November 16, 2006
Is 9-1-1 a joke in my town?News
The latest nationally recognized incident of excessive use of force by the LAPD police in Los Angeles (the third this week) came Tuesday night right here on the UCLA campus’ main library. Apparently UCLA has a policy by which they do random ID checks at the library after 11 p.m. That’s all good, since it is for the benefit of student safety. That’s what started this incident:
According to a campus police report, the incident began when community service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there…When [Mostafa] Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave “multiple times,” according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
“He continued to refuse,” the statement said. “As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building.”
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling “Get off me” several times.
”Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance,” police said. “The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser.”
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor. [Link]
Here is my issue with what I see in the clip. If a person violates a law and you want to arrest him then go ahead. I am certainly not going to argue that Tabatabainejad did not deserve to be arrested. There are legal ways to change a law if you think it is stupid. What I take issue with is the repeated use of a Taser as a punitive measure against a passively resisting citizen that is already on the ground. Passive resistance is a gift given to us by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If the officers need to then they can call for backup. A handful of officers shouldn’t have a problem cuffing and carrying a limp, non-compliant man to their waiting car unless he is morbidly obese. The Taser is used here to punish the victim for disobeying authority. Is this what could happen to me if I ever non-violently protest something? And what if this individual was mentally ill or off his meds? Add to this toxic mix the fact that he was Muslim (and I’m guessing that he probably has brown skin).
You will note in the video that the other students in the library are on the verge of rioting against the police. The police start looking like cornered animals as more and more students gather around, ask for their badge numbers, and tell them that they are abusing their power.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number. [Link]
As you might have expected, CAIR is all over this:
The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today called for an independent investigation of an incident late Tuesday in which a student at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) was given multiple “Taser” stun gun shocks by campus police.
CAIR-LA was contacted by several UCLA students who expressed their concern about possible civil rights violations by police officers. [Link]
Tabatabainejad got off a few shots of his own as he was being Tasered:
Video shot from a student’s camera phone captured the student yelling, “Here’s your Patriot Act, here’s your fucking abuse of power,” while he struggled with the officers. [Link]
Thank goodness for cell phone cameras.
Update:
Let the UCLA PD know what you think. Here is what they have to say about it.
abhi on November 16, 2006 03:32 PM in News · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
this was utterly HORRIBLE...
if a man is tasered... he is not able to walk for at least a few mintues..
basic physiology..
wtf is going on?
W to the T to the F?
thank god they have it on video.
abhi, glad you brought this up. i saw this clip too and was shocked. while the guy should have had an ID on him, as the library requires that, but the use of tasers.....left us all UCLA wallas shocked.
oh my God .. that was horrid - I couldn't even make it through the whole video.
abhi, according to your post, this involves the UCLA police, not LAPD.
horrible
I've corrected at the top.
wow this is just crazy
what the ass....
This is fucking ridiculous.
I saw this on the news last night and I was absolutely appalled at the use of violent force against a non-threatening student. I think that this kind of behavior is inexcusable. My heart goes out to Mostafa.
Jesus. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little too militant in my views of the authority in this country. And then I see something like this I am reminded that incidents like this are still very much reality in our society. I hope these pigs get what is coming to them.
Actually some of the witnesses are saying he didn't refuse to leave the library, that he was actually on his way out on his own volition and that the cops tasered him anyway.
From the LAT:
Yep, I used that same quote above.
Very gut wrenching. I think the issue has more to do with power. People with power abuse it a lot. Even police officers in India get away with murder. It is sad.
Insane reverence for authority in some conservative quarters of the country has led to the police usurping way more powers than they should have in any advanced industrialized society. Ad Nauseum police worship, calling them heroes brave honorable the best and the beatification of them in the local media is so over the top that some cops actually believe that they are the judge, jury and the executioner.
If this is what they do in a freaking public place, imagine what they do when they are arresting someone who has little means/influence and there is no public spotlight over them.
The police department should be hit with a civil lawsuit ASAP.
