http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered.ap/index.html
Also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw
Freedom of Speech does not exist anymore!
I’ve seen a lot of videos similar to that lately, its terrible. Heres an interesting and relevant link to an article: http://onemansblog.com/2007/09/17/the-tasering-will-continue-until-you-all-submit/
Please tell me this is not a new realisation on your part?
That was really handled poorly on the part of the police and those organizing the forum. Rambling questions are nothing new at such forums. City councils deal with it all the time. Anyone running a forum like that nowadays should know how to handle the situation.
The whole reaction by the police is very troubling.
The videos I have seen so far don’t bother to show the entire rambling question so it is not clear how the situation was handled prior to the police stepping in. Seems things were generally in control though even if he was speaking over some vague time limit. Then the police step in…
Doesn’t give you much respect for the police when they abuse authority like that and come off looking like complete assholes.
i wish somebody could have punched the cops ion the face. that was my reaction as i saw the video. Im angry now, stupid grrrrr 
idk what to say besides that is so dumb.
I would agree with John.
Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum after election question
18 September 2007
Associated Press Newswires
© 2007. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested after he angrily and repeatedly tried to ask U.S. Sen. John Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum. He was released from jail Tuesday.
Videos of Monday’s incident posted on several Web sites show officers pulling Andrew Meyer, 21, away from the microphone after he asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.
“He apparently asked several questions – he went on for quite awhile – then he was asked to stop,” university spokesman Steve Orlando said. “He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off, then he became upset.”
Just after asking about Skull and Bones, Meyer said “thank you” again and was taken by police. As two officers grab his arms, Kerry is heard to say, “That’s all right, let me answer his question.” Audience members applaud, and Meyer struggles to escape for several seconds as up to four officers try to remove him from the room.
Meyer screams for help and asks “What did I do?” as he tries to break away from officers. He is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting. Meyer says he will walk out if the officers let him go.
As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student’s “very important question,” Meyer struggles on the ground and yells at the officers to release him, crying out, “Don’t Tase me, bro,” just before he is Tasered. He is then led from the room, screaming, “What did I do?”
Meyer was released on his own recognizance after a court hearing Tuesday. He was represented by Robert Griscti, a private attorney who did not return an e-mail and phone message seeking comment.
Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a third-degree felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a second-degree misdemeanor. The State Attorney’s Office will make the formal charging decision.
Orlando said university police would conduct an internal investigation.
“The police department does have a standard procedure for when they use force, including when they use a Taser,” Orlando said. “That is what the internal investigation would address – whether the proper procedures were followed, whether the officers acted appropriately.”
Meyer has his own Web site and it contains several “comedy” videos that he appears in. In one, he stands in a street with a sign that says “Harry Dies” after the latest Harry Potter book was released. In another, he acts like a drunk while trying to pick up a woman in a bar.
The problem is, the same thing is going to happen to anyone who does take a stand. There were six cops there all armed with tasers and guns and probably lots of other painful toys, so had anyone stood up for Andrew, or “punched the cops in the face” the same thing would have happened to them.
Unless EVERYONE in the room all felt the same way and tried taking on the pigs, nothing can be done, and the police will not be prosecuted for their actions.
In the second video the cops say that they arrested him for “inciting a riot”, but it doesn’t appear that he did anything to incite a riot, actually the police officers themselves were the ones who started all the action. I think they (the cops) disliked the question and didn’t want it asked, or answered. But that just might be the biased government-fearing side of me coming out.
I want to know if Kerry ever answered the question, and what the answer was.45
No, I’ve just been trying to deny that truth subconsciously, it’s getting harder to do unfortunately.
Does anyone know what his website is?
I just looked for it but couldn’t find it.
The problem is that police are not the right people to be acting as ushers at a forum like that. Getting police involved is like jumping straight to nuclear weapons, the situation instantly escalates.
Why does the police department allow their officers to be in that kind of situation where they are acting as ushers? That is not the role for a police officer – obviously, since we have seen the results. The chief of police shouldn’t allow the officers to even be put in that situation.
We already know what’s going to happen when police are asked to act as ushers or an intermediary. We’ve seen it before.
The chief of police should insist that there be properly trained ushers at forums like that. The ushers act as an intermediary. The chief should insist that police are not used where an usher would be more appropriate.
The other side of the story
From what I’ve seen of the video, the man was fighting off the police. Why is it whenever the police use any sort force it is automatically the police’s fault? Why didn’t the man step away from the podium when he was asked? Why is it when someone decides he doesn’t want to follow the rules set up and the authorities try to hold someone to those rules it is not the persons fault that didn’t follow the rules, but the police’s. If the man had said his peace and stepped away from the podium there wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.
Those “Police” were ill trained. And not in the use of a taser, but in the use of control. There’s no way a skinny kid like that should have been able to put up such a fight. And if you’re going to send in cops for security and control, don’t send in a couple of 5’4" 130 pounders and a fat guy. Call them campus police, but they looked like they were trained to be mall security.
Free speech is alive and well. But free speech does not give you the right to be disruptive in a room full of people. The forum had defined rules and he violated them. It’s funny to me that people think that the 1st amendment gives them the right to be assholes anytime and anywhere they please.
