Don't Taze me Bro - UF Student gets Tazed at Kerry Speech

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Added on: 09/19/2007 @ 11:32:17 AM

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Don't Taze me Bro - UF Student gets Tazed at Kerry Speech

As far as the internet is concerned this is old news, it's been everywhere for a while now. Maybe some of you have seen this. I was just wondering what you all felt about it.

The guy is certainly annoying. The people who say "Rodney King" at the end are idiots. But it does pose some good questions. He struggled with the police, but was being arrested for not doing anything in the first place.

Where does resiting arrest start and your "right" to not be arrested end?

The consensus on the internet is that cops aren't lawyers, he should have done what they said and then sued later. (He's being charged with a felony for Violent resisting of arrest.)

Surely though, that can't always be the case. If you get stopped on a dark street and a man in uniform tells you you're under arrest you just have to go with him? He's either a fake cop and if you go with him you die or if you run you're resisting arrest? Is there even such a thing as a right to not be arrested?

Also, some people think Kerry, who can be heard saying "That's alright, let me answer his question," should have done more to stop it. Is it really his place? Was there even anything to stop, or did this kid have it coming?

Is "Don't taze me bro" the new "Boom goes the dynamite?"
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	Jeremy - 9475 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 11:40:36 AM
Here's some of the aftermath complete with "guy going off the deep end" goodness.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 12:19:52 PM
It's not Kerry's place to control the audience, it is more likely a moderator's responsibility. I think he did as much as he could by attempting to answer the question, as he said he would. I think the cops were a bit out of line, especially by tasing him- but something in me says he got what he deserved, given his history of little pranks. He probably wasn't really interested in Kerry's answers either- just his little prank, asking some sensational questions and pushing his limits. I want to tase him myself, just for the heck of it.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - I believe virtually everything I read. 09/19/2007 @ 12:38:13 PM
Yeah, that's the general consensus. No one is all that concerned this particular dude got tazed, just the principal behind it. Even the people that were there originally applauded his being led away, before the officers that outnumbered him 6:1 took it up a notch past "We want you out of this room." I agree it's not Kerry's place to "put a stop" to anything, plus that's assuming anything he would have done could have helped anyway. Apparently the dude pushed to the front of the line to ask Kerry some questions after the Q&A was supposed to be over. He may or may not have been warned, but he still broke no laws. Still, it's fair to say the guy was wound up a bit, and the cops there are responsible for protecting a political figure. He was being charged with inciting a riot on the scene, which raises the question that if you aren't doing anything illegal, the police overreact to it, and then the people around you react to that, did you really cause a riot, or did they? This all could have been avoided if they just let him listen to Kerry answer his inane questions. (Though I've often wondered why he conceded so quickly as there was a "buzz" about fraud, but that doesn't mean there was any legitimacy to the "buzz")		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy messed with this at 09/19/2007 12:40:24 pm

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 12:45:58 PM
Someone with a background in psychology should comment to your third paragraph with some info on a swarming effect, or hive instinct- something along the lines of mass hysteria, etc. in things like that... know what I mean- or am I making no point at all there?		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Nutcan.com's MBL 09/19/2007 @ 04:05:41 PM
With the caveat that this could change if/when new information comes out, based on what I've seen and read so far, here's how I see it: Apparently it started when, the moderator or someone announced that the next question would be the last. This is when he (Andrew Meyer, the tasee) apparently "rushed" the microphone, pushing past people in the process, and interrupted someone who had been recognized already on a different mic. Now, supposedly this is what got the police aware of him (and rightly so) and is probably a reason that they may have reacted quicker than normal to remove him as he had just shown some erratic, non-civil behavior. Sen. Kerry, to his credit, offered to answer his question after answering the other person's question first. When Meyer gets his turn then, he starts in and apparently rants and raves to the point where one of the directors of the event cuts his mic and asks the police to remove him. Now, whether his actions to this point were illegal or not, I think that they were disruptive enough that the director person was justified in having him removed. At that point then, once the officers asked him to leave/come with them, he had no option other than to comply (even if the director had him removed for some trivial reason, he had to obey the officers at that point). Of course he started to resist and that meant the police had to get more physical, which I think was right. Whether they went too far by tasering him, I don't know, I don't know what was going on when they had him on the ground. They probably could have removed him without using the taser, but without knowing exactly what happened, I'm not going to make a judgement on that yet. So, bottom line, this isn't a free speech issue as he was clearly behaving inappropriately for the event and so he "deserved" everything that happened to him up to the use of the taser. The use of that may have been excessive, but until we know what he was doing while the officers tried to remove him, I'll defer judgement.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt screwed with this 2 times, last at 09/19/2007 4:06:31 pm

