Friday, November 17, 2006

UCLA Student (?) Tasered



So, here's the latest outrage floating around (apparently).

At UCLA, apparently the library computer labs are off-limits to non-students after 11pm. To enforce this, random ID checks are done. If you don't show ID, you are escorted out. Supposedly, this guy refused to show ID and refused to leave. When police showed up to force him out, well, that's when the trouble begins.

I watched most of the video. It's kind of hard to tell what's happening. The guy keeps saying he would leave, but I'm not sure if a person can walk after being tasered. Having never experienced it myself, it's hard to say. Since some people doubt the effectiveness of them, I suppose walking after a short stun is possible.

One of Michelle's readers remarks that it's better police procedure to just give the guy one good jolt and then carry him out, rather than asking him to walk out on his own power. I guess I can't disagree.

In any event, it's already interesting to see what's developing from this.

In related linkage, LAPD officer Jack Dunphy weighs in on related events here.

2 comments:

-Murphy said...

UCLA Student (?)

Evidently it's been confirmed that he was a Senior at UCLA. It's also been suggested on Fark that he's kind of a schmuck and likes to cause trouble. Not that that means he needs to be tasered for being an idiot.
The guy keeps saying he would leave, but I'm not sure if a person can walk after being tasered.


It depends on the person, I think. I've heard of people that can take a taser and shrug it off, but then Lancet suggested an average 5-15 minutes of immobilization after five seconds of tasering. It's not as though he's moving around very quickly or is built like a linebacker, so it's probable that they could have tasered him for the five seconds required to subdue.

One of Michelle's readers remarks that it's better police procedure to just give the guy one good jolt and then carry him out, rather than asking him to walk out on his own power. I guess I can't disagree.

Yeah, but that's not what they do. They taser him, then yell at him to get up, he screams a bunch of stuff and then they taser him again. They don't seem concerned with "carrying him out".

The kid definitely needed to be kicked out, as he didn't have the right identification and was, reportedly, causing a ruckus in the library even before the police showed up, but there's also a level of restraint policemen are expected to exercise. He appeared to be handcuffed, might not have been able to stand on his own power and was being tasered while he was on the floor, in complete control of the officers. That's not kosher. The guy can be a doorknob and scream all he wants, but as long as he's restrained, tasering him seems like overkill. I'm usually willing to give benefit of the doubt to officers, as my cousin's a police officer in Baltimore, but the kid doesn't seem to be a threat, immobilized on the ground and, for at least the last few taserings, apparently handcuffed.

Hal said...

Yeah, you'll notice I didn't voice any sort of side-picking on this one.

I don't really know what happened. The video gives some idea, but not enough. Maybe the officers were acting appropriately based on the guy's behavior. Maybe they were over the line. I'm not sure.

What I am sure of, though, is that this has become quite the circus. I suspect that those officers are done with their line of work, whether they were in the right or not.