University of Florida Police Brutality

[genocidal]

Yesterday at a John Kerry forum a student was asking a question about Kerry's involvement in the Skull and Bones. His mic was cut due to profanity (allegedly) and he began shouting out. The cops all grabbed him and were pulling him out. The rest you can see for yourself in the video here. He was tasered for about 7 seconds.

We had a bunch of student protests today on brutality etc. Pretty fucked up.

[Facetious]

Had he already been asked to step down, or did a cop just randomly decide to arrest him? It seemed the police refused to tell him what he was being arrested for, which if I'm not mistaken, they have to, right?

[Kolar]

There was an incident at U of T a while back, police were using the tazer on this kid to get him to comply with their orders. He refused to show photo ID or didn't have any can't remember. They did it repeatedly over a few minutes. The police nearly caused a riot over it. Causing someone pain in an attempt to get them to comply is not right to me, it's no different then kicking the kid in the face. This weapon should only be used to subdue a dangerous suspect when lethal force is not warranted and where overwhelming force or the risk to the officers is too great.

[RednaZ]

I dunno about this really. I don't like people getting tazered or anything, but I don't much like people who are too stupid to not get tazered either.

[Reaver]

There was an incident at U of T a while back, police were using the tazer on this kid to get him to comply with their orders. He refused to show photo ID or didn't have any can't remember. They did it repeatedly over a few minutes. The police nearly caused a riot over it. Causing someone pain in an attempt to get them to comply is not right to me, it's no different then kicking the kid in the face. This weapon should only be used to subdue a dangerous suspect when lethal force is not warranted and where overwhelming force or the risk to the officers is too great.

Yea I gotta agree, this is just ridiculous. It's all too easy to watch the video and become emotional and get angry. So thinking logically, I believe something like this should only be used when there is a possible threat to the police officers and in no other cases. Even if the person refuses to comply while being hand cuffed or anything like that simply doesn't warrant this in my opinion; only when the person poses a possible threat to the police officers or someone else.

[Kolar]

I was wrong, UCLA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs

[Galleleo]

So I saw part 1 2 and 3, from what I could tell. His mic got shut off, he hardly said another word and the police was already dragging him down the isle. Then he got wrestled to the ground, handcuffs got put on and THEN he got tasered. Why? He kept asking why he was getting arrested and not once did I hear anyone respond.

[genocidal]

Had he already been asked to step down, or did a cop just randomly decide to arrest him? It seemed the police refused to tell him what he was being arrested for, which if I'm not mistaken, they have to, right?

I'm not sure at what point he was under arrest. The video covers basically the whole incident. Yes, you have to be told why you're being arrested but I think in their minds he was still resisting. The officers have been suspended and they're investigating it.

I dunno about this really. I don't like people getting tazered or anything, but I don't much like people who are too stupid to not get tazered either.

The funny part of it is him repeatedly saying "don't taser me" and yet they did it anyway after all five of them had him pinned on the ground and in handcuffs.

EDIT: Here is a better video.

[WuTang420]

they're not required to tell you till they book you at the station, then your booked on said charge

[Money]

i expect many euro opinions on this matter

[gran guerrero]

on top of that they shut off his mic for no reason, how is this democratic? how is this just? wtf, I hear ppl always saying Americans aren't political enough, we're too apathetic. want to know why? THIS IS WHY. fucking ppl are being hushed for questions they dont want to answer and are getting butt fucked by pigs with tazers.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

Here's the deal, though. I'm as big of a "freedom of speech advocate" as anyone on these boards, but I think there also is a point at which "free speech" just becomes ridiculous blather. I watched the other parts of that video, and it just sounded like the guy was some sort of Alex Jones wannabe who had just read a website and had his panties in a huge twist. Want to know about his involvement in Skull & Bones? There's more reasonable ways to ask, and more appropriate times to ask.

Was it right to escort him out of the auditorium? I think it's not unreasonable that he would have been. Should he have been tased? Probably not. That's probably where there was an actual error in judgement on the police's part. Then again, I wasn't trying to restrain him and don't know what he was doing.

[Dameon Angell]

I remember that UCLA video. The kid was screaming in a Library over some insane "freedom of speech" prattle. Kid had it coming.

Same thing for this guy, he was resisting arrest and screaming like a baby.

[Kolar]

This excuse that "he had it coming" " he was looking for trouble" doesn't mean he should be treated harsher or any differently by police. The other issue is that these weapons are being used improperly by campus police. Put the political and hippie freedom of speech thing aside for a minute. This is causing pain in another human being, to have them submit to your authority. I know it's hard to empathize with these kids because they are 9 times out of 10 trying to make a scene but it still doesn't make their treatment any more justified.

[ConcreteSchlyrd]

I agree in thinking that tasers are over-used by police. But I take pause when I say this, because it isn't my ass trying to subdue an erratic-acting stranger.

I don't want to be tased, but then again, if I were a cop I wouldn't want to have my nose broken by some jacked-up loony, either. The guy was jumping around like crazy, waving his arms all over the place. Why didn't he just say "alright guys" and walk out? If he got arrested, he could go to the ACLU or (better yet) the news and talk about how he got "shut down." People would listen.

Like I said, you or I might think that the treatment is over-used, but you and I aren't police officers. I know if I were an officer, I'd be doing everything I could to make sure as little harm came to me as possible. So it's kind of a tough call.