic” motion. He doesn’t do this at the beginning of the question, it’s only when the words “Skull & Bones” come out of the guy’s mouth that his mic gets cut. What I see is a guy being cut off not because he’s taking too much time, but because of the question that he was asking.
He was in no way violent until the cops instigated. They didn’t put their hands on his arm and try to coax him out, they grabbed both his arms and began to pull, what would you do? Well trained officers would have know that this was going to trigger the moonbat’s “fight or flight” instincts and would have tried to de-escalate the situation instead escalating it like they did. The guy is over six feet tall and a woman and a much shorter guy officer think they will be able to drag him out of the building without any violence? You seem to think that their motivation for tasering him was to prevent injury to him or the audience, do their actions really show this? Did they really have safety in mind? And it’s only after two more officers (one of them very large) join in the fight that they taser him, hadn’t they learned proper take-down procedures?
My point is (well one of them anyway), that they guy was exercising his right to free speech. He wasn’t hurting anyone, he was just annoying the guy in the suit. He wasn’t being violent at all until the cops grabbed him and then he reacted in a way that the officers (or their bosses) should have anticipated. And then the tased him, not because he was assaulting them, but just to subdue him, to shut him up.
Bottom line: Student’s free speech was denied and you don’t seem to care as long as no one “got hurt.”
Also (and I believe this has been commented on elsewhere), Minute Men have had the stage rushed in pre-planned and pre-announced assaults and no one has been tasered by campus security.
The BIG QUESTIONS now need to be:
1) Who was the suit (are Kerry’s people censoring his Q&A time)?
2) What did Kerry know and when did he know it?
OK, fine. . . at what point is it ‘too much force’? I guarantee you if this were a black student with white cops the NAACP would be on this like . . . well white on rice.
If the guy was a threat I would understand the use of force. Out side of a threat to anyone’s safety, the officers just needed to let him speak there. I say that mainly because of all of the protests I’ve seen with Truthers and Code Pink interrupting conservative forums after being asked repeatedly to leave.
The bottom line is that John Kerry should have intervened at some point. What on earth were all of those officers doing there anyway? My Senator Burr was at a football game with his family without police escort. Anyone at any time could approach him and say anything they wanted. . . and they wouldn’t have been tasered for being either ‘crazy’ or in disagreement.
He wasn’t ‘resisting arrest’. He asked what he was being arrested for. I didn’t hear his miranda rights. . . and I didn’t hear a reason for his arrest. They just tackled him and tasered him. It was a poor effort by enforcement. The guy even said ‘I’ll leave if you let me go’. The guy said ‘Please don’t Taser me’.
At what point does ‘police’ become the criminal? At what point does the ‘leader’ step in and say something to quell the situation? Or at least attempt to without the taser. The police took the opportunity to use the taser because he thought it would be ‘cool’ and he thought he could get away with it. He’s probably been wanting to do that for years.
I will add that I am sensitive to this type of police activity for personal reasons. Not from anything I personally was involved with, but from people I know. This was excessive use of force for a non-threatening participant in a town hall forum.
I was waiting for a response when he asked very clearly ‘what am I being arrested for?’ Saying ‘help help’ doesn’t necessarily indicate that you are in a threatening position either. Were the police saying ‘help’?
Pretty cool you singled me out there Malkster. . . I’m ready for a fight. . . who wants some?!
I watched the video a couple of times. After the mic was cut off, no one asked him to leave; he was grabbed and pulled. That escalated the situation right away. If I’m not mistaken, since he was not posing a danger to anyone at that point, the proper procedure would have been a verbal command versus physical contact. There were no obsenities, no verbal threats and no physical threats displayed. And that scenario could get turned on its head where the police are accused of assault. And the argument will be so what if he resisted arrest? He was the victim of an assault by the very people making the arrest. A vistim of an assault has the right to self defense.
And let’s not forget, this was billed as an “open forum”, where spirited discourse does happen.
Let me add once again I completely disagree with everything that the guy said in the forum. But I’ll be the first to recognize that in this country he has every right to say it without being assaulted by the ‘police’.
I saw the other clip of his statement from start to finish. . . that’s how I know I disagree with EVERYTHING he said. It was as absurd as the Truthers, but his statement was actually favorable to John Kerry and the Left for the most part.
