Student Tasered at Kerry Forum

[blueerica]

Store here. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20835952/)

Meyer screams for help and asks "What did I do?" as he tries to break away from officers. He is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting.

As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer yells at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro," just before he is shocked by the Taser. He is then led from the room, screaming, "What did I do?"

Of course, I only have what the article tells me about the situation, but it seems like kids are getting tasered all the time these days...

Your thoughts?

[wendybeth]

The cops in our town are taser crazy- we've had at least three deaths in the past few years because of it. Unless someone is carrying a weapon, I see know reason or justification for using a taser. They seem to do so because they are afraid that a scuffle might ensue, but I think that's part of the job, isn't it? Learning how to subdue would-be scufflers? One guy who was killed was brandishing a plastic bottle of pop, which we all know is incredibly lethal and he totally deserved what he got. (Turns out he was developmentally disabled and didn't know what was going on).

[Ghoulish Delight]

I was JUST about to post this. The video shows pretty much exactly what happened. The guy was serial-questioning and his questions were getting more outlandish. The last question you can hear him asking before police moved in to shut him up was whether Kerry was in Skull & Bones (the Yale "secret" society). He was definitely there to be a thorn. Hard to say whether it warranted police trying to take him out of the room, but if you watch the video they definitely gave him ample opportunity to cooperate. One officer actually had his taser out but holstered it, even though he was still struggling, so they weren't exactly hair-triggered on the taser.

[BarTopDancer]

The video really disturbed me. Perhaps I didn't see the full video but of what I did see it looked like they hauled him off the stage, then started escorting him out then poof. He's on the floor being tasered. I didn't see a reason for him to be tasered, even if he was struggling he wasn't hitting/kicking/biting anyone.

[Tref]

I was JUST about to post this. The video shows pretty much exactly what happened. The guy was serial-questioning and his questions were getting more outlandish. The last question you can hear him asking before police moved in to shut him up was whether Kerry was in Skull & Bones (the Yale "secret" society). He was definitely there to be a thorn ...

Hardly. It is about time somebody asked Kerry those questions. Indeed, I would have loved to have heard his half-assed answer. Stuttering and stammering, Kerry could not even take control of a room-full of college students! Any man worth his metal, in Kerry's position, would have ordered those guards to stand down. He clearly is an imbecile. Kerry could make a good man want to vote republican.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Aww, be nice, I'm not that bad. :)
**hugs**
-kerry

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

I read - Tasered at Knot's Berry Farm.


yeah...

[Not Afraid]

I read - Tasered at Knot's Berry Farm.


yeah...

Me too.

Meanwhile, on International Taser Day.....

Police taser man with chicken in car

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- A man faces a number of charges, including drug possession, after a traffic stop in which he was stunned several times with a Taser and police found a live chicken.
Richard D. Brown, 34, was charged with cocaine possession with intent to deliver, maintaining a drug trafficking place, resisting an officer, obstructing an officer, second-offense operating while intoxicated and operating after revocation.
According to Sheboygan police, the incident started about 2 a.m. Friday when an officer spotted Brown involved in a potential drug deal and tried to stop him. The man threw a pack of cigarettes out of his car window and tried to run. The pack was found to have contained more than an ounce of cocaine, authorities said.
An officer pursued Brown, caught him, punched him in the head and knocked him to the ground, authorities said, but he tried to run again. A second officer zapped both men with a stun gun as they were struggling, and Brown again before he was handcuffed.
Brown told the officers he got the fowl from a local fast food restaurant, police have said.
He was taken to a hospital, where he received six stitches for two cuts on his face. The chicken was taken to the Sheboygan County Humane Society.
He faces up to 26 years in jail if convicted on all charges.

[scaeagles]

I am no Kerry fan, but honestly what was he to do? Seriously. I suppose he could have asked (he had no legal authority to order) them to let the guy go, but to what end? Is an invited speaker supposed to relinquish the floor to someone who wants to monopolize what is taking place for their own agenda?

I'm sure they could have handled it better, but I don't necessarily see fault in Kerry for this.

It's a tough situation - you are invited somewhere, you are speaking, and someone rudely interrupts what you are there for. What are you to do? What is security supposed to do? I believe the guy should have been removed, and that it was possible to do it without using a taser, but to fault Kerry? I don't see it.

