Student Arrested, Tasered at Kerry Event

Looking at this movie, I know for sure I would have came to the mans aid, to watch all them washed out, filled with fear Americans do nothing, but sit or stand and watch, really just fits in with what America is right now.

Those rent-a-cops should have been over run and their weapons taken from them (not used on them, just taken) Freedom of Speech is truly dead.

The only man in the room was laying on the ground and NOT ONE other American came to his aid, as only the voice is of a woman can be heard up close.

Your national anthem means nothing to you now, land of the free? Land of the joke. about time maybe some people got up off their fat asses and took the country back.

Originally posted by InterWeb
Your national anthem means nothing to you now, land of the free? Land of the joke. about time maybe some people got up off their fat asses and took the country back.

i would... but im figuring someone else will do it for me. american idol is about to come on.

Do Americans see a uniform and fear it? I am really finding it hard, that no one in that room had a go and tried to stick up for this lad physically.

I know for a fact and with hand on heart, that i know of four male friends, that would have jumped in and helped that person, on that day.

They are hurting him because he wants to stand and ask a question, then stand and hear it answered.

You know what; I have just come to the conclusion that it’s maybe too late. That which happened without question, would not have been out of place in Nazi Germany.

It’s gone beyond Shame On You American Government, it’s now a clear case of Same on you American People.

[edit on 19-9-2007 by InterWeb]

reply to post by MasterRegal



I would agree that he was resisting, but at the same time I would say resisting what? Arrest? What was he arrested for, he was released from jail the next day?

That aside, the police were justified in escorting him out. He had used up more time than he should, he was making a scene, so the natural thing to do is to ask him to leave and 'help' him leave if he refuses. Once he was outside though, that should have been it. Let him go and don't let him back in. However, somehow he ended up on the floor, surrounded by six cops. Maybe he was resisting, but he certaintly wasn't throwing punches or anything like that, in which case why couldn't the cops just man-handle him? Just turn him over, grab his hands and cuff him. Watch cops, just one or two cops is usually sufficient to subdue someone. The tasering wasn't justified.

And for everyone that says 'he was asking for it' or 'he wanted to be taserd', does that really justify it? If you go up to a cop on the street and say "Hey, taser me," does that give him the right to taser you? Nope

Before I respond to this Here's a little bit about myself.

I was a Military Policeman in the US Army from 2004-2007
I have went through the TASER course and am certified in the use of the device.

Ok, now the response.

We treated Taliban detainess better than our cops treat our own citizens.

Wow. If I had done that as an MP I would of been reprimanded or worse. That was clear use of excessive force. You dont TASER people when you have positive control. The cops had postive control of the subject and they should of just dragged him out of the building.

I have been tasered and its extremely painful. For those of you who think otherwise when I was in Afghanistan 2005-2006 my unit was attached to 2-3 and 1-3 Marines. A number of these Marines came to my unit wanting to be tased to prove how tough they were. We warned them but they wanted to do it anyway. So we got approval to tase about two squads worth of Marines. These guys are pretty tough but when it it came down to the Taser the Taser won every time. Just by threatening to hit them again with it we had them slandering the Marines and praising the Army rather than get jolted again.

Now for the news media and the sheeple.

The guy no matter how much of an idiot he was does not deserve to be treated with excesive force.

Imagine for a second if he had not been white. There would of been mobs of people ready to support and defend him after the event. The media would not be making fun of him and the incident would not be made into a joke by the media.

Being an idiot or acting like one doesnt excuse excessive force. We should have more respect for our own citizens than enemy combatants at least.

Originally posted by InterWeb
It’s gone beyond Shame On You American Government, it’s now a clear case of Same on you American People.

I totally agree with this. Just some of the posts on this thread alone prove that.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
I was a Military Policeman in the US Army from 2004-2007
I have went through the TASER course and am certified in the use of the device.

Thank you for your service. And your post.

reply to post by MasterRegal


He demanded to know why he was being arrested. There was nothing "violent" about his response.

At this point if minds haven't been changed then they never will be, given this event every argument by now has been argued for both sides.

