.. the STUDENT being critical of their actions...who had every right to be in the building, was told to leave or he would be tazed, too.

Fire the lot of them. We have seen all too clearly (seen here by the needless death of Victoria Snellgrove) that police when given a "less" or "non" lethal weapon will, unless tightly regulated and policed themselves, abuse those weapons.

I take it this young man was an actual student at UCLA. I hope he sues the university police for everything they are worth.

All this for simply not having his ID with him.
Ludicrous

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Tazers are used to incappacitate.

Taze him.. then give him an order you KNOW he can't obey.. specifically because you just tazed him.. then, big man... taze him again for not obeying you.

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two words: MAJOR LAWSUIT.

Bastards. The student is clearly heard in the video saying "I can't stand up!" in response to the police officers demanding he stand up. So what do they do? Tase him again.

Thank God the Dems won control of Congress, 'cause the police state certainly would have had police officers like these on their side to keep the "masses" in control. Scary. F*cking. Sh*t.

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campus security cops or security guard behaviour. Yes, real cops can be bad and, yes, according to the law many campus cops have the same (sometimes greater) authority than regular police BUT the campus cops and security guards have far less training. These positions also attract the people that couldn't make it to become a real cops or troopers. These people crave violence and confortation and don't have training in dealing with people especially students (let's face it its probably harder to deal with a college kid whose high on his knowledge of his rights than a normal criminal who, generally, knows the system and that you truely have no rights under the system.)

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The purpose of the Taser is to provide a non-lethal method to prevent an attack against the officer.

This was a clearly illegal act. The suspect was on the ground. Despite the fact that he was not cooperating with the officers, he was not threatening or attacking them. The officers repeatedly Tased him anyway.

These officers should be prosecuted for assault & battery.

(from) California Penal Code

242. A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence
upon the person of another.

244.5. (b) Every person who commits an assault upon the person of another
with a stun gun or taser shall be punished by imprisonment in a
county jail for a term not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in
the state prison for 16 months, two, or three years.

.

(from) INITIAL STATEMENT OF REASONS ( P.O.S.T.)
Standardized Content for Electronic Weapons Courses - Regulation 1084

According to survey data published by the California Police Chiefs Association in June 2005, the majority of California law enforcement agencies authorize the use of electronic weapons (more than 72% of police departments surveyed). However, the use of electronic weapons as a force option has brought unwanted publicity and controversy to law enforcement. Some deaths have occurred following the use of electronic weapons.

.

from Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project

What is it like to be incapacitated by a Taser weapon? When fired the Taser propels two barbed darts with trailing wires that attach to the skin or clothing. Upon impact a 50,000-volt electric shock is discharged into the victim for a period of five seconds. Whilst the barbs remain attached this discharge can be repeated multiple times by pulling the trigger again (and again). The immediate effects are debilitating. The current causes involuntary muscle contraction and extreme pain. The victim completely loses control over their body and falls to the floor until the current stops. The whole experience is both painful and degrading. So much so that in 1997 Robin Cook, the then Foreign Secretary, considered electro-shock weapons, including Tasers, amongst equipment “designed primarily for torture”, saying that the UK Government would “press for a global ban.” In the intervening years the marketing of electro-shock weapons has changed significantly but their profound effects remain.

linked text
.

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Apparently the student reprimanded had a medical condition that he told officers about before being tasered and even worse, he was a Muslim. I can't even imagine the legal consequences coming from this. This video is almost unwatchable and the screams for help are heart-breaking. I didn't know whether I was watching a police video or the trailer for Saw 3. This is just beyond sick and there was absolutely no reason for it. As a college student, I'm appalled.

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and instead of giving a damn about those 18000 lives, the fakeLeft is obsessing over trivia like an idiotic encounter between some shrill and callow college student and some pigheaded rent a cop. Situation normal.....

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The term I am referring to is "Kill the pigs".

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Why wasn't there anyone there from the University with authority to stop this! Is it just security guards at night or what! Was this even at night? Ulltimately, there must be someone who works for the University available to witness these kinds of events. Someone who has authority over these officers.

