I wonder how UCLA is going to cover this PR problem?

UCLA student gets tasered for not carrying his university ID... then the cops threaten to taser other students who ask for their badge numbers.

On YouTube. But watch it on an empty stomach. You'll watch the cops taser him once -- this can render the victim powerless to walk for 5 to 15 minutes -- then taser him a few more times for not getting up.

There's no doubt the guy was a loudmouth. But seeing him get tasered over and over during a six minute period has got to give you pause for thought. For not having an ID card in the college library? I'm sure that's a major security risk right up there with checking the containers at Long Beach.

Via Declan at Politech, whose article says in part (about taser-happy cops):

"They have been used against unruly schoolchildren... and people who
argue with police or fail to comply immediately with a command. Cases
described in this report include the stunning of a 15-year-old
schoolgirl in Florida, following a dispute on a bus, and a 13- year-old
girl in Arizona, who threw a book in a public library."

I'll just note here for the record that any cop who tasered my daughter would have to be packing a lot more heat when I caught up with him.

Posted by Allan Jenkins on November 17, 2006 at 09:55 PM in Civil Liberty, Is Tedious in the House?, Law | Permalink

Comments

"I'll just note here for the record that any cop who tasered my daughter would have to be packing a lot more heat when I caught up with him."

Damn right

Posted by: grr | Nov 18, 2006 10:25:34 AM

Wow! Since when could you cause harm to minors? Wouldn't the taser-gun fall under the same rule as spanking? Teachers are no longer allowed to hit a child if they misbehave, but they can taser them? What is wrong with this world? The kid didn't have his ID, so tell him he's not allowed in without it, he gets loud about it, ban him, but using a taser on him? That's a little ridiculous.

Posted by: Danielle | Nov 19, 2006 11:03:02 PM

First off, let me just say that this is an absolutely chilling display of sadism. But the cynic in me says this probably happens more often than any of us care to acknowldege. Oht the other hand, the new media populist in me says this is an excellent example of why citizen journalism and consumer generated media has the potential to reinvigorate the power of the fourth estate.

I was recently recruited by UCLA to teach an Intro to New Media PR Jan. 24 - Feb. 21, 2007 and definitely plan to talk about this.

Posted by: Eric Schwartzman | Nov 22, 2006 7:51:07 PM

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