Student gets tasered at Kerry event in Florida

September 18, 2007

As you may have heard, Sen. John Kerry spoke and answered questions at the University of Florida yesterday. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a particularly noteworthy event, but when it came time for one particularly animated student to ask the senator a question, events quickly spiraled out of control. (This video includes quite a bit of screaming and probably isn’t safe for work)

There are a variety of clips and angles of what transpired — there were apparently quite a few cameras in the auditorium — and the local NBC affiliate appears to have the most comprehensive video, including his refusal to give police officers his name after the incident. He also said he thought the officers were trying to “kill” him.

For those who can’t watch videos from their computers, the incident started rather innocuously. A student asked Kerry why he conceded the election in 2004, given some voting irregularities. When the senator tried to answer, the student kept talking, and asked another question about why Kerry won’t help impeach Bush. When the senator tried to answer again, the student then asked about Kerry’s membership in Skull and Bones while at Yale. After rambling for quite a while, his microphone was cut off.

I think it’s fair to say that the kid was being a jerk. I think it’s also fair to say that in the United States, there’s no law against being a jerk.

Matters quickly devolved. Police intervened and asked the student to leave. When he resisted, they tried to escort him from the room. He resisted some more, leading to some pushing and shoving, and eventually, the student, while on the floor, was tasered.

As a rule, I try to give the police the benefit of the doubt. They’re there to ensure Kerry’s safety. A student got unruly, and refused to cooperate. Given those circumstances, it seems entirely reasonable to me that he be escorted from the room. There were five or six armed officers dealing with one unarmed student — it shouldn’t have been too tough to remove him.

But tasering him? Sending high voltage electricity with a police weapon because some kid was being an ass strikes me as way over the line. He was causing a disturbance and resisting instructions from the officers, but he wasn’t a threat to anyone.

For his part, Kerry was apparently trying to defuse the situation, trying to answer the student’s questions and asking everyone to stay calm. Today, the senator responded to the incident.

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday condemned the arrest of a University of Florida student at one of his speeches, saying that he was engaged in a “good healthy discussion” with 21-year-old Andrew Meyer when he was Tasered and taken into custody.

“In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way,” Kerry said in a statement. “I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody.”

“I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building,” he continued. “I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted.”

The student was reportedly jailed overnight on charges of disturbing the peace and resisting an officer.

The University of Florida has scheduled a news conference to discuss the incident at 3 pm ET today.

Damn. Well, um, I guess Kerry handled it well. That whole thing was a bit uncomfortable to watch.

Cheney probably would’ve just taken him hunting.

  • The kid certainly WAS being an ass, which leads me to wonder how the police can deal with them without causing a national incident. The kid’s probably proud as hell today, being on national TV and all. Maybe they should have big strong policemen present with duct tape for people who won’t shut up and are harassing a speaker. Hustle them out when it’s obvious they aren’t interested in a back and forth exchange (as the kid wasn’t) and tape his mouth shut if he continues to make a racket.

    I dunno. At least duct tape doesn’t cause bodily harm.

    Kerry handled it well.

  • Those questions are the same ones I would ask him. He sold us out in 2004, and I think John Kerry is as bad as the rest of the corrupt machine running our country into the ground. He sold his vote a long time ago like 99% of the other incumbants in DC.
    Maybe the kid was a jerk, but we need more jerks like him. This country is in a mess, and unless Bush/Cheney are impeached ASAP, we will be at war with Iran. The Bushies are not only evil, they are stupid.

  • which leads me to wonder how the police can deal with them without causing a national incident — anney
    That’s a good question. How should the police have handled the situation if what they did do was wrong? He was being a dick, they started leading him away, he resisted and refused to stop being a disturbance, they warned him that he would be tasered, he continued to resist, and he got it.

  • I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
    There’s something major missing…

    1) Kid was drunk/high
    2) History of mental illness
    3) Staunch conservative trying desperately to reduce Democratic political action by ruining an event that may encourage activism.
    4) Other

    Too weird to be taken at face value.

  • I saw several different shots of it, and while it seemed he was being difficult (and perhaps at one point near the stage threw an elbow), most of the time he had his hands in the air and visible. First a large white guard and then a large black guard each seemed able to control him physcially (the black guard rather humrously was able to get leverage and give the student the bum’s rush up the aisle – he appeared to have things well under control).

    But throughout, a smaller guard (I believe a male, although a smaller female guard was involved as well) had a taser drawn and aimed. The guard looked edgy, a little too intense on the stance and draw, like the student was a much bigger threat than was supported by any other evidence on the tape.

    We are presently having a debate in Iowa about arming the campus police at state universities (a debate going on elsewhere, too, I suspect in light of Va Tech). I was opposed before this incident, but I shudder to think what would have happened if one of these campus cops had bullets instead of electrons.

    (WifeGeist noted that the student kept waving a book around and quipped “maybe that’s what was so threatening about him – thoughts!” And it was a paperback, no less.)

  • The kid was being a jerk and Kerry was trying to calmly deal with his ambush questions and for whatever reason the police stepped in then it became apparent that the kid knew what he was doing and he was disrupting the whole event by continuing to scream like he was being victimized…”HELP HELP HELP…LOOK AT WHAT I’M MAKING THEM DO TO ME! The kid could have stopped the ordeal at anytime but just continued to scream and be obnoxious even while they had him on the ground.

