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Abomb-baby said:No one said forgetting your ID is tazer worthy. I agree with you that after he was cuffed, it should have ceased.
So then it was excessive. Wasn't that the whole point of this thread?
Abomb-baby said:No one said forgetting your ID is tazer worthy. I agree with you that after he was cuffed, it should have ceased.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_us/student_stunnedTasered student claims racial profiling 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A student who was shocked by a campus police officer's Taser gun after he refused to show ID at a UCLA library thought he was being singled out by the officer because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer said.
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Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the U.S.-born student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad.
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.
Yagman said his client declined to show his school ID because he thought he was being targeted for his appearance. His family is of Iranian descent.
Police have said Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd gathered, the officer used the stun gun on him.
Yagman disputed that, saying Tabatabainejad started yelling to draw attention after the police officer pulled out the Taser.
Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance.
The incident, recorded on another student's camera phone, showed Tabatabainejad screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. It was the third time in a month in which police behavior in the city was criticized after amateur video surfaced.
UCLA's interim chancellor, Norman Abrams, urged the public to withhold judgment while the campus police department investigates.
Several civil rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have called for an independent review.
blueyedpoet said:As a student at UCLA I, along with most of the student body, am outraged. Technically, you are supposed to have a student ID just to get into our libraries - quiet absurd, but true. From my understanding, other students weren't asked to show their IDs, just the terrorist (I mean, Muslim).
The UCLA police officer videotaped last week using a Taser gun on a student also shot a homeless man at a campus study hall room three years ago and was earlier recommended for dismissal in connection with an alleged assault on fraternity row, authorities said.
UCLA police confirmed late Monday that the officer who fired the Taser gun was Terrence Duren.
Duren said Monday that he joined the UCLA police force after being fired from the Long Beach Police Department in the late 1980s. He said he was a probationary officer at the time and was let go because of poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge.
In May 1990, he was accused of using his nightstick to choke someone who was hanging out on a Saturday in front of a UCLA fraternity. Kente S. Scott alleged that Duren confronted him while he was walking on the street outside the Theta Xi fraternity house.
Scott sued the university, and according to court records, UCLA officials moved to have Duren dismissed from the police force. But after an independent administrative hearing, officials overturned the dismissal, suspending him for 90 days.
Duren on Monday disputed the allegations made by Scott.
In October 2003, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man he encountered in Kerckhoff Hall. Duren chased the man into a bathroom, where they struggled and he fired two shots.
The homeless man, Willie Davis Frazier, was later convicted of assaulting an officer. Duren said Frasier had tried to grab his gun during the struggle. But Frazier's attorney, John Raphling, said his client was mentally ill and didn't do anything to provoke the shooting.
It remains unclear when the independent investigation of the Taser incident will be completed. It will be headed by Merrick Bobb, a veteran watchdog of both the Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff's departments.
speedracer said:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser21nov21,0,1459046.story?coll=la-home-headlines
If you're going to post an article, leave a link and don't selectively edit it.
For all I know, the cop could be a complete jerk. But if you're posting the article in order to measure his reputation based on past incidents, you should provide a complete picture.