University of Florida Student Tasered at Kerry Speech

[Thomas Rogers]

A University of Florida student was tasered at a Kerry forum. I must admit, the kid was a little over the top with his questioning, machine-gun firing questions/accusations at Kerry and generally making a mockery of the Q&A process.



Do I think the police went over the line? You watch and decide.



Watch the arrest here:



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And here is a lower quality video that shows the students entire line of questions to Kerry:



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[TomT]

I would have shot the dumbass.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Whipping him with a rubber hose would have been more appropriate.

 

[Devin Underberg]

Did Kerry ever answer the questions?

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Devin asked:

Did Kerry ever answer the questions?

Yeah, he did, each and every one of them. Then, a couple of minutes later, he denied ever answering them and flip-flopped on all his questions.







TJR

 

[Brett Wustman]

What a stud! Not hard to believe kerry wouldn't answer a question, thats not like him at all...yeah right!

 

[EddieS'04]

Biased police and secret service..JMO

 

[Jorgie Hidalgo]

i think police went over the top....thats too much for just asking a question its not like the kid tried to attack kerry or something....i dont know i think the "university police" is wack at every school even here at FAU theyre stupid

 

[Dave Faries]

I agree he’s a dumbass. No respect for the law. Not to say I have anything good to say about flip-flop, waffle house Kerry.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Upon reviewing the vids all I can say is he needed a cop there telling him the following:

You have the right to remain silent...I suggest you use it.



You have the right to scream like a little girl when tased...I suggest you avoid that if you want to get laid again on this campus.

TJR

 

[Rich Stern]

I'm not sure why he was arrested; that looked heavy handed. They should have given him stronger verbal notice that he was about to be considered disturbing the peace. That may just be an audio issue with the video.



However, once arrested, the police can use reasonable force to get an uncooperative subject to comply with their lawful orders. He's clearly resisting arrest. It doesn't matter if he screams "I didn't do anything!" Once arrested, it's an issue for a DA, a grand jury and a judge, and a defense attorney to wrestle with. He can't expect to present his case to the arresting officers, and if he physically resists, he's breaking other laws that further empower them to use force to subdue him.



If he wanted to stage a protest, he should have sat down, continued speaking/shouting his message, and made them carry him out.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Rich, exactly...as usual.



The kid turned it into his own little soapbox and bully-mic, and if the cops want to escort him out the door for the way he did that, then so be it. If they arrest him for it, so be it. All he had to do is comply. They probably would have detained him until he was out the door, given a warning, then let go.



TJR

 

[Bill V]

I haven't seen the video--video is locked out here on work computers--but from the articles I've read, it sounds like it's fair to say that this isn't a case of Kerry's people trying to quiet someone who dissents with him. I've read that Kerry can be heard saying, "That's alright, let me answer his question," shortly after police started intervening, and can be further heard to tell the audience that he will answer the person's "very important question" just before the struggle got to the point of tazer use. Based on this, I'm glad (and somewhat surprised) to see that, so far, none of the more conservative members of this site are trying to attribute this to Kerry and claim that he's just trying to silence those who disagree with him.

 

[Bill V]

Regarding why he was cut escorted out--and again, I haven't seen the video, only numerous articles on the situation--it sounds like he was getting beligerent, upset, and confrontational when informed that his time was up and the microphone had been cut off. And I can see how such actions, in the vicinity of a relatively prominent political figure, could be perceived to be a danger/threat. And from that perspective, it would seem that the officers took appropriate measures to assure that the danger was removed quickly and as safely as possible.



Rich is correct--if he was wanting to peacefully protest, he should have sat down, or taken other actions that would more clearly convey that his intentions are peaceful. Short of that, in this day and age, the law enforcement personnel were forced to assume his intents were not peaceful, and to act accordingly.

 

[Ron Tobias]

The student's actions made the use of force reasonable. Once he resisted the officers, the officers can use "reasonable force" gain compliance and that's exactly what they did. The only thing the officers did wrong was not gain control, through hands-on techniques or Tazer, earlier/quicker.



Here's a guy that gets it: (see link)

 

[Johnny O]

Dude was being a jerk, but hitting him with a Taser was a little over the top IMHO.

 

[Rick Kent]

Tough crowd. Is this the same group that was opposed to showing a receipt to a store employee citing all of the theoretical legal principles and the slippery slope we are heading down?

 

[Gavin Allan]

Since the liberals took the billyclubs away from cops, all they have left is their Glocks and their tasers. A couple of good hard raps to the head with a billyclub would have quieted the idiot down quickly.



They should have used the tasers on Kerry, though.

 

[Rich Stern]

While I don't advocate tasering John Kerry (waste of battery power), it would be kind of fun if every time a politician got up to make a speech like that, he/she got tasered whenever the b.s. meter went too high.



It would be like an electric fence collar for a dog. Every time they get near the end of the truth and the beginning of the b.s.....zzzzzzaaaaapppppp!



How long before politicians had a serious, reflex aversion to lying? How cool would that be?



[Rich heads off to workshop to begin working on inferface blueprint for a wearable polygraph/taser/dog collar system for public figures...biggest challenge...battery capacity...gonna need lots and lots of current]

 

[Dan Long]

They were not over the top in using the Taser on him at all. Regardless of what prompted him to be removed, he went about his protest the wrong way. He was told to stop resisting, he was physically struggling and pulling away from the officers, and he was warned that he would be Tased if he did not comply with their orders.



I work for the Alachua County Sheriff's Office (which includes UF's hometown of Gainesville) and they pretty well followed standard procedure in this type of situation. The Taser is a non-lethal tool that can be used in many different situations with no lasting injuries to the subject. Until you've tried to do it, you wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to secure a person's hands behind their back when they're struggling, even with several officers present. Would he rather them have used their batons to gain compliance? What about they many other pain compliance techniques we're taught? Trust me, he'd be feeling the effects of that for days rather than seconds.



Speaking from experiece, the Taser doesn't really hurt... it's uncomfortable, but its not a pain compliance device, it's an electromuscular disruption device. It interrupts the sensory and motor functions and basically causes your muscles in between the two probes to contract involuntarily. When the 5-second cycle stops, the discomfort stops and aside from maybe feeling tired, its over with.



Anyway, the kid was apparently wanting to make a scene and he succeeded, but I think most of the laughs were on him rather than Kerry. I saw several faces in the crowd that seemed to be smiling and laughing about the incident in the video. I'm sure he'll file a lawsuit, and I probably know exactly what attorney is going to handle it for him, but he's also facing a pretty serious felony charge with the potential for prison time because like so many these days, he felt that he has the right to refuse being arrested.



edit- After watching the video again, I can't tell for sure how they used the Taser on him. If they took the probe cartridge off the Taser and drive-stunned him with it, then it is being used as a pain compliance device. If they shot him with the probes and let it cycle, it's an EMD. Either way, still much less chance of serious injury than almost any other method of subduing a resisting subject.