The term Police State is thrown around, Those who these events don't directly effect or those in LE disagree with this statement on the grounds there isn't some mass agenda that everyone is in on.

I don't believe that anyone believes there is some mass agenda that everyone in LE is in on, Whats going on is the simple natural course of any society that has forgotten its basic principles, Freedom & Liberty.

Things are changing at the rate of a slow boil...

LE are tasked to do things that are seemingly ok because they don't push the bounds to far but just within reason, Liberty and freedom isn't taken all at once, which would give a clear indication of whats going on, but piece by piece ever so slowly, reasons for these minor restrictions or barriers placed on rights on the grounds that it is for the well being of society in general.

laws which reflect our rights are changed, modified on the grounds it will help Government protect us from whatever evil is present at the time, be it Murderers, Criminals in Genera,l or Terrorists.

People in General are good thats not to mean they are nice or pleasant to be around, but simply that they don't commit crime or violate the rights of another, These people, Us are lead to believe by our Government, our media, that in order to protect us we need to give up certain liberties, That to give up these liberties will enable Government to protect us further.

The problem being is that the individual has long given up his duty to himself to protect his own life, and given this duty to Government, He has forgotten the basic foundation of freedom.

Governments duty is to protect us from all enemies foreign and domestic,
But while doing so its tasked with the protection of our unalienable rights, for that is its sole purpose because the protection of us isn't merely the protection of life, but the right to life, The constitution was written upon such principles, Governments job isn't to protect the enslaved but to protect the rights and liberties of man, from anyone who threatens such rights.

Governments job is to make sure we can do anything we please so long as the things are are doing don't violate the rights of another man, that is the only limitation on freedom, its a very simple concept, The law of this land wasn't written in a volume of books that fill a library, but on a few pieces of paper, Because it isn't a complicated concept to grasp, unless you complicate it on purpose.

Live and let live, What someone says, You may not agree with, What someone does, you may not agree with, What someone believes you may not agree with, But unless any of these things violate the rights of another, then they are none of our business.

Sadly the people have forgotten such principles, They care only about themselves and what directly effects them any particular moment in time, if someone does something out the norm that they may not like, they cheer for his arrest, they cheer for his persecution, not realizing that continuing this concept of reality will eventually lead to the downfall of a once great nation, not realizing that one day the beliefs they themselves hold will not be the norm, and that they to will suffer the same fate that they themselves cheered for, they will look into the crowd of those who persecute them on that day and understand they could have prevented this.

The question I have to ask is. Sure he created a disruption, but the security snowballed this event just as much.
If he would have immediatly lowered his voice and apologized maybe he could have heard his answers.

But,
They got him right at the door in an orderly fashion ....why did they take him to the ground there? You continue through the door ending the disruption closing the doors and escort the insubordinate off the premises, I would think
They had manpower enough to do that. what happened?

add:
if you think about it, it sure does spread fear of speaking out doesnt it?

[edit on 19-9-2007 by Mailman]

cnn.com report

When it was his turn, Meyer first asked about the 2004 presidential election and followed with statements about whether President Bush should be impeached.

Thats exactly what I saw and I think the police were ONCE again, using their power where it wasn't allowed.

As for the people laughing over this even, I believe it was a sub conscious even that people will do when they are unsure of a situation they are witnessing.

Two of the officers have been sent on administrative leave but thats not good enough imo.

Policemen (and women) are very brave in a pack. Each animal(for lack of a better word) in the pack gains courage from the other animals in the pack. The boy was subdued, but that wasn't good enough for these animals. They had to Tazer him. Police officers are not brave people. They like most Americans, will take the path of least resistance. Why use physical force when you can paralyze a victim with a Tazer. As far as police solving crimes, all they are is a cleanup crew that comes in after everything has happened and clean up the mess. Or as happened here, make it worse.