	Jeremy - Cube Phenomenoligist 09/19/2007 @ 04:15:16 PM
I don't think the bulk of the "outrage," if you can call it that, is over a violation of free speech. It's mainly just the fact that the cops outnumbered him 6 to 1, had him on the ground, and still used a tactic that is supposed to be a "last resort" kind of thing. Did you watch the 2nd video? The kid is clearly a whack job. He thinks he's in the process of being "disappeared." I also loved the great "moment in punditry" were he had his whole speech prepared about why Kerry should read the book, but the fact that Kerry had read it, and kept replying with things along the line of "Yeah, I know," didn't deter the speech any. It reminded me a lot of like on one of the talking head shows where someone will make an assumption of another persons opinion. Then, 3 seconds into an ironclad diatribe they have been preparing for weeks, their "opponent" points out that the two are in complete agreement on the topic. Only about 10% of the time does that deter the person off their prepared remarks, and it almost seems to make people MORE combative the rest of the time.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy messed with this 5 times, last at 09/19/2007 4:23:23 pm

	Matt - 3875 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 04:26:58 PM
Jeremy Wrote - 09/19/2007 @ 04:15:16 PM I don't think the bulk of the "outrage," if you can call it that, is over a violation of free speech. I think it has turned from that angle now, but last night when it "broke" the news shows were going with the "what has happened to free speech" angle, which I thought was stupid, so that's why I mentioned it. Also, from what's come out about the guy's background, I think I would agree with the people who say that he probably came to the speech looking to make a scene and get attention, especially after reading this, from the police report: "Meyer was laughing and being lighthearted in the car, his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight. Meyer did ask, at one point, if the cameras were going to be at the jail."		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt edited this at 09/19/2007 4:27:16 pm

	Jeremy - 9475 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 04:34:29 PM
Well again, I don't think people like the dude. Staged to make a scene or not, he was still tazed. He actually brought one of the cameras and gave it to a girl he didn't know to film him asking the questions. I'm sure he did indeed go there with the intent to cause a stir, and that was clear from the people who applauded during the initial stages of him being removed. He was still tazed while already on the ground. I've watched enough "Cops" episodes to know the police can cuff a guy when they need to. 1-2 cops can cuff coked up dudes twice their size. This was just some self-righteous college asshat.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3875 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 04:57:44 PM
Jeremy Wrote - 09/19/2007 @ 04:34:29 PM I've watched enough "Cops" episodes to know the police can cuff a guy when they need to. 1-2 cops can cuff coked up dudes twice their size. This was just some self-righteous college asshat. I realize you are probably half-joking here, but you don't really know this. It certainly seems like they could have/should have been able to get him cuffed, but I don't know for sure. Just from skimming the police reports, he was apparently still thrashing about wildly on the ground, and wouldn't obey commands to stop. One officer was able to get the cuffs on one of his hands, but could get it on the other. Now, they maybe could have overpowered him and jerked his arm to where they needed it, but that too could have cause him injury and there would be the same calls of excessive force. I mean tasers and pepper spray and stuff like that can be dangerous, but so can having to wrestle someone into submission (which, I think, would have a higher potential for injury to officers and bystanders as well). It's a tough line to draw.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt perfected this 3 times, last at 09/19/2007 5:07:30 pm

	Jeremy - 9475 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 05:00:12 PM
Perhaps, and to be honest I'm not even sure what my opinion is. If there's one thing I think we can all agree on it's that it's hilarious.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3875 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 05:01:06 PM
Indeed		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Ombudsman 09/19/2007 @ 05:26:09 PM
This happens on most issues with the 24 hour news networks, but I'll bring it up in regards to this case here. It is very possible that the police investigation finds that the officers broke the rules/guidelines regarding taser use, and acted excessively. There is, however, a real possibility that once the facts are in, they will find that they acted appropriately. Now, if this happens, it will come out days/weeks/months from now when nobody is paying attention anymore, but the pundits yesterday were spouting their beliefs almost as fact, based on the early footage (which was edited, and didn't show the whole thing), without knowing what exactly happened on the ground, and probably without a strong knowledge of police procedure. Yet, that is what most people will remember and what will shape their views, making it harder for the officers to get a fair shake. Just like what happened with Richard Jewell and the Duke Lacrosse players. Sorry for the rant.		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Alex - 3619 Posts 09/19/2007 @ 11:34:55 PM
Matt Wrote - 09/19/2007 @ 05:26:09 PM Sorry for the rant. Don't be, it's a good rant. It's like everybody today has a jump to conclusions mat that gets used indiscrimantly and immediately on anything and everything.		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Alex - Ignorance is bliss to those uneducated 09/19/2007 @ 11:36:13 PM
"Is "Don't taze me bro" the new "Boom goes the dynamite?" " There will never be a new "Boom goes the dynamite".		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Wendy - 163 Posts 09/21/2007 @ 08:07:41 PM
I think Taser Boy should date the "It's Just Art" girl from Logan International It's a match made at the funny farm. (From ABC) Police said after her arrest, Simpson answered questions rationally and was upset to be in custody, but did not appear to understand the seriousness of what she had done. "She claims that it was just art and she was proud of the art and wanted to display it. I am not sure why she had the Play-Doh in her hands. She could not explain that," an officer said. On her Web site, Simpson described herself as someone who loves "crazy ideas " and has been "traveling the world and saving the planet from evil villains with my delivered-just-in-time gadgets."		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.