Student Tasered after asking Kerry questions

Source: Miami Herald

GAINESVILLE -- (AP) -- A University of Florida student from South Florida was Tasered and arrested Monday when he attempted to speak at a forum with U.S. Sen. John Kerry after the question and answer session had ended, university officials said.

Andrew Meyer, 21, asked Kerry why he did not contest the 2004 presidential election, which he lost to President Bush, and why there had been no moves to impeach Bush.

''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.''

While as many as four police officers tried to remove Meyer from the forum, he yelled for help and asked ''What did I do?'' Minutes after Meyer started speaking, he was Tasered.







Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/241219.html

---

Meanwhile, Senator Kerry droned on from the stage, as if the cops were not Tasering a student right in front of him for asking too many inconvenient questions. (There's a link to a video of the incident on the page I've linked above.)

. . .do you?

The guy was asking him questions. They cut his mike. The cops grabbed him. The young man shouted and struggled and certainly behaved like a total ass, but it just seems that the incident should never have escalated to that point, and there ws no good reason for Tasering him.

And I can't see how anyone in the room could have not noticed what was going on!

affects people differently, like spectators at a street fight. It's a wierd phenomena. Some would jump in to help, others would just watch, some would cry, some would piss themselves, kind of like war. Depends upon how and where one is raised. Only difference was it was authority figures perpetrating the violence.

The part visible to everyone was when he was fighting off the police and refusing to shut up. If it was in the back of the room I doubt Kerry could see it from the stage. My guess is most of the people in the room likely only saw this hostile, aggressive student taken out because he was out of control.

Others should have jumped in and helped him fend off those pigs

Read one story and several posts from people in attendance.

It is very possible that Kerry didn't know what was going on. The ruckus had moved to the back of the auditorium and Kerry was trying to carry on, calm people down, and answer the question. Kerry was not at a podium - he was wondering around on the stage and if he was at the far left corner of the stage he may not have had a clue as the ruckus was on the opposite side and at the back.

When the police first started trying to take control of the situation the students cheered. The guy was a total ass, disrupter and not a crowd pleaser. He was aggressive and demanded to ask three questions and said he had a right to two minutes because Kerry had two hours. Mostly I would say he wanted attention and his desire when he went to the hall was to be arrested.

I actually wondered if he was tasered because he never stopped talking. I guess he was but it didn't really seem to affect him. Maybe he was jacked.

And I would have been pissed at the student if I had been there. He really was obnoxious. But I can't stand the way the cops start Tasering as soon as someone annoys them. The Taser is not a nonlethal weapon. It's a less lethal weapon. People die from it--and until a person dies, they can't be sure whether someone is going to die from it or not, so it should not be used in situations where no one is in physical danger.

Also, they already had him down and cuffed, so I think the Tasering was being used as a form of extrajudicial punishment for being a jackass.

...and then tasered. He should have been taken outside, CHARGED WITH A CRIME,READ HIS MIRANDA RIGHTS, and arrested.

Sometimes people believe very strongly in what they are doing, and public appearance (being a "total ass") means little or nothing. I don't think this young man was too concerned with appearances anyway. He was concerned with principle. That's a GOOD thing. Fuck "appearances".

The total inaction by the crowd to come to this person's aid speaks volumes about society's COWARDICE in dealing with a government institution that has gone out of control, even though that institution is ostensibly a PUBLIC TRUST and is paid for by the same public it is abusing.

This man was not a "crowd pleaser" but then again, that's not his job. He had the right to question Kerry, because he is protected by the same First Amendment rights we all are. Odds are any charges will be dropped, or the this may be the ACLU's next case.

I don't understand people.

When you're protesting and the police say "Move along," you get two choices: Move Along or Get Arrested. While you're being arrested, you get two choices: Go Quietly or Resist Arrest. If you resist arrest, you're going to get your ass kicked.

Count on it.

