Do you agree or disagree with Andrew Meyer's tasering?

Question

I disagree, because he wasnt going to go anywhere with 5 cops holding him and handcuffed.

he even told them not to taser him and yet that lady cop still did. very cold hearted.

Answer 1

Taser was originally meant to be used as an alternative to lethal force. The reason is that a taser can kill, and that is why they call it a less lethal weapon. The electricity can scramble the electrical nerve impulses in the muscles and brain and cause cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, and death.

So unless they were justified in killing him, they should not have tasered him.

Even arresting him was questionable. The campus police overreacted.

Answer 2

he was not handcuffed when they tazed him.
And to everyone that says they disagree with the issue, I would like to know if you have ever attempted to restrain a non-compliant subject, even with 4-5 people? I have, and it is still hard. And no offense to the question asker, but when I am trying to restrain a subject and he tells me to stop, I'm not going to stop, UNLESS HE STOPS RESISTING.

I agree. He was going to be handcuffed no matter what. He continued to resist after he was told several times that he would be tazed. Yet he resisted. He even acknowledged that he was going to be tazed and yet he continued to resist. It does not matter why your told to do something by the police, you comply or you will be subject to force. If the officers had not tazed him, he would have been subject to higher levels of force, resulting in bruising or broken bones.


Moral of story, COMPLY OR BE SUBJECT TO FORCE

I have read some of the kids blogs, and he has on more than one occasion, attempted deliberately to get a rise out of people and be disruptive. This time he fought the law and, you guessed it, the law won.

This is a quote from a brother in arms,
A Sergeant in Illinois
"I appreciate your point of view however, I would like to clarify a couple of your arguments from a police officers perspective. First, even though he is “still a kid” kids are very capable of hurting and killing others. Look at school shootings (mass murder) over the past ten years should easily convince you of that. Second, you did not see a threat to Senator Kerry but I did. Watch the video again and notice that the student was between the Senator and the police at one point. Meaning he had a clear shot at rushing the podium unabated to the Senators location. The student was obviously emotionally imbalanced and his future behavior could not be predicted by the officers at the scene. Keep in mind during the presidential election, Senator Kerry enjoyed the security and protection of the United States Secret Service. I will not speak on their behalf, but I’m fairly certain in the same situation, the USSS agents would have done the same thing except a lot faster and without apology. Third, of course he has freedom of speech, up into the point he was given a law order which you acknowledge he was issued. Once he was given that lawful order it was his responsibility to comply. He did not and the officers escalated their force by placing hands on him and remove him from the auditorium. Again, the officers did an excellent job. As the student was being escorted up the ramp he pushed back against the officer using his left forearm and hand (review the video). The reason five officers jumped on top of the student was for his safety. The alternative could have been one officer having to escalate his use of force to striking with his hands, using pepper spray or a baton. You do not see any officer take a swing at the student because they had the numbers. Now you will argue something to the effect of “Well if they had the numbers, why did they use the Taser?” I would answer good question and excellent observation. Once the officers were on top of the student he failed to comply with verbal commands and resisted arrest. There were NOT ENOUGH officers there to control the violent actions of the student and the Taser was deployed. You will notice the student was raised to his feet once he was handcuffed and was talking just fine to the officers. He did not have any long term effects from being stunned by the Taser. I know firsthand of the Taser’s effectiveness because I am a certified Taser instructor and have taken a full shot from the taser and was fine moments afterward. The alternative to the Taser would be blunt force trauma like a punch or a strike which could result in a bruise or a broken bone. Your assertion that what you saw looks “hilarious” (which you misspelled by the way) and “takes away the integrity part of being a LEO” is both an uneducated opinion on your part but more importantly, hurtful to the men and women who put themselves in harms way on a daily basis, to protect you and your freedom of speech. Lucky for you police officers have thick skin and are a very forgiving bunch. I hope this clarified our position on this issue…"

no matter what you think, it comes back to the student not complying with the officers.

Answer 3

I disagree. John Kerry was saying I will answer his question. So why did the cops have to react so crazy. IF John Kerry would of said okay thats enough then I would understand the cops trying to arrest him. But he was just asking questions. This would be his only opportunity to do it and they should of let him get his answer. The tasering went to far. And he didn't even do anything that would cause him to be arrested in the first place. Maybe escorted out but not arrested.

Answer 4

I agree. Once the cops take hold of you, you know you have to stop struggling. Meyer didn't, and he got tasered. He's old enough not to be this stupid, and he probably won't do this again. Without the taser available, he could have been wrestled to the ground and hurt really bad.

Answer 5

For all those people who support the police. Just forget about all the fancy stories you thought about to justify the incident for one second and answer two questions.

They said he was charged with disordered conduct but

1. Is asking questions illegal in anyway?

2. If you get arrested for cutting into a line at the refectory, what would you feel?

People kept saying he didn't comply to the police but why would he have to? If a police come to you and ask you to take off all your clothes in public would you comply with it? Come on, compliance needed to be justified by logical reasons and there's none in this incident


BTW, can anyone remember that a while ago some kid got arrested because he wrote a nasty essay?

Answer 6

It was grossly inappropriate. I am outraged over it. I disagree. The lady cop probably should be fired. It certainly would make future cops think twice about using the taser or other force that is not necessary.

Answer 7

Extreme use of force. 4-5 officers should be able to handle someone in handcuffs that they are laying on top of without using a taser.

Answer 8

I believe the six cops that were holding him down could have managed to overpower him without the taser gun.

Answer 9

I think he's a tad bit out there & may have gone into the Kerry speech wanting something dramatic to happen to him...but neither of those are grounds for what ended up happening. From one perspective, the cops actually played right into his hand.

Answer 10

um.. I am more concerned about the fact that he was forcefully stopped from asking his question. The tasering was unwarranted, no doubt. But what is astounding is that police are being used to suppress dissent a la GESTAPO.