I agree 100% they tasered this guy to show how big their penises are. That's it. They didn't like the fact that he was refusing to stand up so they repeatedly tasered him, tortured him rather than carry him out, they should all be fired.
From the article in The Daily Bruin(emphasis mine): It's not altogether clear if the CSO was checking everyone, or just checking "random" people.
How am I stereotyping. I said I don't trust cops based on three almost facts. 1. They have too much power. They can make you do anything they want pretty much want and if you resist they can beat your ass and its your word and against theirs. Unless you are rich, famous, or have a video like in this case, you are screwed. And even if you have video(Rodney King), you may still be screwed. 2. They don't train cops very well because most police departments are underfunded and overworked. My uncle is a cop in Austin, and he works 80 hour weeks and goes to training for a few days a year. 3. Its a very stressful, underappreciated job. It also doesn't pay very well unless you work a crap load of OT, so it doesn't attract the best talent. I'm not saying all cops are dumb. I'm just saying the brightest people out there aren't fighting each other to get a job at the police department. Compare that to the fire department where people wait years just to have the chance to join.
I'd like to point out that at least one of cops was Asian and another cop looked African American. Doesn't negate your point per se but something to consider....
The guy being belligerent when he didnt have his ID is inexcusable. I have studied/slept in powell numerous times in my days at ucla. There are large signs when you enter powell stating "night powell" hours and rules and regulations. If i remember correctly having your bruin card is the first item on the list. Everyone who goes there to study for finals/midterms at that time of night KNOWS they need to have their ID card. Bruin cards now are used for a variety of things, meals, money at the ucla store etc, even room keys (if know front desk people). He may entered powell before night powell hours (i think it starts at 10pm) but he was in the CLICC lab where the pcs there have a 2 hour time limit (the limit never changed my 4.5 years there doubt it would have changed after I left) so he must have entered powell after nine or after to be using a PC in the CLICC lab at that time of night. He should have known better imo. It could have been a simple mistake, but the way he was shouting and acting it seemed as if he was trying to be a sort of martyr. There have been numerous times where I have been asked to either leave because I was eating/drinking and once because I didnt have my id since I gave it to my roomate because he was out of meals. I left no issues because I knew the rules and there was no point of trying to make it an issue. And from looking at the video these were not UCPD but CSOs. CSOs are just students who arent really trained because all they really do is make rounds in the library and parking lots. I doubt they are properly trained to handle a situation like this because it never occurs, most students believe or not are pretty cooperative and mature about things when asked there. I had a friend that was a CSO all he did was ride his bike around the parking garages to check to make sure no one was parked illegally. Most of the times these CSOs are just walking in the library to make sure no one is doing something improper. The reason is a lot of times the homeless people from westwood will try to come into powell and sleep in the library and use its facilities. One guy was literally living in the library for a few days once. Hence the procedure of asking cards from everyone, even if they look like a student. Should they have tasered him, certainly not 5-6 times or so. But the guy was not cooperating and creating a scene that could have escalated into something really ugly. There were it looked like 5-7 CSOs and at least 60 students. This student was causing a mini riot of sorts which is totally unacceptable. Tasering him once to calm him down I think was fine. The rest was not a good course of action. If he couldnt stand when being asked to stand, he could have calmly said, I cannot stand because you tasered me help me up and out of the building. But he continued to shout obscenities at the CSOs who probably did not know the effects of the taser (does anyone know how high the taser was set?) and had to taser him again. They did repeat warnings at him several times. personally I hope the guy is kicked out of school that is no way for a bruin to conduct himself. I am ashamed at his behavior
But this is all conjecture - we need to look at the facts at hand... Today I walked out of a hospital with a patient band around my wrist (I had bone chips removed in my elbow). They cop stopped me....and asked me to show discharge papers. I didn't have them. But I didn't make a fuss. I could have just left and said "You can't stop me!". I didn't - I cooporate because I know they are doing their jobs. Let's the cops do their jobs. Instead of always calling them pigs and assuming the worse just because a few rotten apples - realize they have a job to do that's generally thankless but we all know how important it is. If there's a bugler in your house, you aren't called a civil rights lawyer!
How many times does it need to be repeated that the guy WAS ALREADY LEAVING WHEN HE WAS GRABBED AND TASERED.
I agree, I've worked in law enforcement and I sensed the same thing. They almost had a full blown riot on their hands because every time they tasered him the spectators were getting more and more agitated. In these situations the officers used poor judgment. All they had to do was cuff his legs and carry him out. I could see if it was one cop, but there were other officers around that could have helped carry the guy or they could have simply subdued him and waited for help to arrive. In the heat of the moment the officers got emotionally involved and that's always a mistake, but staying unemotional is easier said than done.
By the way, the Daily Bruin yesterday had a story about a sit-in during a Regents meeting to protest something or other (nuclear weapons or something). Somehow, the UCLA police were able to remove these nine people who were passively resisting without Tasering a single one. I don't know how they did it. P.S. The bit earlier about saying they "checked everyone", I saw several stories that said the checks were random and many people never got checked. Now, that does call into question how they make it random. The kid's lawyer says the kid was the only person in the library who was asked for ID. But obviously, his lawyer is a biased source (and wasn't there). We don't know all of the facts at hand, that was my point. I was offering an alternative scenario that fit the facts we'd been given. If it had been me, I'd have given up my ID. I don't personally have a problem with the policy at the library and I would've followed it. However, my understanding is that the goal of the policy is to keep people out of the library who shouldn't be there. Once he started to leave, even though he had been defiant minutes earlier, the situation should've been over. Instead, there was a whole mess of Tasering.
According to the UCPD, "Police officers of the UCLA Police Department are duly sworn peace officers under section 830.2(b) of the California Penal Code. The officers of the department are armed and possess the same authority under the law as municipal police officers."
They are not trained to be 'Real' cops.....just given the authority. This was excessive force, and the kid could have been really injured. DD
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. The head instructor of my Judo club is a former police officer and he's showed me several ways of restraining someone and removing them. I agree that its probably very hard to not get emotionally involved but that's a part of the job and from what I've heard an officer that makes it personal is a liability.
Shouldn't cops who are doing a poor job and placing themselves and others in danger be held accountable? I totally agree that the police have a tough and mostly thankless job and I respect them for doing it. That doesn't mean I think bad cops shouldn't be called on it. Given how important police are we should hold them to high standards.
That's not relevant to what I'm saying. I'm not talking about wheter or not they have legal authority, I'm talking about their job and the standard of conduct expected of Campus police - which is per se diffferent from that of regular police. Campus cops dealing with students are not allowed to deal with them in the same way that an LAPD officer would be allowed to deal with a siutaion on the street, unless it was a situation where somebody was in imminent physical danger. Trust me, I don't have to read UCLA PD's or University code of conduct to know that - it's just true.
Tasers were specifically designed for law enforcement officers to use for self defense or if someone (including themselves) is in danger of serious bodily injury or death. These officers were way out of line and should be treated as common criminals.
