[DiabloRojo]

The way the police started to handle the situation was disrespectful to the student, and he wasn't going to take it.  Neither would I, to be honest.  The only one in the wrong is the group of police who acted first.  If they had handled it differently, that whole scene probably would have ended as quickly as it began.  Kindly yet firmly saying "Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down" should have been the first, as well as last, thing they did.

Hold yer dang horsies there, cowboy.

Watch the second video link in the first post which shows just how he reacted to the 'Sir, you've reached your time limit, please let the next person speak.'  Then notice his reaction when they've had enough and cut the mike.  HE was disrespectful from (nearly) the very beginning, not to mention badgering the speaker with fecal clap-trap that was utterly disruptive to the forum before the real shenanigans even began.  Their initial reaction was already heightened because of his attitude.

After watching it AGAIN (because I do take a great amount of perverse pleasure in listening to him scream and whine long after any potential pain from the shock is gone) he got one arm free of them and on a seat just prior to being tased, so he had resisted enough that he was not cuffed at all.

[karajorma]

And why wasn't he cuffed instead of being tasered? Are you telling me that six police officers can't handcuff a single man?

[DiabloRojo]

Kara, seriously... now I hope you're twisting arguments for a laugh because you're making me repeat myself.

But just in case you're not:
Short answer: YES.

Not quite so short but slightly longer nonetheless answer: They tried and he resisted. They tried and he resisted.  Then they tried more and he still resisted.

Long answer:
They tried and even had both arms behind him at one point, but then he managed to get one arm free again.  It's all there in the video.  If you were anywhere reasonably close-by, I would happily demonstrate how hard it is to maintain physical control over someone who is actively moving and fighting off your grip, even if you have all of your weight on them and were trying to keep them still long enough to put them in hand cuffs.

Situations exactly like these (as you even described and I Q'dFT not long after) are the reason tasers exist.

Now here's a new angle!  If the police actually wanted to 'go for the gusto' and really get a power trip/overstep their bounds, giving the guy a nice elbow or two to the face or a kidney punch would be EVER MORE satisfying to them rather than standing back, pushing a button and watching him convulse for a couple seconds while he moans like a cow giving birth.

[Knight Templar]

Kara lives in some kind of world where police are evil, and when they actually do their jobs (you know, instead of hanging out at the kwik-e-mart buying donuts, or getting drunk and shooting stop-signs) it is seen as an act of evil Big Brother government ****ting all over civil rights and liberties. Which it is not. It is the police doing their job.

Nobody really needs to defend it anymore. It is all in the video, and it is all in what he was charged with (resisting arrest, disturbing the peace.) He was dealt with accordingly. The police are people trying to do their jobs. They have tools to do it effectively. They used them appropriately. If anyone should ***** about anything, they should point out that, despite being a nuisance, talking out of turn, and being a dick to a U.S. Senator (whether warranted or not, was straight disrespectful) he was essentially hauled off for asking too tough questions and hogging the mic. If you want to make a connection to a police state or police overstepping their bounds on democracy or whatever, start there (Though you might have a hard time as he was also pretty much arrested for being a goddamn child about the whole thing, making a scene, including all the extra moaning about getting tazed.)

Kara also seems to live in some kind of world where all of this board's arm-chair morality reviews and subjective majority opinions vs. subjective minority opinions actually mean something.

[Nuke]

restraining someone isnt as easy as it sounds, hell it takes 2 people to restrain one of my cats for a bath.

[Ghostavo]

not to mention badgering the speaker with fecal clap-trap that was utterly disruptive to the forum before the real shenanigans even began

You must have missed Kerry saying "Those were important questions!"

[Knight Templar]

not to mention badgering the speaker with fecal clap-trap that was utterly disruptive to the forum before the real shenanigans even began

You must have missed Kerry saying "Those were important questions!"

lol, he would say that. He's John Kerry. Those were as important questions as denouncing the Iraq War to the far Left was as important as playing up his Vietnam Service to the moderate conservative Democrats, during his campaign.

[Ghostavo]

not to mention badgering the speaker with fecal clap-trap that was utterly disruptive to the forum before the real shenanigans even began

You must have missed Kerry saying "Those were important questions!"

lol, he would say that. He's John Kerry. Those were as important questions as denouncing the Iraq War to the far Left was as important as playing up his Vietnam Service to the moderate conservative Democrats, during his campaign.

So asking questions is badgering the speaker? So what do they do at speech forums?

Besides tasering students.

[Knight Templar]

What? I'm confused. I think you missed my clever, if but slightly vague joke. I'll elaborate.