Take a swing at the cops, and the cops going to beat you down. You keep thrashing around, and you're probably going to get tasered. Don't cry "brutality" because you got in the grill of somebody bigger and tougher than you are.

With regard to this man's first amendment rights, the people in that audience did not come to hear him rant. They came to hear Kerry speak. I was in Cincinnati in 2004 at Union Terminal when Kerry was there, and some right-to-life whack job got up and started yelling. Unfortunately for him, he was seated in the section reserved for union members, and some of the brothers from the United Auto Workers escorted him to the door. And none too gently.

Good Riddance.

Cops are trained to protect their person and protect the peace. So when things are peaceful, they are peaceful. The second things get belligerent, they are going to go 100% to subdue someone without having to shoot them. If someone doesn't go quietly, I don't blame the cops for the tasering. It keeps police out of harms way and in many cases it subdues a suspect where he might have been hurt in a scuffle with police.

The moral of the story is don't mess with cops. You're not going to win that battle unless you have automatic weapons and full body armor. Go quietly and take it up with your lawyer later.

And they didn't say why (WHY WERE THEY?) They just grabbed him and started pulling him away after the other guy did a throat cutting gesture.

"Take a swing at the cops, and the cops going to beat you down."

Have you even watched the footage? This "beat you down" crap sounds very entertaining and macho but this is not the proper way to arrest someone.

is to say, "Come along with me, sir" and the person comes along quietly.

If the suspect decides to get rough, he's going to get an ass-whuppin'

I believe that every cop (all of whom are dues-paying union members, by the way) has the inalienable right to go home to his family in one piece after his shift. Cops assume -- because they must -- that every suspect is armed and dangerous. Otherwise cops die. When a suspect starts resisting, they have no choice but to assume that he's carrying a weapon and may use it. Cops will use overwhelming force to subdue and restrain the suspect until they can search for weapons.

Cops are not lawyers and they aren't judges. If you don't like that they're arresting you, take it up with the judge, not the cops on the street. Don't argue. Don't get in their face. Do what they tell you to do, WHEN they tell you to do it.

The people running the event decided that - Kerry had tried to accomodate him and said he would answer the question. Looking at the people - I don't think they did.

And at that point, he became quite unhinged.

You can't see what's happening when he's tased. He may have been kicking them.

...he kept speaking as calmly as possible. Not sure what else he could/should have done.

In the video, he is actively working his talk into the removal of this man. He is talking about and diverting attention from the arrest of this man.

It is clear that he is trying to regain control of the room and he likely had no problem with the police and school officials ejecting someone violating their standards.

It is not clear that Kerry had any idea of the force they were using.
I just watched the video - that was filmed and edited by a friend of his and is on his web site. It shows only fragments of the longer video on this thread.

There are two things to think of:

1) The video was on the Tasered students web site taken by a friend. This spells one thing to me SET UP. The person taping the event moved with the student. It was also edited and does not include his full rant/question.

2) At the point where the kid is on the ground, he is on the floor between the last two rows of chairs. At most, Kerry could have seen there was a commotion - the same thing he saw when the guy was in the front of the room. As to what Kerry could hear, Kerry had a microphone and you have to listen very hard to hear what he is saying and I can't catch it all- Kerry has a very powerful voice that carries well even without a mic. Also, I think auditoriums are designed to propagate sound from the stage better than from the audience.

So, given the same distance, Kerry very likely heard the microphoneless student far less distinctly than we hear Kerry on the tape. In fact Kerry mentioned that the kid was not there to hear the answer, but said it was important and answered it. The kid was screaming in the front and on the way back, so I seriously doubt Kerry would have had reason to be concerned because he was screaming. There was also what looked to be at least one school official in the back as well.

"It's a very important question."

drone on like that while someone was being Tasered for asking too many questions and being too loud while asking them. The Taser is suppsed to be a substitute for deadly force, not a way of showing a mouthy student who's boss at a student forum with a politician.

