No outrage here about the UF taser incident at the Kerry speach?

I’m surprised, it’s all over the blogs, and there are a number of people here who monitor them religiously. Anyhow, here’s some video:

Long version
Shorter, clearer version of the time from when Meyer is escorted away from the mic to the time he is removed from the hall.

I’m of two minds about this. Predictably, the outcry from the left has been that this is a blatant example of those damn fascist police suppressing this student’s right to free speech. If that was the case I’d be outraged, but after watching the video I don’t buy it. Her was arrested after he started to resist the cops. According to witness accounts, he jumped the line to get to the mic and demand an answer to his “oh so important” questions, because it had been announced that they were going to stop taking questions. (Here is one source. I’ll use Michelle Malkin just for the fun of it) At the beginning of the first video, you can see one cop put her hand on him and ask him to step away from the mic. He lashes out verbally, and is allowed to stay at the mic. He then rambles on for another minute or so, his mic is cut after he rants about Clinton’s blow job, and as the police try to remove him he starts to spin around, resisting their lawful attempts to remove him from the scene because he was causing a disruptence, pushing the cops away, all the while screaming “What did I do?”. At this point he is resisting arrest, and is subject to being forcibly restrained, which the police do. They take him to the ground, where he resists being handcuffed, and after several warnings that he would be tasered if he did not submit, he is and they do. He is then lead from the room and the real comedy begins (although I have to admit that I laughed at the part where he goes “Don’t taser me bro…ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!”). As the police talk to him in the hall, he begins the black helicopter bullshit. “I have people who know I’m here!”, “Oh no, they’re giving me to the government!”, “Help, help, they’re going to kill me!” High comedy indeed.

So, the crux of the matter: Was he removed and restrained for asking unpopular political questions, or for causing a disturbance and resisting the cops? I think it’s pretty clearly the later, he was given a chance to ask his questions even after he broke the rules by jumping the queue, it was only after his questions became a rant with no end in sight or pause for Kerry to answer (which the Senator clearly states that he is going to do) that they started to physically remove him. Cops have the right to remove disruptive people from public events. You do NOT have the right to resist them, your rights are ensured by the courts after the fact if the cops acted unlawfully. Quite clearly (moreso in the 2nd video), he is resisting right up to the point when he is tasered, you can clearly see his hand grasping the arm of the chair so that he couldn’t be cuffed just before the taser is used (as he is clearly warned that it would be). The taser might have been a bit much, you’d expect 6 cops to be able to subdue him, but the quarters were tight in the aisle and he was clearly not complying with their orders, they were unable to cuff him, what would have been a better option, the baton?

I just don’t understand some people. If he has stopped after his first question and quietly waited for an answer, nothing would have happened. If he had aquiessed to the demand that he step away and leave the auditorium, nothing would have happened. Instead, he resisted and began shouting, creating a disturbance. Cops are invested with the power to enforce order in our society, and no matter the purity of your ideological outrage, you do NOT have the right to resist them or to refuse to comply with their lawful orders. No matter what you think of cops, you don’t have that right. What are your thoughts here? (And I bet I’m in the minority WRT my opinion, but would your opinion change if ideologies of the people involved were different? Suppose Meyer had been shouting inflammatory Republican talking points?)

Speech. S-p-e-e-c-h. Damnit, I know that one, how did it miss it? :smack:

I just watched the whole video on YouTube, but it seems to me like the getting arrested and protesting against the security was the whole point of the, well, stunt. Kerry didn’t sound upset and you can hear him in the background saying that some of those are good questions.

He clearly resisted arrest, was warned repeatedly that he was going to get hit with the tazer, and even that didn’t stop him.

On the whole I’d prefer if he had been grabbed and carried outside instead of tasered, but at the same time I’d have to think he knew it was coming from the get go.

I’m in favor of the tasering of jerks. I’d like to have a jerk-taser in my car, on my shopping cart, a portable one for the parents at my kids soccer games, etc.