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It would serve justice for some astute vigilantes to hunt these criminal cops down and wait for the appropriate monents and tazer them until they scream bloody murder like the guy they were torturing and defecate themselves and then post it on the net.
If enough people hels scum like those so called cops accountable on a regular basis and put the fear of god in them maybe they would not be so fast to abuse people knowing what might be coming their way.
I am sure there are some people out there with military or law enforcement special ops backgrounds who would be more than happy to help sanction these monsters masquerading as cops.
Would love to see the scumbags given a generous serving of what they are dishing out.

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The media and most citizens deify police as "heros" and protectors of the people. Well,...best think again. the FBI,...CIA,...NSA,...police departments, they all exist for one reason. to enforce the law,...to obey w/o question the orders of their superiors. If those superiors say, "Haliburton,...here's 935 million dollars. take it and build me some "detention" centers. Don't tell the public where, or for what,...just build them. then let's say the corporate media starts telling the sheeple about a "radical" and "terrorist" group of students planning horrible things? then the president uses his newly gained power under the Military commissions act to declare them enemy combatants....then your "heros" in all those police departments begin rounding up the kids and their supporters and sending them away to those "detention" centers....are they still heros? when they're ordered to move them to the edges of large pits and to begin putting bullets in their heads,....still heros? remember, they're "just following orders" learn this,...there are no heros....only heroic deeds committed by average people and the vast majority of them are not in a uniform or swat gear "serving the public".

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I sincerely hope that the officers involved here are investigated. There is absolutely no way that this sort of action can be justified. I personally have been shocked by an amount of voltage, similar to that produced by a taser. The result? I was rendered very week, dazed, in quite a bit of pain, and for a good minute or two--unable to stand.

So why then, might I ask, are these "trained professionals" commanding this individual to stand up immediately after being hit by a massive jolt of electricity? I can only reason that a) they didn't know what they were doing or b) they didn't want to do the right thing to begin with.

Frankly, if 2 officers aren't capable of pinning someone to the floor by the shoulders and cuffing an unarmed and individual who has been hit with a taser, I really don't think they need to be in that line of work. I couldn't tell exactly how many times this person was hit, but it seemed like at least 3 from the screaming in the video.

Of course, we can all reason that the student should have remained calm and simply complied with the officers to begin with, but we can only assume at this point that the officers in question acted in a civil manner initially on both a physical and verbal level. Either way, in the video I see no justification for the action taken. Period.

Lastly, please do note that I have the utmost respect for law enforcement officials and all those that donate their time to public service--until I see them engaged in behavior such as this. This is absolutely unacceptable.

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it's time to use force against police brutality. in a democracy, we, as citizens, have the right to fight back injustice like in this case. with the exception of two students, it seems, throughout the video, that nobody else is helping a fellow in need. in any democracy in the world, this would not happen: the blue pigs would be in the hospital.
in this case, there's no much reaction on the part of the students. fear is all around. we definitely are living under a dictatorship.

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I DEMAND CHARGES HELD ON THESE NAZI COPS!! THESE MONSTERS(COPS) NEVER SHOULD BE AROUND CHILDREN! THEY ARE DANGEROUS!THESE COPS AND EMPLOYERS OF,SHOULD BE SUED!THIS HAS TO STOP! SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO THIS UNLAWFULNESS TO OUR PEOPLE AND CHILDREN!!!

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The officers went to far and should be disciplined in some way. However, the writer doesn't give us a complete picture of what took place from beginning to end, and we are expected to judge by just viewing and hearing the latter part of the altercation between the student and the police officers.

Was the request by security for the student to leave within the authority of campus security where the student could not produce proper ID? Was the student asked to leave more than once by security? Was he a "smart ass" to the campus security, or, later, the police officers, when asked to leave? Was there a reason for the student's delay in leaving after being requested to leave by campus security? Were the computers owned by the university and use restricted to those with proper university ID? What was the time differential from the time that the student was requested to leave by campus security and the police officers arrived at the scene? I am assuming that the officers did not come in "shooting." What did the officers say to the student when they got there and how did the student respond? These are questions that I would like to see answered before there is a rush to judgment of 100% right action on the part of the student and 100% wrong action on the part of the police officers.