I just watched the video - that was filmed and edited by a friend of his and is on his web site. It shows only fragments of the longer video on this thread.

There are two things to think of:

1) The video was on the Tasered students web site taken by a friend. This spells one thing to me SET UP. The person taping the event moved with the student.

2) At the point where the kid is on the ground, he is on the floor between the last two rows of chairs. At most Kerry could have seen there was a commotion - the same thing he saw when the guy was in the front of the room. As to what Kerry could hear, Kerry had a microphone and you have to listen very hard to hear what he is saying and I can't catch it all- Kerry has a very powerful voice that carries well even without a mic. Also, I think auditoriums are designed to propagate sound from the stage better than from the audience.

So, given the same distance, Kerry very likely heard the microphoneless student far less distinctly than we hear Kerry on the tape. In fact Kerry mentioned that the kid was not there to hear the answer, but said it was important and answered it. Additionally, in 2004, we learned Kerry has a hearing loss from Vietnam. The kid was screaming in the front and on the way back, so I seriously doubt Kerry would have had reason to be concerned because he was screaming. There was also what looked to be at least one school official in the back as well.

Listen to the tape and consider how faint Kerry's voice is relative to the kid's. The videotaper was back with the kid. Kerry has a strong voice and he had a mic. What Kerry heard of the kid, who did not have a mic, was likely less than we hear of Kerry on the tape.

In all likelihood he simply saw the police trying to restrain the kid, if that as they were on the ground between the last 2 rows of chairs. He could see there was a commotion, but he was answering the question - because it was likely others wanted an answer as well. He was regaining control of the room, assuming the police and school officials were dealing with the kid - whose behavior would have gotten him kicked out of any public event, because he was not participating, but disrupting.

Jumped off the stage and gotten between the security and the nutty kid?

:shrug:

and THEN on the ground?

You all act as if Kerry has x-ray vision and superhuman hearing, when he actually has partial hearing loss that he's had since Vietnam.

Not to mention that Kerry did everything he SHOULD do under the circumstances as they happened and from his POV.

http://www.miamiherald.com/1060/story/241914.html

Kerry: "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 again 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 answering him 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."

what a dumbass remark.

But that might lead to questions why all Democratic politicians submit to the mighty, unstoppable moral authority of the Republican Party. Ahem.

which is why nobody with even a slight grasp on reality takes this place seriously anymore.

I would like to see it, for more complete context.

1) they link to a video filmed and edited by his friend

2) they include no information to explain why the cops were already around him. It says he was next in line - but another account on DU says he ran past the cops to get into the event only at the end.

3) It does not describe the exchange between the kid and the Senator. This was not someone just asking questions that people think Kerry doesn't want to answer - it was a verbal ambuse.

Too bad you choose not to explain yourself.

you're talking too loud so we'll use potentially lethal force on you?

if they would've just escorted him out without trying to arrest him right away (they tried to cuff him before he ever committed an arrestable offense) all of it would've been avoided. the whole reason he freaked in the first place was because they went to book him without a word - if someone is under arrest they need to be told why and they need to have their miranda rights read to them.

or are you saying that it's okay for police to use as much force as they want, in any given situation whether it's warranted or not?

that's a police state. fascism. brown shirts. this is inexcusable, made even sadder by the fact that it happens all the time and people accept it, even defend it like you are.

without even commenting on its being inappropriate.

to the officers to back off and allow the kid to leave on his own will, peacefully, that they would've. and i'm sure the kid would've been more than happy to comply.

i watched the video a couple times and didn't hear anything like that, though maybe he did and it just couldn't be heard on the tape (in which case i would admit my mistake).

it's obscene, it's un-american, it's fascism knocking on the door (too bad for us the lock's broken)

How in the world would he have known whether or not the ranter had a weapon? Should he just have assumed that the cops were in the wrong, without having all the facts?