That's scary. There was absolutely no reason for the multiple use of the taser. But even if the officers receive some sort of "reprimand" I'm more interested in the specific protocol that would prevent an event like this from occurring again.
AMERICAblog is reporting there is a protest on campus tomorrow (Friday), but I can't seem to find any information to confirm/for details.
Stupid motherffers.
This is what happens when you allow f***in rednecks into the force. f*** trailer trash
|You will note in the video that the other students in the library are on the verge of rioting against the police.
I did not get this impression at all from the video. There was one dude (white t-shirt) who seemed to be arguing and some others asking for the badge initially, but the majority were just lamely following the show. That dude incidentally was promptly out of the pic once the officer threatened to taser him.
Maybe they should have sat on the road and blocked the police vehicle or something..
There was one dude (white t-shirt) who seemed to be arguing and some others asking for the badge initially, but the majority were just lamely following the show.
I agree. The fellow students really disappointing.
Chi_diva and AMFD - I think you both are right on the money regarding abuse of power and police/[and I'd say military] despotism/worship.
I meant the fellow students were *really disappointing.
Giving officers tasers was a very bad idea. The instruction they recieve with them makes it sound like a taser is the same as pepper spray. Thats just not true. a taser should be drawn with the same caution as a gun. Within a month of Cincinnati police being issued tasers they killed an unarmed black man with it...though they did that a lot anyways.
Possibly of Persian descent.
I think you raise a very important and subtle point about how the true atrocity lies in the policy of tasering those that are merely passively resisting enforcement of laws, rather than violently protesting.
When it was introduced, the purpose of the TASER was to be able to incapacitate those acting violently without necessarily shooting at them. I find it remarkable that police forces across the country do not have a uniform policy on the use of the TASER. In this particular instance, I believe that the officer was extremely insensitive and lazy. I think to a large extent, the users of the TASER are desensitized by the pain that can come of it, and hence tend to use it as an easy short-cut deterrent rather than exert any physical effort. To them, the TASER has become the equivalent of a harmless magic-spell that simply incapacitates people with no apparent harm. That is the key problem here.
I hope he gets the officers fired, sues the school, and becomes a national spokeman for how NOT to use a Taser.
I am gonna be blasting NWA's Greatest Hits, including "Fcuk tha Police", on my way out of work today.
This is disgusting.
Side note regarding LAPD, all of the recruits get tasered in the academy. It's part of the training section on the use of tasers.
Famous lines from NWA:
Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
A sucka in a uniform waitin to get shot,
At least one of the officers' necks looked brown to me.
Quite plausable. But this incident was instigated by an individual who clearly did not have a respect for authority, and perhaps a disdain for a certain (working) class of people ("Pigs", "Trailer Trash"). The key is for police forces to recruit individuals with the temperence necessary to disregard such disrespect and snobbishness.
that was gut wrenching. I saw the whole video but I could barely stand it. It was terrible. They kept on tazing him instead of simply carrying him out. I'm disappointed with the students too, but who wants to be tazed. Holy cow that was like in some bad futuristic movie about state power and control.
This needs to become a national incident.
I thought that the officers did a good jod, considering the fact that if that happened in most places he would have been beat beyond recognition or even shot !!!!!!!!!! In fact, they may have been too patient. They should have grabbed him and dragged him out of the library. Why wait for him to walk out. He broke the law, place him under arrest and get him out. He was obviously causing a disturbance. So much so that all of the students had to walk into the hallway.
The key is for police forces to recruit individuals with the temperence necessary to disregard such disrespect and snobbishness.
Yes, but the people will not express that to the police so what will the training amount to?
I think your comment is the perfect example of the hero worship that goes in some parts of this country. Instead of being outraged by the police brutality you feel it incumbent upon yourself to attack the commenters who dared address the brutes in less glowing terms than 'heroes' and 'braves'.
