Taser Incident in UCLA Library Sparks Outrage, Investigation (1 Viewer)

[AsyLum]

In an incident caught on a cellphone camera and sparking outrage after a YouTube posting, an Iranian-American senior at the University of California, Los Angeles was stunned five times with a Taser after he refused to show ID in the library and then would not exit promptly. While campus police defended their tactics, the university announced it was investigating the incident and a lawyer for the student announced he would file a lawsuit charging police brutality and false arrest. According to the Daily Bruin, Mostafa Tabatabainejad was in the computer lab in Powell Library at 11:30 p.m. when an unarmed Community Service Officer asked him to produce ID. (Campus policy requires those in the library after 11 p.m. to be prepared to identify themselves, because the library is then limited to students, staff, and faculty, but it's unclear why the student was chosen.) He did not produce it—apparently he thought he was being racially profiled. He went limp rather than leaving promptly, after which the officers used the Taser. Tabatabainejadwas surrounded by students urging police to stop their tactics.

His lawyer told the Los Angeles Times that, though Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library, he went limp after an officer refused his request to take his hand off him, since he considered it a case of racial profiling. “Here's your Patriot Act. Here's your fucking abuse of power," the student yelled during the incident with the police. “Stop fighting us,” police responded. “I’m not fighting you,” he responded.

According to the Times, police said they used the Taser only after Tabatabainejad urged other library patrons to resist the police; however, some witnesses said that he was already cooperating. A witness told the Daily Bruin that police used the Taser even when Tabatabainejad was already handcuffed, while police responded that they didn’t know if he was armed or a student. Tasers send an electrical shock to immobilize people, but can be deadly; they’re linked to some 150 deaths in the United States and Canada in seven years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. It’s not clear whether the use of the Taser prevented Tabatabainejad from complying with the command to “stand up.”

Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that he asked “the investigation into the actions of all involved move at the quickest pace possible without sacrificing fairness. I am committed to our country's system of due process—which counsels us not to rush to judgment. It would be best if everyone, within and without the university, would withhold judgment pending review of the matter. I, too, have watched the videos, and I do not believe that one can make a fair judgment regarding the matter from the videos alone. I am encouraged that a number of witnesses have come forward and are participating in the investigation.”

UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.

No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.

At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.

The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.

It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.

UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.

Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your fucking abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.

As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said "stop fighting us." The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.

"It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life," said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.

As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.

Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.

Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.

"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said. "It was unnecessary what they did."

Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.

Scary thought that you could be tasered up to four times for refusing to leave a library?

Youtube video

 

[wheredanton]

He should have done what they said instead of ranting about the PATRIOT Act. I'm sure most people would have shown their ID without causing a giant fuss. Being asked to identify yourself isn't a large infringement of your rights especially if you are told you will be checked after 11pm.

As for racial profiling by police officers? Get used to it in post 9/11 USA. In this instance there is nothing to confirm that he was the subject of racial profiling or whether he was simply subject of a random identification. Acting like someone just murdered your first born when asked to identify yourself is more likely to cause officers to think you are dangerous. Pretty much if you act like a nut case (especially if you fit the traditional look of a terrorist ie Arab) especially in post 9/11 USA, you are going to get some close attention by law enforcement offices.

 

[Aryanbeauty]

They should use those tasers at Melbourne hippy rioters.

 

[AsyLum]

He should have done what they said instead of ranting about the PATRIOT Act. I'm sure most people would have shown their ID without causing a giant fuss. Being asked to identify yourself isn't a large infringement of your rights especially if you are told you will be checked after 11pm.

As for racial profiling by police officers? Get used to it in post 9/11 USA. In this instance there is nothing to confirm that he was the subject of racial profiling or whether he was simply subject of a random identification. Acting like someone just murdered your first born when asked to identify yourself is more likely to cause officers to think you are dangerous. Pretty much if you act like a nut case (especially if you fit the traditional look of a terrorist ie Arab) especially in post 9/11 USA, you are going to get some close attention by law enforcement offices.

From what I gathered, he didn't have any ID on him, but was a student.

There was an unarmed security guard who asked him, exclusively in the whole library. He refused to give it, guard left. Guard came back with armed guards, and they asked him to come with them. He started to get up and out, and then they grabbed his arm, thats when the scuffle ensued.

It seems rather, excessive to be tasering someone when they are walking out which was what the original guard had probably asked him when he didn't show his ID. And up to 5 times? Do you really think that its warranted or justified?

 

[the leader]

Whatever happened to libraries being places of quiet? The guards could've at least tasered him outside, so as not to disrupt the patrons (who go to libraries at 11:30pm...). I wanna know if this happens EVERYTIME a student fails to produce an ID.