Oh of COURSE he should. Cops are ALWAYS wrong. And of COURSE they would have listened if Kerry asked them to stop. (Never mind that he said once, it's all right, let me answer the question, but they ignored him. Let's not let facts get in the way of a good excuse to bash John Kerry, shall we?)

The guy comes off as unstable, starts ranting about Skull N' Bones conspiracies (basically insinuating that Kerry purposefully threw the election) and then won't give up the microphone. I guarantee, Kerry has a list of death threats a mile long, and this fellow was sending off every signal that he was just the kind of person who might pull out a gun and shout, "Sic semper tyrannis!" before killing Kerry and himself. When the police detain him, he resists, starts running, screaming... John Kerry is somehow supposed to second-guess the cops and mind-meld with this young man somehow to determine that he's not a danger to anyone? To himself? Please.

The tasing was an overreaction and unnecessary, but expecting Kerry to micromanage the moment-by-moment details of an arrest is silly.

They only need their Miranda rights read to them if they are going to be questioned. Usually it is "shut the fuck up and sit down".

The police did try to escort him out and he resisted. That guy got too big and self important. He felt that he had the right to disrupt an event. When police tried to escort in out politely he resisted. When they tried to arrest him he physically resisted. He was given full warning that he would be tasered if he didn't stop resisting as evidence by him crying "don't tase' me bro'". Yet he continued to actively resist arrest and ... he got tased.

That was not abuse. Abuse would have been drawing night sticks and beating the crap out of him until he stopped resisting.

This guy was a spoiled self important baby. He was loaned the stage for a few minutes to be part of a process and then he decided he could occupy it and change the rules to make himself the moderator.

For the record the second anyone says "what did I do?", its a tipoff that they feel themselves above the system as it implies that the other person must justify themselves to THEIR rules instead of the ones on the books.

tells a story of a person in a public forum being beat up or tasered, and the public does nothing. America wake up.

Regardless of what he might have said beforehand.

Most people were there to here Kerry not the Kid, Many were likely embarrassed and annoyed by his rudeness.

They should have let Kerry answer his question. Arresting him because his questions and manners were rude was in violation of his rights.

The reports I've read said he went over his minutes, was asked to stop, was asked to leave, and then resisted. What the hell exactly did he think would happen here?

Here's an experiment. Go to your next city council meeting. Take the podium. Speak for longer than allotted. Continue speaking. Refuse to leave. Resist being escorted. Continue to resist as you are arrested.

I bet you will be in for a shock.

2 minutes is a longer time than many realize.

a question. Kerry DID in fact let him speak - and was willing to let him stay.

Once he started on with his conpiracy (skull and bones) question, his time was done. When he tried to ask 3 questions instead of 1 like everyone else, his time was done. When he was flat out rude to the Senator, his time was done. Kerry was invited to speak, and the people there wanted to hear the Senator speak.

Hearing the little punk yell "oweeeeee!" made me chuckle. What a douce.

what has HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY?

Kerry should answer those questions, even the frat organization, if asked. If it is a stupid question, he a more than capable of dealing with it. What happened here, an arrest at a public forum, of a guy asking questions at a public mike, should scare us all.

I don't care what his tone was. I don't care that he asked three questions (oh what a crime) I don't care if he hit a topic that was rather a sore point for Kerry (the timing of his declaration the evening of the election) I DO CARE HOW THE THOUGHT POLICE ARRESTED HIM.


What a douce? Please tell me what a douce is first. If you fail to recognize the danger our society faces because of how the police over-reacted. . . . amazing.

But he had everything else coming to him. He was actively resisting arrest. He was getting physical with several police officers. He was disrupting a Q & A with the Senator. Anyone who thinks free speech means saying whatever they want in any forum doesn't understand the law.

"Don't taze me bro" "they are going to try and kill me" "they are going to give me to the government"?????

After V-Tech, Universities need to look more into the mental health records of their students. Start with this freak.

