UCLA Student Tasered in Library

Well, the guy was screaming at cops in a library. I'd taser him, too.

...OK, on a serious note, that's pretty fucked up. I would like to know why the guy refused to show ID, but regardless a tasering is a bit excessive.

He was probably making a political statement, at one point I heard him talking about the patriot act (to fucking campus cops... small fish).
 
From what I heard he was leaving when they tasered him. They also hit him like 4 times with it which is why he went limp. The cops threatened everyone around with tasering if they got too close or if they asked for badge numbers.

this was on olbermann last night when he was interviewing someone from the daily bruin.
 
He sounds like a crazy asshole from the start so the first shock seemed like it would've been necessary, especially if it wasn't full force. Though tasering him more than twice was certainly excessive. They should've just cuffed his ass and dragged him out of there wiht 2-3 guys. I hope there's a firing and/or criminal charges brought against at least the guy in control of the taser, I hate the fact that the crazy fuck kid can now sue though. From his comments, and apparent asshole nature, I think I can say with some certianity that if I met this kid I would probably wish him to be hit by a bus or something.
 
I saw this on Olbermann, too. I'm completely on the kid's side.

Here's the story:
Iranian kid doing work in the library. Campus cops come up to him (and him alone) and ask for his ID. He refuses to show them, because he believes he is being profiled (and tells the cops he'll show his ID when they ask for the white kids IDs that are about 100 feet away). Cops walk away. Guy finishes his work, then goes to leave. Cops harass him. Guy goes limp, thinking that they will leave him alone and let him leave. Cops proceed to taser him. Other students upset. Cops threaten to taser other students who ask for their badge numbers.

It's kinda hard to resist arrest when you haven't been accused of anything.
 
And police officers wonder why they're universally hated. Cops should not be allowed to carry tasers, there were three of them there, they could have easily taken him into custody without it.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']I saw this on Olbermann, too. I'm completely on the kid's side.

Here's the story:
Iranian kid doing work in the library. Campus cops come up to him (and him alone) and ask for his ID. He refuses to show them, because he believes he is being profiled (and tells the cops he'll show his ID when they ask for the white kids IDs that are about 100 feet away). Cops walk away. Guy finishes his work, then goes to leave. Cops harass him. Guy goes limp, thinking that they will leave him alone and let him leave. Cops proceed to taser him. Other students upset. Cops threaten to taser other students who ask for their badge numbers.

It's kinda hard to resist arrest when you haven't been accused of anything.[/QUOTE]

I call at least some BS on that story, but I'd like to read it if you have an actual link. I'm assuming that is his personal story which I would take with a huge grain of salt and even if it is or isn't his story somehting you wrote are already factually incorrect to the accounts you can read in many, many news articles. Be on the kids, side all you want as multiple taserings was way over the line and a gross abuse of power, however I'm not inclined to believe that account you just laid out, a tleast not entirely.
 
Who the heck yells at the cops in a wild and emotional voice. What an idiot. Even if he's trying to make a statement, he gains nothing in the public eye because he acted like a punk ass.

I saw some dude tasered outside of a bar the other night, because this hoss would just not lay face forward on the ground.

BTW

When asked whether the student resisted when officer attempted to escort him from the building, the witness said, "In the beginning, no. But when they were holding onto him and they were on the ground, he was trying to just break free. He was saying, 'I'm leaving, I'm leaving.' It was so disturbing to watch that I cannot be concise on that. I can just say that he was willing to leave. He had his backpack on his shoulder and he was walking out when the cops approached him. It was unnecessary."
Click to expand...

What part of resisting arrest don't you understand, Cochise?
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']I call at least some BS on that story, but I'd like to read it if you have an actual link. I'm assuming that is his personal story which I would take with a huge grain of salt and even if it is or isn't his story somehting you wrote are already factually incorrect to the accounts you can read in many, many news articles. Be on the kids, side all you want as multiple taserings was way over the line and a gross abuse of power, however I'm not inclined to believe that account you just laid out, a tleast not entirely.[/QUOTE]

It was directly from the attorney's mouth on Olbermann, and the video they showed pretty much coroberates it.

He wasn't resisting arrest when he was tasered. What part of having to commit a crime to be resisting arrest do you not understand? He was only charged when he didn't get up and cooperate with the police after he was tasered. Please give me a justifiable reason why he should have been a) touched, or b) tasered.

If the police really just wanted to have him out of the library as they claim, why would they even have gone back to the kid and tried to 'escort' him out when he was in the process of leaving? And when they were 'escorting' him out, and he was willfully trying to leave the library, why would the cops have to have him on the ground and taser him?