I watch reruns of the TV show ‘Cops’ in the hopes of seeing someone idiot get tasered. It’s one of the five funniest things you will ever see.
Ranting moron + taser = side splitting fun
Then again, when the police try and escort youy out civily, you react violently, and resist their every attempt, you get shocked and shackled.
This isn’t rocket science.
He was there to see Kerry. He was on Kerry’s side. It didn’t cross his mind that he was doing anything that he’d need to be ‘escorted out’ for. He wanted to hear the answer to his question (as he said from the other clip). They never asked him to leave. They cut his mic and grabbed him.
It is a town hall question and answer. He asked his question and was escorted out before an answer was given by the guy who should have been in control – Kerry.
nothing here. everyone knows kerry is just following a script he wrote for himself when he graduated from college. no surprise that kerry misjudged the event. he wanted to believe it wasn’t happening, so he went into denial mode. as for the student – when you accept irrational as normal, psychotic episodes are considered creative.
Unless he’s retarded (very possible for either a troother or just a mega-leftie in general), it should have occured to him about the time the cops came up and said he was done.
And cops don’t generally lightly tough someone when they are told to remove them. Establishing firm control is critical as soon as possible. The long you fight for control, the more chances of you getting hurt (not good) or the “other guy” getting hurt (which would doubtlessly end in a lawsuit, also not good).
When the cops grab you and want to remove you, comply. Contest the action later. Right then, you should really just understand that every wild movement you make is a possible threat to the cop.
I care more about the cop than the suspect.
Hey! This kind of thing is only funny until some guy gets tasered.
…and then it’s really, really funny.
For me, in this, there really is no downside. In this fight, no dog do I have. Both side should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
…and then tasered…on camera.
they never told him he was ‘done’. He was there to hear Kerry. In the other clip it shows him talking (not noticing the officers creeping up behind him) and then he says ‘OK, great thanks for cutting the mic’. At that point I would have wanted to hear what Kerry (the guy I asked a question to) had to say. That’s what he said ‘I want to hear an answer to my question’.
They cut his mic and grabbed him. Then he said, ‘what is this?’ Am I being arrested? what am I being arrested for?
At that point, he deserved a firm ‘you are being arrested for xyz’.
He said that he would walk away if they let him go BEFORE THEY TASED HIM.
At no point ever was that kid a threat to anyone. Not any officer, not anyone at the event. I think the officers should have known that.
The officers should have been the professionals who understood he wasn’t a threat. . . not the other way around. That kid would have no idea that he was being arrested BECAUSE HE WASN’T BREAKING ANY LAW!
When the Liberal student decided to RUSH THE MICROPHONE, in a manner which can ONLY be perceived as THREATENING, in these days, looks like he was trying to get himself arrested on purpose, for attention, as the account suggests, and by pursuing an aggressive stance with multiple questions, he must have given Administration who already knew him (if he was a columnist for the school paper) the clear idea he was prepared to go as far as it took to get himself arrested for his publicity stunt – and that the sooner they gave him what he wanted, the less messy things were going to be.
We know that the Liberals have spent 50 years trying to teach everyone that Liberals don’t have to play by the rules, but it doesn’t hurt these Socialist brats to find out different.
He got treated better than the Conservatives do in such cases.
Update Florida:
The 450 lawyers agree to split equally settlement amout of 150 Gizillion dollars.
The kid was a self-absorbed, arrogant jerk (not unlike a certain Senator from Massachusetts). He deserved to be Tasered. My sympathy meter must be broken, because the needle isn’t moving at all.
Okay. Let me try to clarify my position. As I see it, there are 2 separate issues here. First, the decision to arrest and second, the procedures used to effect the arrest.
As I said, I do not know who made the decision to arrest but I can tell you from experience that those decisions are not made lightly. The last thing an officer wants to do in a crowd situation is to run the risk of inciting others in the crowd by arresting or tasing a detainee.
I assume that procedures were established before the event began as to when an arrest would be initiated. Whatever those conditions were, they were obviously met. So, I can’t tell you with certainty who made that decision or why it was made.
