Florida Student gets tasered at a John Kerry Speech

[Twilight Wolf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vR-4DawSUM

That's the best video I can find of it, as it is not news coverage that might give an opinion on it, and it gives a basic summary of what happened.  What may not be seen is that as he is being dragged off, Senator Kerry says "let me answer his question" or something to that affect.

This brings in many topics.

Should questions be screened before they are asked?

Is this an acceptable use of force by the police?

Is this a violation of the students right to free speech?

[Haru to Ashura]

Wow!  I'm really feeling it for that guy, he did absolutely nothing wrong!  Even if his question was too long (after all, he was going on, and the organizers/Mr. Kerry probably want a chance for everyone to ask questions.)  the appropriate action would simply have been to say, "Sorry, we're short on time." and cut his mic if he persists and let him sit down.  And if they had to drag him out, do just that - toss him outside and block his entry back in.  Using tasers was completely unnecessary.

This action by the police is completely inappropriate and completely unacceptable.  It scares me how much our country doesn't trust it's own citizens.  The fact that they physically abused this guy just because he raised his voice during his comments. 

But anyway, this was obviously the choice of the police, and not Senator Kerry.  I hope to god that kid has the balls to sue the state of Florida for what they did to him.  Although...this could have been some sort of student stunt.  Are there any links to news reports about this event? 

[Fluesopp]

The CNN reporter had this to say to us who don't want to be tasered:
Don't call the officers "Bro"

Quote: "Don't tase me bro"

[Twilight Wolf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7001464.stm

There's a link from the BBC and they are fairly objective with their reporting.

It was an excessive use of force in my opinion.  I do not believe that he posed that much of a threat that he needed to be ed.aserd

[The Tao Of Bill]

He lieing on the ground for God's sake! He was way out numbered by police and they couldn't get hand cuffs on him? Every police officer that used their taser in this incident should be put on desk duty!

In a related story...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wkmg/20070919/lo_wkmg/14147512
This woman who was 56 years old and wheel chair bound was killed when officers shot their tazer guns at her 10 times in a matter of 3 minutes! Are you kidding me?! 10 TIMES!! SHE WAS WHEELCHAIR BOUND!! If you can't subdue an elderly woman in a wheel chair without using a taser you should not be a cop period.

[Fluesopp]

He lieing on the ground for God's sake! He was way out numbered by police and they couldn't get hand cuffs on him? Every police officer that used their taser in this incident should be put on desk duty!

In a related story...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wkmg/20070919/lo_wkmg/14147512
This woman who was 56 years old and wheel chair bound was killed when officers shot their tazer guns at her 10 times in a matter of 3 minutes! Are you kidding me?! 10 TIMES!! SHE WAS WHEELCHAIR BOUND!! If you can't subdue an elderly woman in a wheel chair without using a taser you should not be a cop period.

At last: LOL! BIG HUGE LOL!
Seriously.. Some officers are just too powerhungry. It's as they can't stand being oppressed. It's not long now before we get corrupted everybody..

[Korenshei]

FUCK THE POLICE!

Seriously. They're power hungry, wife beating, corrupt, predjudiced assholes.

This is terrible. He was lying on the fucking ground. John Kerry should've intervened. It's not like police take too kindly to liberals anyway...

[Haru to Ashura]

FUCK THE POLICE!

Seriously. They're power hungry, wife beating, corrupt, predjudiced assholes.

While that's a sterotype, I think there's a link between police brutality in the US and the fact that police officers are uneducated.  No college degree required, no form of secondary education whatsoever.  Last time I checked, some states don't even require a GED or High school degree - we're letting delinquents wear badges.

[Fleamo]

Should questions be screened before they are asked?

No...because that means there might be a good question rejected.  If it's a really dumb question the speaker can just wave it off. 

Is this an acceptable use of force by the police?

Well here's the thing:  With orders from the owner of the premises, it was legal to force the kid off the premises.  Once that was obtained if he resisted he was breaking the law.  However he wasn't resisting arrest if he didn't do anything wrong yet, so he's free and clear if the owner didn't want to kick him out. 

Is this a violation of the students right to free speech?

Yes.

[Korenshei]

FUCK THE POLICE!

Seriously. They're power hungry, wife beating, corrupt, predjudiced assholes.

While that's a sterotype, I think there's a link between police brutality in the US and the fact that police officers are uneducated.  No college degree required, no form of secondary education whatsoever.  Last time I checked, some states don't even require a GED or High school degree - we're letting delinquents wear badges.

Well, that's true, but so is what I said. It isn't a stereotype.

Mr Meyer was arrested and charged with resisting an officer with violence

RESISTING AN OFFICER WITH VIOLENCE?! HOW WAS HE VIOLENT?!

Is this a violation of the students right to free speech?

Yes.

We have no free speech.

Oh, and apparently the officers are on "paid vacation".

I feel like writing a bit of protest on my shirt and wearing it to school tomorrow. Hell, I'll walk in front of our school cop with it.

[Haru to Ashura]

Well, that's true, but so is what I said. It isn't a stereotype.

