UCLA "Tasing"

At SFGate.com">, a CA newspaper online, the taser incident is explored.

Tabatabainejad, 23, was shocked Tuesday night after arguing with a campus police officer who was conducting a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles, Powell Library computer lab.

Campus police say he refused to show his student ID and refused to leave the building when asked.

Several things occur to me:

• First, other reports have said that this was technically NOT a tasing, which is a pretty potent weapon, that would likely make speech more difficult than the recording (on YouTube). That doesn't totally excuse the apparent overkill on force, it just puts it into perspective.
  
  
• There is absolutely no evidence that the student was targeted because of ethnicity. In fact, since the student refused to show ID, it would be difficult to prove that the campus cops even knew his ethnicity.
  
  
• These were campus cops, NOT LAPD. They were students with low-level orders, training, and weaponry. It illustrates the bad decision-making that puts in place security with little training.
  
  As a teacher, I can forthrightly say, you give the order. If they do not comply, repeat - ONCE! After that, either get physical (i.e., pick him up), or call in back-up. Don't continue repeating the order.
  
  
• What a malignant, whiny, wimp! He got pissy when told to either prove his right to be there or move. He started screaming about brutality even before they used the stun gun on him. He made the decision to continue resisting.

The only reason he screamed and yelled, and continued resisting is that he wanted to provoke a riot. If I were on a jury for a lawsuit, I'd give him one dollar. And the advice of Chris Rock, who created the famous How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked.

I watched it - it's good advice.