Having set up and worked many VIP security details, I can assure you that the safest way to make an arrest is to use overwheming force and do it as quickly as possible. There is nothing less fun than wrestling with someone in a group only to have 5 or 6 of his friends jump on your back. Then you have made a bad situation much worse and much more dangerous.
A Taser in a Non-Lethal use of force. It does hurt but it does not cause permanent injury. The student continued to resist and as long as he did, he perpetuated the situation and increased the risk of escalation. I am convinced that the officers acted properly given the facts as I saw them.
Remember, the Code Pink folks were not simply asked to leave by the officers, they were pulled out and quickly removed by the Capitol Police. Also keep in mind that we do not know rules were announced earlier. All we know is what we saw in that short tape.
#20 Thacker…
Yes this student was asking questions of the police but he was also animated, pulling away, and trying to walk away. An arrest is not a negotiation, it is a procedure.
I am not defending the decision to arrest, I am merely pointing out that it has been my experience that in these events, the officers respond to direction from someone in authority. Once that decision was made the arrest procedure was implemented and the student was required to comply. He did not and he was responsible for the escalation, not the officers.
Anyone being arrested is a potential threat. The loss of one’s freedom tends to bring out the worst in people. Again, the goal is to secure the person as quickly as possible and make sure the situation does not escalate. The longer this guy was ranting and raving, the more likely that others would have tried to intervene. If that happens then things could have been much worse.
Hey, beleive me I am no fan of John Kerry and the more tough questions are asked of him the better I like it.
On September 18th, 2007 at 7:18 am, Clyde said:
The kid was a self-absorbed, arrogant jerk (not unlike a certain Senator from Massachusetts).
I’m sorry, you’ll have to be more specific, as we have two self-absorbed, arrogant Senators here in Massatwoshits.
You’re a conservative Republican and got John Kerry’s autograph????
Stupid.
To those thinking that the little moron’s first amendments rights were violated…There is a line that can’t be crossed when using your mouth. The school also has a right to hold an orderly forum that includes rules and restirctions. No one has a first amendment right to take over such a forum for their personal agenda.
If Kerry is somewhere where there is no organized forum, anyone can run their mouth as much as they want without fear of reprisal. If you’re going to attend an organized forum, speak with it’s your turn and shut-up when it’s not.
Or, to paraphrase Glenn Reynolds, “They said that if George W. Bush was re-elected, people would be punished for exercising their First Amendment right to dissent. And they were right!”
Meyer:
Cops: “Why yes… Yes we are…”
No, he didn’t. The cops don’t have to answer any questioned posed to them by a combative arrestee. They can have a chat when he’s all nice and secured.
I should point out that had he at the very start gone peacefully, he likely wouldn’t have been arrested, much less tasered.
Like Trinitytim said in #34, it isn’t a negotiation, it’s a proceedure. The instant he resisted, and the cops made the decision to handcuff him, he was done having positive imput on the exchange. Had he behaved and gone out, maybe they would have let him go. However, he chose to be combative, near violent. That earns him handcuffs. He then resisted the handcuffs, which earned him a taser.
His actions dictated the officer’s response. He made choices. Poor ones to be sure, but choices none the less.
He gets to live with the results of the choices.
He got exactly what he was wanted. To be videoed as a victim for face time. He is just another fine example of many of the fartsacks attending colleges. His parents must be so proud.
That leftist punk was whining like a little girl…just another example of
what life-long coddling will do to you.
Breaking news:
Barry Manilow has re-scheduled his appearance on “The View”. He has decided to hire these police in the event host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asks him offensive questions.
Having now read the update with the eyewitness account, I see the decision to arrest as completely justified and I stand by my analysis of the arrest itself.
Cha-ching!!!! Inept police using non-lethal force (although 5 cases of wrongful death are gaining traction out here against San Jose police tasering their suspects- tasering can kill) against this loser who probably would have given in had they removed him from the premises and cutoff his audience adrenalin. That was pathetic police procedure.
Kerry sounded like a funeral director through the whole thing. I wonder if TUR-RAY-ZUH has seen this video yet?
