Curse

Sir Skullcrasher · Nov 20, 2006, 06:51 PM // 18:51

I think these officers should be punished but like i said before. I hate the media in US. They put things out of proportion. If your a huge sports fan, than you should know about the incident with Bobby Knight (coach of Texas Tech) and one of the follow player on his team. The guy was walking back to the bench with his head down and Knight apparently hit him in the chin (later, was explained by Knight that he was trying to lift the kid's head up) and the media called it an assault on a player.

In no way, the cops should have restrain the guy and remove him. Not use of force like Tazer or even pepperspray. I keep wondering, why couldn't the cops (4 in the video) just cuff the kid and drag him out of there?

thelastunicorn · Nov 20, 2006, 09:13 PM // 21:13

All of that over a library card?....seems a bit ridiculous...and maybe we're all missing something that may have happened before that person started recording. Either way...it seemed to me....like the person above me states, that there were plenty of cops that could have just escorted him out of the area, and I do believe a tazer was WAY too much for such a minor thing....perhaps if this guy was actually hurting someone in the begining.

Divinitys Creature · Nov 22, 2006, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Hi there,

We've been having some interesting responses here. Some more news has come out including the naming of the officers involved. I have culled some articles from The Daily Bruin linked below with excerpts that do not include all the main points - or this post would be uber long. Read the articles for more if you want. I think it's good that you all have felt interested in reading about this topic instead of just dismissing it. Of course we do need to consider everything rather than making knee-jerk reactions, reading about it is the first part of that, ty

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39084

Quote:

The Undergraduate Students Association Council voted 9-1 Tuesday night to pass a resolution opposing inappropriate force against students by university police.

The resolution was drafted in response to recent use of a Taser on a UCLA student by UCPD officers. Officers touched Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies student, with a Taser in drive-stun mode five times Nov. 15 after he failed to produce a BruinCard when asked to do so and did not comply with officers' instructions in a timely manner. A video of the incident captured by another student has been widely distributed.

UCPD has said the officers saw Tabatabainejad's actions as resistance and acted as they deemed necessary to gain compliance.

The resolution called for the immediate suspension of the officers involved and an independent investigation that includes students.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39042

Quote:

University police identified the officers involved in a Nov. 14 Taser incident on Monday, naming an officer who has been implicated in prior cases of police misconduct and use of excessive force.

Terrence Duren, a UCPD officer of 20 years who was not convicted in any of the cases, was one of four officers who dealt with Mostafa Tabatabainejad on Tuesday. The student was hit five times with a Taser after he refused to leave the library after being asked to do so and resisting the officers when they attempted to escort him out.

Nancy Greenstein, UCPD director of police community services, confirmed Duren was among the officers, who included Alexis Bickamong, Kevin Kilgore and Andrew Ikeda.

In a video taken by a student, Duren was shown using a Taser on Tabatabainejad, who was stunned with a Taser five times.

This is not the first time Duren, the UCLA Officer of the Year in 2001, has come into the public eye.

In 2003, Duren shot Willie Davis Frazier Jr., a homeless man Duren encountered in a Kerckhoff study lounge, following a physical and verbal altercation.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39026

Quote:

Mostafa Tabatabainejad has hired a lawyer to sue university police, and his attorney has offered the public its first look into the student's perspective of the incident in Powell Library in which he was hit with a Taser five times Tuesday.

Tabatabainejad's lawyer, civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman, announced plans Friday to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against UCPD for "brutal excessive force" and false arrest, and described the sequence of events as his client saw them.

At around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies and philosophy student, was asked to leave the library for failing to present his BruinCard during a random check. The 23-year-old student was hit with a Taser five times when he did not leave quickly and cooperatively upon being asked to do so.

According to Yagman, Tabatabainejad was approached by Community Service Officers, but declined to present his BruinCard when asked because he believed he was the subject of racial profiling.

Tabatabainejad was born in the United States and is Baha'i by religion and Iranian by descent.