Now really, who would terrorise a library at 11:30pm anyway?

 

[ur_inner_child]

Footage of the incident

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2661951

It does not show the lead up of the incident, but shows the student handcuffed and police demanding him to stand up. He gets tasered. It is said that he was tasered 4 times. You may have to wait, this video contains an ad in the beginning.

And article:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2662158&page=1

Cops Taser UCLA Student

Nov. 17, 2006 — There is painful six-minute video that has suddenly spread all over the world via YouTube and "click here to watch" buttons on campus newspaper and TV station Web sites and on countless blogs.

It shows part of what happened in front of students who had been studying in the UCLA library when an Iranian-American student reportedly did not show any ID to campus police.

The excruciating video clip makes you want to shut your eyes as you hear sounds that echo those heard during the enflamed 1968 Vietnam-era demonstrations: Enraged students screaming at police; police yelling back and using strong force trying to get students under control.

"Here's your Patriot Act! … your … abuse of power!" shouts a student, using profanity after screaming out in anguished pain from the electric jolts of a police Taser.

"Stand up or you'll get Tasered again!" the police shout back.

"I said I would leave," the student moans loudly, as appalled fellow students crowd in, some demanding the badge numbers of the police.

It's not clear from the video whether the student is unable to stand up because of the initial Taser shock — a nerve-stunning jolt that can immobilize muscles for a several seconds.

One difference from the anti-war demonstrations that reached a peak in 1968 — this time the demonstrations are recorded by cell phone cameras and mini digital video cameras and then disseminated on the Internet:

Lawsuit Alleges 'Brutal Excessive Force' and Profiling

"We are joining a group of students today to demand an independent investigation of this incident," Hussam Aylush, who heads the Southern California office of the Council on American Islamic Relations, told ABC News.

Aylush told us his office has received "lot of e-mails and phone calls from students and parents, expressing a lot of anxiety and concern about what happened."

"Parents and the community have the right to expect that their children are going to be safe when they are on campus," he added.

Civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman hired by the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, says he will file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the UCLA police, accusing them of "brutal excessive force" and of singling him out because of his Middle Eastern appearance.

What actually happened at the library?

"I think we need to focus on the actions of the person, not just what you're hearing on the tape as far as the words," University of California Police Department Assistant Chief Jeff Young told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV.

"He had refused to identify himself; he had refused to leave the library, and he also — when he was escorted by the officers at first — he went limp, which is a form of resistance," Young said.

Some students saw it differently.

"Tabatabainejad was also stunned with the Taser when he was already handcuffed," complained third-year student Carlos Zaragoza to UCLA's campus paper, the Daily Bruin.

"You could just forcefully ask them to leave without having to Taser them… and dehumanizing them that way," student Virginia Myers told the ABC News affiliate.

"I think the UCPD went way too far," she added.

But if the Internet means such explosive video spreads instantly everywhere, it also means debate about it can follow right behind:

"In my opinion, he was asking for it," writes UCLA student columnist David Lazar, who concludes that when the student refused to present ID "during a routine check… it created an uproar, the fallout of which has graced airwaves and prompted headlines internationally."

"Whether or not the police used excessive force, there is no doubt that the student showed a blatant disregard of UCLA's regulations and police authority," he writes in UCLA's Daily Bruin, which like many college papers these days, is available to the world online.

Tasers Also Increasingly Controversial

Tasers didn't exist in 1968 — police used batons, which Young told reporters are more forceful than Tasers.

"It's an electrical shock… it causes pain," Young said, explaining that the officers used the "drive stun" setting, which delivers a shock to a specific part of the body.

UCLA's student journalists quickly produced quotes from Southern California ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg.

"It's a real mistake to treat a Taser as some benign thing that painlessly brings people under control," the ACLU attorney said. "The Taser can be incredibly violent and result in death."

Tasers are increasingly controversial — a powerful means of control for police that is apparently sometimes too powerful.

While it is often referred to as a "non-lethal" weapon, the Arizona Republic newspaper in Phoenix reported a study that found that since 1999, 84 people in the United States and Canada have died after being shocked by a Taser.

Manufacturers Promote Tasers at UCLA

Four of UCLA's nearly 60 full-time police officers recently won "Taser Awards," given by the manufacturers of the electronic shock device to "law enforcement officers who save a life in the line of duty through extraordinary use of the Taser," according to the Los Angeles Times.

"University police are investigating…" says a statement released by UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams. "Investigators are reviewing the incident and the officers' actions. The investigation and review will be thorough and fair."

