Uh Oh...Trouble in Powell

<p>Hopefully fighting back didn't involve a bunch of you rushing the cops and beating them up. That's how bad situations become catastrophic.</p>

<p>I agree, though I was raised poor and aggressive, I know violence is wrong.</p>

<p>I do think that UCLA students, as well as any other person, should be united in the defense of the student. The student was a victim and while he may have been slow to respond, he did not deserve the treatment he got. From what I have heard (and read), there are UCLA students who are unaware of the situation or don't think the cops were wrong. </p>

<p>In my eyes, the guy is a hero. Stupidly defiant yet intelligently bold.</p>

<p><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/ucla/1424822.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://community.livejournal.com/ucla/1424822.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think this post ioffers a pretty comprehensive review of the situation.</p>

<p>Oh and I recently saw the unedited video with audio. </p>

<p>Very, very hard to watch.</p>

<p>i don't see why people are defending the cops..it's just a bruincard for goodness sake. jesus.</p>

<p>[moderator's note: Language]</p>

<p>I just did not find it reasonable to Taser the guy four times(?). I watched the video on YouTube and it was very sad. It was especially scary to hear the cop tell another student to back away or else he'll get Taser'd too. :(</p>

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It was especially scary to hear the cop tell another student to back away or else he'll get Taser'd too.

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<p>yeah..it was disturbing</p>

<p>It looked like that kid who was told to back away was in the officers face's... they have a right to protect themselves. How would you guys feel if you are surrounded by a bunch of students all screaming at you and then one gets in your face and start waving his arms?</p>

<p>well, if i was the cop i wouldn't have pulled out the taser in the first place, so there wouldn't have been some guy in my face telling me to stop hurting the kid.</p>

<p>Aubstopper,</p>

<p>You see it as a BruinCard. The police see it as a security issue. The ability to ensure that those using the library should be there is important for creating a safe environment. This is especially important considering the number of (sometimes) mentally unstable transients in the area.</p>

<p>However, I do think that the officer in question overreacted, despite the fact that the student should have done the easy thing: get up and leave.</p>

<p>As usual, fault can be meted out to both parties.</p>

<p>wow. if the biggest thing on campus is a kid who was being a pain in the arse on purpose to imitate che guevera (check out his facebook.. he thinks hes some modern revolutionary, and he even notes that he wont get a job) then we are in sad sad times. at least the 1960's protestors had valid reaosns. </p>

<p>ari you're right. lot of weirdos come to ucla campus, seek sex in restrooms, etc. the police are right to search everyone. the punk probably scripted the whole thing. cops dont have time to mess around with romantic revolutionaries.</p>

<p>the thing that kinda gets me mad is that i see a bunch of fliers everywhere calling for a protest. jeez, i think its kinda useless to start such a big issue over such a small thing. It's not like the guy died or is seriously wounded.</p>

<p>Well, I admit a bias. I worked as a supervising access monitor (and in many cases with UCPD), so I know just how stupid students can get.</p>

<p>Students often forget that the UCLA campus is, for all intents and purposes, private property. And just like I have the right to throw you off of my front lawn if you are trespassing, UCPD has the right to throw you out of Powell if you cannot produce identification.</p>

<p>Of course, I don't taser everyone who walks on my lawn just to catch some shade under my tree. Nor does UCPD actively walk around tasering people. But you'd be a darned fool to think that I wouldn't be willing to use force to remove someone from my property if they wouldn't leave when I asked. </p>

<p>UCPD was well within their jurisdiction to ask the student to leave. He knew that an ID was required of him. This isn't some undocumented rule: it's made clear to everyone. </p>

<p>Did the officer overreact? Certainly. Had I been the officer in question, I would have called for my partner to take his other arm, and we'd have happily escorted him outside. And given him a nice little push in the right direction. Then, I would've taken him outside and said, "look kid, you need to study? We'll help you find a place to study. But you need an ID."</p>

<p>But then again, I know, firsthand, what these guys deal with on a nightly basis. You'd be amazed at the sheer lack of consideration and decency that I've seen from students who needed to do nothing more than show me their BruinCard. I've been called names, physically threatened, and heckled into oblivion all because I did students a service that keeps them safe.</p>

<p>And you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>But remember guys, it's not that hard to just listen to a cop. In fact, it usually leaves you with a lot fewer taser marks on your neck.</p>

<p>its actually really easy for cops to "overreact" because they have a REALLY stressful job. It's easy to say, "oh, I were the cop, I would have been more level headed." When the time comes, things aren't always so easy/rational. But i agree, one time should've have subdued and was all that was necessary (not ~4).</p>

<p>bruinboy,</p>

<p>Well, I think that it's important that we always hold officers to higher standards than we hold ourselves. For one, they are potential practitioners of lethal force. "Overreacting" can mean a 9mm aimed at you.</p>

<p>Trust me, that's not fun.</p>

<p>I think that we should hold the officer liable for his overuse of force. But to say that the student doesn't deserve some blame is also a bit silly.</p>

<p>Ari, word, I agree. Tasers are weapons designed for people who are out of control, often on drugs, who often times are so strung out they can't feel the pain from something like pepper spray. They are not designed to simply subdue people who are being jerks. That's like saying a gun is designed to slow someone down. Sure, it'll bring down a suspect if you hit em in the leg, but everyone knows guns are made to kill things.</p>

<p>Officers are held to higher standards cause they do have so much power. I would hold my dad to a higher standard than my little cousin, and I hold officers to a bit higher standard than your normal idiot citizen. Sure, the guy was being a jerk, I completely agree, but officers are supposed to be trained professionals. I think both sides did things wrong in this situation, but this guy has to get tazed, spend the night in jail, pay legal fees, let alone the humiliation. I just think the officers should be held accountable for their side as well.</p>

<p>namaste...seriously man..i just looked up on his facebook and there was no revolutionary-like substance on there. Methinks you're looking for justification for the incident where there is none. </p>

<p>I can understand the idea of it being for our safety and all, but i personally hold law enforcement and government officials to a much higher standard than myself, and i don't like to think if i commited a minor offence that i would be tasered that many time unnecessarily.</p>

<p>ari i agree. im just trying to justify that officers hold the right to use force when necessary, and sometimes the line between necessary/unnecessary is blurred. This was an instance, and its easy for us to pass judgements based on what is on paper or even whats on camera. i not saying (at all) taht the police was justified using the tazer six times. It's just that many people think its police brutality when police officers do their job (in general) and when things get ugly.</p>

<p>btw mcgizzle, the tazer used wasn't the usual voltage. I heard it was a much reduced voltage. Usually when people get tazed with the full blast, they are down and out. This guy was able to walk out of the library. Again, not justifying just stating.</p>

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<p>Pretty much sums it up for me.</p>

<p>I find it hilarious a security breach would be of tantamount importance...in a library.</p>