Kerry voter and generally left of center.

The guy seems like a jerk who likes provoking people to get a rise out of them. Apparently he also stood out in front of a book store holding a giant sign revealing the end of the Harry Potter books. That alone deserves a tasering.

Goofball gets arrested. What’s the debate, Dave?

The latter, as you indicated. The police may or may not have handled it perfectly–it’s always so easy for us all to know in retrospect, in the comfort of our living rooms, how it should have been handled–but nothing changes the fact that that kid created the circumstance he found himself. It was his misbehavior, not the police’s.

I dunno. I’ve been reading a lot of people in the blogsphere and on Fark who seem to think it was a stunning violation of this kid’s First Amendment rights, I wondered what people over here would think.

How was it a violation of his rights? It was a Q&A session in which each questioner had an allotted time in which to ask questions. That particular individual went over his time and got upset when his microphone was turned off. He freaked when he wasn’t allowed to deliver a diatribe.

I watched the longer version, and I think the cops jumped in prematurely. Kerry specifically said “That’s OK, let me answer his questions”. The guy was being a jerk, but that doesn’t mean he should have been hauled out of the auditorium. However, he was just asking for the taser the way he resisted arrest, even after he was told he would be tasered if he continued.

I liked the part where he was screaming “Help me, Help me”. I half expected to hear “I’m melting” next.

Sounds like you have been reading a whole lot of stupid. Glad you came back here, where stupid is only our middle name.

Some cites would be helpful; the Michele Malkin site has supposed links to others “talking about this incident”, but it all reads like a conservative echo-chamber, more noise than discussion.

The blog-links disingenuous calls for the ACLU to get involved–since they previously dared to defend a Muslim UCLA student tasered repeatedly by campus cops–tells you all you need to know about the agenda here.

I half expected to hear “I’m being repressed!”

This guy was a showboating jerk, but I agree that the cops handled it poorly (and, really, gave him just what he was after).

Others have said that they think he wanted to be arrested, too. I didn’t see that. Why do you think that was the case? I think he just wanted to rant as long as he could and annoy Kerry.

Ok, I’m at UF… I missed the forum (too bad, and terrible for a doper…) but I saw the Alligator (campus news), and there’s this whole “unlawful use of force” thing. Now, regardless of what Kerry said, the police were escorting him from the building, he repeatedly resisted them, ignored warnings, etc. There’s a huge outcry about this shit, apparently he’s trying to run for student senate now, it’s publicity, he’s, IMO, a douchebag and it’s not the police that embarassed themselves it’s him… I mean “Don’t Tase Me, Bro”?

Well, here is the thread on Fark. Brian and the Judge, a conservative talk show, ranted pretty hard about the suppression of free speech here, I don’t have any links though, it’s a radio show (but I bet they may be clips at their website). I don’t have any immediate links to other ATM, sorry. I was surfing at the office earlier today from blog to blog, but I don’t have any history on my home computer where I am now to give me those links.

FYI, I believe that linking directly to other MBs is frowned upon here. Board wars and all…

The guy was an idiot and got exactly what he asked for and was told he was going to get!! how many times does a cop have to say “settle down or I will tase you” before you settle down?

Idiots…

I work at UF, and there seems to be a pretty even split here among my co-workers as to who was more in the wrong. Personally I also think the kid deserved what he got.

I didn’t realize being tasered was so painful!

Being tased is very painful, however it does not generally cause lingering injuries. Having 6 cops sit on you, trying to force you to comply via brute force is also painful AND runs the risk of injury to you and the police.

These things always progress the same way. Someone is asked to leave by a person with the authority to make that request, they refuse, then the cops come in and order them to leave, and they do everything they can to avoid going. Then the cops try to escort them out, and they resist. It winds up being a 5 on 1 struggle, they get tased and finally cry "I would have left if you just asked!