Taser = Torture : Florida Student gets tasered (video)

Yep, some US police is at it again. This time it's the Police in Florida, tasering a student at the University of Florida:

The tactics of police in Florida who tasered a cheeky student as he tried to question former presidential candidate Senator John Kerry have been called into question after a video of the incident was posted on the internet. [..]

Event organisers were unhappy with his line of questioning and switched off the microphone as police officers moved in to escort him out of the hall.

Is this how it works at the University of Florida, "unhappy" questioning is responded to by taser?

Mr Meyer refused to leave quietly, and as police officers grabbed him, he repeatedly tried to wriggle free while shouting: “What did I do?”

So the student needs to be tasered?

After a scuffle, the police fired several thousand volts into Mr Meyer [..]

Did Kerry think taser-torture was the appropriate response for a student's "unhappy [..] line of questioning"?

Mr Kerry has criticised the arrest of Mr Meyer, suggesting that he could have dealt with the heckler himself.

"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption,” he said.

What's even worse is that it appears that the student was taser-tortured after he was hand-cuffed:

Mr Meyer’s lawyer, Robert Griscti, said it appeared his client had been shocked after handcuffs had been put on him.

Tasering students, even resisting ones, is unacceptable. The University of Florida should be ashamed of how it treats their students, many paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend, not to be tasered!

Students at the university organised a protest yesterday and marched on the police station shouting “Don’t Tase me, bro” and demanding that stun guns were banned from campus.

Indeed, taser-torture should never be allowed to be used on students. Never.

Benjamin Dictor, an arts student, called for the officers to be disciplined and the charges against Mr Meyer to be dropped.

“For a question to be met with arrest, not to mention physical violence, is completely unacceptable in the United States, especially in the halls of education,” Mr Dictor said.

I'm afraid the reality is quite different. See for yourself:

-Times Online: full article
-Wikipedia: taser
-University of Florida
- Erik's articles on: Taser

Why I hate TASER guns; UCLA Police use TASER on student.

Have a look at this. UCLA Police tasers a student who is unwilling to "stand up" AFTER he's being tasered.

It's clear that the police is on the wrong track. Although this student was obviously not cooperating, the police could've simply handcuffed him, and have two officers carry him out. Here's how I think the police should handle non-cooperating students.

- talk. Police should be able to reason with a student. Ask what the problem is and try to convince the student it's a lot less hassle (for both parties) to cooperate.
- handcuff him and carry him out.

The police might have talked to the student before, but this video doesn't show this; All we see is yelling officers threatening to TASER the student.

The handcuffing seems not an option to these policemen. What's wrong with the UCLA police?

Tasers are dangerous weapons; "Amnesty International have documented over 150 deaths following the use of tasers."

Personally I believe these weapons should be outlawed; again and again videos like these show up where it is clear the weapon is NOT "used instead of a leathel weapon" (which is often the argument for using TASERS) but out of convenience; the police considers the (threat of the) use of the TASER "easier" than reasoning or simple handcuffing/dragging.

Afer viewing this video we can all remove this UCLA University from our shortlist.

Here's what Wikipedia writes about the incident:

On November 15th, 2006, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a student of the university, was tased for refusing to leave the Powell Library^[37]. The media^[38] reported that the officers of the University of California Police Department (UCPD) inflicted "multiple taser shots to a 23-year-old student in the Powell Library computer lab". Several students recorded the incident on their phones, which shows Tabatabainejad screaming while being tased multiple times. After being tased, the police asked him to stand up, but Tabatabainejad either could not or would not. The police then continued to tase him several more times. Tabatabainejad claims that he was leaving the library when the police confronted him, and would not let him leave, which is supported by several eye witness accounts. Library policy forbids those who do not possess a valid UCLA ID from entering and using its facilities. Those who are asked to produce an ID must do so or must leave. The police reported that the Mr. Tabatabainejad did not produce a UCLA ID despite repeated requests. In the videos, several bystanders can be heard asking for the police officers' badge numbers as well as condemning what they thought was excessive force. Another police officer can be heard threatening to tase another student, who was protesting the incident, if he did not back away. The video can be seen here. The university is currently investigating the incident.