What do you think about the student who was tasered by university police?

Question

University of Florida police tasered a student asking a question at a John Kerry event.

Answer 1

Complete over-reaction by police. Since when does going over the alloted time mean you get tasered? Cops should be punished for using excessive force.

Answer 2

It's hard to say how to respond to it. It depends on who you ask--including the student stunned. Was he TRYING to provoke a violent or at least police response? From what I am saw on the video--and we all know that videos do not always tell the whole story--it looks like he sought to create an embarrassing scene. He may claim otherwise. The tasering (is that a word?) itself is also a matter of some debate. There were plenty of cops on the student, but he was also clearly continuing to struggle. My guess is he got what we wanted--to cause a bad scene for Kerry. I also think he probably got what he deserved. And the two were not necessarily mutually exclusive. Cheers.

Answer 3

I fully support the use of tasers. There's one reason that I'm not a policeman, the fact that they must protect the criminal before themselves. If an officer orders someone to put up their hands, and the person responds by reaching behind his back like he has a gun, the officer puts himself at risk by not pulling the trigger of his own firearm. There have been dozens of police deaths because they were afraid to pull the trigger, one reason for that fear being recrimination against them for defending themselves.
Tasers give an opportunity to stop someone who may be a potential hazard without hurting them. Now, if someone acts like they have a firearm or begins to display signs of violence, the officer doesn't need to take risk and can simply taser the suspect. Or rather, that's the way it should be. But somehow, PC America has even turned tasers into a bad thing. A suspect should be tasered and subdued BEFORE actually attacking the officer or an innocent, not afterwards when it may be too late. Out of all the myriad of taser cases I've read about, including all those on the news where people cry taser abuse, I have supported their use of the taser 99% of the time. Stop violence before it starts, don't wait until after it's begun.
This appears to be a case where the use of tasers was definitely warrented, they acted after his first step of not cooperating. It kept the officers from putting themselves at risk, protecting themselves, innocent people, and the suspect himself.

Answer 4

A couple of the officers have been put on suspended leave w/o pay until there is an investigation. A University is definately not a good arena to practice censorship. The officers should and more than likely will be fired. You do not taser someone for practicing free speech. It doesn't make us look good to be in Iraq trying to show them how to set up a democracy. I hope the Iraqis don't see this or they may not want anything to do with democracy.

Answer 5

Democracy without freedom of speech? So what is your country trying to do in Iraq?

This event and the comments show us Americans don't know what a "university" is. Haha number of police > number of students(?).

edit: i wrote this before reading Lettie D's answer...
Police stand out of campus in my country. And if it was in my country all the students would have rebelled. It is university.

Answer 6

I watched several different videos of this incident. The student was at the microphone and was ranting both before and after his questions. The police addressed him and he stated, "I haven't even finished here yet", the police then stepped back and allowed him to finish his question. When he finished they approached him again and grabbed him by the arm, you can't hear what they say to him, but it appears they are asking him to step outside. He begins to fling his arms around, resisting the officers, and starts flailing himself through the aisles. The police tried a number of time to detain him. Finally they get him on the ground and he still refuses to cooperate, throwing his hands around yelling, "what are you doing to me". The police explain to him that if he does not calm down and cooperate they will tase him. You can hear the police make this request a few times. You can also hear the student yelling, "Don't tase me". Finally 3.5 minutes into the conflict the police use the taser. The student gets up and is escorted out into the hall. He continues yelling and screaming as he is walked out of the building.

It is my opinion that he had an agenda when he showed up to the John Kerry Q&A. He was not simply asking questions, yet ranting, and his refusal to cooperate is what caused the incident.
I believe the police had justifiable cause to utilize the means to detain this student.

Answer 7

When a person is told to do something by an officer, they should do it or be ready to pay the price. If you watch the video, the guy was given plenty of time to comply with the requests to leave the mic, to stop resisting the officers. He paid the price for his behavior, to bad too many students now think acting a fool is their right.

Answer 8

Go to my profile, under questions and checkout the video of another student being tasered at UCLA, for not showing his id during a random id check......

Let me just clarify something for those of you who say he's a Moron for not listening to the cops... Do you realize that there was an open mike for students to ask questions, not if you don't like the question we taser you and drag you away... What about freedom of speech.. I never once heard him call Kerry derogatory names, in fact he actually thanked him in the beginning... and even Kerry said himself that it was a good question... Had he been screaming or being disruptive I'd understand... but its an open mike meant for questions... It was heart breaking hearing him scream.... while people were standing around watching and he kept saying what did I do, another thing.. supposedly they say he was resisting the cops.. if you watch the video carefully he tells them if you let me go I'll stop, the grabbed him before he could even finish.. This is a complete violation of our rights, rights that are GUARANTEED by our constitution.. It makes me sick this incident happened and it makes me sick people are defending the cops actions.. that could be anyone of us.. all for a question... its insane

Answer 9

He should have done as he was told by the police -- though I did find it interesting how John Kerry tried to swoop to his rescue.

Answer 10

The Student is a moron, and has made numerous attempts before to gain attention. Does anyone think it was weird for someone to focus a camera on the student asking the question the whole time (media has only shown the highlights) but the full un-cut version show the kid standing in line to ask his question. It was staged for this kid to get himself and his website acknowledge. He went way over the alloted time for asking a question, when he was asked to wrap it up he gave attitude to the police, when they cut off his microphone he got boisterous, when they tried to get him to leave he shrugged off the cops. I think the police used great restraint in not knocking the crap out of this little pissant, if it were me and he pulled that, it wouldn't be a tazer, it would be a billy club swinging...