Interesting Note

[TheRuleofThree]

The student who got taze(re?)d at UF was one of my friends who lived literally three doors down from me my freshman year at UF.

Nuts huh?

[BuddyGoodness]

interesting indeed.  was this a stunt to get himself attention?

[TheRuleofThree]

Haha well the truth is Andrew has always been a little obnoxious, though his roommate was worse.  I could tell you some stories...

But in all honesty his worst offense was being long winded and a little rude during his question.  Nothing he did warranted the cops grabbing him, let alone tazing him.  I think it's pretty open and shut abuse of power.

[Ars Sycro]

While I agree that there was no reason for him to be arrested, the guy was an idiot. When you have 4 policemen sitting on you, you don't try and fight back. Warranted or not, everybody knows what happens when you fight back against policemen.

Added after 4 minutes:

"People know I'm here. You can't just kill me."

Comic gold.

[Starving Artist]

I could tell you some stories...

I think we all have time.

[TheRuleofThree]

While I agree that there was no reason for him to be arrested, the guy was an idiot. When you have 4 policemen sitting on you, you don't try and fight back. Warranted or not, everybody knows what happens when you fight back against policemen.

Added after 4 minutes:

"People know I'm here. You can't just kill me."

Comic gold.

Fuck that! I refuse to just surrender to an authority who has no right to arrest me for asking a question, no matter how "disruptive" it is. Forget going quietly - demanding to be treated like the innocent person you are isn't idiotic.

Being obnoxious isn't illegal. There were no grounds for his arrest, the cops didn't even tell him he was arrest at first. They just grabbed him. Was he supposed to just silently bow his head and ask questions later?



Added after 24 minutes:

I could tell you some stories...

I think we all have time.

About Andrew (the taser victim), his roommate (craziest person I've ever met), or the dorm in general?

[BuddyGoodness]

Fuck that! I refuse to just surrender to an authority who has no right to arrest me for asking a question, no matter how "disruptive" it is. Forget going quietly - demanding to be treated like the innocent person you are isn't idiotic.

Being obnoxious isn't illegal. There were no grounds for his arrest, the cops didn't even tell him he was arrest at first. They just grabbed him. Was he supposed to just silently bow his head and ask questions later?

While I agree wholeheartedly that they shouldn't touch you unless they are arresting you, the unfortunate reality is that your rights don't really mean shit to an asshole cop and they know they can usually avoid getting in trouble for stomping on your rights unless you can afford a good lawyer and even then unless they seriously violated your rights like killing you or something, they will usually get off with a week's paid suspension.  That is usually how it works and it is fucked up but if the cops are bringing you down in a situation like this just accept it.  Now if you are a wanted person who is facing prison time and they are grabbing you that would be the time to try and fight them off because you have a lot more to face then just a night or weekend in the slammer.

[Ars Sycro]

While I agree that there was no reason for him to be arrested, the guy was an idiot. When you have 4 policemen sitting on you, you don't try and fight back. Warranted or not, everybody knows what happens when you fight back against policemen.

Added after 4 minutes:

"People know I'm here. You can't just kill me."

Comic gold.

Fuck that! I refuse to just surrender to an authority who has no right to arrest me for asking a question, no matter how "disruptive" it is. Forget going quietly - demanding to be treated like the innocent person you are isn't idiotic.

Being obnoxious isn't illegal. There were no grounds for his arrest, the cops didn't even tell him he was arrest at first. They just grabbed him. Was he supposed to just silently bow his head and ask questions later?

The worst thing you can do is fight back with any kind of force. Even with charges like "inciting a riot" being crazy and wouldn't stand up, a charge like assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest could. You put your hands behind your back, go spend a few hours in a holding cell, and then you sue their asses off. However, now he could be charged with something that could actually put him in jail.

[Trathena]

I was surprised at the crowd’s apathy.  Some even clapped.  It was like, “you can criticize republicans, but if you dare ask a democrat tough questions, fuck off.”  They just stood around while this guy was manhandled and thrown to the ground.  Some even smiled and clapped.

