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Nov.16,2006Fascism is on the rise in California as campus security felt obliged to taser a student at least 4 times for not having his ID in the library. He was on the ground for at least 3 of those tasers, and he is not accused of acting violently. Here’s a quick recap from the campus newspaper:
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell “get off me,” repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
It’s at about this point that the video you’re about to watch begins. The audio is loud and painful to listen to as the student is shocked repeatedly. This video is disturbing to anyone who values freedom. You have been warned!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs]
The video doesn’t have the best camerawork, that’s for sure. But you can get an impression of what happened from it.
A follow-up story in the student newspaper makes clear that the student was handcuffed for at least one (probably more) of the taser shocks. The story also offers some information about the use of tasers:
But according to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal in 2001, a charge of three to five seconds can result in immobilization for five to 15 minutes, which would mean that Tabatabainejad could have been physically unable to stand when the officers demanded that he do so.
“It is a real mistake to treat a Taser as some benign thing that painlessly brings people under control,” said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.
“The Taser can be incredibly violent and result in death,” Eliasberg said.
According to an ACLU report, 148 people in the United States and Canada have died as a result of the use of Tasers since 1999.
My main question is this: How do the campus security officers’ actions protect anybody? During this huge commotion that followed their illegal tasering, anything could’ve happened in that library. Women could’ve been raped in the bathroom. Laptops could’ve been stolen. It could have sparked a riot. So, how do their actions help anything?
It seems to me that these were just a bunch of thugs trying to assert and protect their authority, which is clearly more important to them than human rights or the students’ constitutional liberties.
I am simply disgusted with the actions of the campus security team. First, they caused a scene that didn’t need to happen by laying hands on the exiting student. Second, they tasered the hell out of him when there was no need to. With several officers present and no violent actions on the part of the student there was simply no reason to taser him. Being loud in a library is not a taser-able offense. Third, they tasered him again and again and again as he was lying helpless on the ground! That is absolutely unacceptable.
I can think of no other word but “fascism” to express my feelings about the actions of the officers in this video. Certainly, “abuse of authority” and “police brutality” come to mind, but they don’t really sum up the mindset of the officers fully.
The mindset is the scariest thing. It seems to be that “authority must be obeyed at all times, no matter what.” That is not consistent with the student’s constitutionally protected rights, which place his inalienable rights far above any sort of convenience achieved by granting limited authority to officers of the peace. I’m sure it would be much more convenient to give police officers unlimited power to use and abuse as they saw fit, but such an arrangement is totally incompatible with the concepts of freedom and liberty for which our forefathers fought and died. Freedom is far more important than being quiet in a library or being cooperative with police.
I hope that these “cops” will be fired and arrested for their gross breach of this student’s constitutional rights, not to mention sued for monetary compensation to make up for the excruciating physical pain he must’ve experienced (those screams will stick with me longer than I might wish).
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. All over the country police are acting with impunity as they violate citizens’ rights and trample over civil liberties. I’ve covered some of these including when Miami police shot peaceful protesters with rubber bullets and then laughed and joked about it, or when cops beat and arrested a man trying to get a form to report police brutality. Also disturbing is a video of cops using vicious chokeholds on peaceful protesters.
How can we bring sanity back to our government? Who will protect us from the police? Well, the answer is: No one! We must protect ourselves, and each other. If you witness police brutality, be sure to report it, and capture it on tape if you can. Of course, be careful that you don’t get beaten when you try to file that report.
You can screech back, or trackback from your own site.
This was disgusting, and I’m glad you’re posting articles for people to read on multiple cases of police brutality. I don’t understand why incidents like this don’t get more national attention.
thanks high contrast brains.I’ve found another article that’s related to this. It’s about tasers and the deaths they’ve caused:< HREF="http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2894/" REL="nofollow">http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2894/<>I think it’s clear that the media shies away from stories like these. It doesn’t seem to have a problem with airing propaganda (like “Cops” the show). I can only hope that the internet will step in where the mainstream media has (intentionally) failed.
There are few times in my life where I’ve been angry enough to kill. Seeing that video increased the talley. Can they really wonder why the death of police is celebrated by sections of our society?After seeing this, it’s a lot harder to convince me that those who fight cops aren’t freedom fighters. Oh, and don’t forget, our dear friends the democrats want more police! Such a great idea! We need still greater numbers of moronic assholes like this walking our streets.Those “law” officers should be thrown in prison. Hopefully their fellows in the corrections system will give them some special attention with tasers.
Great post about this horrific incident, which, unfortunately, will stay with me for quite a while.The best thing that anyone has ever said about it was when you said, “Freedom is far more important than being quiet in a library or being cooperative with police.”
I just hope this huge reaction will have an effect on the investigation and help bring justice about.