    BUT!..6 big cops on him and they can’t get him handcuffed? Then feel the need to tazer him while he’s subdued on the ground? Totally unnecessary and these guys and girls should be charged with excessive force. The kid was an ass but there was no need to tazer him. We will here for the next several days his pleas of look what they did to me and how he was such a victim but he forced being treated that way…except for being tazered…that was totally unnecessary…except for that screw up the kid didn’t have a chance at claiming he was mistreated.
    There were 2 mics and the last question of the night was coming from the other mic but this kid grabbed the other mic, out of turn and started badgering Kerry who was attempting to answer his questions…but the kid wouldn’t let him and was starting to use his questions as innuendo . The whole event was unnecessary but the kid could have not only prevented it but halted its progress at anytime.

  • This is ridiculous. I blame it on the overhiring of security and police force to crack down on crime. Bored with their jobs, they turn trivial incidents like this – a kid talking too much – into a crime worthy of tasering. Pathetic.

  • At most, this guy was an obnoxious, heckler (and I think even that description gives in way too much to some people’s fragile sensitivities). At most, prior to the police engaging him physically, he was trespassing, in that once asked to leave private property even invitees must do so at the first opportunity. Yet, from the article, we find “Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor.” Trespassing is not even mentioned. Why? Because there are enormous free speech issues raised here. First, this is political speech, the most strongly protected variety of speech. Second, even though this is quasi-private property (arguably public property since it was a state university and open campus), it is highly likely to fall under the Supreme Court’s definition of a “public forum” wherein even laws against trespassing give way to first-amendment free speech concerns. If malls and parks fall under this classification, certainly a “town hall” forum at a public university does. There is very little indication from the video that he was even warned to leave, meaning that he couldn’t have been trespassing. From my viewing of several of these videos, it appears the police restrained him and tried to forcefully remove him literally seconds after the microphone was cut off. Almost regardless of what transpired in that time, it was hardly sufficient to talk to the man, judge whether he would comply voluntarily, or give him the opportunity to do so. Until he actually did something violent or actually did disturb the peace (and I have a hard time believing going over one’s alloted question time by even 1 minute rises to that standard), arrest appears unjustified. And I haven’t even gotten to the tasering yet. Conclusion: He may have been a jerk, but it still sounds like a really good section 1983 lawsuit to me.

  • like it or not he was resisting arrest. he knew what was going to happen. he deserved everything he got. not sure it’s a national news story though.

  • This is quite an interesting situation. Its clear that the kid was out of line but I’m not sure people understand the gravity of the situation from the cops point of view.

    Police officers are trained to react swiftly and with all seriousness because it is their job to protect and serve. 2 officers should have been enough to escort the kid out if the kid followed the instructions. Whether he liked that or not he had no business resisting the way he did and making the scene he did and that escalated matters in the eyes of the officers. They did what they felt necessary to contain the situation and to try to make sure no one got hurt. What if he had a gun? Or some other weapon? I’d be willing to bet the cops were looking out for something like that especially since his behavior was so erratic.

    Its unfortunate that the kid had to get tasered and more than likely there will be some repercussions for its use but isn’t anyone else glad that the police officers did their job? I mean the kid started yelling out ‘they’re going to kill me’ – what would you do if you were in the cops shoes at that point? I know red flags would definitely be up in my head and I’d think I’d be dealing with a lunatic at the moment….better to take ever precaution than not.

    (Please forgive me if this post is rather incoherent – running on 3hrs of sleep and I feel like I’m probably not getting my point across)

  • I think everyone should get tasered. It would cut down on you fools who say ‘Not MY president.’ Yes he is, it’s how a democracy works. Forget mandatory military training.I support a program of mandatory tasering! Who’s with me?!

  • If that kid was a University of Florida student then he learned a valuable lesson: if someone with a Taser tells you to stop doing something or you’ll be tasered then you either stop or you feel the voltage.

    My sympathies aren’t with anyone in this.

  • If it were illegal to be a jerk, we wouldn’t have to be beating our heads on the wall begging for impeachment proceedings, because George W. Bush would have been arrested, tried and convicted so many times, starting so many years ago, that by now he would be serving the mandatory life sentence imposed on repeat offenders.

    I think there are too many people who have lost sight of, don’t remember, or have been indoctrinated to be afraid of, “good, healthy discussions;” they are in terribly short supply in the public arena, not least because this president has spread a blanket of suppression over all of us. Whether it was vetting all attendees at his own events, lest the wayward honest question be asked, or collecting reams of data on all of us and proving they could snatch people off the street if it was subjectively decided someone was acting against the national interest – we have been forced into the shadows to have our discussions on blogs and other forums.

    The security detail at the Kerry forum were probably in Bush mode – the one where their fingers itch and tingle in anticipation that they might have to leap into the fray and taser someone for raising his voice or refusing to cede the floor.

    It seems like there is no longer any tolerance for anyone attempting to exercise the right to speak out, and the actions of this security staff, and the viral transmission of the video, will just serve to remind people that this could be them, and they would be lucky to just be tasered and not whisked off, never to be seen again.

    So, he was a jerk; so was the security detail – their actions certainly did not defuse the situation, and they are lucky it didn’t escalate to a full-scale riot.

  • Kerry could have taken control of this by being more forceful and commanding.

    The guards could have control this individual without the taser. Six guards could have picked this guy up and carried him out of the room if they were trained properly and experienced. I don’t know if they were or not, but their actions sure seem to indicate that they were not.