And John Kerry?  He was standing up there joking about it.  The one person who could have put a stop to it with just one word, was joking around.

It was an open mic.  An open forum to ask questions, and he wasn’t rude, belligerent, or even cursing.  What happened was very chilling.  Seeing his mic turned off and then four cops rushing him like that was an example of the near police-state we live in.  In the 70s there would have been rioting.  But then, in the 70s we didn’t have the Patriot Act.

I’m usually loathe to say for certain what I’d do in frightening situations, but I like to think I would have been arrested along with your friend, Rule.  I hope that I’d at least have had the sense of mind to appeal to Kerry to call the cops off before they hurt him.

[BuddyGoodness]

Kerry doesn't care, he claims he didn't know what was going on.

[TheRuleofThree]

I was surprised at the crowd’s apathy.  Some even clapped.  It was like, “you can criticize republicans, but if you dare ask a democrat tough questions, fuck off.”  They just stood around while this guy was manhandled and thrown to the ground.  Some even smiled and clapped.

And John Kerry?  He was standing up there joking about it.  The one person who could have put a stop to it with just one word, was joking around.

It was an open mic.  An open forum to ask questions, and he wasn’t rude, belligerent, or even cursing.  What happened was very chilling.  Seeing his mic turned off and then four cops rushing him like that was an example of the near police-state we live in.  In the 70s there would have been rioting.  But then, in the 70s we didn’t have the Patriot Act.

I’m usually loathe to say for certain what I’d do in frightening situations, but I like to think I would have been arrested along with your friend, Rule.  I hope that I’d at least have had the sense of mind to appeal to Kerry to call the cops off before they hurt him.

Exactly.

I don't think people are aware of exactly how this happened, so let's be clear.  Andrew didn't "go out of turn" or "rush the microphone." He actually was asking a question - several questions, really - over a period of a minute or two.  Only after he said "Clinton got impeached for what, a blow job?" did UF cut his mike, and suddenly cops were forcing him outside.

Why?  Because he said "blow job?"  Because they didn't agree with his tone? I don't understand this. He assaulted no one. He posed no threat.  And yet everyone seems to think that the cops somehow had the right to do what they did.  

I'm not arguing that it isn't better to go quietly and cooperate. I'm saying it's a little unfair - and that's the nicest way I can say it - that the only way for Andrew to have come out of that situation cleanly would have been for him to have submitted completely and unquestioningly and then ask some nice questions later.  I'm HAPPY he did what he did because its forcing people to ask what happened and why it did.  Because now people see through his resist that it was just a power play by the UFPD, a bunch of egotistical jackasses who think their badges make them better.

There's a difference between respecting the law and obeying a stranger, and Andrew never broke a law. Yet he was manhandled like a criminal.

So, fuck that.

[Starving Artist]

About Andrew (the taser victim), his roommate (craziest person I've ever met), or the dorm in general?

Which one's funnier. The roomate sounds like the best guess.

[greeg7]

Once he resisted he deserved to get tased.

However, I'm not 100% sure why the cops grabbed him in the first place, but (judging by the video I saw)he was VERY rude and obnoxious. It's hard to speculate one way or the other but I'd imagine the initial goal was to get him back to his seat and move on with the Q&A.

Added after 1 minutes:

Also, he kinda sounded like Dane cook, and isn't that good enough reason to get tased?

[Trathena]

Once he resisted he deserved to get tased.

However, I'm not 100% sure why the cops grabbed him in the first place, but (judging by the video I saw)he was VERY rude and obnoxious.

If I was tasered every time I was rude or obnoxious I'd be dead.  Attitudes like yours are why we have wire-tapping and the Patriot Act.

[Knifeboy]

Once he resisted he deserved to get tased.

Fuck off.

If someone runs up and grabs you, you resist, it's an instinct