Oh yeah, and I left the "h" out of "douche." He's a DOUCHE. I've been to political rallies, speeches, and Q & A sessions before. When 99% of the people are there to hear Kerry, and 1 DOUCHE is there to promote his website and gain attention, kick his ass out. People who disagree with the speaker can ask respectful, on the nose questions without screaming or bringing in absurd conspiracy theories.

makes a habit of seeking attention, I can easily agree with you.

Though I agree that his question was rude, and most likely non-sequiter.

I have a clean personal record and no priors.

Sheep...fucking sheep.

Is it as painful as it looks? In my wildest dreams since I came of age in the seventies never would I have imagined this country as it is today.

From what I saw of the video, the kid was resisting and asking "
What did I do"? Then he was tasered. Kerry appeared to be looking at him, but just kept talking.

This is making me sick to my stomach. Kerry should be ashamed of himself for making jokes while this kid was getting tased.

Kerry said. "I'd like to answer his questions but he isn't available to swear me in as President". If I heard that correctly.

though he was trying to do anything about the unnecessary violence.

Very few people can EVER understand what Kerry is saying. That's one of the reasons he lost.

...on the video. He was trying to keep the crowd calm. I doubt he could tell what was happening way in the back of the room from the stage.

not surprised he sat back and watched the kid tazered

this is a new way to shut up people

What a disgusting, appalling episode.

Immediately after watching the video, my son called Kerry's office in D.C. and told the answering machine what he thought with all the anger he could control.

That's not what I heard him say.

I heard him say, "It's alright, I'll answer his question." (Or a variation of that.)

Kerry MADE A JOKE! inappropriate response! He was looking toward the scuffle in the NBC video!
He was totally ineffectual through this but we knew that when we held our noses and voted for him didn't we?
I called his office in MASS WHEN HE WAS FIRST NOMINATED, and asked about the Skull Bones. I was told that was just a silly collage frat group!!! Yeh right!:sarcasm:
Those of us who have been intuitively tuned into the ceaseless, neverending violence and murder for the last 6 years, have trouble keeping our cool at this point! WHy I won't attend demonstrations.
I would act like an asshole too! It's called imagination & emphathy, something that has definitely been left behind over the past 30 years! There is a collective groupthink in operation here as well as a top down effort to reward docility! If everyone had the passion of Andrew Meyers, we would ALL be camped out in DC like the "Bonus Army of the 30's ( forget the exact year; google it on Wikipedia)

Funny you mention the bonus army. I just finished reading this:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=883#more-883

...rucognizant. Are you aware of what Kerry is doing to end the Iraq war?

I couldn't actually make out the first part because it was hard to hear Kerry then.

Now, if it was hard hearing Kerry from the kid, I bet it was just as hard hearing the kid.

Where did you see that?

The one in the article quoted by the OP doesn't even show Kerry. It's interesting, though, that the cops keep looking at the camera before they arrest the kid.

He said "no, that's alight...let him ask his question"...but the organizers had asked the police to remove the kid.

So....should Kerry have yelled at the police to stop? And, do the police take orders from Kerry?

Should they? There's a scary idea.

Just curious.

to have two different videos of the same event. Plus one of the videos shows another person (girl) slightly in front of the disrupter and to his right getting the whole thing on tape. You can't really hear Kerry (who is miced) on the videos but you can hear the disrupter through out.

Also, the real puzzle to me is why the police had already moved into position before the disrupter even started talking. He was clearly on their radar already and done something...

Maybe this was for a class assignment.

Not O(Opinionated)BN Sheesh!

comments, so I assume it is acceptable for me to have an opinion about the news story and to comment on my opinion.

getting the whole story before you form an opinion.

He even stopped talking when the tasering occurred and the student started screaming in pain.