If you can't see this as a power trip by the campus keystone cops, I feel sorry for you. This is the first I've seen about a 'CSO' asking anyone besides the person in question for an ID.

Bottom line is, even if the kid was wrong by not showing his ID, the keystone cops there shouldn't have laid a hand on him. You don't touch someone if they are already cooperating with you.
 
[quote name='camoor']Who the heck yells at the cops in a wild and emotional voice. What an idiot. Even if he's trying to make a statement, he gains nothing in the public eye because he acted like a punk ass.[/QUOTE]

Last I checked it is not a crime to be a punkass, also no doubt the guy is kind of paranoid about being detained.

P.s. Did someone say he was lying about his ethnicity? As if the guy was Irish pretending to be Iranian?
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']It was directly from the attorney's mouth on Olbermann, and the video they showed pretty much coroberates it.

He wasn't resisting arrest when he was tasered. What part of having to commit a crime to be resisting arrest do you not understand? He was only charged when he didn't get up and cooperate with the police after he was tasered. Please give me a justifiable reason why he should have been a) touched, or b) tasered.

If the police really just wanted to have him out of the library as they claim, why would they even have gone back to the kid and tried to 'escort' him out when he was in the process of leaving? And when they were 'escorting' him out, and he was willfully trying to leave the library, why would the cops have to have him on the ground and taser him?

If you can't see this as a power trip by the campus keystone cops, I feel sorry for you. This is the first I've seen about a 'CSO' asking anyone besides the person in question for an ID.

Bottom line is, even if the kid was wrong by not showing his ID, the keystone cops there shouldn't have laid a hand on him. You don't touch someone if they are already cooperating with you.[/quote]

If you catch someone shoplifting, and then they put back the item, should you let them go?

They were trying to figure out whether the kid should have been in the library or not - if he wasn't supposed to be there, it doesn't erase his crime of trespassing if he leaves. As it turns out the kid had an ID that he didn't want to show to make a political point - but hindsight is 20/20

And yes - it probably is profiling. But the college kid is not winning any hearts and minds by emotionally yelling "you and your freaking Patriot act!" (I'm sure this has little to do with the Patriot act...), overreacting to what was probably at most a firm grasp on the elbow, and generally playing the part of the whiny collegiate rebel-without-a-clue.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']It was directly from the attorney's mouth on Olbermann, and the video they showed pretty much coroberates it.[/quote]

Olbermann is an idiot who'll say anything to pander to his base. If you watch him you may as well watch O'Rielly or listen to Limbaugh. And that video shows nothing of what you mentioned except the tasering which occured AFTER everything you mentioned in your post. It doesn't show the asking for ID, doesn't show him being stopped, etc, etc.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
He wasn't resisting arrest when he was tasered. What part of having to commit a crime to be resisting arrest do you not understand? He was only charged when he didn't get up and cooperate with the police after he was tasered. Please give me a justifiable reason why he should have been a) touched, or b) tasered.[/quote]

You act like he was tasered right off the bat without the cops even talking to him. They stopped him and he started screaming and certainly wasn't cooperative. Whether or not a tasering was required is subjective, but if a cop stops you and you start fighting him, even only with words you are asking for trouble. And the whole starting point of the incident is failure to produce an ID meant he was then probably legally trepassing, especially once notified that he needed to leave if he refused to show one. Trespassing is a crime, a fairly meaningless one but if the cops want to stop you to ask you a couple questions about EVEN IF YOU BEGIN TO LEAVE, I'd say they have the right to at least talk to you without the person becoming a screaming retard.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
If the police really just wanted to have him out of the library as they claim, why would they even have gone back to the kid and tried to 'escort' him out when he was in the process of leaving? And when they were 'escorting' him out, and he was willfully trying to leave the library, why would the cops have to have him on the ground and taser him?[/quote]

Again I never said mulitple taserings was the right thing, so quit pushing that issue. People on the vs. forum never seem to listen, it's like talking to Olbermann himself... If you break the rules expect to get reprimanded. Even in leaving, he broke the rules, someone tried to stop, he screamed, they overreacted. If he had just shown ID, or left when asked the first or possibly second time I'm sure we wouldn't be talking about anything right now.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
If you can't see this as a power trip by the campus keystone cops, I feel sorry for you. This is the first I've seen about a 'CSO' asking anyone besides the person in question for an ID.[/quote]

I already said it was out of line, an overreaction, an abuse of power, etc, and not just in this post. I feel sorry for you because you obviously can't read and/or acknowledge anything anyone else writes unless it confroms to you point of view exactly apparently. And this is "the first you've seen"? Do go to UCLA? They had a slightly similar policy at my college, not necessarily with time constraints, but to use certian labs and access certain areas you had to have vaild student ID. Even if you went ot that library, apprently other students have seen the policy in action:
[quote name='LA Times article']
On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.

