At work in the Yale Admissions Office today, I spoke with a prospective student about some of my favorite parts of college life. "Every week it seems there's another prominent figure or great mind speaking on campus," I said, recalling one week last year when I had a chance to hear Antonin Scalia and Howard Dean. What makes those events so special and such an integral part of a college education is that students have a chance to ask questions that matter to them, not some talking head conducting a television interview. I still remember seeing John Bolton engage in heated debate with a student who challenged Bolton's views on international law at a forum my first month on campus. So when I saw the video of a University of Florida student manhandled, tasered and arrested by police for asking Senator John Kerry a series of questions about the 2000 election, the footage hit close to home.
I watched in disgust as Andrew Meyer, 21, was dragged by police through the auditorium and tasered repeatedly after he pleaded, "Don't tase me!" while Kerry did nothing to intervene. Every time the taser's shock caused Meyer to shriek, I didn't just hear a defenseless young man screaming in pain, I saw a fellow student becoming the victim of police brutality and unconstitutional censorship. Sure, Meyer's rant was getting a little long-winded, but while his verbal diarrhea may have deserved the ire of the audience, it certainly did not justify the violent arrest that prompted one onlooker to shout, "This is Rodney King all over again." Obviously an overstatement, but the police's use of force was undoubtedly unwarranted.
The media has flocked to this story because of the shocking footage of campus police attacking one of the students they were hired to protect. But what alarms me and the classmates I spoke with on campus today is the crackdown on students' free speech rights. You can argue that the police tried to get Meyer off the mic simply because he was hogging the stage too long, but it's unlikely that they'd have arrested him if he were asking Kerry about the Gators rather than questioning his actions during the election. Watching the police silence Meyer was particularly worrisome after a summer in which the Supreme Court limited students' rights in the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case. As David Horowitz and Co. continue their campaign to restrict free exchange of ideas on campus, I can't help but fear for the future of students' rights to question authority and express dissenting opinions, exercises that are fundamental both to students discovering what values are important to them and to the vitality of our democracy.
When politicians address college students, they constantly return to the same theme: "Be an active member of your community, be politically engaged and speak up for what you believe." John Kerry's lecture at the University of Florida predictably delivered this message. What a shocking disgrace that when Andrew Meyers took Kerry's advice, he ended up getting electrocuted.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=657_1190085332
http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=157250
Viewing the video from Meyers' own camera, it's obvious that he basically puts the police on notice when they politely intervene the first time: "I'm calling the shots here." According to the police report, at the moment of intervention the officers had just been directed by the event sponsor's leadership to remove the student. Meyers' behavior escalated; the charitable reading is that he was out of control. The officers were completely calm as they restrained him on the ground after he wrested himself free in the back of the room. As for the number of officers in play, some folks seem to think these kinds of things are supposed to be "a fair fight." The point, however, is to bring the subject under control so that no one is hurt (subject or officers). The difficulty in controlling flailing limbs diminishes when you can have one person on each limb.
Folks, this was right out of the book -- a flawlessly executed performance of duties by calm officers.
Folks who talk about Meyers not "deserving" tasing are speaking like children. This is not about deserts. Tasing is about bringing a subject who's endangering himself/others under compliance. This is not about "punishment."
The campus police will be entirely vindicated. Why do I know this -- because I'm aware of a right-wing plot to exhonerate them? No. Because what they did was by the book.
The scariest part about this incident has been the ignorant, hysterical reaction to it. Another blogger on this site calls these police "absolute scum" and says "as far as I'm concerned, people watching this happen a few feet away would be justified in defending the victim from the officers with the use of any weapon available."
By the book police work versus that kind of remark on this web site? Yeah. Scary stuff.
Is it fascism yet?
Somebody else said it: What's happened to this country? We have become gutless thugs, eager for others to hurt others while we watch.
Bull manure. Also included in the general theme you mention is the encouragement for one to be a law-abiding citizen. You imply that a person has unfettered restrictions on how, when, where, and what they have a "right" to say. He was NOT "electrocuted," but that's certainly a nice, inflammatory term to justify how this poor student, who was twice the size of the officers trying to keep the forum running with a sense of decorum.