    Getting back to Kerry, I think we saw again why he wasn’t able to simply crush an unpopular President when he had the chance in the 2004 election. Here is a guy that just doesn’t seem very effective. We can only image how effective he would have been as President. Believe me, I wanted to see the Bush administration ousted from the White House as much as anyone, but I never could fully embrace Kerry except under the premise of “anyone but Bush.”

  • So if I’m walking up to a public event where the President of the United States is speaking and I happen to have on a “W stands for Worst Ever” sticker on, and other than that I am not saying or doing anything and some College Republican part time rent-a-cop volunteer pulls a Taser and tells me to stop and stay out or get tasered, I should roll over for that?

    Can we at least make the rule that “if someone with legitimate authority and a Taser tells you to stop doing something that you are in fact doing wrongfully or you’ll be tasered then you either stop or you feel the voltage as a last resort after all less drastic means of legitimate control have been exhausted“?

    Welcome to the Occupation.

  • The fact that the students did not protest removing the student further supports the right of the police to taser this unrully student. If one has no manners, one should be tasered. We should create “manner police” in NYC subways and just taser the lot out of unrully straphangers.

  • Have we become a society where it is acceptably to unleash enormous force just because someone speaks a little too longer than our “orderly and coward” tolerance allows for? Apparently we have. The cops could have just surrounded the guy at a distance behind him — if they were concerned — and a few monlogues/dialogies later the kid would have calmed down after making all the points he wanted to make.

    I’m sick in stomach of the people who think nothing of physically violating a person just for speaking — on a school campus for heaven’s sake! — his mind. I think he had valid frustrations. It is because of these sickening cowards we have become a police state where everyone remains in a 7×24 state of fear (unless they mentally surrender to the “order” by keeping quiet and supporting state violence like this).

    Let’s delete that “freedom of speech” clause from the constitution. It has become meaningless.

  • “What if he had a gun?”

    What if had a bomb? What if he had weapons of mass destruction? What if he had his finger on the trigger of a nuclear weapon? What if he was really a terrorist?

    What if Kam has a gun?

    Well, this kid did not have a gun. He had a loud mouth and an obnoxious tone of voice, and all of the fear mongering and hypotheticals doesn’t change what actually happened.

    What should have the police done? What every reasonable cop does. Follow procedures. Use a calm but firm command voice to instruct the kid that he is disturbing the peace and to calm down or leave the area. If it escalates to the point where he must be removed, use the procedurally approved amount of physical force to clear him of the area before affecting arrest.

    There are prescribe procedures for when to use a weapon, including a Taser. Follow them.

  • Have we become a society that readily accepts unleashing enormous force on an unarmed student just because he spoke a little too longer than our “orderly and coward” tolerance allows for? Apparently we have and by becoming so we have decreed it a crime to _SPEAK_ publicly about high-powered politicians’ membership to a secret society or racially motivated voter fraud. That is the TAKE AWAY for most of foreign press — the US media is emasculated in any case.

    The cops could have just surrounded the guy at a distance behind him — if they were concerned — and a few monologues/dialogues later the kid would have calmed down after he felt he made all the points and unburdened his valid frustrations at Kerry for letting down his supporters.

    I’m sick in stomach of the people who think nothing of physically violating a person just for speaking — on a school campus for heaven’s sake! — his mind. It is because of these sickening cowards our transformation into a police state is now complete. Everyone remains in a 7×24 state of fear in America unless they are the cowardly apologists who have mentally surrendered to the “order” as decreed by the state.

    Let’s delete that “freedom of speech” clause from the constitution. It has become meaningless.

  • AP reports that the guy is known for pulling a lot of practical jokes and taping them. He was asking several rather goofy questions, was interrupting Kerry when he tried to answer just so he could ask *more* questions, and didn’t seem to want anything actually answered (or he’d have let Kerry speak.) My personal opinion is that the jerk was acting up merely for the sake of acting up, and is most likely laughing at all the commotion he’s caused, even as I type.

  • I think what frightens me the most is that the kid’s questions were perfectly reasonable, if a bit aggressive, and that -no-one- in the room got up and tried to bring reason back into the debate. If i’d have been there, i would like to think i would have stood up, pointed at the fray and said, “This is what you get for expressing an opinion in Bush’s america’.

  • As much as I hate to source Michelle Malkin, it looks like the student cause a disruption before the events we see unfold on video (from student Tyler Antar):

    So I went to the John Kerry town hall forum this morning trying to get students registered to vote. I run a student government organization called Chomp the Vote. Anyway I went inside to watch the event. Senator Kerry took the podium and began delivering a speech about the Middle East, Iraq, dimplomacy, etc. Anyway, after he was done, a university ambassador asked Kerry a few premade questions. Once that was over, Senator Kerry announced he would take questions from the students. There were two
    microphones placed on each side of the aisle. One on my side and the other on Andrew Meyer’s side. Senator Kerry began answering the student’s questions from each aisle. Eventually it was announced that there would only be a few more questions answered. Since Meyer and I were both in the back of each line, it did not seem likely that our questions would be answered.