I thought that the officers did a good jod, considering the fact that if that happened in most places he would have been beat beyond recognition or even shot !!!!!!!!!! In fact, they may have been too patient. They should have grabbed him and dragged him out of the library. Why wait for him to walk out. He broke the law, place him under arrest and get him out. He was obviously causing a disturbance. So much so that all of the students had to walk into the hallway.
As I always say, the right is its own best parody.
But this incident was instigated by an individual who clearly did not have a respect for authority, and perhaps a disdain for a certain (working) class of people ("Pigs", "Trailer Trash").
How do you know he had a disdain for the working class people?
Amfd,
Did something snap in your brain? Have you lost it? Do you need help?
Regards,
Almd,
I knew before reading Manju's first comment on this post what his opinion of the incident would be. He takes the reactionary position on almost every issue and needs to maintain his reputation. Trying to argue your point will be futile. Notice how he cleverly shifts the onus upon the victim. Here he inserts into this debate phraseology not used in the video:
Then without knowing anything about the individual he sides with power by saying the following:
Yes, because civil disobedience must = snobbishness.
Anindo,
Is there a reason you think personal attacks are a good idea?
Was it personal? If so, I apologize.
I do have a reason to be uncomfortable when somebody posts something like this -
"Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
A sucka in a uniform waitin to get shot,"
It might be the lyrics of a song written by somebody else but Amfd seems to be condoning them. A question about the state of mind is quite valid in this context.
Regards,
Aninda
Well, there is also a disdain for a certain type of people (rednecks, pigs, trailer trash) and authority that may have had a hand in this incident...a disdain i see on this thread and in some parts of the country (like San Fran) and from some liberal quarters...to reverse your argument.
the same way you know conservatism lead to the police brutality. i don't know what motivated him to refuse to cooperate with the community service officers, perhaps it was disdain, it's plausible. perhaps the officers reacted like they did b/c he was brown, it's plausible.
i provided links so you can see where i got the phraseology.
I was providing a possible motive for his refusel to show his ID, just as others were providing a possible motive for the police over-reaction.
Really disgusting!! I can't believe this happens in the US of A and that too in a university library before the midterms (correct me if I am wrong on that). Who would you believe the observations of witnesses or the statement from the police?
Really now?! Is screaming in pain the same as "encouraging resistance"?
Been following this story on many blogs and news boards and whats more disgusting is the hatred from the posters for the student who got tased! He deserved it?! f**kin animals. All I can hope is that I have no such cowardly friends.
Abhi, thanks for this post. I'm at work and can't watch the video, but this incident is disturbing nonetheless.
Tu Quoque Watch:
False sighting. AMFD and I were both speculating as to what lead to this incident.
Vinay, r u saying it's obvious from the video that the police were motivated by bigotry?
The most appalling thing to me is the shoddy camera work. Failed to maintain the key light and rim light. Seriously, this is bad, but coming from incidents like this, this and this, it's a bit of an improvement.
It isn't a false citing. I only appear in a text-book case. Look me up. You are excusing your position and your comments by blaming liberals and San Francisco:
Manju,
A Taser.
In a library.
What exactly are you defending?
So, let's review. Some dude didn't have his ID. After getting hassled, he decided he should probably take off (for whatever reason). Then some cops show up, tase him repeatedly and drag him off, screaming, while students look on in horror/outrage, and, amazingly, don't riot or break bottles over cop heads. In what parallel universe could this POSSIBLY be the fault of the student? What should he have done to prevent an attack? Perhaps he didn't simper enough?
As to this being about the race of the cops, or their training, bullshit. This is simply what happens when you have people put in positions that allow the use of force and place them in hostile relationships with, well, pretty much everyone. Cops almost NEVER have community oversight; they are very rarely disciplined for incidents such as this. There's a nearly endless history of "non-lethal" weapons being used in improper ways, despite training (a friend of mine had his ear blown off by one). The way to deal with this is simply make the cops more responsible to the community. This has worked very well in Boston, where cops are historically mild, and police/community relationships have been taken as a model for other cities to emulate. A few years ago when a girl was killed by "non-lethal" weapons following some post-Red-Sox celebrations, public outrage resulted in some demotions and suspensions, and a drastic review of procedure. The more oversight, the less violent the cops.