The officers were not interested in removing Mr. Meyers because of the questions he continued to hog the forum with, he was being approached for intentionally refusing to stay within the confines of the forum's time limits for questions.
Why should all the other students, who have a right to ask questions, have to be ignored or have their opportunity negated because some grand-stander thinks and acts like the rules do not apply to him? He acted more like the Republicans most people on this site are so quick to accuse of abusing the rules. Make up your minds, people, do the rules apply equally, or not? And, if they do, just how in the heck do you expect them to be enforced - by ignoring someone who is physically imposing and totally uncooperative?
The little drama queen learned a valuable lesson. When two officers take you by each arm, you STFU and allow yourself to be escorted away. Otherwise, you will be subdued. At that point, how you are subdued is up to you.
BTW, cops survived quite well in the past, thank you. They used billyclubs.
When the African-American officer picked-up Mr. Meyers and half-carried him toward the door, Mr. Meyers continued to resist. Then Mr. Meyers went to the floor, still struggling and intentionally ignoring the officer's attempts to get him to comply.
I doubt he was tasered - probably stun-gunned, and there is a big difference, but that's not the issue here. He obviously knew he was going to get the shock treatment, if he did not stop resisting because he kept hollering don't do it. So, the officers surely were telling him to stop resisting or they were going to shock him - he did not comply and he got shocked like the unruly bull-y he is.
Whoever the officer was that shocked him stopped when Mr. Meyers finally ceased resisting and complied by allowing the officers to put him on his stomach and cuff him. Just how would you have cuffed someone his size and disposition without using more risky physical force? Try it sometime, then ask your stupid question about how officers survived without tasers (or batons, or chemical irritants, or etc.).
The only question in my mind is whether on not Carl Rove orchestrated this psycho-drama.
Think about it. Who is hurt by this kid's actions?
Senator Kerry: he appears weak, vacillating, and anti-free speech.
The Democratic party: for nominating Kerry for the presidency.
The student protest movement(?): it appears unviable and populated by effete drama queens. This young man could not muster a string of cusswords (of course his audio would have been dropped), or throw a few "going down fighting" punches, or go limp in the classic Ghandian mode, or raise the "power to the people" fist, or yell out "What the eff about Freedom of Speech?". No, he kicked and squealed like a little school girl. "Don't touch me"
No I'm sorry, I smell a rat. And if you listen to the tape as well as watch it, there seems to be people in the background who sensed this kid was acting out.
Okay, I know I have it coming, go ahead, I'm ready for my verbal beatdown. Just "Don't taze me Bro!
Kerry did tell them to let the kid speak, he wanted to answer.
Apparently he kept on talking as the kid was being dragged out and had no idea about the taze.
Unfortunately I have to post this in several parts as I went over the allotted 350 words due to .... well, going on and on. As I tried to edit I only added more. I am still a big-mouth.LOL I have to post this in 2 parts .It seems to have turned into an essay, or a call to the young!)
It was unbelievable. As I watched it on the news last night I was deeply disturbed. The screams of that young man should be a rallying cry. His repeated cries "what did I do? what did I do?" should galvanize others to ask" What should I do? What can I do?
I am from the last protest generation, marches, Civil Rights, Vietnam, Watergate, Chicago 7, Dan Rather being manhandled, Kent State, but we just kept going, we just kept marching, shouting, protesting, using civil disobedience. No one can say we didn't pay dearly in some ways, or that we didn't suffer. I have despaired that the voices of the young are so far and few between, that the media focus more on Paris, Oj, Blake, and on and on more than they do on the war and on civil disobedience, protests, voices of everyday people asking questions, demanding justice.
On the 15th I had to really search for coverage of the Washington DC protests. It was minimal, a remark or two and move on to murder, to scandal. "Tens of thousands" doesn't seem to be enough to make a mark on the consciousness of our lawmakers and our media. There must be millions, or one. While millions of voices are more powerful than thousands, so is one voice more powerful than thousands. Look back at Gandhi, Rosa Parks, MLK and many more. One voice can make a difference if it is just and persistent and doesn't cave to power.