Here's something to consider: You do NOT have the right to resist arrest.
Even if you know the arrest to be unlawful. The Constitution (and no state that I know of) does not give any such authority to the individual. If it did, every half-@#%ed jail-house lawyer would have the right to decide when they thought an arrest upon their person was lawful. This creates chaos.
However, once you resist arrest (and yes people, resistance includes simple non-compliance with instructions) the police are authorized to use an escalating force continuum. Once you enter the path of resistance, by whatever means, however so slight, you are allowing the police to escalate their use of force. That is within the realms of the law.
The proper way for dealing with this kind of situation is to NOT resist and allow yourself to be arrested. Then you may pursue any legal means of restitution as the law allows. Acting like a jack-ass and screaming your head off in a public forum are NOT Constitutionally protected rights.

P.S. I hope he sues John Kerry for a bazillion dollars.

Don’t most of you feel that this kid did this as a stunt since he has a web site that has him pulling pranks as a hobby?

Also, how do we go from a liberal open mike meeting with campus cops to what many are calling a police state, with even Bush to blame for it all?
I also saw 2 cops (one female) just trying to lead him away from the mike at first, and then he started his obstreperous ranting. No, he wasn’t violent, but he was physically resisting any attempts by the cops to lead him away. When finally a larger cop was able to move him towards the exit he then increased his physical effort or break away from the hold the cops had on him which led to being put on the ground. After repeated demands to roll over so they could cuff him he refused and got zapped.

Now personally I see a taser as less of a violent move than to continue to wrestle with him, also since he did have his turn at the mike and then later jumped up and took the mike out of another person’s hand who was asking a question really increased the level of the security’s awareness that they might have trouble…which he intended to do.

Lastly, the horrible screams he was doing once tasered was just stupid and another act on his part. I been tasered and it is not that bad.
In contrast to the other video of the guy getting jumped at the town meeting by a cop I find that to be totally wrong and that cop needs to be put up on charges.


[edit on 19-9-2007 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by Xtrozero
Don’t most of you feel that this kid did this as a stunt since he has a web site that has him pulling pranks as a hobby?

I personally (if that is true) don't care if this was a prank (if that is true).

The fact of the matter is it shows police brutality and interruption of ones freedom of speech.

Originally posted by Griff

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
I was a Military Policeman in the US Army from 2004-2007
I have went through the TASER course and am certified in the use of the device.

Thank you for your service. And your post.

I must also thank you for your service, and your very clear post sir.
We need more men like you to step up for us. You have been an asset to ATS for aslong as I have been here and people should hear you loud and clear.

Over and out

Originally posted by Xtrozero
Don’t most of you feel that this kid did this as a stunt since he has a web site that has him pulling pranks as a hobby?

No, I don't. But whether or not that was the case is now immaterial. The actions of the police have made this a question of the violation of civil rights. Such violations can be enumerated in a number of ways including wrongful apprehension, excessive force, torture by taser etc.

Originally posted by Techsnow

The fact of the matter is it shows police brutality and interruption of ones freedom of speech.

So I guess after he had his turn to ask questions and then came back up and pulled the mike from another person's hand who was trying to ask a question is freedom of speech too?

I guess it is also your freedom to not leave and to resist anytime you want? Who by the way was arresting him? For at first they just wanted to lead him out of there, and from the very start he was ranting “Why you arresting me!” as loud as he could. If he just followed the first two cops out the door nothing further would had happened.

What if I went up and took the mike and said Mr. Kerry I have 100 questions I need to ask you and I will not leave until you answer them all.
What should they do?

As I see it your freedom doesn’t give you the right to impede on another person's freedom, and your freedom doesn’t give you the right to resist the legal directions of a cop.

Even if the guy was pulling a stunt it still does not justify the use of excessive force. The cops already had positive control of the subject. All they had to do was remove him from the building. Using the taser was unneccessary and excessive.

Think about this: If I did this to an unarmed Afghan civilian that I had in my positive control I would probably be facing legal action under UCMJ.

Then remember that guy no matter how idiotic he was is an American citizen. Think about it.

It was excessive force. Meyer was down and he was restrained. He might have been a goof but there was no call to taze him.


How may more must say this? A MP already deemed it excessive force. What more do you need?