Thread: Why did that guy get tased?

Uh.

We don't have a telepathic link to your brain stem (thankfully).

Did it ever occur to you to actually think about the people that read your stuff before you decide to spew words out? You know, how they might not know what you're on about

Originally Posted by Photolysis

We don't have a telepathic link to your brain stem (thankfully).

Did it ever occur to you to actually think about the people that read your stuff before you decide to spew words out? You know, how they might not know what you're on about

oh sorry, i was assuming everyone saw this before. It's pretty popular on the net.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE

The guy asked if he was a part of skull and bones society and then they just slay him. Who was he talking to?

Guess freedom of speech is out the window.

We don't have a telepathic link to your brain stem (thankfully).

omg, you made a funny

I've changed my mind since right after that happened. The police were ridiculous in telling the kid to stop talking, so the police screwed up there. When all he did was merely keep talking, the police (if they were right, which they weren't) needed to verbally tell him to stop a few more times. They got physical way too quickly. Then the kid resisted, at which point tasering is justifiable, but he should not have been put in that situation in the first place.

That clip cuts out a lot of what happened. These two videos show much more:





I counted, he was asked 5 times to get to his question, which he never really did. Even when he did have a sentence that ended in a question, he didn't stop to hear John Kerry's reply. That's why he was cut off, because he was just preaching, not asking a question.

A normal Q&A session is like this:



As you can see, the person doesn't go on ranting and preaching. They ask their question, listen to the reply and move on.

When they cut his mic off, they first just tried escorting him outside. They didn't have cuffs out and seemed to have no intentions of arresting him at that moment. However, then he resisted. He pushed the officers and resisted as much as he could. The officers had no better solution, it was either let him rant all day when people were there to listen to someone else, or they could use some other force to get him out. So what would've been better? Hitting him with a baton?

If you think that the officers overreacted, then you're just looking at as if he asked normal question and got tased, but that's not what happened. All he would've had to do is ask and listen, but he never did.

And if you still disagree, then consider that Andrew Meyer (the victim) himself has since agreed that he was out of line and that the officers were doing their job. He says that in this interview:



Yes, I've discussed this before :p

Wow. I guess patriots and truth-seekers are the new terrorists :p

What did he do? Ask too many damn questions...one of the campus police officers had a smile on his face. That's sick....

How much time was between the cops' first request for him to stop talking and when the cops got physical? I am at work and can't hear it.

I think if the guy hadn't spoken with the tone he did while asking the question, then the police wouldn't have asked him to stop. Had he said it in a calm way then I bet there would have been no problem and the question would have been answered and without tasering.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

How much time was between the cops' first request for him to stop talking and when the cops got physical? I am at work and can't hear it.

In the first video I linked, he starts his "question" at 0:10. The officers ask him to get to his question at 0:35, 0:42, 0:48, 1:18, and then finally cut his mic at 1:40. So from the first time they tell him to ask his question, it's about 65 seconds or 1:05 before they cut his mic and start to escort him away. After all the struggling and hassle, he is actually tased at 3:08.

Originally Posted by HaRd_WiReD

Wow. I guess patriots and truth-seekers are the new terrorists :p

What did he do? Ask too many damn questions...one of the campus police officers had a smile on his face. That's sick....

He just wasn't asking a question. It was a university forum for people to hear from John Kerry and he went up and started ranting. Throughout his speach, he never stops talking for more than a second. So he clearly wasn't interested asking a simple question which is what the senator was there for. If he wanted answers to his series of questions, then he should've spoken with Kerry in an interview or something, not a public forum.

Originally Posted by Vampyre

In the first video I linked, he starts his "question" at 0:10. The officers ask him to get to his question at 0:35, 0:42, 0:48, 1:18, and then finally cut his mic at 1:40. So from the first time they tell him to ask his question, it's about 65 seconds or 1:05 before they cut his mic and start to escort him away. After all the struggling and hassle, he is actually tased at 3:08.

So there was never a warning about getting physical. He kept disobeying their demand that he get to the question and then he got to it, at which point they got physical. I have sound now, and I watched the video again. It looks like he asked about Skull and Bones and immediately got physically handled. That is unnecessary force. The cops should have said for him to stop talking or else be escorted out, if he really needed to stop talking, which I don't think he did. That part is ridiculous too. Once he was grabbed, however, he shouldn't have resisted. I still think the guy is an asshole and an attention getter.

For what it's worth, they cut it immediately after he asked about Skull and Bones. The soundboard isn't right beside them, so they would've motioned to have him cut off a few seconds previous to that. Probably around the same time he mentioned Clinton being impeached for a blowjob.

Originally Posted by Vampyre

Probably around the same time he mentioned Clinton being impeached for a blowjob.

Your comment causes me to experience joy

Originally Posted by WakataDreamer

Your comment causes me to experience joy

lol that's cool

don't tase me bro :3

He was asking for it. I would have knocked him out just to shut him up.

