CAIR Calls For Probe of UCLA Student Tasered By Cops
Posted on November 17, 2006
Update: the tased student whitewashes his personal profile after hiring a lawyer for a civil lawsuit. Hmmmm.
My question: What part of “stand up” does this moonbat retard not understand? Didn’t the ACLU teach you anything on how to assert your rights in a civil manner? But then again, maybe the shock was so much he was having trouble standing up. But if you listen you can clearly hear the kid tell the cops “F you” when they tell him to stand up. Its hard to judge from the video.
I also don’t understand why people make such a big deal out of tasers. They are non-lethal. For those that oppose tasers, I’ve always wondered what method they would suggest to stop someone resisting arrest and refusing to cooperate. They can always go back to night sticks and pistols.
The ACLU have made it clear that they are against the use of tasers and are usually first to the scene in an incident like this. They may not get involved on this one, as CAIR is the first to arrive.
Southern California Islamic leaders are calling for an independent investigation into Tuesday night’s incident at the UCLA library where campus police apparently stunned a student with a “Taser” gun.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged “state and national authorities, including the FBI” to investigate the incident involving the 23-year-old Mostafa Tabatabainejad.
A camera phone captured Tabatabainejad being stunned repeatedly after he allegedly refused repeated requests to show his student I-D and would not leave a campus library.
Campus officials are investigating the incident.
But the American-Islamic relations group says an outside probe’s needed to make sure the case’s “civil rights aspects” are taken seriously.
I don’t really disagree with them on calling for an investigation. I do think an investigation should be launched and that all sides should be heard fairly on this.
Here is the report from the Daily Bruin
In incident late Tuesday night in which a UCLA student was stunned at least four times with a Taser has left the UCLA community questioning whether the university police officers’ use of force was an appropriate response to the situation.
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a Taser and then taken into custody when he did not exit the CLICC Lab in Powell Library in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he failed to produce his BruinCard during a random check at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in the library after 11 p.m.
“Because of the safety of the students we limit the use after 11 to just students, staff and faculty,” Young said.
Young said the CSOs on duty in the library at the time went to get UCPD officers when Tabatabainejad did not immediately leave, and UCPD officers resorted to use of the Taser when Tabatabainejad did not do as he was told.
A six-minute video showed Tabatabainejad audibly screaming in pain as he was stunned several times with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds. He was told repeatedly to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would “get Tased again.”
Here is another account:
The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday at about 11 p.m. as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer lab.
”This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours,” said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.
She said police tried to escort Tabatabainejad, 23, out of the library after he refused to provide identification. Tabatabainejad instead encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, police used the stun gun on him, Greenstein said.
I’m with Michelle on this:
The usual police-bashers are attacking campus security for taking extreme measures when the student repeatedly refused to show ID and physically defied them. The student is out of control. A mob forms. Did the officers overreact? (Let me be clear: If those officers broke any laws, they should be prosecuted. But the whole story needs to be told.) Who baited whom?
Maybe they should have said “pretty please” stand up before resorting to the tasers? I think it is clear that the kid provoked this. You can hear him crying about the Patriot Act as they jolt him. Did the cops go overboard? Watch the video and decide. Just keep in mind the need for both sides of the story.
The sad thing is that this whole thing could have been avoided had the kid just cooperated with the police and not copped an attitude.
On a related note, I did get a kick after of hearing this little turd shriek about the Patriot Act as he got tasered. I don�t care if that makes sadistic jerk or not.
Tabatabainejad was asked to show his ID by uniformed officers, refused to do so or offer an explanation, and then started acting a fool when being escorted out. It�s not unreasonable that this would raise red flags. Still, the officers had no reason to believe they were in danger and could easily have subdued him, cuffed him, and dragged him down to the station.
I had similar thoughts as James. Perhaps the cops should have tried this approach. However, the kid was resisting stronger in the beggining and only started whining that he would cooperate after the tasing. There was also a large group of a potential mob gathering. I don’t know how easy it is to judge what should have been done in the situation, so I’m still waiting to hear the cop’s side of the story.
Everyone is quick to blame the cops. That is easy. Maybe they were excessive. If so, they should be punished and trained properly. This kid was also excessive in his resistance and a lot could have been avoided had he cooperated.
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19 Responses to “CAIR Calls For Probe of UCLA Student Tasered By Cops”
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i dont bash police officers or tazers. however, this situation was not handled properly. these officers endangered their own lives and the lives of their fellow officers by trying to prove a point. if the kid refused to walk, call him stupid or arrogant or whatever, they should have simply picked him up and carried him. they are very lucky this situation did not escalate into a riot, which looked like it was about to several times in the video. the burden lies on law enforcement to act properly, not the student. instead of people pointing fingers about who is right or wrong in this situation, i hope that it raises awareness for campus police officers and better training about how to handle these types of situations.
“I’m with Michelle [Malkin] on this.” Well, there’s something you don’t hear every day, that’s for sure.
Oh, and as for Michelle [Malkin]’s quote, it should be “who baited whom,” not “who baited who.” I’ll leave you and your think tank in peace now.
wait. i read that too fast. never mind. I guess Michelle’s got a good editor after all. I mean “good” only in the grammatical sense.
I tend to believe the police take that “non-lethal” too seriously and overuse stun guns. How would law enforcement have handled this situation before they had stun guns. I would at least need that kind of information to adequately judge whether the stun gun was used appropriately.
Before stun guns, this situation would have probably been handled with night-sticks. In that case, they try to only hit them once if they resist. Everyone is quick to blame the cops. That is easy. Maybe they were excessive. If so, they should be punished and trained properly. This kid was also excessive in his resistance and a lot could have been avoided had he cooperated.