"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."[/quote]
So have they still never asked anyone else for ID? I guess maybe the newspaper and students attending the school are all liars too right.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
Bottom line is, even if the kid was wrong by not showing his ID, the keystone cops there shouldn't have laid a hand on him. You don't touch someone if they are already cooperating with you.[/QUOTE]

Yelling "Get off me!, Get off me!", etc. is cooperating? They stopped him to talk to him by GRABBING HIS ARM. Depending on the manner in which it was done, this not grounds for a screaming contest. Listen, I'll say for the hundredth time, in the end, what they did was wrong. Things got way out of hand after that intital moment and unecsarrily so. But that wasn't my point, my point was the account you gave had some pretty smelly BS in it. Hell you even already contracdicted what you said earlier by saying CSO asked him. Earlier they were cops, there's a large differnce there, the cops showed up because the CSO called them. CSOs are esstentially like Wal-Mart securities guards, they have no arrest or restraint authority, only the authority to call the cops.

For kicks we will do a hypothetcial. Let's say you are at a bar, at said bar you forget to pay your tab, the bartender (better yet let's say it's a woman), grabs you by the arm to stop you on your way out. Maybe you didn't hear her, maybe someone else was talking to you, maybe you had an ipod, maybe you were ignoring her. Technically she didn't have a legal right to touch you, but are you going to start yelling at the top of your lungs about her touching you or act like a rational person and explain the goings on in the best way possible then apoligize for the mixup? The apology may not be warranted even in your eyes (though skipping out a tab even if by accident probably warrants it), but it's something you do to avoid a volitile situation. Because in the end, one way is sure to either get you a lovely meeting from some rather large bouncers and/or the cops (probably bouncers which in some bars could be much worse than the cops) and the other will get you out of that joint in under 5 minutes and home to a comfy bed. I'll leave you to guess which option yields which result.
 
Did I miss something or was there already an explanation as to why this kid was singled out in the first place ? It seems an odd thing to do if he was just sitting at a table in the library doing some work. Actually it said computer lab. I haven't been in college for some years, but in MY day, you had to check out a computer using your ID card, usually by leaving it with the monitor.

Tasering him again because he refused to get up after being hit the first time also sounds pretty suspicious. A complete loss of motor control is likely to occurr and it can be damn near impossible to do anything immediately afterwards except sweat and catch your breath after your heart stops pounding.
 
[quote name='Msut77']Duo and Camoor have either one of you guys ever been tasered?[/QUOTE]

Nope (though I was tear-gased once), but I'm quite sure it hurts like a bitch, probably more than i can imagine, and I never said being tasered didn't. Thus that is why I said doing it anymore more than once was quite unecessary. Hell, I can almost admit the first one was not absolutely necessary (contrary to what I wrote eariler, though I still think depending on the circumstances it would've have been totally unecessary either). But you know why I haven't been tasered before? Because I know how to pick my battles, I know not to yell at the cops if they touch me or grab my arm to stop me. Like I said, if he acted more rationally we wouldn't be talking about this. Lots of people are assholes in this world, I don't need feel the need to join them.

Anyhow that is not my point, it never was, and fail to see where my personal experience involving tasers has to do with it. Have you been tasered? Can you only comment on this incident if you have? I was unaware of this mysterious rule. Can you not comment on the war in Iraq because you've never been to war? Can I not comment on politics because I never ran for office? Once again, in typical Msut77 vs. board fashion, you are trying to bring up a point that is not relevant in the least. Do us all a favor and either bring somehting interesting to the table of conversation or stay out of it.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']Do us all a favor and either bring somehting interesting to the table of conversation or stay out of it.[/QUOTE]

I believe I just did bring something interesting and relevant, and why yes it did modify your position. It is no longer "huh huh they tasered the asshole, biiiig furry deal".

And yes I have been tasered before, one of the slightly lower power "civilian" models, not fun.

Meanwhile the point is that tasers are a last resort measure, you do not use them unless it is absolutely neccesary.

Just letting you know.
 