    However, while Senator Kerry was responding to a student’s question, all of a sudden Meyer rushed to the microphone with cops in pursuit. At that point no one knew what was going on. Could he have a gun, a bomb? Immediately, Meyer began yelling into the microphone that he had been waiting in line forever and that Senator Kerry should “spend time to answer everyone’s questions!” Senator Kerry tried to calm the student down by telling him that he would “stay here as long as it takes to get the questions answered.” The police approached Meyer who began taunting them by saying “what! are you going to taser me? are you going to arrest me?!” The police grabbed Meyer, but Senator Kerry asked the
    police to let him go and that he would answer his question. Senator Kerry finished answering the other student’s question and then proceeded with Meyer. (*This entire scene is not in any video I can find so far. This is why 2 cops are seen right behind Meyer at the start of some videos*).

  • Any cop with the balls to taser an anti-war student at a Kerry rally has got a pair you could bowl with, that’s all I can say. Not the most friendly crowd for an excessive use of force. You got to respect that.

  • I can’t believe everyone keeps blaming the kid in this situation as if he was a lunatic. He was clearly impassioned about the state of this country and the horrible path our government has led us down. I wish MORE people would get off their butts and stob lobbing softball questions to those in power. Yes he was loud and apparently cut in line b/c questions were coming to an end, but at least he wasn’t indifferent and decided to do something about it. And by the way, he didn’t break any laws by asking questions. He told Kerry he had 3 questions, and Kerry kept trying to butt in instead of letting the man finish asking- maybe because he could tell this guy wasn’t going to let him off the hook? We never really got to find out if the man would let Kerry answer b/c he was taken out by police. That’s when he got loud in protest of the police. I would have been pissed off too if I was forcefully removed for exercising my right to free speech.

  • “If one has no manners, one should be tasered. We should create “manner police” in NYC subways and just taser the lot out of unrully straphangers.” – Zak McCracken
    And so what happens when a perfectly reasonable situation in which *you* are involved turns into something more? What if someone cuts you up on the road while you’re driving, and you get annoyed? Or what if you happen to be in the neighbourhood when a protest is happening, and you get tazered just for being a bystander that’s suspected of being involved? Do you really, truly think that tazering is an acceptable response to rudeness? If so, be prepared to be tazered. And by the way, well done for being a good little supporter of the police state. I abhor violence but I actually hope someone you know is hurt in this manner beyond reasonable force and you have to actually think about its ramifications to you and all of us. This isn’t about rudeness. *None of us* are now safe to express an opinion. For god’s sake, have you even ever been tazered?

  • American cops, whether they are kiddie cops (security guards), state troopers, country mounties, or city cops, have an arrogant attitude that they are the best of society and only they (“the thin blue line”) can prevent society from devolving into mindless anarchy. This after they take away all our guns so we can’t fight back against opprosive tyrannical government or defend oursleves against against violent gangs of illegal immigrants. And they have the gall to order us to accept illegal immigrants, as if gangs roaming the streets are a great contribution to our society. Why are cops given preferential treatment in government programs? Why is killing a cop dog the same as a murder of a human being? Are cop dogs as valuable to society as taxpaying citizens? A country that worships the policeman is on the way out.

  • He cut in line, he yelled, but he did nothing to be escorted out, wrestled to the ground, or tasered.

    WTF?

    When your kid yells at you, do you bring out the taser?

    The cops should have stopped the moment he was at the mic, and stayed there next to him. Wait until the event is over to arrest him. None of the cops ever said a commanding word on any of the tapes until he’s being tasered.

    They’ve got vocal chords. Use them.

  • becareful of what you do and say in this police state. we have lost our rights. america is not a democracy anymore. Democracy only works when the people VOTE. and their votes are counted. We live in a fascist country. Forget i mentioned it, go back to your important lives and tv shows and corporate tactile sensations. Rise to the flag. Salute!

  • I would like to know if all the people objecting to the treatment of this student have actually watched the video of the incident? I saw a video of it on TV last night and the incident had reached the point where the student was surrounded by about six security/police officers in the back of the hall who were trying to escort him from the hall. He continued to loudly yell and resist being taken from the hall. He was warned that if he did not leave peaceably, he would be tasered. He continued to cause a disturbance and was tasered. If you engage in disorderly conduct, you must expect that there are consequences. Even people who engage in civil disobedience know that there are consequences.

  • 30.
    On September 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm, Jason said:
    I can’t believe everyone keeps blaming the kid in this situation as if he was a lunatic. He was clearly impassioned about the state of this country and the horrible path our government has led us down.

    Sorry, gotta disagree. IMHO, he was clearly trying to make an ass of himself. Don’t know if it was for bragging rights, video footage for his myspace page, mental illness or what. But the fact that he kept asking questions – refusing Kerry the ability to answer the question by asking MORE questions (which is what he claimed to have wanted – actually does a disservice to those among us who really ARE impassioned about the state of the country and the horrible path our government has led us down.

    Hypotheticals: If a young guy constantly makes a spectacle of himself to protest the deplorable treatment black people historically receive from the police (which is not necessarily a bad reason to make a spectacle of yourself), but then you discover he’s more about self-promotion and having sex with black chicks than actually caring about the plight, does that or does that not make his actions questionable? When an evangelical Christian of the “God Hates Fags” variety protests at a soldier’s funeral in the firm belief that God is allowing us to lose the Iraq War because we don’t treat homosexuals as outcasts…well, apparently they’re very concerned, in their own way, with the state of the union, but aren’t their methods more than a little questionable? Shouldn’t we be allowed skepticism of the motivation and actions of this student the same way we would those scenarios?