It looked to me like the guy was willingly leaving the microphone then freaked when he realized the cops weren't going to let him go. :shrug:

It also looks like there were several other students in the back who had gotten out of their seats to come to his defense. There was a man in a suit who was telling them to stay back.

I don't know folks. If this video gives an accurate picture, our right to free speech is getting quite endangered indeed.

...right??

disruptive. Also, students actually applauded when the cops went to remove him. That says something!

I don't think he should have been tasered, but he should have been removed for being disruptive. He chose to kick and scream instead of leaving quietly.

was out of line. In Florida, the cops have Tasered children as young as six, as well as any number of other people who clearly should not have been Tasered. They are Taser-happy, and they use Tasers a lot of the time as a way of slapping down someone for being too "uppity"--i.e., trying to assert basic civil rights.

It is not OK to totally disrupt an event in the name of free speech. If you listen closely to the video, the police warn the kid several times that if he doesn't calm down they will taser him, and Kerry keeps his cool and even apprently responds to the kids question.

They almost had him at the doors when he started fighting back. Then they get him to the ground, but he's still resisting. At that point they warn him several times, and he does not comply.

They got one cuff on him on the ground. The officers there were large enough to manhandle him and yank his arm into place. Instead they gave him a taser that would leave no lasting effects vs wrenching someones arm in place or choking them out.

Honestly, as I read around it appears as if this guy is a bit of a prankster. He was probably TRYING to get arrested and TRYING to get the video for the sake of it. So all you folks coming to his defense are probably wasting your efforts.

Finally, I'll say that good protesters go limp and are carried out in quiet dignity. Thats passive resistance. This guy was just plain resisting arrest. Had it been 20 years ago in the south they would have beat him with a nightstick until he was unconscious.

They could very easily have just picked him up and took him out the door. This kid was not a linebacker.

Take tasers away from cops. Too many are just too trigger-happy and too eager to use (misuse) the damn things, Thank God they don't use their guns as much as they seem to use those g-d tasers.

It's not his job to second-guess the people who are paid to provide security for him. I'm sure Kerry's got more outstanding death threats from agitated crazies than he can count. The campus police overreacted, I think that much is clear, but expecting JK to micromanage every aspect of his own security is preposterous.

Still, a sad event all around.

A voice of sanity in an ocean of unreason.

Thanks.

he could tell them to stop. He was at a microphone were everyone could hear him...all he had to do was tell the police to stop.

...and I doubt he could see what was happening from the stage.

It doesn't matter if he is in charge of security or not they would have stopped had he told them too.

...about this? I'm sure they might have stopped if Kerry told them to, but this assumes he saw, heard and KNEW what was going on on the others side of a very large hall. I'm not sure anyone on a stage can see the back of the audience that well.

Do you really believe that Kerry DIDN'T see the police drag him out? Do you really believe that Kerry DIDN'T hear this kid screaming? I have been in a few auditoriums in my day and one thing I know about them is they are designed to carry sound not suppress it.

...and it's only a guess...that Kerry saw security escort the student to the back of the auditorium. I'd also guess that Kerry 'might' have heard the student (and at that point the student was yelling and being obnoxious) as he was escorted to the rear. At this point, the student was not screaming in pain, he was refusing to follow directions of campus security. Kerry offered to answer the question and tried to calm the audience.

But I doubt how much Kerry could have heard once the activity moved to the back of the room. The videos I have seen don't pick up sounds in the distance (it was hard to hear what Kerry was saying to the audience). WE could hear the security and the student, but I'm doubtful that the Senator could from the stage.

and the cops stop, and the kid whips out a gun and kills a dozen people, what then?

Probably worse.

It was a fair question, and if some Bushist cops don't like him asking why Bush wasn't impeached, that's too bad.

The cops need to be sued and jailed for life.

He asked the question but then shouted over the Senator when he started to answer - that is really not the best way to get an answer.

and dangerous for just ONE MAN.