[quote name='Msut77']I believe I just did bring something interesting and relevant, and why yes it did modify your position. It is no longer "huh huh they tasered the asshole, biiiig furry deal".

And yes I have been tasered before, one of the slightly lower power "civilian" models, not fun.

Meanwhile the point is that tasers are a last resort measure, you do not use them unless it is absolutely neccesary.

Just letting you know.[/quote]

The irony of rubber bullets, tasers, and other "non-lethal" weapons of force, is that they actually increase the amount of violence performed by the police. With these weapons, there is a much lower threshold of necessity then would exist for pulling a gun or brandishing a nightstick.

Anyway - ditto what Duo said on this issue.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']Olbermann is an idiot who'll say anything to pander to his base. If you watch him you may as well watch O'Rielly or listen to Limbaugh. And that video shows nothing of what you mentioned except the tasering which occured AFTER everything you mentioned in your post. It doesn't show the asking for ID, doesn't show him being stopped, etc, etc.

You act like he was tasered right off the bat without the cops even talking to him. They stopped him and he started screaming and certainly wasn't cooperative. Whether or not a tasering was required is subjective, but if a cop stops you and you start fighting him, even only with words you are asking for trouble. And the whole starting point of the incident is failure to produce an ID meant he was then probably legally trepassing, especially once notified that he needed to leave if he refused to show one. Trespassing is a crime, a fairly meaningless one but if the cops want to stop you to ask you a couple questions about EVEN IF YOU BEGIN TO LEAVE, I'd say they have the right to at least talk to you without the person becoming a screaming retard.



Again I never said mulitple taserings was the right thing, so quit pushing that issue. People on the vs. forum never seem to listen, it's like talking to Olbermann himself... If you break the rules expect to get reprimanded. Even in leaving, he broke the rules, someone tried to stop, he screamed, they overreacted. If he had just shown ID, or left when asked the first or possibly second time I'm sure we wouldn't be talking about anything right now.



I already said it was out of line, an overreaction, an abuse of power, etc, and not just in this post. I feel sorry for you because you obviously can't read and/or acknowledge anything anyone else writes unless it confroms to you point of view exactly apparently. And this is "the first you've seen"? Do go to UCLA? They had a slightly similar policy at my college, not necessarily with time constraints, but to use certian labs and access certain areas you had to have vaild student ID. Even if you went ot that library, apprently other students have seen the policy in action:

So have they still never asked anyone else for ID? I guess maybe the newspaper and students attending the school are all liars too right.



Yelling "Get off me!, Get off me!", etc. is cooperating? They stopped him to talk to him by GRABBING HIS ARM. Depending on the manner in which it was done, this not grounds for a screaming contest. Listen, I'll say for the hundredth time, in the end, what they did was wrong. Things got way out of hand after that intital moment and unecsarrily so. But that wasn't my point, my point was the account you gave had some pretty smelly BS in it. Hell you even already contracdicted what you said earlier by saying CSO asked him. Earlier they were cops, there's a large differnce there, the cops showed up because the CSO called them. CSOs are esstentially like Wal-Mart securities guards, they have no arrest or restraint authority, only the authority to call the cops.

For kicks we will do a hypothetcial. Let's say you are at a bar, at said bar you forget to pay your tab, the bartender (better yet let's say it's a woman), grabs you by the arm to stop you on your way out. Maybe you didn't hear her, maybe someone else was talking to you, maybe you had an ipod, maybe you were ignoring her. Technically she didn't have a legal right to touch you, but are you going to start yelling at the top of your lungs about her touching you or act like a rational person and explain the goings on in the best way possible then apoligize for the mixup? The apology may not be warranted even in your eyes (though skipping out a tab even if by accident probably warrants it), but it's something you do to avoid a volitile situation. Because in the end, one way is sure to either get you a lovely meeting from some rather large bouncers and/or the cops (probably bouncers which in some bars could be much worse than the cops) and the other will get you out of that joint in under 5 minutes and home to a comfy bed. I'll leave you to guess which option yields which result.[/QUOTE]

You really like to completely miss the point, and while doing so, you bring up totally unrelated issues.

The attorney was on Olbermann. Keith didn't say anything to sway my opinion, he really didn't say much at all. I was listening to the attorney. Clear? No, his opinion isn't going to be very biased, but I believe what he said (and, btw, is almost verbatim to what is written in both articles).

Of course the video doesn't show the first part. If it did, I'd be less inclined to believe his side of the story. People started recording in on their cell phones because something fucked up was happening, they didn't know what.