Hoped to link this and NB’s http://newsbusters.org/blogs/d-s-hube/2007/09/17/pbs-corrects-blatant-bias-after-letter-writer-complains over at SwiftVets.com…..but they’re off line. No warning, no nothing just the “File Not Found” msg from the server. Traffic’s down to a quiet coffee klatch but it remains an authoritative resource for all things Kerry. It would be a shame not to have this resource for Kerry’s Senate run.
I have to say that at one time I was a strong supporter of cops. Now, I have gone 180 degrees. Something has happened to cops in the last 20 years and it is not for the better. They are much more prone to use force and seem to favor demeaning and restraining anyone they confront. This does not seem to jive in a free society. The argument is that they are protecting themselves, but here a litte common courtesy and calm, patient persuation could have diffused the situation. Instead the cops immediately start a physical confrontation.
Now some of you will say, “but we need them”. Bull, I have had several occasions to request police aid and never, ever received their help. This has included situations in which I have had to defend myself and family. We need to take a close look at cops natinwide and consider what they are doing and how they do it. Just remember Waco.
It is the complete lack of respect for Police that these crazy students just dont understand or get. These are the future Hillary’s of the world.
Sorry, but I can’t watch this without the lines, “Come see the violence inherit in the system. HELP! HELP! I’m being repressed!”
The fool is just a Twoofer who decided to make himself a marytr just to prove that to himself and his ilk that we live in a facist police state.
Although I agree this little winer deserved to get the boot there is questionable police procedure here.
What’s questionable is that they couldn’t get him under control with more than 4 officers. These police were obviously unskilled or unknowledgeable in the necessary martial arts for the situation at hand. The result is the kid was tazered and now it’s a big mess.
Both sides looked like complete morons.
#47 David,
Have you noticed that over the last 20 years violence against police has increased too.
It’s easy to criticize the people who place their lives in the line of fire everytime they go to work. I don’t know where you live but you might want to visit http://www.odmp.org/ to get a fresh perspective.
I’m sure the Miami Dade Police Department or the Odessa Texas Police Department wouldn’t agree with your assessment.
Yup – it’s The Law 1, Whiny Idiot 0.
Good for the police for not letting the goofball disrupt things even further.
davidcaskey
Fortunately for the rest of us, your personal experiences in the last 20 years, bad or not, do not form an accurate representation of the behavior of our nation’s police officers.
My experience, by contrast, is that in that same period there has been a marked improvement in both the professionalism, and capability, of local law enforcement agencies. Waco wasn’t cops. Waco was the ATF, which is not the same.
Kinda reminds me of the same regard illegal aliens have for our immigration procedures. To hell with your rules and my position in line. Screw the other people patiently ahead of me. I’m SPECIAL!!
Whew… I was feeling oh so slightly guilty for giggling and thinking the same thing.
He asks Kerry if he belongs to a Secret Society….well Kerry belongs to a group of incumbent politicians. I don’t think it is a secret that Mass., hardly ever votes, any incumbents out of office.
Side note, ICN is missing Michelle Malkin last night on the Factor. ICN likes their Michelle fix.
http://insidecable.blogsome.com/2007/09/17/random-thoughts/
Yes, reading the reports, he did overstep his bounds.
David: I think you’ve got the situation backwards. It is SOCIETY that is more violent and dangerous, and therefore police need to respond with greater force.
Just watch an episode of “Cops” and see how some thugs treat law enforcement.
Many in society believe the liberal mantra of “If it feels good, do it. Consequences be damned”, so they are shocked – SHOCKED! – to learn there are real, serious consequences for gang violence, drugs, abuse, etc. They feel they shouldn’t get in trouble because who is ‘the man’ to tell them what’s right and wrong.
The Fools in life imitate foolish art.
In this video at the top of this thread, this link to another video he screams out ” anyone seeing me arrested at the Kerry Protest er ah rally” lol, I still see lawyers hovering like a bulldog around a pork chop for this numbskull.
#49 and #54
I did the same thing.
Now this is good TV, you go Tazer Boy!!! I can watch him getting tazered all day. The ACLU is also said, to be taking on Senator Craig’s “Head Case” sorry Bathroom Tapdown…I can’t help myself.
Forgot to add that when the kid got tasered, he likely would have been eligible for a spot with the Ministery of Silly Walks…
@trinitytim
Well, since you’ve “set up and worked many VIP security details” I guess that is the end of the discussion. We both know, good sir, the weight that evidence-less claims of expertise hold in these parts when it comes to winning an argument. Yes, your credentials speak for themselves. I bow to your obvious experience in these matters.