"I realize… these kind of arrest tapes don't always show the full picture," anthropology student Ali Ghandour told the campus newspaper. "But… it's a ridiculous amount of force for someone being escorted because they forgot their BruinCard."

 

[turtleface]

Wow this is disturbing. Just watched the You tube footage. The screaming is scary, especially at the 4:30-5:00 - ish mark.

Shit.

I can appreciate that cops have a difficult job, but to taser someone who has been handcuffed...shit. This smells of totalitarianism, Big Brother/1984. A more high tech method of beating someone into submission. The guy refuses/is unable to (due to being tasered) to stand up and he is essentially tortured.

They should use those tasers at Melbourne hippy rioters.

I would have laughed at this, but those tasers are pretty mean stuff. I've never heard people screaming in pain like that.

 

[banco55]

There's quite a few taser videos on youtube with american cops going nuts with them. I think in some cases where 5 years ago before they had the taser the cops would rely on verbal persuasion now they rely on the taser.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I watched the video, really didn't think it was as bad as some people here are making out. Definately was excessive force but the guy was being a prick and I doubt it's going to leave some sort of long-lasting damage.

 

[KFunk]

From what I understand, tasers and stun guns cause rapid depolarization of muscle cells, using up sugar reserves, leading to build up of lactic acid and hence muscle fatigue. I have major doubts as to how resonable it is to expect a person to 'get up' after their muscles have been depleted of energy reserves and put into a cramp-like state. If anything, tasering the student would have made it more difficult for the student to stand up, making their actions both counterproductive and cruel. On top of that the dude was tasered while handcuffed, an action which was totally unnecessary... all it did was allow the cops to exercise power over the student. Also, a point which came up the other day during a discussion: the taser use was totally disproportionate to the offence. A dude forgets his library card, goes limp to 'resist arrest' and yells some expletives ---justifies???---> multiple rounds of intense pain. There needs to be more regulations limiting how tasers/stun-guns can be used by police officers if they're going to use them in this kind of situation.

 

[mr_brightside]

Fucking hell! That's not right. Its a COLLEGE FUCKING LIBRARY...

By the looks of it he couldn't stand because of the tasering.

 

[wheredanton]

I watched the video, really didn't think it was as bad as some people here are making out. Definately was excessive force but the guy was being a prick and I doubt it's going to leave some sort of long-lasting damage.

Yep...

 

[SiZmOs]

Any use of any weapon should be a last case scenario - if all else fails. Having said that, why were the tasers even used in this incident? I'm sure that if they wanted to get him out of the library, they could have done so without the use of violence and weapons.

 

[Comrade nathan]

He should have done what they said instead of ranting about the PATRIOT Act. I'm sure most people would have shown their ID without causing a giant fuss

Most people don't get asked to show ID. That was the whole point of ranting about the Patriot ACT.

Here is more from the Daily Brunn, with comments from his lawyer.

Mostafa Tabatabainejad, who was stunned several times with a Taser in Powell Library Tuesday, plans to file a lawsuit against university police alleging "brutal excessive force" and false arrest, his lawyer said Friday.

Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year Middle Eastern and North African studies and philosophy student, was hit with a Taser after failing to present identification and after he did not leave the premises promptly after being asked to do so, according to police and eye-witness reports.

Stephen Yagman, the civil rights attorney Tabatabainejad has hired to handle his case, said Tabatabainejad was stunned five times with the Taser before being handcuffed and taken into custody.

Yagman said Tabatabainejad was asked to show his BruinCard, and did not do so because, as an U.S.-born student of Iranian descent, he believed he was being singled out in an incident of racial profiling. Yagman said that to his knowledge his client was the only person who was asked to show ID.

The university has said the check was routine and such procedures include a check of everyone present.

The 23-year-old student had begun to leave the room at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when he was approached by the police, Yagman said.

"Our client (was) ... already on his way out," the attorney said.

As Tabatabainejad was leaving the room, he was approached by two officers, one of whom grabbed the student"s arm. When officers did not let go of his arm, Tabatabainejad fell limp to the floor, Yagman said.

According to a UCPD press release, at this point Tabatabainejad was found to be uncooperative and resisting the officers who then deemed it necessary to use the Taser in a "drive stun" capacity.

Yagman said the case was an incident of police brutality, which he described as "the use of great force against somebody who posed no threat."

Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams released a second statement Friday morning, but the university has not yet commented on the lawsuit, as it has not yet been filed. Neither the administration nor UCPD have commented further on the specifics of the incident.

"Since the incident, I have been in close contact with the chief of police and have asked that the investigation into the actions of all involved move at the quickest pace possible without sacrificing fairness," Abrams said in the statement.

But Abrams also warned against jumping to any conclusions about the incident.

