Student Arrested, Tasered at Kerry Event

Originally posted by Wizard_In_The_Woods
Why did he just stand there like a stick-in-the-mud and watch things spiral out of control? He should have, could have walked right up to the tussle and asked, no, demanded, that everyone leave the young man alone. He should have been smart enough to do that.

Greetings,
The Wizard In The Woods

you could say the same thing about john kerry and the stolen election. if there was ever a time to show his spine, that was certainly it. of course, that's not part of the PLAN.
what a great 'leader' john kerry is.
he should be elected as the next impotent puppet bonesmen in chief. then the jackboots don't have to worry about downholding the law without impunity.

support your local police. buy them taser batteries and ski masks, (and maybe, as a bonus, you can get bumper sticker that lets you get away with minor traffic violations).

Originally posted by Rotoplooker
Hasn't law enforcement learned anything from the Rodney King incident or the numerous other examples of excessive force documented in countless videos? This is infuriating.

No. Because they get away with it much more than they get found out. Just my opinion of course.

Originally posted by sp00n1
People getting tazered for asking questions?!? That's disgusting! They outta be ashamed of themselves!

I didnt read everything on this thread, but I have to put out my two cents. This kid didn't get zapped or arrested for asking a question. He got zapped and arrested because of his aggresive behavior. He deserved every bit of what he got, and its unfortuneate that there are people defending him.

It was a question and answer forum, and the kid went way beyond that. As a matter of fact, he was told 3 or 4 times before any action was taken to get to his point. Furthermore, he managed to say "bj" (sorry for the reference, but it was way out of line) in a public forum. His questions were innapropriate. His behavior was innapropriate. At this point he was clearly getting mad and aggresive. That is innapropriate. IT IS POSSIBLE TO ASK QUESTIONS AND DISCUSS THESE ISSUES WITHOUT ACTING LIKE THIS KID!!!!

At this point, if that kid would have used the brain that we all hope he has, he should have walked out of the place peacefully. But no, he put up a fight. He was obviously waiting for this to happen. He wanted this to happen. Craving attention......typical. He was aggresive and physical with the police. Through all of this, he was warned in excess of 20 times to calm down. He was warned three times that he would be tazed. He did not listen to one warning, not to one, and showed no signs of calming down. They tazed him so that he would allow them to handcuff him. Even after this they were polite, when in my opinion they did not have to be.

He deserved every bit of what he got. He was obviously very dillusional, claiming that the police were going to take him and kill him. The kid was a nutjob. This is made even more obvious by the several conspiracy theories he was referencing. All he had to do was be calm, and have some sort of maners when asking his "statements and accusations". But no.... he was hounding attention and intentionally drawing the police to involvement.

If he didnt scream, yell, swing, strike, and otherwise resist, he would have walked out of there. Not in handcuffs. Not with pending charges. He would have walked out of their with answers. I am sure John Jerry would deflect some of it just because of the uncomfortable situation. However, I am also sure he would have made some attempt at an answer. Being that everything I have stated so far is the truth, and is obvious to any observer, we can only come to one conclusion.

HE INSTIGATED THIS EVENT ON PURPOSE AND GOT THE RESULT HE WAS LOOKING FOR. Well, except for becoming some sort of hero by "swimming with the fishes".

reply to post by Gorman91

Resisted? good enough for a beat down?

What did he do that warranted them putting their hands on him?

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
Thomas Jefferson 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

reply to post by Sight2reality

Read the thread in full then come back.

reply to post by Sight2reality


Ok, yeah maybe he shouldn't have been resisting, but at what point did he deserve to have his life risked. Are you aware that 220 people in the U.S. have died from being tasered?

Also,

His questions were innapropriate

This is completely irrelevant. He should NOT have had to resist in the first place.

Originally posted by scientist
[
oh god the irony has rendered me speechless.

Why should I care about your rights? What do they have to do with me?

Listen im not saying I don’t care about the right of free speech for everyone at all. What my point was and i should have been more clear is that I do not in anyway see the right to free speech going out the door. What I see is the young generation in this country bucking authority and disrupting an otherwise very peaceful and im sure learning experience for the rest of the room of students. I see one person taking it upon himself to make a mockery of Kerry’s visit to a very good school. Students were laughing at the guy for a reason and id venture to guess that he wasn’t a rookie in the im going to act like a jackass club.

No one on this thread in any way shape or form is questioning the right of free speech. What we are questioning is the blatant disregard for the guidelines of the Q&A and how this one person disrupted the proceedings and action was taken.

Now should he have been lite up, prob not IMO and im sorry about his luck but you have to understand. Since the tazer came into wide use in most if not every PD, it has become much easier for cops to use it rather than to exert physical force on someone they feel they need to subdue. The tazer has been cleared to be safe for the recovery of the person in most cases so of course the cops are going to use it if it’s available. They saw it as the quickest way to get the guy out of the bldg and end the situation.

But as far as we citizens rights go, don’t think for one minute I don’t care about those rights and the need to secure them at all times. I trace my roots to the beginning of this country and I take my patriotism very seriously. But there are ways to voice your opinions and exercise your rights and there are ways to get tazed.

And, ill say it again when I see them passing laws and changing our fundamental rights then ill start to get worried. But I will not buy into the Oh MY, our freedom of speech is being taken away cause some jack ass got tazed for disrupting a former presidential candidates Q&A session BS.

reply to post by geemony


You are making acceptible sacrifices for our rights. "it was inappropriate" or "against guidelines" shouldn't even in this thread at all. IMO, he was asking relevant questions, and it should be his right to do so. But for him to be escorted out by police officers for asking a question is just a joke.