  • The action taken by the police is classified as police abuse. This poor kid was inly speaking his mind. There is no crime in that. Anyone who thinks otherwise should probably experience what he has or should have someone close to them go thru the same experience in order to see what exactly is going on. Andrew Meyer is a hero. A true american speaking for the rights of everyone in this country. Once this police state inceases to the point of civil unrest, America will wake up and smell the violence at their doorstep.
    AMERICA, HOW COULD YOU LET THESE FASCIST PROFITEERS TAKE OVER YOUR COUNTRY?

  • All of you saying the kid was an ass are total idiots and probably work for the illuminati. The kid was upset and a little excited. Is it illegal to be upset and a little excited????? The world is messed up and you idiots saying he was an ass are part of the cause. Wake up before it’s too late. Stop drinking those damn diet sodas with the cancer causing aspartame (acesulfame k) in it and maybe you’ll be able to think straight! Get your facts straignt, the kid was doing what any sane american should be doing. Complain about the b.s. !!!!!!

  • Such barbaric behavior in a country that claims to practise and preach in free speech. Well I have seen too many times videos like these showing young, ‘tassered’ or treated in overly harsh ways by local enforcement in the United States just for using that right of ‘free speech’. This would NEVER happen in Australia where such freedoms are still respected. That young man would have been escorted from the auditorium in a more ‘humane’ fashion. America needs to grow up.

  • There are good cops and bad cops, oddly the same as in every other facet of life. But if I have someone who’s willing to confront a lunatic- whether he’s of the immature teenage jerk variety or the “what the hell is he reaching for in his pocket” variety- I want those cops to have defined rules that allow them to escalate the force used to control the jerk. The idiot gave up his right to speech when he stopped speaking and started performing for the cameras. If the police followed their rules for escalation in the face of a person resisting arrest, then they did the right thing.

  • This is easy … if the cops were enforcing the law then the law is wrong, Now yeah, the kid was definitely playing it up … but sometimes that’s the best way to make your point.

    Ok, he got tasered … were the cops right to do so? No, I don’t care what the law says because even if they were following protocol (which I kinda doubt), they’re still wrong. Anyone here who doesn’t think it’s ok to break the rules to defend your ideas needs a refresher course in how this country got here … unless you’re British, then you can hold a grudge about it I guess.

  • That young ass’s parents didn’t bring him up right. He obviously wasn’t interested in an exchange with Kerry since he kept cutting Kerry off when he tried to answer.

    Warning, parents: if you don’t bring your kids up to respect others, they’re likely to get tasered, though I, personally, think duct tape would have been the better solution. But heck, the kid was only doing what George Bush does in news conferences, so why can’t he?

  • Well, the media is trying to sell the young man as a serial prankster and that this was all a big hoax, but he’s also an impassioned war protester.

    So many are so quick to dismiss him, but you know, he actually got the ‘why isn’t Bush being impeached?’ question in the mainstream media, which is more than we can say for most Democrats.

  • Tasers were a good idea but they’ve become destructive tools for weak police officers who are too lazy to find other solutions. There *were* other solutions here.

  • I hope that I’m not the only one noticing the growing trend of police being trigger happy with tasers.

    A quick Google search gets results like: “Pregnant woman ‘Tasered’ by police”, “UCLA Police Taser Student For Not Showing ID”, “Now police are told they can use Taser guns on children”.

    I think the evolutionary clock is running backwards.

  • I just saw the NBC video and it reinforces that the guards were not in control of the situation and made everything worse. Kerry didn’t take any control of the situation. And although being intense and agitated (who among us isn’t agitated after all these years of being lied to and manipulated and seeing no one do anything) the student seemed coherent, asked good tough questions, wouldn’t back down, and seemed ready to let Kerry answer the questions (he seemed to back away from the microphone) after he had asked all three questions – which he said he was going to do.

    It was then that the guards put a hand on him to remove him from the room. At that point the student it seemed was guilty of asking penetrating, tough questions in an aggressive manner and hadn’t backed down when it was attempted by Kerry to cut him off.

    Had more people, who are in the position to do so, asked these kinds of questions and had demonstrated the courage not to back down it wouldn’t have been up to a college student to do so.

    Frankly, I applaud the student for his courage, and I do think it took courage for him to do what he did.

    Kerry let down all of us down who voted for him, he let down all of us who want to believe in our system of government, he shirked his responsibility to the constitution and no one has taken him to task, to his face, until now.

    I think a lot of people are fed up with these idiots who supposedly work for us acting like they owe us nothing.

    Maybe it takes aggressive behavior to get their attention.

    Kerry certainly deserves to be asked those questions and the people certainly deserve answers.

  • I dunno how we’re watching the same video. His voice is loud and clear through the PA after he finishes rattling off his final skull and bones question, says “thankyou” over the PA, turns away from the mic, and then the UC tackle him from behind.

  • The kid repeatedly asked for help. Why did everyone in the room sit there doing nothing? Was it because they have been subdued by the police state that we are increasingly living under? The kid’s rights were violated and noone (including Kerry) intervened. Is that America? Do we just sit y and watch a kid get tasered? Yep. Apparently we do. So you gotta ask why?

  • The video is very disturbing. I didn’t realize it was illegal to ask questions to a politician…oh wait, it’s not! This college students Constitutional right to freedom of speech was clearly violated, and he was forced into resisting arrest. What is wrong with the police in this auditorium?!? Did they forget what the Bill of Rights entails? Or maybe they were too excited about being able to use a Taser gun.