Um, yeah, yeah it is.  It's you blindly judging an entire group of people using slurs without proof - you're stereotpying.

[Korenshei]

Proof... proof? It's called VIDEOS. There's tons of 'em out there basically prooving what shit these police are. How do you think the L.A. Riots started?

(Well maybe that's a bad example... but a good example is what just happened to this kid.)

[FDLink]

Maybe he didn't deserve to be tasered, but he was being unruly and clearly going out of his way to make the confrontation as big a scene as possible. I gotta say, though-- I got a good laugh out of his heightened screaming, which was something that I'd expect out of a Simpsons' character. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7001464.stm

There's a link from the BBC and they are fairly objective with their reporting.

If by objective, you mean: "as far left-of-center as you can go" then you're right.

[Carl Jr.]

You guys want a bad cop? 


If you don't chill out, I'll start tasering all of you. There's some hostile shouting going on in here, the likes of which can mean only one thing: people are getting too heated up.  I know this is a big deal to you all...   personally, I've never met a cop I didn't like. Back in High School, we had the coolest cop ever. A black guy, maybe late twenties, Officer Callaway. He had this smooth demeanor like Geordi Laforge on Star Trek TNG, or maybe Shaft... loved his job, but from the standpoint of the sociality that came with it, not the power.  Anyways, one day, our Outdoors I class took a field trip to Busch Wildlife to shoot at targets... later, when we were done, Callaway brought some Police-class targets out (the kind shaped like a head and torso with crosshairs on them), then blew them away with assorted machine guns, shotguns, and even a Grenade Launcher!

  We have cops for the campus, but they simply do not hold a candle to Callaway. They're still very social beings, and practically part of the staff, but... meh. I guess they still do the job though.

[Fleamo]

Maybe he didn't deserve to be tasered, but he was being unruly and clearly going out of his way to make the confrontation as big a scene as possible. I gotta say, though-- I got a good laugh out of his heightened screaming, which was something that I'd expect out of a Simpsons' character. 

He was only being unruly because they were taking him away when he wasn't doing anything wrong.  He was asking a question.

Also, he sounds just like Dane Cook.

[Shin Illuminated]

While he should have just let them take him away quietly and admit he was outdone...I saw no reason to do that to him. I really felt bad for the guy there.

[Mike Fireball]

OK, while I agree that that guy was obnoxious and should've been punched in the mouth, they should've warned him first before taking him away. And Kerry should've been a hell of a lot more vocal if he was really interested in answering the question instead of mumbling.

[Loki]

Why do cops even have tasers nowadays? It seems like every time you hear about a cop using one, everyone's complaining about it.

Gotta admit... if I was a cop and some kid was being difficult, it'd be extremely tempting to just taze him and be done with it. And I'm sure most of you would face the same temptation as well. It's an easy way out.

No, I'm not suggesting that what they did is right. I couldn't care less; it's a means of subdueing him. They are given tasers for a reason, afterall. I'm just wondering why they have them all things considered.



And hey, they didn't shoot the kid, so give them some credit.

Proof... proof? It's called VIDEOS. There's tons of 'em out there basically prooving what shit these police are. How do you think the L.A. Riots started?

(Well maybe that's a bad example... but a good example is what just happened to this kid.)

Um, if you're putting every member of a certain group into one category because of what a minority of the group does, it's stereotyping. Not all cops are bad and use tasers on people asking questions or start riots.

FUCK THE POLICE!

Seriously. They're power hungry, wife beating, corrupt, predjudiced assholes.

While that's a sterotype, I think there's a link between police brutality in the US and the fact that police officers are uneducated.  No college degree required, no form of secondary education whatsoever.  Last time I checked, some states don't even require a GED or High school degree - we're letting delinquents wear badges.

Last I checked, having a bachelor's degree or even just a high school education isn't going to change your personality. While it would be nice if at least an HS education would be required, it would probably drastically lower the number of police officers in this country. And while some are bad, the rest are good and do help things in constructive/non-violent ways.

We have no free speech.

Wow. Do you seriously believe that or are you just that... oblivious?

[llwoops]

A lot of abuse of power has been happening lately.

One being the abuse of our first amendment rights like in this case, he was annoying but what resulted was inappropriate for what he did.

There are other things happening with freedom of speech being taken away. At many conventions or speeches freedom of speech is being controlled by giving opposing voices designated places to speak that are usually a distance away from the event's site making it useless to even voice your opinion. Granted there are the folk who do stupid things in some cases good people that won't go radical should be allowed so both sides of any topic can be heard.

Another thing not exactly as interesting this taser stuff is the abuse of authority in the case of this arrest.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hsANStoogzk

[Korenshei]

We have no free speech.

Wow. Do you seriously believe that or are you just that... oblivious?

I understand that I have enough freedom to say that I don't like the police or something along the lines of that, but this guy wasn't allowed to finish what he was saying. And I think it goes deeper than him just asking an overly long question, I think it had to do with the politics he was playing, and the police didn't quite like where he was coming from. Haven't you wondered about that?

'Free speech'... 'The land of the free'.... yeah......