Originally Posted by kingofclutch

I think if the guy hadn't spoken with the tone he did while asking the question, then the police wouldn't have asked him to stop. Had he said it in a calm way then I bet there would have been no problem and the question would have been answered and without tasering.

yea, your probally right.

That guy got pwned by that taser though. People were just sitting there watching like...wow..until he started screaming for help is when people started saying stop.

He did kind of shove them back when they were grabbing him, so I don't think he is entirely innocent. However arresting him his ridiculous. I don't know what happened, but what normally happens if after taking the person down the station they leave them there over night or whatever then release them without any charges.

As for it being a public forum. A forum implies discussion, not a lecture. So when you open the floor to questions, you put yourself at risk for people asking questions you may not like, and possibly even ranting.

This still went way too far IMO.

Don't tase him, bro!

Originally Posted by Alric

As for it being a public forum. A forum implies discussion, not a lecture. So when you open the floor to questions, you put yourself at risk for people asking questions you may not like, and possibly even ranting.

He said it himself that he broke the rules. I don't know specifically which ones, because I don't know what the rules of a forum usually are. Nonetheless, I imagine it was related to him ranting and never listening to anything Kerry says in response. I would assume this because the people there were interested in hearing from Kerry, not a random student's lecture.

And as for the police going too far... what would've been better? Talking to him got nowhere. Cutting his mic and escorting him caused him to get physical. They tried for a while to just pull him out, but with him resisting, he ended up on the ground and still resisting. At which point, what else should they have done, honestly? Should they have pulled out batons? Guns? Pepper spray?

I have a hard time seeing the police's actions as over-reactive, when Andrew was the one who started pushing, shoving, jumping, and yelling; not the police.

They should have escorted him from the building obviously. How bloody hard can it be, there were at least 5 cops there.

Quite clearly an extremely painful device intended for decapacitating dangerous individuals in extremely dangerous circumstances is not warranted here, and if you think otherwise you should be hanging your head in shame really, for having a very warped view of how a police force should be allowed to operate, and the reasons for that.

Originally Posted by Xei

They should have escorted him from the building obviously. How bloody hard can it be, there were at least 5 cops there.

Quite clearly an extremely painful device intended for decapacitating dangerous individuals in extremely dangerous circumstances is not warranted here, and if you think otherwise you should be hanging your head in shame really, for having a very warped view of how a police force should be allowed to operate, and the reasons for that.

They tried and he resisted too much. The video cuts around 2:13, so you don't see how he goes from being escorted out to on the floor. However, it's obvious that they weren't intending to subdue him further until they couldn't take him out, even in handcuffs.

EDIT: Actually, the second video I posted shows that he tried to break away from the police right by the door and they grabbed him, ending up on the floor.

Look at it from the police officers' point of view it kinda goes like this:

Phase 1: Guy is thanking Kerry before asking a question.

Phase 2: Guy is taking a little long to get to his question. Ask him to get to the point.

Phase 3: Guy is ranting, not getting to his questions, and clearly not listening to Kerry's replies. Cut his mic, let's just take him outside and have the forum continue normally.

Phase 4: Guy is resisting, violently, from being escorted outside. Continue to pull him out, arrest if necessary.

Phase 5: Guy is inciting a riot by calling out for help, encouraging people to fight the police. Get him out quickly by any means.

Phase 6: Guy is on ground, resisting arrest. He won't turn over. All he's doing is calling out for help and resisting more.

Phase 7: Guy is handcuffed and still resisting arrest. Use taser to subdue him.

Phase 8: Guy is subdued and we can now take him outside.


So I must ask: where did they go wrong, and what would have been the better alternative?

Originally Posted by Xei

They should have escorted him from the building obviously. How bloody hard can it be, there were at least 5 cops there.

Quite clearly an extremely painful device intended for decapacitating dangerous individuals in extremely dangerous circumstances is not warranted here, and if you think otherwise you should be hanging your head in shame really, for having a very warped view of how a police force should be allowed to operate, and the reasons for that.

I believe it was warranted. They did attempt to simply escort him at first, but he resisted heavily, kicking and swinging trying to get away. He continued to resist even when they told him they'd tase him.

It can in fact be difficult for even five people to subdue one. Do you know why police use tasers? Because they use the tool of pain to incapacitate the individual without causing any long-term effects. They do their job efficiently, the guy didn't resist at all after he was tased. If they hadn't tased him, he would have continued on to resist. What were they supposed to do? Hit him in the side of the head with their ASP batons?

Perhaps a misconception is that he was arrested for ranting and taking too long to ask his question, which isn't the case. He was escorted out of the forum for that. However, he started pushing, resisting, and calling out for help which is inciting a riot. That is why he was arrested.

If he had simply cooperated, they probably would've gone outside and they would've said something like "This is a public forum, not your time to preach. If you want to lecture people about your ideas, then hold your own forum." Then they'd probably just let him go. If they intended to arrest him from the start, they probably would've had cuffs out when they first started escorting him away. The cuffs didn't come out until he was on the floor though.