  • Pingback: The American Street » Blog Archive » More responses to the UF police brutality

  • There is a lot of buzz about this. In the end, we are left with the sobering question; should police action be allowed because someone exerciesed free speech?

    Sure, he went longer than his alotted time. Sure, it was annoying to people who also wanted to ask questions. But in an open mike forum, where people are encouraged to debate and with our country so politically divided, should anyone be surprised that people are passionate?

    So, should the people who have a differing opinoin be subject to arrest? Watch the video, he wasn’t posing a threat to police…he had his arms up. He just wanted to continue to exercise his right to free speech.

    Arrest? Taser? Jail?

    We all should be outraged that public debate is being met with such disproportionate force. That our media is so ready to swallow “Resisting Arrest” without asking “What law was being violated?” “How can you be disturbing the peace by expressing your views in a public forum?”

    We all need to take a step back and really decide what we stand for.

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  • I heard about this on the radio earlier and my initial presumption was excessive force by the cops. After seeing the video though, I honestly can’t say that’s the case. First, at what point does exercising free speech become disturbing the peace? The kid was obviously a major asshole, no one seems to disagree on that. The other people there who came to engage in some thoughtful political discourse deserve some consideration too and you can tell by the applause when the police interrupted the heckler that many there believed he crossed that line. He was also about a foot taller than the two police officers who initially tried to escort him away, one of whom was a woman. When he started getting violent, imagine of the uproar if he’d been injured in the struggle. I’d also bet that the Virginia Tech tragedy is still pretty fresh in the minds of Campus Cops everywhere and you could definitely interpret some of his behavior as indicative of a somewhat agitated mental state.

    It’s hard to tell what the problem was with getting handcuffs on him but you can clearly hear them warning him well before actually doing it that he would be tased if he didn’t calm down. I’ve watched it three times and from what you can see on the video I honestly can’t say they grossly overreacted or that the kid’s got anyone but himself to blame for getting zapped. Maybe if there’s video from another angle it would be easier to make the call otherwise. But I’ll bet if you saw the same scene on any city street or one of those Cops shows, not many people would really give it a second thought.

  • That was severely fucked up.

    That was totally unnecessary. What the FUCK were these people doing tasing this guy?

    One big cop was carrying this dude like he was hauling the garbage to the curb! Totally non-plussed, non-threatened, and non panicky. That was funny as hell. He could have very easily graaaabed one wrist, put a cuff on, then graaaabed the other wrist, put the other cuff on, as quickly, easily, and smoothly as scratching his ass, and then frog-marched this obnoxious schmuck out of the room.

    This didn’t need a half-dozen cops and a fucking TASER! It needed just that one cop. He looked pretty competent to me. The rest were just out of control.

    The most pathetic thing of all, was Kerry just rambling on obliviously, as if he was on the Senate floor, blah blah blah blah.

    This video is a metaphor for America. Armed goons abuse the citizens, crushing democracy under their boots, and our “leaders” stand there going blah blah blah blah and being ignored.

  • Dick Morris argued against both Hannity and Colmbs last night. They had no problem with the tasering. Morris called what the cops did “fascism,” and “communism.” and was outraged on behalf of the kid.

    Right after that Dick Morris said Hillary’s health plan should be paid for with a $2 per pack cigarette tax. I don’t think that’s what Hannity wanted to hear from Morris either.

  • That’s not what I saw. I saw them manhandle him from the gitgo.
    What business, ESPECIALLY in a seat of higher learning, where ideas and expression are supposed to be encouraged, what business is it of COPS for gods sake to “make everyone keep quiet and obey authority”?

    It isn’t JUST the tasering, it is the WHOLE thing that sucks, and is anti-American. Right to free speech, right to go about your business, none of the polices jurisdiction if the person wasn’t hurting anyone, nor actually disrupting “the peace”.

    The US has gotten to be sheep since 911 and before if you want to know the truth. All this “for our own good” crap, see police overstepping all the time now. Have heard police say to citizens “call me SIR!” and NOT because of some person actively dissing the person. Just “being too familiar” in their speech.

    See traffic stops where they treat harmless people as if they were Hannibal Lecter.

  • Since when is being an asshole a taser-able offense?

    If that were the standard we would see people all over the place being tasered – including some of our so-called respected leaders who sometimes represent a clearer and more deadly threat than this student.

    Ever ask a policeman why you were pulled over? Ever ask them while being young and longhaired and male in the sixties? Ever ask a cop while being in the wrong kind of car or in the wrong part of town or the wrong color?

    Now, ever ask the wrong question in the wrong manner at the wrong place? That’s what we were witnessing. This student represented something that someone just didn’t want to tolerate.

    For someone to say this student was violent shows that that person doesn’t understand violence. We have to acknowledge that after he posed his three questions he thanked Kerry (I presume) and walked away from the microphone. That’s when the guards grabbed him. We have to ask – why?

    The student was confrontational and inconvenient. To power that is threatening. Anything threatening must be treated as violence and returned with increased violence.

    Ever see cops on horseback ride through a peaceful constitutionally protected political demonstration? Ever see them swing their clubs with absolutely no discretion? Like in so many instances what we saw is an overreaction by the guards and an incident that was largely instigated and escalated by their actions and overreactions.

    Here’s the salient point.

