UF student Tasered after questioning John Kerry

Nobody remembers the other story? I swear we had a long thread about it.

Campus cops are notorious for overreacting like this...

 

Oh, I think this one's gonna go mainstream. It's very disturbing, and the video is gonna go wide.

Yeah, the kid was a little over the top, but he stuck to his point and was courteous at the mike. Seemed like an informed guy asking Kerry to open up on a few election issues.

 

This would never happen in Guangzhou, China.

 

Only on SportsJournalists.com.

 

Tucker Carlson played the entire video on MSNBC, then reamed the cops today.

 

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2007/09/17/news/campus/arrestbreak.txt

Florida student paper on the incident.

 

Hmm. On the U of Florida police department's Web page, they have an email address (updinfo@admin.ufl.edu) where you can ask questions or get information.

Wonder if sending a questioning email to that address automatically triggers Gainesville's Finest to show up at your door with Tasers?

 

You know what? It's not just campus cops. Someone, at some point, somewhere, needs to stand up and ask why cops are allowed to get away with just about anything when it comes to arresting people, particularly where the use of Tasers is concerned. From this, to the over-the-top stuff used on To Catch a Predator, to the cops in New Orleans who roughed up a photographer for documenting an incident.

I lived in Florida for nearly three years, and it never failed to amaze me how many people were charged, in the booking reports, with resisting arrest...and nothing else. I understand that cops have jobs to do and all that, but asking why I'm being arrested shouldn't constitute resisting arrest. You walk up to me like those cops did and start forcing my hands behind my back, I'm not just gonna give in and let you arrest me. I'm gonna expect that you explain why you're doing what you're doing.

 

Here's the takedown and Tasering from a better angle. Looks like he wasn't handcuffed yet, but there were about six cops on him, I think.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20070917/NEWS/70917006/1053/BREAKING_NEWS&source=photoclick

Listen to Kerry in the background. He's in another world.

 

And surprisingly enough the kid was saying Kerry should be president.


Update: Kerry later told the kid that it was better to be tasered than be stuck in Iraq.

 

They'll all be fired and the campus police chief will resign.

 

He's given absolutely no warning, no indication that cops are behind him, no opportunity to back off before being hustled out of the room. Inexcusable.

And you're right, he wasn't cuffed at that point. But there's four guys sitting on him. What's he gonna do?