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September 17, 2007
Florida Student Tasered at John Kerry Event
There are a million reasons LA is better than Gainesville, but both are home to major state universities with their own Taser-happy police forces. Earlier today, 21-year-old Florida student Andrew Meyer was apprehended by police and stunned with a Taser gun at a town hall meeting with Senator John Kerry on the UF campus. It seems he was tailed by the police as he came to ask the question -- challenging Kerry for not contesting the results of the 2004 presidential election.
You can hear the Taser at 3:09 after Meyer screams "don't tase me, bro!" Meyer was charged with disrupting a public event. Kerry did not appear to contest UPDATE: Kerry responds:
“In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."
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Hooray for freedom of speech!
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That's horrible. Jesus.
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"Don't tase me, 'bro!" = guilty hilariousness
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Serves the punk right. Who does he think he's taliking to, some lowlife republican?
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Gainesville is better than LA. Sorry.
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"Who will speak out when they come for you?"
Kerry goes on to state he would like to answer the man's questions and that he wishes he was still there so he could swear him in as president...
What gives? Mr Meyer could have had a bit more tact in his delivery, but this is America where freedom of speech is a right fought for by our service men and women. He was not being violent, yet he was led away and attacked by an armed contingent of University Police.
A sad day indeed.
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He clearly puts his hands in the air, then screams for help as he is led out, and his arms are very securely being held behind his back when he is tasered. His only "resistance" was verbal. Tuition is going to double by the time they have to settle this lawsuit.
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And after going through this brutality, it's he who's still held by the police...
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That is Torture. This is the definition of torture. They are torturing him in front of a crowd on video, in a public space.
Why are they even arresting him? There was no crime whatsoever. Not to mention he does have a right to speek at a public event.
They toruture the man in plublic, in violation of multiple protections, all in front of a lost presidential candidate, simply because they don't agree with his point of view.
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it was pretty awful for the cops to do that - it looks like they were taking some cues from the UCLA cops. The problem is we're not seeing the whole incident here - the cops should have removed him earlier. There's a difference between free speech and disrupting the event. He should have been removed sooner and his removal should have been violence-free.
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Hey People wake up. Torture? LOL!! get real, he was obviously making a scene. He pushed the officers first, they didn't attack him, and he was warned that he was going to be tasered if he didn't stop.
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I'm with poster #11. It's obvious the guy went there to cause a scene. I guess he succeeded.
I also noticed that though there was some applause when he complained about his mike being shut off, if you look at the crowd, you'll notice most people are not applauding and seem pretty annoyed by him. The guy can stand outside the event and speak his mind freely for as long as he wants, but freedom of speech does not guarantee him the right to show up at a public event, heckle the speaker and refuse to leave.
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Just because Kerry might have not liked the question, or even the way the question was asked does not amount to heckling.
Poster #11- so everytime the police warn you to stop doing something or else you will be tasered--you'll just stop?? What if what you are doing is completely legal? That is what is wrong with America today...too many people are scared to stand up for their rights.
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I'm guest #12 (and now I guess #14 as well).
I guess heckling was a poor choice of words. My point is that having your mike cut, being asked to leave or being escorted out of a public forum for yelling at the speaker does not mean your right to free speech has been infringed upon. The guy is free to talk all he wants in his own forum.
I do think the police resorted to the taser a little too quickly, but it doesn't look like the guy planned to stop yelling or resisting arrest either.
I'm also curious - if the guy had been yelling about the Swift Boat incident and that Kerry was unfit to serve, would everyone be so quick to defend this guy?
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Whether or not Meyer was asking for it, there were at least four cops or security guards surrounding him. It shouldn't have taken more than one of them to subdue and remove him from the room. You don't just shoot someone -- even with a Taser -- because they won't shut up, right?
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uh, poster 13. He was fighting the cops, its called resisting arrest. They were trying to cuff him and he kept fighting, then they warned him. So he deserved to get tazered.
This talk about torture and "standing up for their rights" is a joke.
So, I guess poster 13, if a cop pulls up behind your car on the highway, flashing the blue lights at you, you will just keep driving down the road? that is your logic?
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Poster #12 here again....
So I just went onto Wikipedia to read up on tasers. I don't think the guy was actually shot at with the Taser, I think they held the Taser against him. According to Wikipedia that's called a "drive stun." While it sounds painful, it doesn't sound like torture, or like it's nearly as bad as a full-blown taser barb.
I say this as a farm girl who's been knocked to the ground by an electric fence before. I don't know how that compares to a taser, but I lost muscle control and was scared out of my mind when I was shocked, but felt fine the minute I could stand up again (other than the racing adrenaline).
From Wikipedia:
"Drive Stun: Some TASER devices, particularly those used by police departments, also have a "Drive Stun" capability, where the taser is held against the target without firing barbs and is intended to cause pain without incapacitating the target. TASER defines "Drive Stun" as "the process of using the EMD weapon as a pain compliance technique. This is done by activating the EMD and placing it against an individual’s body. This can be done without an air cartridge in place or after an air cartridge has been deployed."
"A Las Vegas police document says "The Drive Stun causes significant localized pain in the area touched by the TASER but does not have a significant effect on the central nervous system. The Drive Stun does not incapacitate a subject but may assist in taking a subject into custody."
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Disgusting. Amnesty International has called on the end of using Tasers as there have been over 150 deaths from them.
This is a sick use of power, and it people must be held accountable.
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That's crazy, he was being disruptive but why be arrested? F'd up.
www.tarametblog.com
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you do realize this was a setup, he was shooting this for his "own show". One of the cameras in the room was his, he stopped yelling once he was out of sight of the cameras, and when he saw the cameras again he started yelling again.
He told the cops that they didnt do anything wrong to him once he was in the patrol car, it is in the police report.
he is a tool.
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He was clearly making a public disturbance. He got his time to speak and Kerry was even willing to answer but he wouldn't shut up to listen. He was escorted out then resisted, struggled with officers all the way up the hall. Why take the risk of having this dip shit hurt any one of the 5-6 officers there when he is clearly there to make a scene. If he wanted to make a point he could have easily gone limp and peacefully resisted arrest still screaming his nonsense. In fact if he did that officers might have taken him out and probably let him go but instead he was detained.
In my opinion he got what he deserved.
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Arbeit Macht Frei
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Arbeit Macht Frei