UCLA student tasered by police multiple times in library

WTF... It'll be fun to see how they try to justify hitting someone with a taser multiple times.

That's awful. I hope some people are going to rot in some jail cells over this. Both the officers involved and anyone down at the station who dares defend them. Look at that mountain of evidence: several people were recording it with dozens if not hundreds of witnesses.

My question is, why did no one bother to help the guy? Sure, they demanded some badge numbers, but they didn't step in or anything.

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Original post by CrimsonSun That's awful. I hope some people are going to rot in some jail cells over this. Both the officers involved and anyone down at the station who dares defend them. Look at that mountain of evidence: several people were recording it with dozens if not hundreds of witnesses. My question is, why did no one bother to help the guy? Sure, they demanded some badge numbers, but they didn't step in or anything.

What do you expect them to do ? Stressed policemen are firing at a guy on the ground with a taser. I don't think "Officer, please" will work, and assaulting a police officer is always a bad idea.

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Original post by jfclavette Quote: Original post by CrimsonSun That's awful. I hope some people are going to rot in some jail cells over this. Both the officers involved and anyone down at the station who dares defend them. Look at that mountain of evidence: several people were recording it with dozens if not hundreds of witnesses. My question is, why did no one bother to help the guy? Sure, they demanded some badge numbers, but they didn't step in or anything. What do you expect them to do ? Stressed police man are firing at a guy on the ground with a taser. I don't think "Officer, please" will work, and assaulting a police officer is always a bad idea.

You're absolutely right. Not much for them to do. But damn...this whole situation just pisses me off so much.

They're demanding that he get up or they'll taze him again? Are these cops retarded? Tazing, any sort of electric shock, will fuck over your nerves. Repeatedly tazing him is only going to make his ability to stand up even worse.

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According to the paper, Tabatabainejad did not show ID to community service officers who were conducting a random check. UCLA police said Tabatabainejad was released by police after he was cited for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty.

Yeah, random my ass. I find it very hard to believe that this wasn't in the slightest racially motivated.

I can't even begin to accurately describe my disgust with this.

W T F

I can only laugh in the face of this stupidity...but it is an uneasy, absurd laugh.

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Original post by CrimsonSun They're demanding that he get up or they'll taze him again? Are these cops retarded? Tazing, any sort of electric shock, will fuck over your nerves. Repeatedly tazing him is only going to make his ability to stand up even worse.

uhm, i looked that up but it doesnt appear to be so. tazing only immobilizes someone as long as current actually flows. in that light, the guy was ignoring repeated instructions deliberately, and combined with the lack of information on what started all this precisely, i cant feel too sorry for him.

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Original post by Eelco Quote: Original post by CrimsonSun They're demanding that he get up or they'll taze him again? Are these cops retarded? Tazing, any sort of electric shock, will fuck over your nerves. Repeatedly tazing him is only going to make his ability to stand up even worse. uhm, i looked that up but it doesnt appear to be so. tazing only immobilizes someone as long as current actually flows. in that light, the guy was ignoring repeated instructions deliberately, and combined with the lack of information on what started all this precisely, i cant feel too sorry for him.

Then you need to look it up more. A stun gun shot/touch leaves you severely dazed, can render you unconscious and there has been a few incidents leading to death. Asking someone to stand up by shouting at him while he's dazed and scared isn't likely to work.

Sooooo... let me get this straight - the cops are tasing him because they're too lazy to make him get up by say... lifting him?

As far as I'm concerned - tasing someone is no different to, say, hitting them or kicking them. It might be acceptable if, say, someone is attempting to assault you. You don't kick someone if they don't do as you ask. Imagine if the officers were trying to achieve exactly the same thing (making him get up) by repeatedly kicking the guy.

You Americans are a very taser-happy bunch. Just because it travels along a little wire and doesn't leave bruises doesn't mean that you're not causing physical pain and suffering to somebody.

I guess it's just like the "fact" that, if you won't actually drown, it doesn't make it torture.

Fucking wankers.

You're saying that you don't think most of the UCLA campus couldn't use a good tasering?
C'mon. Tell me that if you were in this room, and you had a taser, that you wouldn't "accidently" give a few of them a little zap.

Personally I think anyone who carries a taser should have to be shocked by one at least once during training, then perhaps they'd be used more carefully and sparingly.

I definately agree with Andrew. Just because the guy is able to walk out of the police station does not mean that it was not excessive or that it wasn't torture.

The police were tasering this guy when he was clearly under their control. I mean, there was no way he would have been able to run away with 2 cops holding him the way they were.

I mean, I do understand that there could have been some danger, that he could have kicked and screamed and eventually hurt someone, and if that had happened, the police definately should have used the taser. But, as far as we saw, they were shocking him because he didn't get up. That's it. No danger to anyone else.

