patriots
An incident late Tuesday night in which a UCLA student was stunned at least four times with a Taser has left the UCLA community questioning whether the university police officers' use of force was an appropriate response to the situation.
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a UCLA student, was repeatedly stunned with a Taser and then taken into custody when he did not exit the CLICC Lab in Powell Library in a timely manner. Community Service Officers had asked Tabatabainejad to leave after he failed to produce his BruinCard during a random check at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in the library after 11 p.m.
"Because of the safety of the students we limit the use after 11 to just students, staff and faculty," Young said.
Young said the CSOs on duty in the library at the time went to get UCPD officers when Tabatabainejad did not immediately leave, and UCPD officers resorted to use of the Taser when Tabatabainejad did not do as he was told.
A six-minute video showed Tabatabainejad audibly screaming in pain as he was stunned several times with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds. He was told repeatedly to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would "get Tased again."
Tabatabainejad was also stunned with the Taser when he was already handcuffed, said Carlos Zaragoza, a third-year English and history student who witnessed the incident.
"(He was) no possible danger to any of the police," Zaragoza said. "(He was) getting shocked and Tasered as he was handcuffed."
But Young said at the time the police likely had no way of knowing whether the individual was armed or that he was a student.
As Tabatabainejad was being dragged through the room by two officers, he repeated in a strained scream, "I'm not fighting you" and "I said I would leave."
The officers used the "drive stun" setting in the Taser, which delivers a shock to a specific part of the body with the front of the Taser, Young said.
A Taser delivers volts of low-amperage energy to the body, causing a disruption of the body's electrical energy pulses and locking the muscles, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"It's an electrical shock. ... It causes pain," Young said, adding that the drive stun would not likely demobilize a person or cause residual pain after the shock was administered. Young also said a Taser is less forceful than a baton, for example.
But others warned against underestimating the effects of a Taser.
"It is a real mistake to treat a Taser as some benign thing that painlessly brings people under control," said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney at the ACLU of Southern California.
"The Taser can be incredibly violent and result in death," Eliasberg said.
According to an ACLU report, 148 people in the United States and Canada have died as a result of the use of Tasers since 1999.
During the altercation between Tabatabainejad and the officers, bystanders can be heard in the video repeatedly asking the officers to stop and requesting their names and identification numbers. The video showed one officer responding to a student by threatening that the student would "get Tased too." At this point, the officer was still holding a Taser.
Such a threat of the use of force by a law enforcement officer in response to a request for a badge number is an "illegal assault," Eliasberg said.
"It is absolutely illegal to threaten anyone who asks for a badge â€" that's assault," he said.
Tabatabainejad was released from custody after being given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty.
Neither Tabatabainejad nor his family were giving interviews Wednesday.
Police officers said they determined the use of Tasers was necessary when Tabatabainejad did not do as they asked.
According to a UCPD press release, Tabatabainejad went limp and refused to exit as the officers attempted to escort him out. The release also stated Tabatabainejad "encouraged library patrons to join his resistance." At this point, the officers "deemed it necessary to use the Taser in a "drive stun' capacity."
"He wasn't cooperative; he wouldn't identify himself. He resisted the officers," Young said.
Neither the video footage nor eyewitness accounts of the events confirmed that Tabatabainejad encouraged resistance, and he repeatedly told the officers he was not fighting and would leave.
Tabatabainejad was walking with his backpack toward the door when he was approached by two UCPD officers, one of whom grabbed the student's arm. In response, Tabatabainejad yelled at the officers to "get off me." Following this demand, Tabatabainejad was stunned with a Taser.
UCPD and the UCLA administration would not comment on the specifics of the incident as it is still under investigation.
In a statement released Wednesday, Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said investigators were reviewing the situation and the officers' actions.
"I can assure you that these reviews will be thorough, vigorous and fair," Abrams said.
The incident, which Zaragoza described as an example of "police brutality," left many students disturbed.
"I realize when looking at these kind of arrest tapes that they don't always show the full picture. ... But that six minutes that we can watch just seems like it's a ridiculous amount of force for someone being escorted because they forgot their BruinCard," said Ali Ghandour, a fourth-year anthropology student.