Here's what I got from the video:
1) The student was showing non-violent protest for being grabbed even though he was leaving the library - his decision to do so can be questioned but ultimately it's not an act deserving a painful punishment. 2) The officer's were lazily trying to contain a possibly volatile situation. They could have simply dragged him out of the building but their decision to repeatedly taze the student was unnecessary.
I doubt that the police were behaving in a racist manner; more than likely they were reacting to the situation.
Here's what SHOULD come out of all of this: a serious reprimand (possibly suspension) for the officers with a lesson in how to use tazers effectively and a public apology for the student. And an acceptance of that apology by the student and an understanding that they are ultimately human beings who reacted over zealously and have been disciplined accordingly.
Here's what will come out of all of this:
No harm no foul for the officers (Not to downplay what happened to the student but if Rodney King's beaters can walk...I am sure these guys will too) and the student will become a spokesperson for the Iranian community (I believe I read elsewhere that that is his background) and how the LA (possibly American) police uses force.
The human condition is ultimately always gray, never black nor white. * my rare two cents. *
University Cops are dually stressed as well. Cops in general are people who lack formal educational background, a university may as well be planet Venus for them. All the kids who became cops are those that couldn't get admitted or came from families that didn't encourage a college education. Their fathers painted or installed alarm systems or something like that. It's screwed up that you have someone under so much emotional duress in a uniform with a badge and weapon.
Did this guy do something wrong by not leaving right away? Yes.
Would the person have been treated differently if they looked like Pamela Anderson and not a 9-11 hijacker? Yes.
HMF are your really John Kerry?
HMF You know what blanket statements like this
accomplish?
Show your ignorance and incite anger unnecessarily.
Tu Quoque Watch:
Tu Quoque is when you excuse a behaviour by saying the other side does it too. this did not happen here.
by your argument, bringing up the other side of the argument like abhi does here: "I am certainly not going to argue that Tabatabainejad did not deserve to be arrested." would be tu quoque too.
Manju,
You are clever enough to know what you did. I am needed elsewhere now. There is only one of me and an entire world full of people committing logical fallacies. Until next we meet (which will all depend on you).
Don't overstimate me. I'm not sure what i did, besides turning amfd's argument on it's head. maybe a better word for it is Reductio ad absurdum.
what made me angry were the crowds of people not doing anything. while watching the six minute video, i got more and more angry at those who just watched. i kept thinking why? why can't we do something instead of just watching? i put myself in the crowd's multiple shoes and various ages and thought how i would have just stared. i am sure i wouldn't have done anything either due to the shock and fear of the police.
i am proud of the man in the white shirt and the other guy for yelling at the police while in the hallway. they make me proud to be a UCLA alumna.
A couple people have said this now. But what exactly should the students have done? I ask because I am not sure what I would have done that was any different from them. They all documented the hell out of what was going on, asked for badge numbers, and surrounded the cops. The cops have taser guns, pepper spray, batons, and guns and are generally bigger than the students. In addition they were in the middle of watching the cops use excessive force which could have been turned on them.
i thought you suggested it here:
it seems u r saying that if u watch the video the motive for the police is obvious. especially sice yo were replying to a comment where the possibility of bigotry among the police was addressed.
i think the kid refused to cooperate with authority, certianly with the community service officers, for whatever reasons, maybe because of his extreme political beliefs as this quote indicates:
Heres your Patriot Act, heres your fucking abuse of power"
He may or may not have started to leave after the community service officer called the campus police. probably the campus police put their hands on him to escort him out and he over-reacted again by screaming hysterically like he was being sent to the gulag or something. the cops then overreacted and ironically gave him what he thought he was getting in the first place.
reminds me of the david mamet play, Oleanna.
