Here is a note my brother wrote about the situation. My brother is in law enforcement so it is a credible source:
for some of you who havent heard....there has been some controversy over an event that happened at UCLA. there are a couple facebook groups condemning the act and there is video footage of the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNI...
i encourage everyone to watch the footage, but let me tell you what happened. i will take excerpts from the UCLA student newspaper and the local NBS station. i use the video as my main source, however, because it has the least amount of bias in it, if any at all. then i will tell you how the situation should be treated.
Tuesday night, a senior student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was inside the UCLA computer lab when he was asked to leave because he did not produce his Bruin ID card. UCLA officials do random checks of ID after 11pm to make sure only students are inside the lab. "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." (Daily Bruin) a few minutes later, UCLA police officers came to escort the student out of lab, as is policy. by not exiting the building immediately, he was not following rules and could be removed in accordance to the rules. the first officer put his hand on the students arm to escort him out, which follows police rules. police standardly use a "non-threatening" escort technique, which is putting the palm of their hand underneath a persons bicep. the student objected to this action. when a second officer approached, the student yelled for the officers to get off him. now according to the video, which i take as more accurate than the news reports, the student continually yelled for the officers to get off him. and also must have been laying on the ground because the officers told him numerous times to get up, which he refused to do. he was then shot with a taser, with a dry stun. after the charge was released, the student still refused to get up and obey the officers. this lasted several minutes, resulting in 4 more taser shots onto the student, before they were able to drag him outside.
the uproar is this: students feel that the student being tased was an abuse of power and considered excessive force. that is completely wrong. an officer must be obeyed at all times, including commands to leave the building and to get up off the ground. the student actively resisted the removal, but still laying on the ground. therefore, by officer training, they had to use the next level of force to remove him. the first level is presence, which obviously didnt work. this is the where the officer shows up. the second level of force is verbal. obviously that did not work because the student continued to resist. the third level of force is physical contact, which is physically escorting someone. the officers were trying to do that also, but you cannot escort someone laying on the ground. the fourth level force is physical control. the officers were trying to do that, but since the student was actively resisting by laying down and fighting with the officers who were trying to stand him up, this level of force did not work. this includes arm bar take downs, etc but with someone laying down the only way would be to pick him up. the officers could not do that because he was refusing to stand up. this level of force also includes the use of OC or pepper spray, but with the crowd gathering around the situation, pepper spray could not be used without some of the innocent bystanders getting hit with the spray. the fifth is serious physical control, which includes a taser or baton. the baton is used to get people to the ground, which he already was. therefore, the only force that could be used what the taser, which would hopefully tense the student into a standing position where the officers could then take control of him and escort him out. the sixth level of force is lethal, which obviously does not apply to this situaition. the taser was the last resort for the officers because the student actively resisted arrest and the other levels of force did not work.
another part of this was the officers threatening to taser students around. the video does not address this too much, although you can see a little later on in the video. you do hear students asking the officers for their badge number. an officer will not stop during an engagement with a suspect to give their badge number to a bystander. it put themselves into danger. other students joined in asking the officer for his badge number, but due to the situation the officer did not have to give it at that time. he would have to give it after the suspect is in custody and is no longer a threat, however. now...with another officer threating to taser bystanders. the crowd continued to press closer to the situation, risking the safety of the officers and the suspect. therefore, to protect the other officers, the single officer threatened to tase students who continued to cause a threat to the situation. but since no one else was tasered, there is no reason to dwell on that situation.
it should be noted, however, that the officers used the least painful from of tasering. there are 2 froms...one is a dry stun which pressed the taser into the student and sends a shock into them. this is mainly used for compliance, which is what the officers were looking for. the second is the shooting of 2 small probs, like fish hooks, into the student to shock them. these usually pierce the skin and cause more pain. the officers did not do that, however. they only touched him with the taser, which would not cause any lingering effects like bleeding or torn skin. studies show that no lingering effects happen after the electrical shock is stopped.
the officers were clearly justified in this event. people may have been shocked, but the officers were doing what they were trained to do and doing what they had to do to protect themselves. being a police officer is hard work, so give them a break. this student was a senior...he knew the rules about having an ID in the computer lab after 11pm. if he followed the rules, none of this would have happened. if everyone just follows the rules......