[innerSpaceman]

Would it have been Kerry's fault if the guy were being beaten with batons and didn't make a move to stop it? How about dragged to a tree and hung? At what point in policeforce authority violently overstepping its bounds on a Senator's behalf does that United States Senator intervene with his supreme, if not legal, authority?

[blueerica]

Hrmmm... I never figured it as being Kerry's fault at all. In fact, I felt (based solely on the article I linked) that he handled it about as well as anyone could have expected him to. I don't think he (Kerry) would have expected the taser.

I probably should have made less focus on it being a Kerry rally and more on how it seems the taser is coming out with greater frequency.

[scaeagles]

I don't know how to answer that question, ISM.

I suppose I believe the police overstepping reasonable force limits as the responsibility of the police, not the person on stage speaking. Of course there will come a point when any responsible person in the crowd as well as on the stage or in Kerry's personal entourage should step forward. The fact that it was Kerry speaking does not makle him any more responsible then anyone else, though I do admit he probably had more ability (thought not authority) to have them stop.

[Ghoulish Delight]

In other tasing news: OC Sharrifs taser 15 year old autistic kid (http://laist.com/2007/09/18/oc_deputies_tas.php) (how's that for a sensationalist headline)

[Alex]

Per Kerry's statement (no idea if it is true) he was unaware that a taser had been used until later and that while he had started to address the student's questions he also had no idea at the time what other confrontations the student may have had with police prior to making the ruckus.

If true, then all Kerry was aware of was the police forcibly removing someone trying to disrupt things and he had no idea what the situation was.

[sleepyjeff]

Hardly. It is about time somebody asked Kerry those questions. Indeed, I would have loved to have heard his half-assed answer. Stuttering and stammering, Kerry could not even take control of a room-full of college students! Any man worth his metal, in Kerry's position, would have ordered those guards to stand down. He clearly is an imbecile. Kerry could make a good man want to vote republican.

In Kerry's defense I doubt if any other politician would have acted much differently in this situation.

btw: Kerry already made many good men vote Republican;)

[Betty]

In other tasing news: OC Sharrifs taser 15 year old autistic kid (http://laist.com/2007/09/18/oc_deputies_tas.php) (how's that for a sensationalist headline)


WTF is up with that? Either part of the story is missing or the police are just totally bonkers. Someone runs through traffic - so when they catch up to him they tase him. You mean they couldn't subdue a 15 year old any other way? Sheesh - I've seen old man cops on "Cops" tackle a guy and bring him down - why the need for a taser at all? Even if the guy wasn't Autistic. You think he was exceptionally large and strong or something?

The whole thing just makes me mad! Should be out trying the find the kid.

As a plus - I liked the note about him trying to find his way home by reading the bus stops.

Wonder how he slipped away... was it on purpose? Did someone accidently release him? Or purposely?

[CoasterMatt]

Wow, how does a chicken taser work?

[Tref]

Wow, how does a chicken taser work?

Forget about how a chicken taser works -- how does it taste?

[blueerica]

Like bacon.

[AllyOops!]

People I want to taser:

*O.J. Simpson
*Everybody in traffic when I'm in traffic
*Michael Vick
*People that yap on their cell phones in the movie theater during the film.
*O.J Simpson. Did I mention him?
*O.J Simpson "supporters" that have nothing better to do then stand outside the courtroom and still chant to anybody that will listen about the "glove not fitting" even though this is an entirely different case. Tacky bastards.

I need coffee. :coffee:

[sleepyjeff]

People I want to taser:

*O.J. Simpson
*Everybody in traffic when I'm in traffic
*Michael Vick
*People that yap on their cell phones in the movie theater during the film.
*O.J Simpson. Did I mention him?
*O.J Simpson "supporters" that have nothing better to do then stand outside the courtroom and still chant to anybody that will listen about the "glove not fitting" even though this is an entirely different case. Tacky bastards.

I need coffee. :coffee:


:snap:

[Prudence]

WB may find this amusing, but NA probably won't. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNLQY3bQyaM)

[innerSpaceman]

bloody brilliant.

[Gemini Cricket]

When I was dealing with someone today at work who was getting mad about something I said, "Don't tase me, bro."
It lightened the mood.
:D