first of all, wow. i'm shocked and so mad right now. if other students claim this guy was on his way out, the police should NOT have hassled him AT ALL. he was trying to avoid "real" trouble after ignoring the requests of the library staff. regardless, even if the police felt inclined to intervene and question him, their treatment of him is unforgivable. as abhi pointed out, responding to nonviolent submissive protest with a taser is completely inappropriate. there was just a news special on one of the sf bay area channels about how tasing can KILL people. just imagine if this guy had died.
the student's decision to go limp and protest is questionable but it's not the responsibility of the police to punish him. ugh that video just pisses me off so much. it's amazing the students didn't riot. i was thinking, maybe they should have called 911, but what good would that have even done? corrupt authority can only be addressed ex post facto unfortunately.
the combination of this guy being persian/iranian and his yelling about the patriot act only added fuel to the fire. if they weren't racially/ethnically motivated before i'm sure they were after. these cops didn't exercise appropriate restraint. it's more appropriate to say they were negligent actually. i hope that guy and his family sue the shit out of the police department and win a big 8 figure settlement. i'm also SO glad this was captured and i noticed other people with their cell phones open so hopefully more videos will pop up.
one thing that doesn't make sense to me: don't students need to authenticate themselves on the library computers to use them? doesn't this imply they are allowed to be in the facility using the resources there?
I wonder what really happened? I don't entirely trust either story. They are too much at odds.
*If the kid did go limp and act out some kind of 'heroic resistance', he was being a complete ass. Doesn't mean he should get tasered, though. I'm thinking getting written up and heavily fined or something along those lines....if he was just walking out normally and some campus cop got taser-happy, well, someone should be out of a job, pronto.
**And shame on the person in the comment thread who made the redneck comment. Yes, tasering innocent students is bad. Making assumptions about people because of the color of their skin is bad, too.
***I can't see the video. Does it just show the tasering or the cops dragging him out and then tasering him?
Um... stop the clip at 1:38. One officer looks to be Black (shaved head), one officer of Asian descent, and one White . Seems like a pretty diverse group.
A couple people have said this now. But what exactly should the students have done? I ask because I am not sure what I would have done that was any different from them. They all documented the hell out of what was going on, asked for badge numbers, and surrounded the cops. The cops have taser guns, pepper spray, batons, and guns and are generally bigger than the students. In addition they were in the middle of watching the cops use excessive force which could have been turned on them.
My thoughts exactly. If other students start getting in the cops faces, you've got a Kent State type of defense from the police such as "We did what we thought we needed to because we thought our lives were in danger".
All they have to do is point out the students outnumbering the police or waving their arms in anger -accidentally close to police weapons and before you know it, your mom gets a knock on the door.
Altercations with strangers are such complex situations that it's really difficult to judge people especially when asking them to go against authority. I've seen plenty of fights break out where I have the urge to defend someone but don't. I don't get involved and don't have any vested interest in it. My brother got into one however and I was surprised that I jumped in and had no problems whatsoever going against cops bouncers other fighting men and I didn't even need a split second to decide. Why? Vested interest. We all want to do the right thing but it isn't always clear.
I'm not saying kissing ass or licking boots is better though. The students did the best they could by registering indignation and doing their own cop watch style documentation/complaint.
Those cops likely unaware of the concept of civil disobedience. Actually I don't think its a big concept in the USA (I'm sure you'll correct me if this is incorrect). These days - disobedience of any kind toward authority = any punishment the person with authority deems necessary.
Going limp and passive resistance are not questionable to me. Not causing physical harm, not attacking etc. doesn't warrant tasing, or beating or any physical violence. All in all, this is an extreme example of disproportionate response.
This is also classic totalitarian-regime type response to a single citizen's cry of 'encouraging others to join his resistance' when the resistance is passive. Sloganeering while writhing and yelping in pain is apparantly a signal for law enforcement to get in combat mode. Only taser gets free speech?