"As far as I know, he was the only one being asked. It's also been told that he was the only person there who appeared to be ethnically Middle Eastern," Yagman said.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39026

Quote:

The CSOs on duty announced they would be checking IDs, as is routine procedure in the library after 11 p.m., said Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young.

Routine checks do not necessarily include a check of all students in the library.

David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who was present in the CLICC lab during the incident, said the CSO spent five to 10 minutes checking IDs, but said he was not personally asked for identification.

Tabatabainejad did not leave the library immediately when he was asked to, but shortly afterward had begun to walk to the door with his backpack, witnesses and his attorney said.

Two officers approached the student and grabbed his arm as he was walking toward the door.

When they did not let go of his arm, Tabatabainejad fell limp to the floor because he did not want to participate in a case of racial profiling, his attorney said.

The UCPD officers interpreted his action as resistance and a refusal to leave the premises, according to a UCPD press release, and at this point determined it was necessary to subdue him with the use of a Taser, which is classified by UCPD as a "pain compliance technique."

According to UCPD policy, officers can use pain compliance techniques when doing so "appears necessary to further a legitimate law enforcement purpose."

The policy further states that the technique should be used when there is "a potential for injury to the officer(s) or others" or a "potential risk of serious injury to the individual being controlled."

According to the policy, officers should also consider the nature of the offense, the individual's level of resistance, "the need for a prompt resolution," and the possibility of "other reasonable alternatives."

Officers who have received departmental training can use Tasers in the drive-stun mode "to eliminate physical resistance from an arrestee in accomplishing an arrest or physical search ... when a skirmish line is deployed and/or for pain compliance against passive resisters," and "to stop a dangerous animal" according to the policy posted on the UCPD's Web site.

The policy does not specify how many times a Taser can be used on a subject or for how long the Taser can be held to the subject's body, and it is in the officer's hands to determine whether the use of pain compliance is necessary in a given situation...

Yagman said his firm has handled hundreds of cases similar to Tabatabainejad's, but said this is the first one involving a student in a library. He said these type of cases typically take a few years.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39025

Quote:

Hundreds of UCLA students, faculty, staff and community members gathered in Meyerhoff Park Friday afternoon to protest the multiple uses of a Taser on a UCLA student by university police.

A Taser was used five times on Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies and philosophy student, in Powell Library Tuesday night after he reportedly failed to comply with police officers' instructions to leave the building in a timely manner.

Tabatabainejad failed to produce his BruinCard during a random check after 11:00 p.m., a university policy intended to ensure that only UCLA students, faculty and staff can use the facility late at night.

Tabatabainejad did not present his identification because he believed he was being targeted because of his Middle Eastern appearance, said Stephen Yagman, Tabatabainejad's attorney...

Students at the protest overwhelmingly opposed the police officers' actions, and The Daily Bruin has received hundreds of letters from concerned parents and community members. Some letters from parents and prospective UCLA students say after reading about the incident and watching the video footage a student captured of it, they have dropped UCLA off of their list of prospective colleges.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=38987

Quote:

An article in the Lancet Medical Journal in 2001 reports that a charge from a Taser of three to five seconds can result in immobilization for five to 15 minutes.

The footage shows repeated electrical shocks given to Tabatabainejad in intervals of less than five minutes, and he may have been truly unable to stand up on his own. So just how did the officers expect Tabatabainejad to comply with their repeated orders to stand up?

Regarding the issue of avoiding a riot. Every situation where there are a lot of people is a potential riot when a severe injustice happens in front of them. This is a riot excuse is weak IMO since a considered and proportionate response is the best way to avoid a riot. Riots do not happen for no reason in situations similar to this - it is not a sports event. Have we made any conclusion that a riot would have been wrong? I'm not saying it is right or wrong. That's the problem with escalating situations in this way. If there was a riot, then next time something like this happened officers would feel justified to use thier tazers more liberally. On the other hand people do not feel like being abused and feel justufied in rioting especially if they are threatened also. Chicken and egg, which came first? it doesn't matter it just ends up in more violence in the end.

Sorry for the long post :P