Let me quote you one of the articles, so you can see when the tasering occured:
Officers were escorting Tabatabainejad out of the computer lab when the trouble started, according to the Daily Bruin. One of the officers placed a hand on one of his arms, to which the student objected.

As a second officer approached, he repeatedly yelled "get off of me," the newspaper reported.

It was then that one of the officers shot Tabatabainejad with a stun gun, dropping him to the floor as he cried out, according to the newspaper.
Click to expand...

So, let me get this straight: He objected to the officer restraining him, for no reason as I can tell from the article, and then he was tasered. So we're now subject to use of non-lethal force because a police officer is being yelled at? That seems like a justifiable use of force.

What the kid was doing wasn't tresspassing. The campus cops ask you to leave the library, you just leave the library. No talking, no information, you just leave. I've attended multiple universities, it's the same at each one. If it's different at UCLA, that's great. However, none of us know that it is.

As an officer of the peace, you don't grab someone unless you are going to place them under arrest. The kid wasn't arrested. He was given a citation, a citation for what happened after he was tasered. So let me ask you again: was what the cops did justifiable?

And if I walk out of a bar without paying, I'm committing a crime. Yet I'm still not going to be tasered for yelling at the barmaid after she grabbed me.
I never said the kid was completely in the right. The kid shouldn't have been a dick and just shown his ID. But in a case of lesser of two evils, I have to take the kid's side.
 
Can't stand cops, especially campus po-po's that think they're hot shit. But this kid deserved it. I don't care if you're getting profiled or not, once they ask you for ID and to leave, and you don't, then you are resisting. And then to make an even bigger scene by yelling and screaming like a little girl, he deserved it.

There are better ways to deal with these kinds of things and/or make a 'political stand', if that's what he was going for. You comply, then you give them the 3rd degree about profiling you and take it to the authorities.

Oh well, bet he'll show them ID next time.
 
if you resist, you get tazered, this kid sounds emotionally unsound, and stupid screaming about the 'patriot act', they're campus police for christs sakes, I have a feeling if this happened at some po-dunk community college we wouldn't hear a word about it. This dudes a baby.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']You really like to completely miss the point, and while doing so, you bring up totally unrelated issues.

The attorney was on Olbermann. Keith didn't say anything to sway my opinion, he really didn't say much at all. I was listening to the attorney. Clear? No, his opinion isn't going to be very biased, but I believe what he said (and, btw, is almost verbatim to what is written in both articles).[/quote]

I did miss that and I apoligize, still I wouldn't count on the kid's attorney as being a real unbias and reliable source on the matter. And what you wrote wasn't verbatim to the articles I read. Granted I mostly read earlier reports, but none of them which said the reason why he didn't show ID, nor that the cops were involved until after the CSO or whatever they call themselves called the campus police.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
Of course the video doesn't show the first part. If it did, I'd be less inclined to believe his side of the story. People started recording in on their cell phones because something fucked up was happening, they didn't know what.

Let me quote you one of the articles, so you can see when the tasering occured:


So, let me get this straight: He objected to the officer restraining him, for no reason as I can tell from the article, and then he was tasered. So we're now subject to use of non-lethal force because a police officer is being yelled at? That seems like a justifiable use of force.[/quote]

We're still assuming he was just standing there and never esisted besides being an obnoxious screamer. My guess is at least upon initial contact he at least pulled away in some manner (it is pretty much a instinctive action after all). Even so, maybe not totally justifiable, but he did escalate the situation by having a "violent reaction", even if the "violence" was only words, it's still resistance. He was not cooperative as you mentioned earlier. Justifible use of force? Possibly not (I reserve judgment on that til we really know what happened at first contact), and especially not after the first hit which I've already said many times was a gross act at best.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
What the kid was doing wasn't tresspassing. The campus cops ask you to leave the library, you just leave the library. No talking, no information, you just leave. I've attended multiple universities, it's the same at each one. If it's different at UCLA, that's great. However, none of us know that it is.[/quote]

Trespassing in a legal sense was a widespread definition. Off hand, the best simple definition of Trespassing I can think of is the unauthorized use and/or occupation of someone's owned/leased property. Look it up on legal dictionary someplace and you'll probably find at least a similar definition. So, the owner is obviously the university, the property and equipment is apparently designed for UCLA students only. This is verified by an agent of the university (the CSO in case). This kid wasn't verified as having the authorization to use the equipment or be there by said agent, was then asked to leave by said agent more than once. This is a basic definition of trespassing. Even remote use of equipment can sometimes result in legaly being trespassing, some states have trespassing stautes that can even charge someone for gaining unauthorized access to someone else's privately owned wireless network. Also, every university is somewhat similar, and alot have similar rules like the ID checking in place. Even public libraries sometimes have similar policies only involving library cards in place of student IDs. The at UCLA seems clear enough, doesn't seem different, and I already estblished that they do enforce that rule outside of this incident (as best I could at least).