What finally makes it so much more terrible is that he was only cited, and released. What? That's about as serious as his offence was? All this torture for just that? And here's another example of binary-type laws - he was cited for obstructing the officer. Except for the fact that he existed, I don't think he was obstructing anyone. So if he's not cooperating with authority, then he is obstructing! There's simply no space in there for civil disobedience.
I just watched this and I am so disturbed by this it nearly made me cry. This has truly turned my stomach. And I do believe the other students got involved and confronted the police. There wasn't much they could have really done. But I do hope this makes it everywhere and it's picked up on news segments and these assholes are brought to justice.
This is really sick. Looking at the situation, what could the students have done? Physically, even the slightest action would cause all hell to break loose on everyone. Asking for badge numbers and names was quite brave as was walking out and keeping an eye on the situation. I'm glad they did that. Other than that, what can one do? Remaining calm is absolutely necessary. You can't give the police excuses for more brutality and you can't cool a situation down by pushing it further. At most, you could offer to carry the man, so they won't hurt him more. I doubt the officers would have let the students do that, but at least that would be an attempt at diffusing the situation. I don't really have any clear cut answers.
This makes me speechless and sad.
Here is the order of the comments
bigotry first mentioned here
my response was to your comment.
your response was to comment.
which was in response to your comment.
Nope! no mention or hinting of bigotry in any of those comments. Stop hallucinating.
I don't like how everybody here is feeling so powerless. Here is at least, some evidence, that those who abuse power and commit heinous acts, will have to face justice...http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16219367.htm
Vinay:
It's Abhi who started the "subverting":
i not sure why you have your panties in such a twist. every criminal has a motive so it should be part of a discussion and was being discussed here as you concede with the "redneck" reference. Anyway, i simply asked you if that is what you meant by this comment...
...because that's the way it read to me. I wasn't making any accusatons.
I have to wait for the LSD to wear off.
I am wrong in thinking that the police officers acted properly ?
How so?
I don't know. Are you?
Manju,
His panties are in a twist because you are often a troll disguised as a reasonable person (which I find to be the worst kind). In every comment you place a single word or two to up the ante in the hopes of provoking a response (such as the type Vinay has provided). In the sentence above you throw in the word "criminal." Again, the victim is a criminal and apparently I am now "subverting" people. Blaming liberals and residents of San Fran is no longer sufficient for you I see. In the next comment I'd put money down on the fact that you will find a way to blame Clinton for this as you are prone to do. As long as the police don't share any blame whatsoever.
Don't worry though. If that's ever you getting tasered I will still blog vociferously in your defense.
And there goes Vinay on cue (he left his comment at the same time I did)!
I rest my case.
What rubbish. Manju is a law-abiding citizen. He would never get tasered.
Besides, he's not even Muslim. He's as safe as a pacifist's pistol.
The video clip is proof of nothing. As bad as it sounds, can anyone make out when exactly the cops taserd him? It seems the student was too 'freaked out' and was probably scaring the cops with his behavior.
I could be wrong, maybe this was a case of abuse of power by the cops. Guess we ll have to wait and see.
I don't get how people think their greviances about racism (even when they're legitimate) are going to be taken seriously when they use words like "rednecks" and "trailer trash". White people aren't racists because they live in rural America or because they're poor. Privilege is blinding, and white people are racists when they choose to be content with it.
Anyway, on the actual substance of your comment, cops aren't racists because they're white (of course, they can be, but not that's not a given). Cops are racist because they're cops. The foundations of policing in America makes racism an inherent part of it.
And since we're quoting rap lyrics here's a pretty succinct Dead Prez line:
Black and brown cops are recruited to cover for, and even legitimize, racial profiling.
I couldn't find a link, so here's from "Assume the Position" by Trends (you can now add South Asian and brown Middle Eastern wherever it says black and Latino, although I still think no one else has it as bad as black people with regards to police violence in America):
OOOps! That's me up there ^^
What will come of it? Not much if past reports from other jurisdictions are any indication (An amnesty report).