Hi TJ, Jon & Melantrys.Yep, this incident has certainly raised my blood pressure. The thing that bothers me most is that this is only a big deal because it was caught on film. What about the hundreds (thousands?) of related incidents that never get publicity simply because they weren’t recorded? Something to think about…On a related note, I posted a comment about this story on the BBC’s website and they wrote me back asking if I wanted to appear on their show, “World Have Your Say”. I said okay and I appeared on Friday’s broadcast, about 30 to 35 minutes into the show. They introduced me as “Tim from Minnesota” and I talked briefly about the dangers of Tasers. If you want to check it out, < HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2006/11/stungunned_in_the_library.html#" REL="nofollow">visit this link<>, look on the right column for “Listen again” and then click on the “Friday” link. (if it’s not about tasers and burkhas then you might be too late)It was pretty fun, appearing on BBC radio. I wonder how many people were listening to that program across the world. Kinda weird to think about. < HREF="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/" REL="nofollow">World Have Your Say<> is a pretty cool format. I like how it gives regular people a chance to comment on the news, and gets a lot of different perspectives involved, rather than just having some obviously biased commentator blather on. Cheers to the Beeb!
Have you guys ever been tased before? Thats what I want to know. I am a law enforcement student, I VOLUNTEERED to get tased. Yes, it hurt while I was tased.. but you know what? Everyone in my class got up right away.. it does not imobilize you for up to 18minutes! I’ve watched so many videos of people getting tased… everyone gets ups. I even volunteered to get tased again in the same night, 4 others did to. I am not a big person either if you guys think that has to do with something. I am 5 feet,100 pounds. The cops told him to get up several times, this is very clear… yet he did not. The cops warned him if he would not get up, he would once again get tazed. Yet, he still did not. So what if he was handcuffed? You can still do alot while you’re handcuffed. Do you guys know how many lives the tazer saves? It prevents officers from using lethal force. I know in this suition they would not have to use lethal force… but you guys keep posting how many people the tazer kills. The tazer is generally listed with other factors that, alone, could explain deaths. Example of citedcause of death: “acute methamphetamine intoxication with associated cardiac arrhythmia while engaged in physical struggle with law enforcement officers involving taser gun, pepper spray and restraints. Meaning, this guy is so hyped up on drugs, all this physical action killed him anyways.. he pretty much had a heart attack because he overdosed and the officers found him causing a scene and had to use force on him.. It was not the foce that killed him.. it was because he overdosed. In orange county FL, officer injuries went dow 80%, when down 70% in cincinnati. Lethal force went down 78% in orange county… 78%! they did not need to use lethal force. In Columbus, OH they reported 14 “saves” meaning.. of thoese 14 times they would’ve used their guns if they did not have their tazer. In Miami and Seattle, in 2003, over 12 months without a lethal force shoorting-1st time in over a decade because of the tazer.
SchoolSucks: I won’t argue that tasers can come in handy in certain situations, but I think that tasering someone who is already handcuffed is beyond the pale. It’s torture, abuse, brutality — whatever word you want to use.I certainly hope that when you become a cop you don’t taser anybody who’s handcuffed. You could get in some serious trouble.And this guy didn’t do anything other than lay on the floor while handcuffed. There were at least 3 cops near him who could’ve hauled him out of the library. Tasering was simply not necessary at that point.These cops were using tasers as a shortcut. A good cop is respectful and nonviolent even in the face of craziness. They couldn’t use their minds to convince him to walk so they used force. A much better course would be to simply carry him out of there. Tasers are not the answer to every problem.
I think the key here is that there was zero justification for this act. Police are not authorized to torture. That is all this was, torture.If someone refuses to comply in this case, the choice is obvious: carry them. That tasers can and do save lives is not the point. The point is that tasers should be used when they are an alternative to lethal force.What they did was absolutely wrong. I don’t know what they expected him to do in handcuffs. Perhaps he looked like Houdini. Naturally when confronting someone for the serious crime of ‘not carrying an ID card in a library’ you have to be ready to face a truly hardened criminal. Doubly so when they were already complying with earlier instructions to leave the location.Still, it is a good thing they had tasers. With gross incompetence and regular weapons they probably would have opened fire and shot every bystander who questioned them for good measure.With a competent police agency, this person would have been escorted out and allowed to leave. There was no reason for arrest. There was no justification for any force at all. The first taser blasting was because the man was yelling at them to get off of them. If you wouldn’t shoot someone for that, you shouldn’t be using the taser on them either.Tasers are mostly non-lethal. They can and have killed people. Pre-existing health conditions can make those wonder toys killers. These officers clearly didn’t think of that. Or maybe they simply didn’t care if they might be killing this man.
Hey, peanut butter can kill! How can you say that 50KV won’t kill someone? Yes, he sounded about as intelligent as a cop. Like TJ stated above, most cops are bullies who found their place in society…bullying! Let’s not forget that while this captive in handcuffs was on the floor being tasered for the 3rd time, there were at least 4 cops standing around him. WTF! 4 on 1 and the 1 was handcuffed with 50KV running through him?!? Lay off the doughnuts, fatasses!These Dunkin-dipshits need to train physically and get their bodies in shape. They also should go to school and get their minds up to snuff as well.
This was fucking bullshit. What is up with these police? You article was right on. Haven’t they even been trained that a person could be immbolized after being tazored? They need to be in jail.