I go to UF and know some people who know the kid. Needless to say he is a douche and has done many things worthy of tasering, this is just the first time he finally got what was needed.

As I've heard it told, and I'm going to leave it to you all to confirm this because I'm lazy right now, the kid was out of turn in asking questions anyway, and was out of time regardless. Kerry was answering questions from this guy even though the q&a portion was over, or at least this dudes time was up.
Before you all go too hardcore on the whole 1st amendment line, what about all the other students 1st amendment rights? Where do they go when windbag conspiracy theorist man decides that microphone is his? What about Kerry's 1st amendment rights, you know Kerry? The guy everyone was there to see, not the shitheel up at the mic.

Also, when an officer tells you to do something in a situation like this, you do it. If an officer lays hands on you, its time to fucking comply or its going to get bad. If he had a legitimate reason for resisting or a good point to make by doing it then fine, he had neither. The officers told him to bugger off, he didn't. The officers tried to escort him down. He resisted. When you resist an officer you escalate the situation and the amount of force required by the officers to deal with the threat(you). They tried light physical contact, he resists so they go to hard physical contact and 6 officers on his ass telling him to start cooperating or he is going to get tased. He continues to resist knowing full well that his ass is about to be lit up with a taser. This whole fucking situation is his fault, he was the one escalating the amount of force required to detain him.
If it is right to detain him or not is irrelevant when the officers make the choice to detain him. He can be as right as he wants but if an officer wants to detain you they're going to do it. If you have a problem with the arrest you bring it up with a judge or the cops boss or whatever. You don't have the right to resist arrest.

This shit is staged anyway. Once the kid was in the squad car he was completely okay with what went down. He said something about not being mad at the officers and knowing that they were just doing his job. The most annoying thing about this story is that everyone is up in a tizzy about it. People are so fucking willing to blame cops for this shit. Cops in a lot of places have earned their bad reputations, but if their conduct gets thrown to the public we can at least try to look at it in an objective way. It actually reminds me of a woman accusing someone of rape and immediately the dude she accused is guilty in many peoples eyes, regardless of how many facts speak otherwise(lets not derail the thread with this, I know statistically this happens very rarely, it is merely an example).

Just saw these on the ALL Your Base group and had to post them

DTMBKombat

DTMBBusters

good to see the internet is sitll doing its job

*compliments to BloodMoney for posting these*

Unfortunately, some people enter law enforcement hoping that it will give them a chance to act on their sadistic leanings. Those types used to crack a lot of skulls with billy clubs. In the last few decades since we got all PC and shit about civil rights (and since nearly every move one makes is being videotaped by someone), it's not as easy to bust heads in the line of duty. Most people don't like the sight of blood, so now we just electrocute people at the slightest provocation.

Nonetheless...

This clown should have been aware that when surrounded by four or five big armed guys in uniform, at least one of them didn't join the force to fulfill his humanistic desires and his dream to serve and protect. Provoking such people is a really bonehead move.

The second I started watching this I smelled 'Conspiracy Theorist Publicity' coming a mile away. Oh and if you watch carefully, you'll note that he told them NOT to tazer him BEFORE they had their hand even near it! Yeah, it was staged(noting that he had his own camera man planted in the audience btw). I'm not saying what the correct answer to his questions were, but his mind was not open for a negative answer either way.

I don't know how you could say this is hands down excessive force without being a police officer and being there. No one can clearly see exactly what this asshat is doing so I tend to give the officers the benefit of the doubt until I find compelling evidence to the contrary.

The officers also have a right to their personal safety and resisting arrest and flailing around like a jackass definitely endangers that, so fuck him.

Oh come on, some guy flailing his arms is not endangering an officers safety. The worst that could have possibly happened is a little smack in the face, how terrible. That's just stupid. Now, yeah, a lot of this seems fishy, but obviously the reaction to this incident was excessive. The only excuse for tasering anyone is to get them under control if they are a physical threat. Yes, this guy was slightly resisting but not nearly enough to justify tasering. He was not attacking the officers he was just trying to push away. A lot of law enforcement officers these days seem to think that wearing a badge makes their actions above scrutiny. I know this isn't all of them, I have known many very kind police officers, but the problems start when you get these authoritarian douchebags exerting more force than is necessary, as is obviously the case here. Whether the guy was intending to provoke this reaction or not, it's still an overreaction seeing as all they had to do to get him out of there was one officer to each arm and pull him along, end of story.