This is funny as HELL! He could have made the taser stop… all he had to do was ~drum roll please~
STAND THE HELL UP! LOLOLOL
I agree with the following statements:
The following statements make me sad and afraid:
I’m not going to overly dramatize this incident by drawing direct comparisons to historical acts of civil disobedience, but suffice it to say, officers are not justified in using force in order to gain compliance.
Force, lethal or non, is only to be used to protect the safety of the officer. It’s disheartening that some people believe otherwise.
Jeff, you are such a bleeding heart. We definitely have to have some drinks one day.
Nah, I really don’t care about that kid. We don’t yet know the background of this story, but it appears that he did manufacture the confrontation and it sounds like school policy obligated him present identification. So I recognize that he is not merely some helpless victim. He played a role in the whole affair.
But I can’t understand how some people think that violence, on the part of the government, is justified during acts of civil disobedience.
If not force, then what would you suggest? Asking him pretty please?
jay, everyone should be quick to blame the cops. the cops job is to protect and serve. if the people are innocent until proven guilty, the government should always be guilty until proven innocent, since it was created to serve the people the burden of proof is on the state.
Sorry, I incorrectly used the word “force” in comment #15. I should have used the word “violence” as I did in comment #17.
James Joyner correctly stated the proper course of action for the officers:
Maybe so Jeff. I think it is hard to judge by that video until we hear both sides of the story.
Fair enough. It is certainly true that most of the incident happened off-camera, so it is within the realm of possibility that he was acting aggressively at certain times.
However, the evidence against the officers is pretty damning. At 2:45, the cameraman gets clear view of the officers and suspect in the doorway. For the next 30 seconds, it is pretty clear that the suspect is not exerting any effort in any direction. At 3:10, one of the officers says “Stand up. [brief pause] You’re going to get tazed. You’re going to get tazed again.” Seconds later, the suspect begins writhing in pain.
Even if it is determined that the first and second tazings were justified, I simply can’t foresee an interpretation that justifies the third.
” My question: What part of “stand up” does this moonbat retard not understand? ”
What part of being Tasered do you not understand? Let’s see how easy you can get up after being
tased a couple of times.
“Didn’t the ACLU teach you anything on how to assert your rights in a civil manner?”
It could be argued that he was rude and not behaving in a civil manner but last time I checked,
it is not a criminal offense to be a rude bastard. Certainly not an offense that should be
handled the way it was handled.
“I also don’t understand why people make such a big deal out of tasers. They are non-lethal.”
Considering that the jury is still out if it can be lethal for some people (see http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/07/BAG6PKE1AC1.DTL), I think people have a reason to be making a big deal
out of it specially when it is used without real reason and in such an idiotic manner such as the video shows. Not to mention the student let the officers know that he had a medical condition. Now, he could
have been lying but that assumption should not be made when someone’s life could be in danger.
“For those that oppose tasers, I’ve always wondered what method they would suggest to stop someone resisting arrest and refusing to cooperate.”
Tasers are supposed to be use when the officers feels seriously threatened but a dangerous individual.
This student didn’t act like this at any time. Police officers are trained to handle non-threatening
situations in a more “civilized” way. The repeated use of the taser in this case was unnecessary.
I tend to believe the police take that “non-lethal” too seriously and overuse stun guns.
I agree with you. There seems to be an increase in the use of Tasers.
I’d be interested in knowing if there has been a study done, that shows a corresponding decrease in lethal force.
Here on the ranch, we use a similar device called a “Hotshot”, used to move dumb, stubborn animals like cattle and hogs.
Animals that cool themselves in stocktanks, are hard to get out and cattle that stall in the chute can be dangerous to property and people and a prod will get them moving again.
Of course, in this situation, we are dealing with a higher “intelligent” life form. One which is supposedly, attempting to increase his knowledge in an “institution of higher learning.” The fact that he cannot follow simple directives and does not respond to painful incentives, leaves me at a loss.
It does however, give me a better appreciation of the dumb animals I have to deal with daily.
(now, if I can just teach them to vote)
My two cents: The individual tasered was obviously out of line. He could not provide sufficient identification for his presence in that particular facility, and when lawfully ordered to do something by the campus police officers, he disobeyed them, disrespected them, and generally caused trouble.
That said, the security officers were horribly out of line as well. Their lives were not in danger (three security guys cannot handle one unruly student?), and neither were the lives of anyone in the immediate area. The situation could have simply been handled by open-handing the kid to the ground, zip-tying his wrists, and dragging his sorry arse out of the computer cluster. A SINGLE taser burst might have been necessary to get him limp such that they could accomplish that, but repeated ones? Hell no.
As for “standing up”, if my understandings of tasers is accurate, they are designed to incapacitate someone for at least a few minutes. Tasering someone, and then immediately requesting them to stand up is just plain counterproductive, illogical, and stupid. They are not going to have sufficient motor control of their legs to do much of anything, be it stand up, threaten you, or run away.
There should definitely be an investigation into this matter… while the student was obviously in the wrong, the security types were as well. Of course, now tasers will be getting all manner of negative press due to this incident… *sighs*
This is a classic case of a set up to get publicity for the Mullahs through their agents, NIAC being one of them, watch other puppet organizations on Mullah’s payroll like IABA, NIPOC and IMAN to follow . I wouldn’t be surprised if IAPAC , folks like Amirahmadi, Titra Parsi, Houghoghi and Babaie to jump on board. This is as free of advertising as it comes.
The campus police was wrong but they were lured into this by a very carefully planned conspiracy. Watch the details get investigated over the next few weeks. How come there was only one student recording? How come the recording did not start from the beginning of the incident? Did you hear the student swear at the police? tell them [edited]your patriot act? How come his attorney is a 2 time disbarred attorney who was the only attorney thrown out of the Federal Court?
Things are never what they seem.