Student Tasered in Front of John Kerry

[alohamonkey]

Student tasered at University of Florida open forum with John Kerry. 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered.ap/index.html

The kid asked Kerry about his connections with Skull 'n' Bones and the cops arrested him.  In the background, Kerry is heard saying "It's a valid question" and seemed ready to answer it.  When the student resisted the cops, they tasered him. 

You can almost see the groupthink/power trip the cops go through when someone challenges their authority . . . and it turns a nonviolent situation into a violent one. 

freedom of speech 

[coffeeseven]

I kept watching it over and over last night. I can't believe what I am seeing. Normally this sort of thing happens when no one is watching. Hopefully there are at least a handful of students questioning no only the school they attend, but the country they are attending in.

[CNHT]

The Skull and Bones question scares them doesn't it?

It means the kid is onto something, has done some research and is not about to accept the bullshit.

He must be subdued before anyone else finds out!

[coffeeseven]

The Skull and Bones question scares them doesn't it?

It means the kid is onto something, has done some research and is not about to accept the bullshit.

He must be subdued before anyone else finds out!

Any idea what the yellow book he is holding up is? Maybe it's like a necklace of garlic cloves. I want to wave in in front of the marshals that are at the Browns

[CNHT]

The Skull and Bones question scares them doesn't it?

It means the kid is onto something, has done some research and is not about to accept the bullshit.

He must be subdued before anyone else finds out!

Any idea what the yellow book he is holding up is? Maybe it's like a necklace of garlic cloves. I want to wave in in front of the marshals that are at the Browns

No but maybe when they interview his parents on TV they will tell us... not heard yet.

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence." Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948)

[Lex]

Video of the arrest:
[youtube=425,350]6bVa6jn4rpE[/youtube]

[ladyattis]

He was an idiot, but they never arrested him, legally. Plus, he wasn't acting violent, so what's the deal yo? I swear cops always want to arrest someone rather than just be peace officers.

-- Brede

[d_goddard]

Two words:
civil suit

[mvpel]

The very least those goggle-eyed students could have done was to start up a rousing chant of "BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!"  That's what they used to do at the University of Michigan.

I hope too many people don't suffer brain damage when they can't blame this on George "Bushitler" or whatever they're calling him these days.

This is just another illustration of the minuscule difference between the political parties.  They're both headed by a rich, privileged elite.  The "Skull & Bones Society" isn't the root cause of their domination of the political sphere, it's just a silly frat for the rich privileged elite which already dominate the political sphere, and have for centuries.  George Bush the Elder plays golf with Bill Clinton - conspiracy, a sinister and machiavellian "Ex-Presidents Society," perhaps?

[Beth221]

sickening, isnt it?

[lildog]

In the background, Kerry is heard saying "It's a valid question" and seemed ready to answer it.

I don't have access to video here so I haven't seen this yet but if Kerry seemed ready to answer then who gave the order to arrest the kid and why?

[Fluff and Stuff]

From the looks of it, the guy went on and on past his time and was ruining the Qs and As.  Since he was ruining the event, they wanted him to leave.  He refused to leave.  They tried to get him out of the event.  However, with all of those cops there was no reason to tase him.

He could win a civil suit for excessive force if he cannot make a jury think that the taser use was not needed; however, he will also likely lose in a criminal case against himself (disturbing the peace of somesuch).

[Little Owl]

Anybody who can endure a John Kerry speech shouldn't be too hurt by a simple tasering/police beating.

[Lex]

From the looks of it, the guy went on and on past his time and was ruining the Qs and As.  Since he was ruining the event, they wanted him to leave.  He refused to leave.  They tried to get him out of the event.  However, with all of those cops there was no reason to tase him.

He could win a civil suit for excessive force if he cannot make a jury think that the taser use was not needed; however, he will also likely lose in a criminal case against himself (disturbing the peace of somesuch).

I don't think he can prove that the tasering was unnecessary. It's pretty obvious from the video that he either wanted to be left alone or to walk out of the place peacefuly and was not interested in being arrested. All the prosecution has to ask the jury is whether they think he could have been arrested and dragged out of that building without being tasered, I think the jury will agree that the cops couldn't handle the situation and had to use the taser. It's sad but true, that kid put up quite a fight. If only there was more folks like that.

Also, I think the simplest thing the audeince could have done is simply to stand up. If every student in the audience stood up and inched closer to the scene, even if everyone stayed back 10 feet from the arrest but surrounded the cops with 500 students I think it would have made the cops think twice about tasering the kid. I'm guessing that most of the kids at that speech liked Kerry and thought the kid getting arrested was a nuissance to their hero on stage 

[alohamonkey]

Also, I think the simplest thing the audeince could have done is simply to stand up. If every student in the audience stood up and inched closer to the scene, even if everyone stayed back 10 feet from the arrest but surrounded the cops with 500 students I think it would have made the cops think twice about tasering the kid. I'm guessing that most of the kids at that speech liked Kerry and thought the kid getting arrested was a nuissance to their hero on stage 

That's what I kept thinking.  There was no voice of opposition from the crowd.  Why the hell wouldn't a few people get involved? 

What interested me was how easily the police fell into their "role" of enforcers.  Once the kid was on the ground, they could have lifted him up and walked him out.  There were four armed police against one twenty year old.  Instead, one of the police flashed his taser.  After he did that, the kid definitely would have walked out on his own.  It just seemed like the cops felt obligated to go through the formal process of tasering this guy.  Am I making sense here?  Groupthink is a powerful thing and once one of the cops initiated force, the others felt obligated to go along with it even though it clearly wasn't necessary.