This is apparently standard practice for cops/security folks. Nobody is safe. It has been used to wake sleeping students (according to the same amnesty report).
Jeez! Apparently all anybody can do is to say "thank you sir, may I have another one".
If a sworn officer asks you to do something that goes against your constitutional rights, just do it and sue afterwards like this lady (Plastic.com link about the story. The original story needs registration).
Am in Shock!
Don't they teach negotiation at the police academy. It is cruel to use a taser on the guy when he is not a physical threat to them. The cops are dimwits and should be sent to work in suburban malls. Let's see them use tasers on white teenage potheads!
The Protest:
PROTEST PLANED at Noon on Friday November 17, 2006 on Kirchoff Steps at UCLA
Its an important incident. The mild reaction of the students, the lack of solidarity or even notice on USC's campus across town. Both are incredibly disappointing. I hope to see you there on Friday. Like someone said, this isn't an exclusively brown issue. More than anything its an issue of power and the abuse of power.
On Countdown with Keith Olbermann, it was reported (and this is corroborated from the video) that when some of the other students asked the officers for their names and badges, the officers threatened to taser them as well.
Hmm... Of course, it's rather difficult to get the whole story from the clip or the news stories. I agree that the police did not handle the situation well. Was tasering an abuse of power? I don't know. If the police had started out by trying to carry the man out, would things have turned out much better, or would it simply be another form of abuse of power?
Was this a case of civil disobedience? I'm not sure. If so, it was poorly executed. His shouting and belligerence before being tasered seemed to be more of a civil disturbance than anything else. Given his choices of words, such as `Here's your...abuse of power.', leaves me to think that possibly he was trying to elicit this reaction, to provoke a response.
In any case, I guess my opinion is that there really isn't enough information to draw any conclusions (the video starts well into the escalation), but I'm not sure that there is any party here that is completely free from fault.
From the Daily Bruin:
UCLA is investigating this internally -- but the more important question is whether LAPD or the FBI is investigating it as well. LA Mutineers -- maybe time to be making some phone calls....
> coach diesel on November 16, 2006 08:55 PM · Direct link
> I don't like how everybody here is feeling so powerless. Here is at least, some evidence, that those who abuse power and commit heinous acts,
will have to face justice...http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16219367.htm
Oh but people very often do get away--with murder sometimes. Incidents have happened to me and at that same school--UCLA. The professors I have encountered can and do abuse their power. Everyone knows about the things that go on but no one really cares. Just one small UCLA incident that would be of interest to other brown-skinned people: I was asked if I was a Muslim and if I would be any trouble by one Chinese professor. He made lots of other discriminatory remarks. And when this came out another Chinese professor said similar things (except for the Muslim part). Both professors were promoted "retroactively" to full professors and that was the only action taken "against" them. Me, I left my home in California--it felt like I was running for my life. I've been in France and am applying to schools in Europe. I am also posting anonymously since like I said, I'm afraid for my life. So there is UCLA for you. Lawsuit--against a $66 billion dollar mafia? No way.
Let me amend by statement, if this is true:
...then such threats are completely unacceptable.
I'm guessing that the police's response will be that it's hard unwind after such an escalation, but there is absolutely no excuse for threatening a bystander who simply wants to get a name and badge number.
Using taser in such a situation cannot be justified. From the video, it didn't appear that the guy posed any kind of physical threat to the officers (or fellow students).
One thing which I couln't understand was the reason why this guy initially refused to leave the library. Did he mean to provoke a response from the campus security...and later from the campus police ?
Gun + badge = Power = Abuse of power. Check Amadou Diallo or Abner Louima for reference. This guy, however misguided he might have been, was taking a stand in defense of his civil liberties, and for that he has earned my respect. And it may be easy to blame the other students standing around, but it's likely that all that getting in a cop's face would have won them was a taste of the taser and a ride to the local precinct. It's a shame when a guy nonviolently expresses his discontent with the status quo, and is given a facefull of high voltage for his efforts. Brown people unite.
and if it's true, it may shed light on the rest of the encounter as well.