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
As an officer of the peace, you don't grab someone unless you are going to place them under arrest. The kid wasn't arrested. He was given a citation, a citation for what happened after he was tasered. So let me ask you again: was what the cops did justifiable?[/quote]

I was unaware that a police officer can never touch a human being unless placing them under arrest. Lemme ask you this then? If an officer needs to question someone and that person is gnoring them or not paying attention they can't simply place a hand on them to stop them? That's totally unreasonable now? In reality it's perfectly legal for a police officer to grab someone's arm (as long as it is not malicious) or stop them by touching them and not arrest them. Hell they can handcuff people and not arrest them. Detaining is not arrest. And resisting arrest is a over-generalized term. Resisting an officer is a crime, the person never has to actually be read their rights and arrested. That's why in legalese most people refer to it simply as "resisting". No I'm not saying it was all justifible, in fact I've said the repeated tasering was wrong from the first post I made, I'm just saying your legal thinking is a bit off.

[quote name='CocheseUGA']
And if I walk out of a bar without paying, I'm committing a crime. Yet I'm still not going to be tasered for yelling at the barmaid after she grabbed me.
I never said the kid was completely in the right. The kid shouldn't have been a dick and just shown his ID. But in a case of lesser of two evils, I have to take the kid's side.[/QUOTE]

I made my case for his violation, severity of the crime is not all that relevant anyways (it's a hypothetical after all). And while you may not be tasered, that wasn't the theme of the fable, my point was you are making the situation worse and you'll either get a beatdown by some bouncer or a visit from the cops when if you act rationally you can go home no worse for the wear. I also think I said earlier on there's nothing wrong with taking the kid's side, after all what the cops did was overtly wrong evenif we disagree on how it all went down. I only orignally got the impression that you thoguht the id was totally in the right, the story you laid out originally seemed very one-sided and inaccurate so that's why I responded. In the end, I think we each still hold certain differing views, but I think maybe we've changed each other's minds on how things happened or should've happened at least a little.
 
Wow, I have to say that I'm really impressed with the (for the most part) level-headed responses in this thread. Kudos, CAGs!

Anyway, I'm admittedly not a lawyer or legal scholar of any sort so I can't give any factually-based opinion on whether the guy was trespassing or not by not leaving when asked. However, isn't the school a "public institution"? At least partially? I doubt it's entirely funded by the cost of tuition. And if it is a public institution, doesn't that give any legal resident (yes, I assume he is) the right to be there? Like I said, I don't pretend to know. I'm asking a question.

Regardless of his criminal status at the time, the cops have absolutely no reason to taser him. First of all, after being tasered, he most likely COULD NOT comply with their demands to "get up, stand up" since the entire purpose of tasering is to incapacitate the victim so they can be restrained. Tasers wouldn't be much use if you could do the Electric Slide while being stunned! Secondly, even after they stunned him, they made no attempt to restrain him. That, to me, suggests that they didn't consider him a threat. If he wasn't a threat, there would be no reason to taser him in the first place.

Anyway, it was obviously a GROSS over-reaction by the officers and it made me sick to see it. I can't say what I'd do if I was in that room but even just sitting here in my chair it made me want to physically stop them.
 
[quote name='Andred']Wow, I have to say that I'm really impressed with the (for the most part) level-headed responses in this thread. Kudos, CAGs!

Anyway, I'm admittedly not a lawyer or legal scholar of any sort so I can't give any factually-based opinion on whether the guy was trespassing or not by not leaving when asked. However, isn't the school a "public institution"? At least partially? I doubt it's entirely funded by the cost of tuition. And if it is a public institution, doesn't that give any legal resident (yes, I assume he is) the right to be there? Like I said, I don't pretend to know. I'm asking a question.
[/QUOTE]

A good question, but technically speaking the legal world the whole concept of "public property" is very narrow, more so than you'd typically think at least. Simply because property is open to the public at certain times (or even all the time) does not mean said instituation or property doesn't have an owner. Legally speaking trespassing only has to occur on land/property owned by someone, that someone can even be a public entitity itself, like a State government agency or in this case a state funded (I'm assuming) university.
 
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