Perhaps the answers to these questions might not excuse the use of a taser in this instance, but they would enter into a judgment of "without cause." The quick conclusion on the part of the writer that the use of the taser by the police officers was "without cause" bothers me, and I think there was likely more to the incident than is reported here in this out of context video. The police officers' judgment in a taser gun may have been faulty, but was it "without cause?"

Insofar as regulations of the use of tasers by police officers, that is definitely needed. Taser guns are not toys, and can, in the right circumstances, kill. Unfortunately, even if use of a taser is justified, how can the user tell if the recipient has a medical condition that would make use of the taser life-threatening? Usually an "interview" with the intended recipient as to his medical condition prior to its use is not practical.

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Let alone home of the brave. What a joke! Stand up, Stand up , Stand up ad infinitum. Keep your 'democracy' to yourselves and leave the rest of the world alone.

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So, that was disturbing! What was this kid charged with eventually? I'd like to see the followup to this covered. Some investigative reporting would be nice. Who was this kid? Who are the cops? What was the crime? People's reactions...interview who was there that night.

Thank You. Peace,
Kris

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This was a very frustrating thing to watch. Or should I say hear. The person who shot this incident seemed to be hiding behind any person or object he or she could. Why? Was he or she afraid that they would get tased as well? Come on, just a little bit of balls would have made this story a whole lot clearer. One way or the other.

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Does anyone think this would have happened if the student’s name was Chris Smith? I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly?) that Mostafa Tabatabainejad looks middle-eastern and that his appearance was a major reason for this egregious over reaction. I am a UCLA alum and I often went to the library without ID. As a white woman I imagine this is not how things would have gone, even if I had refused to immediately leave. The inherent racial aspect of this event should be at the forefront of our discussion since I feel like it was at the heart of the reason if even happened in the first place.

As an extension of this discussion, shouldn’t we also be drawing the parallel to the whole notion of a national ID card. If I run to the grocery store and forget my card, can the police taser me? Arrest me? What if I look non-white? How often would I be required to prove to some racist cop that I have a right to be anywhere?

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I saw the video. How many times the police told the guy to "Get up"??? Please count and explain this guy's actions and how he just "couldn't get up".

You simply can't. But even take a step further: How did it escalate to the point of trouble?

Any intelligent person at the first sign of trouble would think: "I'm caught. No ID. Leave now." It's over. End of story.

There were choices for that student to make at that point. The best choice? Leave quickly and quietly.

But no.

It had to escalate.

And when it did, he should have known that (1) I'm making a fool out of myself, (2) I'm disturbing the other patrons in the library right now (for whatever reason), (3) These people (police) are serious, I better cooperate and leave now.

Nobody can justify why this guy started this trouble. Immaturity, spoiled nature, pride, ego. For WHATEVER reason, he felt he should stay. He just HAD to be in that library. And he couldn't leave quickly when he was told to.

It was his fault. That's where this whole story begins and ends.

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The University of Californias (including UCLA) appear to have Student Conduct policies which include 102.16 (no, I don't know why this number), which begins "Failure to identify oneself to, or comply with the directions of, a University official or other public official, acting in performance of his or her duties. ..."

I was suprised to see this and cannot find anything like it in the Student Conduct policies of either of the Washington schools (WSU and UW) or at the University of Oregon. However, this is part of the Student Conduct Policies, and, as such, should be referred to the UCLA Student Affairs for "discipline" or whatever. Nowhere does it indicate that the police should be involved in this policy; nor do the Conduct Policies indicate that a student must carry his or her student ID card at all times.

This is an outrageous use of force for the police (the campus cops) to use for "failure to identify oneself..." Fascism seems well established in the US; especially in encounters with people of color, or who just look "funny." Any of us could be next.

