Tuesday, November 21, 2006

UCLA Student Tasered for Refusing to Leave Library

Ah, America. Land of the free, home of the brave. Where students get tased FIVE TIMES because they plant bombs in... oh wait, no... because they were violent-- no... no, that wasn't it either.

Oh RIGHT... This UCLA student got tased five times by campus police because he wouldn't leave the library! GOD FORBID he learn something he's not supposed to!! Except, he was actually on his way out of the library, according to this UCLA newspaper article:

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.

Did it stop there? No no. They proceeded to tase him four more times. All the while commanding him to "stand up." Now, excuse me for noticing this small problem, but how is someone supposed to STAND UP if you are REPEATEDLY TASING THEM?! Fucking idiot rent-a-cops.

Oh, and did I mention that the student is Iranian? Coincidence? I don't think so.

And how do I know what the cops were saying? Because someone, thankfully, got the whole thing on video:



An article in the LA Times noted that the officer had a history of fucked up behavior:

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.

Obviously a standup, shinning example of a campus police officer. And obviously very effective in his, um, despensing of justice.

This guy should be fucking tased over and over again to see how he likes it. Asshole.

-e

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