For a state that has some of the strictest laws on private gun ownership, CA sure has some of the most trigger happy and taser happy cops. And tasers don't seem to be as safe as once thought:
This article on the BBC news site says that tasers cause temporary paralysis. How can you expect someone to get up once you've paralyzed them? I echo the comments that articulated how difficult it was to watch this clip. Not only was it heartbreaking to hear and see someone suffering, it left me wondering if I would have intervened with passion and courage had I had been browsing there that night. I hope so. I pray so.
I agree the most with Dan's comment # 90. If indeed these cops are found guilty of reacting disproportionately, I wish they get tasered up their asses. I also for a change agree with AMfD in comment # 14. However you also have to look at the other side. I think most cops in this country do a fair job and quite a few get killed on duty every year just because they hadn't preemptedviolence directed at them, in the spirit of being extra careful. However this guy's behavior, even though he is unarmed, also comes across to me as extremely unreasonable. He is screaming at the top of his lungs even before he is tasered the first time. I also find it incredible that the cops would ask for back up and use force if he had volunteered to leave the library. From the LA Times article you linked, it looks like this behavior is not typical of UCLA campus police.
" "UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I've seen people without ID cards who are removed. But none of the time has it been this dramatic."
Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."
"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd."
Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.
"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone."
You will note in the video that the other students in the library are on the verge of rioting against the police.
No they are not. So I was shocked why the large student body in the hall wouldn't riot? Given that this is UCLA and it was a perfect opportunity for the largely activist student body to rage against the machine. I'd think these are not timid students who could be subdued with threats of being tasered. My point is that this student had some sort of preplanned agenda ( e.g patriot act sloganeering ) which went completely haywire.
Thank god the cops were not actually White. I can only imagine what hell would have broken loose on this blog.
But most of all what I don't get is the contempt for Manju. Can't there be another viewpoint on this issue? I have always believed that the extreme left is just as intolerant as the extreme right. Why don't you admit it that Manju routinely demolishes your arguments? And this is not the first time I have read you personally insult a commenter who takes you on. I have read at least four such comments of yours in the recent past.
I also find it incredible that the cops would use excessive force unless they had reason to in the full view of at least hundred students. This was not a desolate stretch of some LA highway with no one around where some White cops had wanted to stick it to the Brown, Muslim man.
The story is still really sketchy. So far there are 3 videos. Enough to prove something or another. One thing that's missing from all the stories though is if the guy was a student or not. That's still not to say it's an excuse for an abuse of power.
From the UCLA Daily Bruin:
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
The last sentence above should also be within the quotation.
sluggo:
His name shows up on the UCLA directory search ..so I guess he's a student at UCLA.
the library must have its own video of the entire incident. most areas of uc libraries are monitored via video. when and if that comes out, it should provide a more complete answer to what indeed exacerbated the situation.
i'm pretty sure i've read that he definitely is a student.
i hope this guy is doing ok. is he saying that he has a medical condition close to the end of the video?
It could have been a lot worse if it were a desolate stretch of some LA highway with no one around.
This was a library for fucks sake!
Not a shady bar, not a testosterone filled zone (sports arena) etc.
When did geeks and students become a threat and need tazering?!
Cops need their balls chopped.
Too much testosterone is a bad thing.
Mr. K, your quick with deserves, dare I say it, a blog of its own. Ahem.
Wit. I meant wit. Clearly I do not deserve a blog of my own.
It could have been a lot worse if it were a desolate stretch of some LA highway with no one around.
Agreed. High handedness by people in uniforms should be fought back. I sympathize with their victims' urge to even fight it violently.
What I find most chilling is the cop who keeps repeating "Stand Up, Stand Up." I'm sure (or rather I hope) they are told in their training the physiological effect that a Taser would have on a victim. But he still keeps repeating his demand in a robotic manner. This is what actual torture would look like.
Are you serious?? He said this after he. was. tasered.
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