And as far as your "tazer's are safe" theory, look at my above post. 220 Americans have been killed by them. Now think, did this student really deserve to be tazed? Does anyone who's not being violent?

reply to post by geemony

It appears you are taking the slow boil option.

I have no need to read the thread in full to give my opinion.

The kid was a jerk. His actions in all honesty took valuable time away from others who probably wanted to excersise their own free speech! How often is it these days where protesters shout down their opponents? Could that not also be considered an infringement on the rights of others to express their freedom of speech?

A simple solution could have made this entire situation irrelevant. He could have pointed his questions to John Kerry, rather than berate and insult him. He could have walked off of the podium when asked to. He could have listened without swinging his arms and pushing police officers.

He, and he alone was wrong in this situation. Could the police have subdued him without the use of the taser???? Probably, the kid looked a little flimsy anyway. They didn't, but its not like they pulled the taser out and hit him with it right away. They gave him warning, and all he had to do was calm down.

I appreciate that it appears that this kid had his rights violated, but did any one acknowledge that he is famous on campus for pulling practical jokes (that not everyone finds funny)? He was probably already on the short list of people to watch for given to the police officers and guards. After the campus shootings last April, do you think that someone being belligerent and obnoxious could pose a threat to Sen. Kerry and the crowd?

Being tasered is no fun, but if he was just being a jerk and resisted, the police have no option when it comes to crowd control. We cannot have it both ways - when do the rights of one become more important than the rights of many?

The Skull-n-Bones reference is an interesting twist. However, if A&E can run a special on it...how would someone asking about it in a public forum be dangerous to the not-so-secret-anymore-society?

Originally posted by SteveR
Quite revealing.

Yup, sure is!

No one wants to admit it, but if I carried a taser I'd be itchin' to use it. It doesn't take a brainiac to tip the scales.

tasers are to subdue people.
he was subdued, and the police had control of him.
zapping him was plain old torture.

Gwendolina....

Whether or not he was known on campus for anything.... he was obviously trying to instigate some sort of incident. It was a planned assault designed to instigate a response. Why? For attention.

So, your point only adds to the fact that the kid deserved what he got!

Originally posted by shigawire
I just cant belive that even on this forum some ppl say that police did good thing... I just cant belive this. Innocent man was treated with high voltage and beaten and you say that its "all right mate"? Maybe you deserve to live in police country, brainwashed and safe... In majority of european countries this could not happen, police knows that ppl stand with each other and fight and they usually think before they start a fight especially with large groups of young peoples. When something like this happens you grab nearest chair and beat the s* out of them. When they come back with gas and all, you run, its simple and always works. Thats first thing that comes in my mind, even my girlfriend asked why nobody was defending him. This is America? The land of the free? Sheeps is all what i see. Laughing that someone is beaten by cops and thrown to jail for NOTHING! And idiots arguing that he was to loud and cops did great thing.

Think about time when YOU ask wrong question... Now i know that i dont want americans by my side in that time... At least most of them. And time to ask "wrong" questions is coming in almost every part of the world...

I am an American... And am scared to have them by my side as well. =/ This forum is more scary then watching that kid get beaten by the "enforcement"...

What has happened to everyone and their sanity? This is outrageous. !!


Ask yourself, did he do the crime to receive the time? I can think of 2k things he could have done to warrant the response he got.. Asking a "Difficult" question is not one..

As far as the raised voice.. When do we start patrolling school yards to stop any excited voices.. All that Excitement needs to get tazed as well...

Am ashamed of all of this.. =(

Originally posted by bigbert81
reply to post by geemony

 

You are making acceptible sacrifices for our rights. "it was inappropriate" or "against guidelines" shouldn't even in this thread at all. IMO, he was asking relevant questions, and it should be his right to do so. But for him to be escorted out by police officers for asking a question is just a joke.

And as far as your "tazer's are safe" theory, look at my above post. 220 Americans have been killed by them. Now think, did this student really deserve to be tazed? Does anyone who's not being violent?

Thanks, BB and I do see your point and accept that the punishment didn’t fit the situation here but again im sorry for this guys luck. And of course the "it was inappropriate" or "against guidelines" defense should be spoken here. The guy didn’t follow rules and he was being obnoxious to say the least. He didn’t want to have a meaningful discussion he wanted to flame the situation with BS questions. Kerry gave up the fight over the presidency maybe to quick IMHO but the supreme court of this land sided with the Republicans for the most part so what’s the next step. Put the country into a long drawn out fiasco. I think Kerry took the high road and I respect him for how he handled the situation back then. I don’t think we got the right guy but that’s another thread.

Now anytime you mix electricity with the human body it’s a risk I sure don’t want to be put into. However, it is the preferred way cops take unarmed people down these days. Is it right maybe not in this instance but im sure it has saved a few lives as well.

Take care

reply to post by C0le


No I just dont see it like you do, and thats ok right?

A difficult question??? He was accusing the man of some sort of conspiracy. He made a lude comment! He was intentionally trying to cause a problem. Even so, you are wrong!! He didn't get tased for any of this. He got tased for getting beligerant and aggresive with police. He got arrested for non compliance. Just like anyone else would.

amazing how everyone says "questions were inappropriate"

shoot... if I could ask Kerry anything at all, I would ask him about the Skull and Bones too! He's been asked everything else, and gives a typical watered down response anyways.

Originally posted by Sight2reality
He could have listened without swinging his arms and pushing police officers.

He, and he alone was wrong in this situation. Could the police have subdued him without the use of the taser???? Probably, the kid looked a little flimsy anyway. They didn't, but its not like they pulled the taser out and hit him with it right away. They gave him warning, and all he had to do was calm down.

If you won't read the thread, then perhaps you should watch all of the video first. Your recounting of events is factually incorrect.

The use of the taser after a man has been subdued is torture.

No one ever deserves to be tortured.