    The guards had the power, the numbers, and the weapons.

    Kerry had the power and authority.

    The student only had his passion and his rights.

    Power, regardless of whether those who possess that power have demonstrated the right to have it, trumps everything, even when that power is mishandled and/or abused.

    To defend that abuse and mishandling puts one at odds with the constitution, our rights, and freedoms.

    Often people become radicalized after having an experience of their rights being abused and then understand what so many of us have known for generations.

    As long as your desires and needs don’t conflict with the powers-that-be you’ll be treated with dignity and respect. Once those needs and desires are contrary to those in power you have become a threat and will be treated as such.

  • In one of the videos (the one taken from behind him) you see him swatting at the cops as the come up to him. After the tasering he claims they’re going to take him to the government and kill him. He allegedly starting laughing the second the cameras were off him. He has a history of pulling pranks. The audience applauded when he was removed.

    If you look at this rationally you’ll see that what this young man did was make a mockery of protest and asking real questions of our leaders. He’s not an idealist, he’s a trickster.

    I don’t think he should’ve been tased but he did fight back and scared the cops who were just doing their jobs.

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  • This is surreal.

    What kind of a world do we live in that the police are justified in using potentially lethal force on an unarmed citizen for exercising their rights?

    First, think about the time line. He doesn’t imagine that he has to fear being tasered for asking a question. He doesn’t realize it as even a remote threat. He can behave as he would like, what’s the worst that can happen?

    A man during an open forum attempts to ask questions, which is what is encouraged with the mics being placed in the audience.
    He is last, he is allowed to ask the question, and his mic gets cut off. What are the police officers doing there at that point? There is no justification for arrest.

    The media wants to paint this person as an outsider, attention seeking extremist. It is their “angle”. But it is the angle they have always had against young millenials and people perceived as being techy, knowledgeable, or liberal. They think everyone operates on celebrity status, idolizing the media as themselves.
    What type of man is this?
    A man, who has previously been involved in anti war protests, who is also creative and has video taped himself online, which is not unusual for adults attending a college age.
    What he has videotaped previously has little bearing on this incident, as he was an impassioned constituent who wanted to have his opinion heard and get a dialogue going.

    The fact is that there was no need for the taser, he was under control, pinned to the ground for 4-6 officers. It was his mind and words that was threatening the the police, and he was attracting attention, making the police feel less empowered/in control of the situation.
    The police were actually looking for a reason to taser this person. That’s right, at some point, the police officer actually decided or realized that he wanted to taser/injure/torture this individual, because he was not following his will/command/authority. Maybe it was because he wasn’t listening to him, maybe he felt disrespected, maybe he had a fight with his wife. Like Bush entering into the Iraq conflict, he was looking for a convenient excuse to do so.
    They were coming up with an excuse, any excuse, such as resisting arrest or disturbing the peace. But I consider it entrapment, when they egg on this type of behavior instead of attempting to reasonably handle the situation. There are many ways to control behavior, and elicit certain responses and the police are well aware of it.

    The officer didn’t want to take the time to calm down, follow procedures, be physically forceful if necessary, or seek another method of enforcement, even withdraw and allow someone else to take over the situation.

    They were not patient in enforcing the law. Of course, they have no tolerance and no allowance for expression/humanity.

    Look at the intentions of the law, to protect the safety of the public. There was no threat here, except to the egos of the authorities entrusted with keeping the peace.

    The police here need to get beyond the follow your orders mentality, and apply a little humanity and understanding to their training.

  • Ok idiots.

    Lets for once wake up and look at this the right way.

    In the first place, lets admit that this country is completely fucked up. This country is probably the most fucked up country in the world. It is like a high-tech, modern, well dissimulated nazi concentration camp, and you are the jewish prisioners.

    Where is the fucking freedom you guys sing about??? really! that because you have not been anywhere else in the world retards. Even cubans have more freedom that you. At least their government doesnt do shit at them and makes excuses later.

    Where is the damn free speech right?? exactly nowhere… thats just a fucking joke of the people that created this concentration camp. A poor student goes to a public forum, and asks a question that by law he is allowed to ask! look at your patriot act those that are too retarded, and gets teased to the ground hahahahaha fucking unbelievable. And for those that did not notice because of the emotion, to help you understand what kind of mafia runs this joke country and prolly most of the world, check the video, right when he mentions “skulls and bones”, the cope right behind him, gets an order thru radio, you can clearly see this. By the way the cops acted it must had been a very direct order, because they teased the gay like 10 times no fucking kidding, just cuz he didnt want to stand up? hahahahah fuck off.

    Now for the same retards and so acclaimed patriotic, I am sure you believe you where born in the most advance, powerful country in the world, with the most advance integillence (for its security), and warfare resources. Then bear with me on this one. How the fuck can you explain and even tell me you believe that, a bunch of fucking retards from supposely “al qaeeeda”, that live in fucking caves and walk mountains up and down all day cuz they have nothing better to do, nor the resources, can actually come this this country so easily, and kill all the people they killed!!! hahahahahaha without your government knowing about this? nor preventing it???!!! huh!!!!! really you are a bunch of fucking retards, so dont bother asking your foreign friends, why people around the world think of americans as retards! just think for a bit. Oh yeah and keep believing all the crap they put into you heads fools. The spy on you, and tell you is because of terrorists hahahahah for fuck’s sake, there isnt one country in this world that could come to the US, and pull a terrorist act like that of sept 11th, with such precision, and your government not knowing! not even russia or england could do that if they wanted to, without your government allowance. So people, wake the fuck up already and keep enjoying the American freedom ahahahaaa