The only thing I have to say about all of this (I have a friend who was there and says the whole thing (YouTube vid) is out of context, the kid was a jackass and TRIED to cause trouble. . .) - anyway, the only thing I DO have to say is that I find it incredibly annoying hearing Kerry's voice droning on in the background. . .blah blah blah.

And wtf does any of this have to do with Bush?

Anyway.

Uh, actually, Andrew Meyer violated several UF rules regarding public speaking, demonstrations and protests. This is why the campus security tried to remove him. He had done several things before this, including rushing the mic at least once before the video started. He has a history of being an attention whore, according to more than a few sources. Also in the police report as well as several witness statements, he only acted that way when he knew he was being recorded.

It all comes down to Disruptive and disorderly conduct, attempting to incite a riot ("Is anyone watching this? Why are you arresting me? Is anyone watching this?") Refusing to disperse, and resisting arrest. Had he not continued to physically resist, he never would have been tasered.

This is NOT about free speach, you give that up when you enroll in an educational institution. They have these things called rules, and if you violate them, you can be disciplined. You can't tell your professor to fuck off and expect to be allowed back in class, first ammendment or not.

This isn't even about asking Kerry about Skull and Bones. He has answered that question many times on the news. He admits he was involved in the secret society. He has admitted it on national television. So why, pray tell, do you think it could possibly be about that. It was merely the coincidental timing of his question and the mic being turned off. It was turned off because he was ranting and raving, not because he asked the wrong question.

The only person who did something stupid was the professional attention whore, Andrew Meyer. Try googling his name, and see what else turns up.

I meant if that had been say Senator Specter? We would be seeing that kid getting tasered all over the place with cries of Republican excess.

A Republican (if any bothered to go) if there for John Kerry would ask different questions.

Because colleges are filled with liberals so putting 'Fuck Kerry' on their paper was anathema to them.

By the way, I want to go on the record with how fucking stupid the 'this guy wasn't endangering an officer's safety' is! No one is endangering your safety until they actually endanger your safety if you see what I mean.

Dude could start waving his hands and know kung fu, karate, dim muk death touch, be a jedi, pull a gun or a knife.

Plus they were probably considered someone would kill our esteemed Senator from Mass. there would be a loss.

+1

Okay...since there is already a rather lengthy thread on the topic of whether or not the officers acted responsibly and whether or not the use of force by police departments is appropriate, let's get back to the topic of this thread. The paper lost advertising because they criticized Bush - or more importantly, the paper connected some dots between the behaviors of this administration and the restriction of citizen's rights.

It would appear that bad judgment has been flowing freely in our cities water supplies. The officers in Florida appear to have drunk their fill just before Tasering someone when their 5-person level of incompetence overcame their cognitive skills. The paper seems to have completely forgotten that their college is smack dab in the middle of one of the most conservative enclaves in Colorado - the Loveland/Ft. Collins region.

Personally, I think the paper is correct; this administration's continual fanning of the terrorist flame has made people paranoid and emboldened that portion of the enforcement community whose testosterone levels have gone unchecked. However, the paper failed to exercise good judgment because the local advertisers are conservatives who all would like to fuck Bush, but few of them ever find themselves in a toilet stall where they can give him the secret signal.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
This took place on private property, yes? They gave him a chance to leave before tasering him, yes?
.......
If someone was in MY house and was asked to leave and didn't, I think getting a taser shoved up his ass would be the least of his worries. His fucking time was up, they cut him off, he freaked out. This was TOTALLY justified.
Watch more than the first minute of all the videos on YouTube, and you'll see what a fucking douchebag he is, and what douchebags all of his supporters must be.

Wait, I have a new joke:

It is safer to question John Kerry then to drive with Ted Kennedy.

Sure, blame the President because the security guards in Florida attacked some jackass who could have been some crazy lunatic out to kill a US Senator (Such as he is).

It's all on GW, because Kerry couldn't say 'Hey, stop tasering that asshole!'.

It's so clear to me.