They were effectively in control so he couldn't get away, and they sent electric current into his body.

This went way too far. Perhaps there's a willingness to use these weapons liberally because they aren't seen as lethal.

Wha? I thought the whole point of tasers was to be able to immobilise people who are presenting a threat to themselves or other people but where non-lethal force is appropriate - for example if a crazy guy is threating you with a large skillet. Repeatingly tasering someone for not performing an action is like trying to put out a fire with petrol; it's both counterproductive and incredibly stupid.

This is pure unadulterated police state bullshit. Tazers should only be used to replace lethal force. If you're not prepared to shoot the guy in the face with a shotgun, you shouldn't be prepared to offer a tazer hit to the person (especially considering the wide body of tazer-related fatalities).

I hope these people rot in a cell.

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Original post by Eelco Quote: Original post by CrimsonSun They're demanding that he get up or they'll taze him again? Are these cops retarded? Tazing, any sort of electric shock, will fuck over your nerves. Repeatedly tazing him is only going to make his ability to stand up even worse. uhm, i looked that up but it doesnt appear to be so. tazing only immobilizes someone as long as current actually flows. in that light, the guy was ignoring repeated instructions deliberately, and combined with the lack of information on what started all this precisely, i cant feel too sorry for him.

Some observations:

1. The video is different than I expected. He gets tazed a few times with long pauses in between during which he insists on making some sort of a stand and generally acting like a douchebag. What is the point of screaming "here's your fucking PATRIOT Act" to campus police enforcing some stupid campus ID policy?

2. Racially motivated? It's UCLA. What is wrong with you people? Fairness means that occasionally Iranians are going to be selected for random ID checks. Would it be less racist if they were never selected?

Race probably played a factor in so far that the targetted student felt he was being profiled and decided to make some sort of a stand. Perhaps this outcome was therefore more likely than it would have been for a white or Asian student asked for his ID.

3. It seemed very strange that the police didn't just drag him out of there and let the fiasco go on for as long as it did. I don't know that they should be rotting in cells over this, and I think such suggestions aren't serious and are an example of people blowing things grossly out of proportion, but the officers should be disciplined in some manner and subsequent incidents of this nature ought to be avoided by clearing up the policy on using tazers.


It was wrong but as with anything, there are two very different sides of this issue. In the end, it was rather unsurprising.

UCLA response

they tazed a guy who wouldn't stand up and after being tazed even the first time (let alone five fucking times) COULDNT stand up even if he wanted to

fuck the police, let these pigs rot in a cell, and to anyone defending these morons, come on over and let me taze you a good 5 times and we'll see how fast you change your mind

protocol a five year old could follow:
1.hand cuff/tie suspect
2.PICK SUSPECT UP and carry him out

Maybe he should have said something like "I can't stand up," rather than trying to be a martyr.

Edit: Not that I'm saying the cops are blameless either.

The UCLA response reads like the LAPD's response to beating Rodney King. They write it as if there is no video that we can see for ourselves. As if they could pursuade us not to believe our eyes.

There are a few relevant background links here: Breaking: Police 'Tase' UCLA student apparently without cause [VIDEO]

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Original post by trzy Some observations: 1. The video is different than I expected. He gets tazed a few times with long pauses in between during which he insists on making some sort of a stand and generally acting like a douchebag. What is the point of screaming "here's your fucking PATRIOT Act" to campus police enforcing some stupid campus ID policy? 2. Racially motivated? It's UCLA. What is wrong with you people? Fairness means that occasionally Iranians are going to be selected for random ID checks. Would it be less racist if they were never selected? Race probably played a factor in so far that the targetted student felt he was being profiled and decided to make some sort of a stand. Perhaps this outcome was therefore more likely than it would have been for a white or Asian student asked for his ID. 3. It seemed very strange that the police didn't just drag him out of there and let the fiasco go on for as long as it did. I don't know that they should be rotting in cells over this, and I think such suggestions aren't serious and are an example of people blowing things grossly out of proportion, but the officers should be disciplined in some manner and subsequent incidents of this nature ought to be avoided by clearing up the policy on using tazers. It was wrong but as with anything, there are two very different sides of this issue. In the end, it was rather unsurprising.

Are you being facetious? He doesn't start in with the Patriot Act stuff until after he's been tasered. Student ids should be checked at the entrance to the library. Police shouldn't be arbitrarily hassling students once they are inside the library unless they are being disruptive and by all accounts this student wasn't being disruptive until after he was hassled. I think those officers should lose their jobs. In addition to exposing the university to a lawsuit, they've just destroyed their relationship with the student body. UCLA students shouldn't be treated like gang bangers.

Had I been present I would have been angry enough to throw books at those cops - especially after they threatened other students who asked for their badge numbers with the same treatment.