  • f* tasering your own citizens over and over again… is happening all over the country! reading your emails, listening to your phone conversations hahaha hey watch out! it is to prevent the terrorists to attack again hahah f* off idiots you are as dumb as your stupid government ahahah you are freaking lab mice! hilarious. But get ready for the microchip implant that all you gonna have to wear pretty soon… oh dont worry it is just so that you dont have to carry your credit cards with you hahahahahaha sure hahahahaha unbelievable all these underground secret government running the show and you puppets dont even freakign know. Just do some research about your own situation! it is about time, and do it right dont go to the same media that this group of ppl have control on too.. bilderberg group, CFR, bavarian illuminatis and all those buddies. That statement of “Q” is real and a fact. Hitler was supported by the same people running you country hahahaha thats hilarious. Hitler the retards came from a jewish family line. The Rothchild family, back the the most powerful so are today… gave hitlet the money and resources he needed. And hey! guess who created the technology for hitler to get away with his killing? huh? thats right! your government! IBM! and his owner received a star of merit from hitler which he then declined thank god he realized the entire world was gonna find out. Do research before busting our heads with headaches dumbasses.

  • Michael, what’s so SAD about not hearing what Kerry had to say? He’s an idiot lib, controlled by move on dot org. Nobody, you’re a socialist retard. Retard.

  • Whatever you want to call me bro….. but you are the one the rest of the world is laughing about ! and you sit there thinking everything is good. You ask of a congressman to represent you people, you ask them to bring the troops home because they are dying for no cause… yet you think your goverment gives a fuck what you and the rest of the people has to say!? hahahaha you are the only fuckign retard here. You and the those idiots from Skull and Bones which we the people allowed to get away with the shit they are doing. But hey like everything else…. in 10 years you gonna be either wearing a stupid microchip under your skin for your own good and “protection” hahaha you stupid that think you live in a democratic country that offers you rights and freedom… or you will not be accepted by society. For the rest of us around the world… we gonna be just find, enjoying life, our stuff and our real freedom son, the one you feel and enjoy no the one you go around singing about but doesnt exist. Hehe and you call me retard hahaha. Good job buddy.

  • This is why the internet thrives. It is ALMOST the only safe place where we can express our opinions without the fear of going to jail, or getting beaten or getting sprayed with a hose or suffocating from smoke inhalation from gas grenades! I guess freedom of speech is a myth from our history books afterall!

    It seems to me the kid just wanted answers and those were legitmate questions to him! At least he cares enough to get involved and ASK those questions. He didn’t threaten anyone or disrepect Kerry, or call him names, he just wanted some answers.

    Whether he got tazered or not is not the question. Why the hell did we need so many cops to take him out? Why not just let the guy get the answers he was looking for?

    Why is it that every time we want to get to the truth, the police rush in to shut someone down? I dont deny he was excited but who doesnt get excited when they are passionate about something?

    This is why Americans get so angry. It is as if our opinion is only heard if it conforms with the government or with the masses. If we stray from the “flock” we are going to get assaulted and locked up.

    We think we live in a free country… but that is the real lie. Isn’t it?

  • This is how can we stop students from having opinions. What makes young people think they can be allowed to speak in a public forum? just because there are microphones? At least he didnt say anything wrong about the president then all those students cheering & clapping would have to use their guns. STOP FREEDOM OF SPEECH Diebold for President in ’08

  • Most of the reactions show how fascistic this country has reached. Everyone seems to think that questioning a public figure a little harder than usual, asking embarrassing questions, is being a “jerk” and that someone like that should be carried away: we should be all well behaved, dominated by the powerful. It is so ironic that the land which, at the beginning, question authority and tradition and rebelled against them, has become so tamed, so respectful of authority. And this incident reveals how conservative this country has become.

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  • i tought the way this young man was treated was incredibly over the top!! how can americans claim they have freedom of speach? they cant. simple as that. try to tackle a person in power that the countrys dictators want the population to see as a good honourable man is not allowed!! this would simply not happen over here in Ireland! americans need to investigate and stand up for themselves.

  • Wait, the Left’s War Hero was on the podium, and some people are trying to blame Bush?

    The kid ASKED to be tazed, knowing he’d get publicity, and resisted arrest when told all he had to do was leave.

    By the way, a rented/reserved hall is considered private, not public, and there is no right of free speech inside. How about if 100 agitators had lined up to promote Bush? Would the same people bleating about “free speech” have agreed then?

    And if you really think Bush is an idiot, you need to consider how he was able to beat two of the Left’s darling geniuses. And don’t start with that “stolen election,” crap, please. You got it right in 2006. Try to get it right again. I really don’t want a one party system.

  • Hey, Nobody: As a troop, I can tell you I can speak quite well for myself, and would like to finish the job.

    Every single member of the current Armed Forces volunteered AFTER Sep 11. None were drafted, none forced.

    You might want to consider that. Also, 90% of them voted for Bush, not Kerry.

    Try not to let it shatter your fragile world view.

  • america is going under.. who cares about what the media said..
    based on human nature in america today/// i bet this kid didnt even do anything
    ileagal..and that is it…america is now a facist country thx to the lack of
    “real” leadership

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