This young man showed courage to stand up and attempt to speak. He showed courage in not giving in, in pushing back, saying NO, i will speak even as the guards tried to remove him, even as members of the audience wanted him to go, even as some clapped while he was being dragged out. He showed courage even when he was crying "Owww, Owwww." He suffered for his rights. I hope he will not be dissuaded from continuing to do so.
I hope those who witnessed thison the news, YouTube or in person see it as an invitation to fight back. I hope you will see how easy it is for the constitution to go up in flames without vigilance and dissent. Peaceful participation is good and necessary... but when it gets to this point civil disobedience and peaceful resistance must be resorted to.
I don't know how to do that, I can't offer a strategy, actions to be taken. I can just see that something needs to be done and the young, with fire and energy still at their disposal must be the ones that take on the task with the support and participation of the elders.
When I look at the protests of today I see some young people, I see some middle aged people and the ones in between. I see those of my generation, not quite old, but a little past middle age now. We've done our job, we are willing to do more. We need you to step up, step in front and push back against this hell. Organize, mobilize, start a movement. Don't join our organizations, we'll join yours, we'll help you.
Ignore the nay sayers, or the cynical who laugh at the past and think nothing changed and nothing will. It all changed, and it is time to change it again. Each generation has a choice and a chance to look to see if the Democracy is still working. If it isn't, there is a responsibility to fix it.
Some may not like his manner of contributing, of standing up for equal participation but that young man did what Democracy demands. He attempted to question and speak truth to power. I hope he inspires you to all do so.
Then you should just be grateful that you were given the opportunity to lick the trooper's boot, rather than having your neck stepped on.
Just be glad while you lick the boot. There could always be something worse, right?
Whatever you do, don't stand up and speak up. If you do, you deserve the worst, because life is all about power and fear, not freedom. Do I understand you correctly?
An appropriate police response to jaywalking is not the cops using a shotgun on people.
If 6 cops can't physically carry some skinny 21-year old out without tasing him first, they need re-training, to take up a new line of work, or best, be fired & charged with assault.
And that's assuming the cops didn't taser him just for kicks (or to "teach the little sh*t a lesson for speaking up"). Like with Rev. Yearwood, cops dogpile on so no one can see what's really going on, and then they start shouting "stop resisting!," even if the person isn't, and later pretend that he "needed" to be assaulted, because he was "combative & resisting." It's all BS.
This stuff also has a chilling effect on lawful behavior. It is LAW that we all have a right to Free Speech. If people see other people getting tased for it, lawfully or not, though, they're going to be dissuaded.
Man, I am amazed. In the US we really do take our rights for granted. In so many countries on this Earth you DIE for saying things that annoy the governemt (or the cops, or some rich guy, etc.).
The police told Meyer to stop resisting, or they would tase him. He could have said, "OK, OK..." and stopped squirming, but he didn't. They administered the taser to his shoulder once.
He had MANY chances to leave peacefully. He chose conflict.
There are many example today of our right eroding. But the police removing an obnoxious jackass from a senator's speech is not one of them.
He was there to make a scene and become famous, and he has succeeded. I guarantee you, he's very happy he got tased.
I think there are useful parallels to the Lennox Yearwood situation: A guy protests that he's not being allowed to enter a public forum, and after he tries to get away from feeling surrounded--I have no doubt that it was instinct, that he was genuinely scared by what was going on--he's grabbed by multiple cops, who subsequently cause serious harm to his ankle and arrest him. (Felony assault on a cop, eh? Was the cop in question injured in any way? Doesn't "felony" at least imply injury or at least attempt to injure?)
(At least no one assaulted Larry Craig, who was also charged with an exceedingly dubious "disorderly conduct" violation. (Forgive me if this seems a little out of place, but think about it for a minute.)
WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON WITH THIS COUNTRY??
Was it "probable cause" for an arrest? It doesn't seem like it. Maybe a citation would be appropriate.
What about entrapment? Did the cop "flirt" with Larry Craig by tapping his own foot to indicate interest?
If it were a kid in the next stall and he was attempting to make physical contact under the bathroom stall, that would be "probable cause" for an arrest.