"It certainly makes you wonder. If something as small as forgetting your BruinCard can eventually lead to getting Tased several times in front of the library, then maybe we should all be a bit more worried about getting Tased," he added when asked if the incident made him more concerned about his personal safety.
Edouard Tchertchian, a third-year mathematics student, said he was concerned that the student was not offered any other means of showing that he was a UCLA student.
Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.
And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?
Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?
No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off.
Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.
All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.
The next dickwad who says, "It’s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.
Let’s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that’s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part.
But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes.
Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.
And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.
wtf canada and norway
Norway and Canada have a new kind of tourism. Killing baby seals. They call it a "sport"..
You want to call this a sport ?
Is he a sportsman?
Why?
You're our only hope !!!
This barbarism shouldnt be possible in our society..
Dont turn your back on us, we are defenseless
I know these images seem painful for you, but we feel the pain. We are being slaughtered and its going on RIGHT NOW...
What gives him the right to kill us? Who is he to decide about life and death?
What kind of sport is this? I didnt harm anyone. I was just swimming around..
Please help me and my friends...
You cant just ignore these images.. Keeping silent and doing nothing makes you guilty...
Please help us
Please dont leave us alone...
STOP THE KILLING OF SEALS
You can make a statement by
reposting this to get as many people as you can
to repost this.
Bring these murderers to the attention
of world leaders.
Thank you!!!!
You are not that cute.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
Dear squirrel,
I feel bad about the last letter I wrote to you. You probably felt a little blind sided by it, and I feel like I should take a moment to explain to you what prompted the letter. This morning, I was looking outside my window and I saw you with a nut in your two little hands, just kind of nibbling it and turning it over and over while standing on your back legs, and I thought to myself, "I bet that squirrel thinks he (she?) looks really cute. Well I don't."
I was definitely annoyed, and I think I let my anger get the best of me, and so before I had time to really think my actions through, I had written you that letter and sent it off. Now I feel bad and just wanted to explain my actions. Hence, this letter.
So, I'm sorry. In the future, I will try to be a little less hasty in my actions.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
Dear squirrel,
Hi. Me again. Sorry to bother you AGAIN, but I felt the need to clarify something. In my last letter to you, I explained why I wrote my original letter to you, and in doing so I think I may have left you with the impression that, in fact, I DO think you're that cute. I do not. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I do not think you're that cute.
My original error was in writing to you at all, not in my opinion about your cuteness, or lack thereof. My second letter was just to explain WHY I wrote the letter, and to apologize for sending it without thinking my actions through. Then, as I said, this letter is to correct any potential misunderstandings about whether or not I think you are that cute.
Again: I do not.
In fact, I think you look cheap.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
Dear Squirrel,
Now I've gone overboard and I know it. I mean, if my original letter caught you off guard, I can only imagine how this last letter hit you - probably like a ton of bricks. (Although because you are a squirrel, I should probably adjust that expression to something like "It hit you like a single brick," because the impact of a single brick hitting you would probably be the rough equivalent of a ton of bricks hitting me.)
Once again, I acted rashly, and I am apologize. How can a squirrel look cheap, anyway? Ha ha.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
Dear Squirrel,
In my previous letter to you, I asked the rhetorical question, "How can a squirrel look cheap?" Well, I thought about it, and I came up with an answer. If the squirrel were wearing too much make-up. Admittedly most squirrels do not wear ANY make-up, but it seemed to me that if a squirrel did, the make-up could POTENTIALLY make that squirrel look cheap.
You clearly do not wear make-up, and I probably should not have said you look cheap, even though you do. And easy.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
Dear Squirrel,
I know you are probably sick to death of finding these letters at the base of your tree, and I promise this will be my last letter to you. The truth is, I felt bad about calling you "easy." The truth is, I've never ever seen you with another squirrel, so that judgement is based on nothing more than a general vibe I get from you. And the vibe is this: you look cheap and easy. If I'm wrong about that, I apologize. But I don't think I am.
I really don't think I am.
Sincerely,
Michael Ian Black
P.S. And you're not that cute.