Because the man was not doing anything wrong. It was a time for an influential politician to answer questions of the public, the public had a question, the police did not like the question so they used unnecessary force to curb his freedom of speech. He did not decide he didn’t want to follow the rules, there is no rule against asking an extremely controversial question. Andrew was trying to say his piece, but his mic was cut so he was not allowed to finish the question. If he had just been allowed to go back to his seat pissed off and let Kerry answer as much of the question as he had heard, and the police had not touched him, everything would have been fine (aside from Andrew being pissed off). But the cops assumed it was their job to usher him out of the room, even though he was clearly no threat whatsoever.
There was no need for police to be there in the first place. Andrew was not inciting a riot as they claimed, he only wanted his question answered. The cops were the ones being unruly. If there weren’t any cops there in the first place, this thing would not have happened. It was the cops’ fault.
In what way do you believe he was being disruptive before the cops came? He only asked his question, was cut off and the police tried to get him to leave. He didn’t want to leave and had no reason to anyway, so he fought to stay.
Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. Judging by the video (which may actually not provide enough information), Andrew was not given a chance to sit down, the police instantly pulled him away from the mic and were dragging him out of the room.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the police or any authority figures are going to see anything wrong with what happened, and are probably going to use this case as another example of how police are necessary in situations like these.
If you’re going to fill an auditorium full of college kids and have a political discussion and NOT have cops on hand, you’re insane.
The video posted here doesn’t start until after security is involved. The other video I saw, the cops were just standing there until he started getting belligerent and from what I understand, exceeded the time limit each speaker was allowed. His microphone has already been turned off.
I would also not be surprised if this student minors in drama as he seemed all too prepared to make as big a spectacle as possible.
Here is most, if not all, of the question: NBC 6 South Florida – NBC 6 South Florida | NBC 6 South Florida – Local News, Weather, Traffic, Entertainment, Events, Breaking News
Hammer lock anyone? I thought that was SOP for police.
The way that student was wailing, it looked like he coulda been taken down with a kick to the shins from a 6 yr. old girl. Those “police” couldn’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag, from the looks of that video.
You’re making a number HUGE assumptions there, James. Can you rationalize this for us?
Why do you think any US Senator would make a public appearance without security? Police, Secret Service, FBI, there needs to be some sort of security present. Unfortunately, the Keystone Cops were called in on this one…
That kid comes off as a complete lunatic. It’s questionable if he’s the violent type, but considering there’s a famous politician present, I doubt the cops were waiting to see if this kid would charge the stage before removing him from the forum. I’d be suspect of anyone rambling with that fervor.
How many times have you been at a forum like that and a violent fight has broken out? I’m not saying it’s never happened but saying it’s always necessary is just silly. Police have been needed at least once everywhere, that doesn’t mean there should be a police officer within shouting distance everywhere in the country, especially when they are going to abuse power.
Click the cnn.com link, it has a video including part of or all of his question. He wasn’t being violent until the cops started being violent.
Fair enough, what I said may not be true. I was just guessing as to one reason they would have acted. I saw no reason for Andrew to be escorted from the room before Kerry got a chance to answer his question, which he said he would answer. Like I said above, Andrew was not being violent, and if history of police corruption/brutality has anything to say about it, the police officers might have been acting irrationally and violently when there was no need to.
Again a perfectly fair argument…so there is a logical reason to having some sort of security there. But in my opinion they were still completely out of hand, and Andrew was not doing anything to get treated that way.
In what way did you see him as a lunatic? I think he had a great question, because (from what I have observed) many people do believe Bush should be impeached for all he has done. He was not a lunatic, he is just outspoken and willing to stand up for that which he believes in. Most people would have been afraid of authority when police came, but he held his ground, as he should have, because (according to the video and articles) he did nothing against the law.
So that’s basically why I got the impression the cops were pissed about what Andrew was saying, because he was challenging authority, authority in this case being politicians and police officers.
He wasn’t tasered for asking the question he was tasered for resisting arrest.
He was clearly already heated, the campus security were escorting him out calmly and he starts screaming and flailing.
If a cop asks you to leave, you leave and then you take it up with the department later, believe it or not they investigate these things and people are punished. Those stories aren’t exciting though so they don’t make the news. He was flailing and trying to get away, that is why he was tasered. Yeah, if the security were properly trained they could have restrained him without using the taser, but they weren’t so they did. The department is investigating it.
Watching the video though makes it quite clear that he wasn’t tasered for asking the question. So it’s really not a freedom of speech issue. End of story.
If cops ask you to leave and run from them they will chase how, why does that surprise anyone?
Why was he being arrested? They cut his mic and the police dragged him away. Cutting the mic should have been sufficient and the police should have waited until he escalated the situation from there if they thought he was really a threat.
If you notice in the video that you posted from the local Florida NBC site (when it says 6:29 left), the security guy comes up to him touches him on the back and asks him to leave or sit down or something the guys waves him off (in what I would call an aggressive manner) and the security guy steps away. The guy continues to talk. Also notice there is a cut in the video (5:29 remaining) right before the security guys actually come in to apprehend him so we don’t know (at least from the video) what happened that caused security to step in again.
Had he walked peacefully out of the building he definitely wouldn’t have been tasered and he probably wouldn’t have even been arrested or charged with anything.
Had he sat down when he was first asked he probably wouldn’t have even been asked to leave the room.