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setting: UCLA, famed institution, perhaps birthplace of the hippie generation's ethos.

time: Future. Foreign policy has inverted and policing against themselves, Americans find their hollowed core 'values' rotting with racism, fear, self-loathing. UCLA becomes a lightning rod, again, for public discontent.

plot: campus 5-0, playing cop, use their 'big boy' toys to torture a racially identifiable/profilable student while screaming ironies at him.

twist: YOU-TUBE, an upstart meme machine availiable visually on-line, spreads the crime in an unexpected fashion, to unintended audiences.

climax: the inevitable courtroom scene, where civil litigation and money polarize focus and the civil and human rights that were violated find a price.

theme: Americans distribute the blame and guilt they feel about the topic of torture by watching it for a few moments, feeling something, then doing nothing with the vain, ostrich-like hope that the courts will do something about it later.

Googleables: Stanley Milgram’s classic 1961 study of obedience, Zimbardo’s famous Prison Study
Symbols: cell phone, Orange(Abu Ghraib), electricity...

denouement: Not really sure. The irony in the story, combined with the technology and temporary tradgedy, leads me to believe, as a struggling writer, i'll never be able to pitch this story unless I find out what the audience WANTS to see happen at the end.

Well, America: I'm just a Canadian. Finish my story for me, won't you?
jasonchouinard@hotmail.com

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I have spent many hours at UCLA's libraries and this was an appalling incident. The police didn't have to use a stun gun. Why? Because the police are all too powerful in our society. It's imagined that the student didn't pose a threat. I don't understand it. It defies logic.
We're a nation where you need some sort of card to go anywhere, do anything; without it you're suspect. The dark side of American life.

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This is the sort of thing that soured a generation of young people on the police. It took nearly 30 years for the police to regain some measure of respect.

The Rodney King and other well-known episodes of police violence were seen by much if not most of the public as (a) isolated incidents ("a few bad apples"), and (b) manifestations of racism. When the police feel free to torture unarmed white college kids in public, it has implications far beyond the misfortune of this one young man.

And this time around, Grandma and Grandpa will remember what their run-ins with cops were like. Those weren't the cops you saw on the Andy Griffith Show or on a Norman Rockwell calendar; these guys were the Manson family in uniform. Gramps and Granny will remember that Kent State and the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968 were bloodbaths, and the cops were the ones running berserk.

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Thank god for tasers or the guards might have shot the poor guy. This is the patriot act at work: don't question authority and march yourself off to Guantanamo.

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I spent time in England some years ago as a military cop. It just appalls me that the young folks they are calling cops are so eager to use this taser device. Since I have never been "tased" I don't know what it feels like, but I can imagine it is not pleasant.

First, whatever happened to carrying a protester away from the scene. There are many "come-alongs" to use, although these may not be effective and and are intended to produce pain. I was trained as an AF cop and that the use of force is always a last resort. Were the police in danger from the boy in handcuffs? What about all of those protests I saw in UK where two bobbies each grabbed an arm and dragged away a protester. Seems like these guys in the video are just plain lazy.

Second, isn't using the taser to produce a desired behavior to pretty damn close to being torture? I mean, the boy is handcuffed and unable assault or flee. Why subject a restrained person to this? Would you do this to a member of your own family?

You folks posting before me mention the US turning into a police state...I don't know about that, but I don't hear too many people I know questioning the ever increasing brutality and power of the police.

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You cannot taser someone for simply not getting up. People engaged in civil disobedience have been getting carried/dragged away for years (Not that I'm suggesting that this student was displaying civil disobedience but you get the point...). There will be a lawsuit....and the cops will somehow get off. You can take that to the bank.

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The main message of this video is clear: these cops were clearly enjoying the power they had to make a young man scream in agony. These guys are precisely the kind of cops who give a bad name to the many good people in law enforcement.
No apologies for what the student did, and no apologies for some of the commentators here who think Security didn't have full reason to be concerned about an uncooperative young middle Eastern guy, with a backpack, no ID, and belligerent, in the middle of a University library in LA.
But I wonder if the defenders of the police actually watched this video, and if so, whether they might not need a little help themselves. It reminds me of the incident a few years ago when cops carefully swabbed pepper spray into the eyes of Earth First protesters who had chained themselves together, this done unapologetically in full view of a news video camera. Lots of screaming in agony on that one too, which the sadistic commentators here may want to check out if it is available. Assuming that some therapy isn't on your list of things to do, I'm sure it will turn you on, if you can find it.

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