[Ghostavo]

What does have to do with anything?

Does that mean if Bush went upstage everything he told was automatically assumed to be a lie?

[Knight Templar]

Bush doesn't lie. He's my president. Well, not mine per se, I didn't vote for him. I voted for the other guy. But he still presides over me. He wouldn't lie. It's against some oath or something.

But really, it just goes to show how much Kerry is worth. If Mr. Bush were up there, I'd expect educated college students (however educated you can be at Florida U. rofl) to ask worthwhile questions: "So when are you pulling the troops out?" "Remember Osama Bin-Laden?" "Can you get these Mexicans out of my backyard? They jumped my fence again." "My grandfather is dying right now because his health insurance premiums are too high, and his social security is running so low that he has to choose between rent and his medication. What do you think of that?" or "Exit strategylol?"

Instead, their guest speaker is Kerry. So what questions get addressed to him? - "Which fraternity were you in at Yale?"

GG.

[karajorma]

Kara lives in some kind of world where police are evil, and when they actually do their jobs (you know, instead of hanging out at the kwik-e-mart buying donuts, or getting drunk and shooting stop-signs) it is seen as an act of evil Big Brother government ****ting all over civil rights and liberties. Which it is not. It is the police doing their job.

No I don't. Most police are good people trying to honestly make a difference. But there are always bad apples and there are always cases of poor training resulting in the unnecessary use of force.

There have been cases of Tasers being used on pregnant women, elderly people and on one occasion a 6 year old child. I'll point out that AFAIK no one was suspended in the case of the 6 year old who was tasered. I can only assume that KT or DiabloRojo was there to argue that he was a danger to the officer too.

[Knight Templar]

On the six year old? lol

I was definitely there in court in support against the pregnant woman though. I mean, when was the last time you saw a sane pregnant woman, let alone one you could restrain? Hell, tazering-on-sight should be standard procedure around mothers-to-be as far as I'm concerned.

[Bobboau]

and they all died right, I mean a tazer is a dangerous weapon that could kill Paul Bunion, what sort of chance do children have?

[karajorma]

Well considering we're talking about children fearsome enough to frighten 3 armed policemen, probably a quite good one.

[Knight Templar]

Fiction: A Tazer is a tool used by police forces to gain control of a situation by subduing an assailant.

FACT: TAZERS are weapons producing the wrath of Thor, shooting 50,000 volts of lightning hot vengeance, destroying anyone who would *dare* threaten the user.


Instructional video on proper use of the TAZER weapon.

[TrashMan]

Bull****.  To think one has to fear or respect the police by default is an example of shallow thinking.  Respect is earned, and fear is invoked.  The way the police started to handle the situation was disrespectful to the student, and he wasn't going to take it.  Neither would I, to be honest.  The only one in the wrong is the group of police who acted first.  If they had handled it differently, that whole scene probably would have ended as quickly as it began.  Kindly yet firmly saying "Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down" should have been the first, as well as last, thing they did.  The world is slowly going to hell because law officers are starting to overstep their necessary boundaries.  They are civil servants...  They are to maintain the peace before enforcing anything.

Double Bull***.
Respect is earned, yes, but ppl have to know you mean buisness. A small part of respect is also fear.

And the guy had it coming...They warned him and kept warning him a dozen times. I would haev used the taser a long before that on him. He knew the rules. the was baing a jerk. He ignored the police warnings.

Face it - there was no abue there. There was no excessive use of force...not by any normal standards. Of couse, I have no idea what standards you and Kaj support.

[BloodEagle]

Just in case anyone forgot.... Voltage doesn't kill, current does.

[karajorma]

Face it - there was no abue there. There was no excessive use of force...not by any normal standards. Of couse, I have no idea what standards you and Kaj support.

Normal ones.

Remember that the police officers ARE being investigated. So you can talk about normal until you are blue in the face but it won't change the fact that the supervisors involved think that there is merit for an investigation here.

No doubt Trashman believes that the Rodney King beating was also justified. Had to make him scared of the police and all.

[Stealth]

Long answer:
They tried and even had both arms behind him at one point, but then he managed to get one arm free again.  It's all there in the video.  If you were anywhere reasonably close-by, I would happily demonstrate how hard it is to maintain physical control over someone who is actively moving and fighting off your grip, even if you have all of your weight on them and were trying to keep them still long enough to put them in hand cuffs.

wait... you're telling me SIX POLICEMEN/WOMEN could not subdue ONE SKINNY STUDENT?

...