"I too have watched the videos and I do not believe that one can make a fair judgment regarding the matter from the videos alone," he said.

About 400 students rallied on campus today at noon, and then marched to the UCPD station.

When they reached the station, UCPD officers closed down the station, locking the doors, turning off the lights, and dressing in riot gear.

Berky Nelson, director of the Center for Student Programming, announced at 1:40 p.m. that three students had met with UCPD officers and issued demands regarding the investigation of the incident. The students" requests included student input in the investigation process and the temporary suspension of the police officers involved in the incident.

Nelson said the UCPD was going to meet with the chancellor to discuss the students" requests.

Yagman said lawsuits of this nature typically take a few years, but he said he believes the case will be successful in Tabatabainejad"s favor.

"My expectation is that the brutal officers will be brought to justice," he said.

http://dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39009

Here is a sumamary of the UCPD policy on taser guns.

UCPD policy on Tasering
The UCPD's policy on Tasering calls Tasers a "less lethal device," and says that "Although not absolutely prohibited, officers should give additional consideration to the unique circumstances involved prior to applying the Taser to...Individuals who are handcuffed or otherwise restrained." According to the policy, besides dangerous animals, it is acceptable to use Tasers on violent or potentially violent, physically resisting or potentially physically resistive individuals. The "Drive Stun" capacity is appropriate "to eliminate physical resistance from an arrestee in accomplishing an arrest or physical search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Tabatabainejad

http://dailybruin.com/documents/2006/11/17/taserpolicy.pdf

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Most people don't get asked to show ID. That was the whole point of ranting about the Patriot ACT.

So if you were asked to show ID at your university when you were in the library at 11:00pm, you'd consider this an outrage and start screaming like he did? Maybe he was unfairly targetted, but it still doesn't justify the reaction which he did give - Nor did that reaction warrent the actions of the police officers.

One interesting thing to note was:

Stephen Yagman, the civil rights attorney Tabatabainejad has hired to handle his case, said Tabatabainejad was stunned five times with the Taser before being handcuffed and taken into custody.

If this is true then this makes what the police did less extreme. One of the biggest problems I had was that it was claimed he was already handcuffed when he was stunned.

 

[AsyLum]

I watched the video, really didn't think it was as bad as some people here are making out. Definately was excessive force but the guy was being a prick and I doubt it's going to leave some sort of long-lasting damage.

Yep...

If being a prick is a crime, and warrants a tasering, you'd need a hell of a lot more police and taser guns.

 

[SiZmOs]

So if you were asked to show ID at your university when you were in the library at 11:00pm, you'd consider this an outrage and start screaming like he did? Maybe he was unfairly targetted, but it still doesn't justify the reaction which he did give.

maybe if he had been unfairly targeted in the past this was just the boiling point. That and look how many other people there were in the library at the same time. Wouldn't it piss you off a bit as well?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

If being a prick is a crime, and warrants a tasering, you'd need a hell of a lot more police and taser guns.

I watched the video, really didn't think it was as bad as some people here are making out. Definately was excessive force but the guy was being a prick and I doubt it's going to leave some sort of long-lasting damage.

Sorry I probably wasn't as clear as I could have been with my words. My only point was that the incident isn't as terrible as others have made it out to be, not that it wasn't a terrible incident.

maybe if he had been unfairly targeted in the past this was just the boiling point.

Well that's just speculation.

That and look how many other people there were in the library at the same time.

• No evidence has come out so far that other people were not asked for their ID.
• You have to start with someone.
• As I said before, even if you were unfairly targetted that doesn't warrent getting as pissed as he did. When people start yelling & screaming tensions are raised and the situation escalates.
• While there's no evidence currently of whether police do routinely scrutinise students in the library, there is evidence that by policy they should be doing such.

Wouldn't it piss you off a bit as well?

Not really.

 

[turtleface]

^
from the commentary and video it seems like he didn't start to kick up a fuss until after he got tasered, (as you would when you get a charge through your body.)

I think he raised fair points with his Patriot Act reference, even if he probably was a bit disorientated after being tasered.

In my opinion his bitching was justified, though possibly not wise. I think he was also scared of what would happen to him if he got dragged off. With the culture of torture and secret camps they are accustomed to over in the states, you do sympathise with him.

He was obviously in a traumatic ordeal, hence why one would behave so irrationally by shouting all those profanities at police

 

[Not-That-Bright]

from the commentary and video it seems like he didn't start to kick up a fuss until after he got tasered, (as you would when you get a charge through your body.)

Nope... from everything I could see he was yelling before he got tazered. Unless with the first tazer hit he didn't scream?