Respectfully,
29Victor
King of Rome
Thacker, I’m with you.
The cops did this ALL wrong, especially from an open mic in a town hall Q&A. The only justification would have been if the Audience were given announcements of whats not allowed and what might happen at the beginning of the day. If this guy were just a little claustrophobic he would have been terrified…I would have been. No one told him a single thing about why they were doing anything to him. Scary to me.
Those cops were wrong. They should know how to diffuse a situation much better as trained cops.
They should have answered the man, THAT would have deescalated the situation.
.
Protect big John Kerry= cop arrogance…imo.
The cops did this wrong for the snippit of video you see.
Judging from the extended discription by someone who was there, I think there might be a bit more to it.
.
IF this is the case…big IF….it would change the situation.
So…I’ll go back to not having an opinion …yet.
First off, the kid WAS resisting arrest the entire time. The only time he didn’t is when the officers used the taser on him. The student should have gone peacefully and contested the arrest to a judge; he probably would have won the case. The problem the police officers are having in this video, is that this kid is bigger, and stronger than most of them. Two of them are a little bigger MM. (MM is much hawter though) In a lot of police departments police have had their night sticks taken away because the of the Rodney King incident. This is political correctness gone bad. As somebody who’s study Martial Arts most of his life I’d rather be hit with a baton than a taser any day of the week. Bear1909 is right tasers can kill. It called excited delirium. As far as Senator Kerry, yes he should have stopped this incident with his “leadership”, although according to his testimony to congress, in Vietnam he didn’t report any of the “crimes” committed by US military. During Vietnam he probably had the same “voice droning apathetically during the entire incident”.
@josetheguerilla
LOL. Yeah, we’ll probably see him in a few months testifying against the campus cops and listing off other atrocities they committed.
They said he was a Communications major. Seems more like a Drama major, though.
Perhaps he had a validated argument coupon from Mr. Barnard rm 12.
He certain won that day’s Twit race…
Was a taser necessary? Wouldn’t a fish slapping have been enough?
For a guy being dragged to slaughter, he’s in remarkably good shape today.
Yeah, he overstepped his bounds. Idiot.
Funny how the police were there to taser him, but that pie-throwers don’t seem to get caught until after they’ve creamed a conservative or two…
Well let me see what politically incorrect comments I can add to this overwhelming collection of opinions. As a person involved in law enforcement my judgment is there most likely was an order given that the individual’s time was up and that his refusal to back off was the signal for police to escort him off. A reasonable person would have complied and stepped down. He didn’t and from all visual evidence immediately assumed an agressive and combative demeanor. This does several things. First, it creates a threat to the citizens in his immediate vicinity and second to the authorities charged with maintaining civility in a public place. The police escalated force to meet his. Instead of walking out he chose to resist vigorously while under arrest and being ordered by the authority (responsible for the protection of all the people there)continuing the escalation. He was warned and chose to escalate. Normal procedure would be not to taser a cuffed person. However, a cuffed person can kick, maim, and deliver a lethal blow to a human while in the cuffed position and fighting to free themselves from the grip of police. If he had done so to one of the students who do you think would be screaming that the police didn’t do their job properly? If he had kicked or head butted a cop..well it can go on. I’ve seen them in the back of a patrol car kicking out door glass and cutting themselves—yes taser or pepper spray is, in my judgment necessary if one is cuffed and still a viable threat, which this little buttercup was. Now for a politically incorrect statement. Some of the cops I saw were small women and obviously were incapable of subduing a man who grew rapidly violent in resistance. A medium sized man most likely, if properly trained, could have used arm bars after he was cuffed and quickly ushered him out. The student chose to thrash and fall to the floor making it harder to control. I’m confident he has had issues with authority and society in general prior to this incident.
I did not know that. But given the preferential treatment they receive in every other respect, it’s not a huge surprise.
Maybe I should leave the country, get foreign citizenship, then sneak back in. The list of benefits is starting to make it look appealing.
# 71 your fish slapping was outstanding. Should be used by all law enforcement.