...DumpDavisHogg.

different angle (cell phone video). It's more blurred in places, but clearer in others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag

...resisting arrest was a ticket to high voltage.

If he complied with the cops orders during the arrest he wouln't have been shocked.



Mahatma Gandhi outlined the following rules for civil disobedience.

A civil resister (or satyagrahi) will harbour no anger.

He will suffer the anger of the opponent.

In so doing he will put up with assaults from the opponent, never retaliate; but he will not submit, out of fear of punishment or the like, to any order given in anger.

When any person in authority seeks to arrest a civil resister, he will voluntarily submit to the arrest, and he will not resist the attachment or removal of his own property, if any, when it is sought to be confiscated by authorities.

If a civil resister has any property in his possession as a trustee, he will refuse to surrender it, even though in defending it he might lose his life. He will, however, never retaliate.

Retaliation includes swearing and cursing.

Therefore a civil resister will never insult his opponent, and therefore also not take part in many of the newly coined cries which are contrary to the spirit of ahimsa.

A civil resister will not salute the Union Flag, nor will he insult it or officials, English or Indian.

In the course of the struggle if anyone insults an official or commits an assault upon him, a civil resister will protect such official or officials from the insult or attack even at the risk of his life.

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

...and everything to do with out-of-control public servants.

are disparaging Kerry for his lack of response and failure to take action to stop it from happening. How can we know what Kerry did or did not see, what he did or did not hear, what he did or did not do, unless we see Kerry and his reactions to the incident?

My guess from the tape, where the person video taping it is a friend of the kid and with him, that Kerry likely hurt that there was still a commotion - but that it would have been pretty indistinct. Kerry had a microphone and he has a strong voice and was on stage, yet his voice can be heard, but it is hard to get all he is saying. Turning this around, the kid did not have a mic and was near the edge of the room. He has to be less audible than Kerry was on the tape. So, Kerry likely would have heard nothing alarming.

He may not have been able to see much of anything. I don't know how big the room was - but it wasn't small and they were on the floor between the last two rows. (He would have seen more if they stayed in the aisle.

...other than he was a speaker/performer. What if this were a concert? Would you blame the musicians?

Security for events are there to protect the PEOPLE in the audience...ALL of them. What if this guy had a hidden weapon that could harm the others in the audience? Wouldn't you want security to keep you safe?

I don't know if campus police handled this perfectly, but I have a difficult time seeing how it could become the senator's fault. His part was to use the microphone to try to calm the crowd...which he DID. He offered to answer the questions. He said to remain calm. He kept talking to the crowd to keep control as best one could, given the disruptive circumstances. No one could do any more than that.

or, what's the word they use against Code Pink, a lack of decorum...

While the world is being alternately bombed through human ignorance or cooked by human neglect...

Which Kerry never answered. Sure he may have been a little too passionate, But aren't we all over that subject. And who the hell was clapping as this guy was being manhandled and tasered ?
This looked like something that would happen at a Bush rally.
I'm disguted about this.

Kerry needs to answer these questions, They are my questions too. I voted for him !

I think he did answer at least the first one. You can hear him answering, but the voice is not loud enough to hear all of it distinctly - even though Kerry had a mic. (This likely tells you that it would have been even tougher to hear what was going on.)

Passionate is not the word - he was rude, out of control and extremely aggressive. He also would not let the Senator answer.

..too. And I've been to CIVIL rallies where Kerry has answered every question put to him...including the election and impeachment questions.

I'm FOR civility...not tasering.

Not available at the time I agree that Sen. Kerry
did answer that question. I apologize for my previous statement, But I was going
by what was posted at the time. I still think the cops went way to far. :(

What would have been wrong with this: "THIS IS AMERICA! Please, don't rough up the guy for passionately offering his opinions. I'm not sure I can continue until I know this young man is okay and if I know there is something here that I wasn't aware of. Was he armed? Did I just see him tasered? I'm sorry....ten-minute break.....I won't allow free speech to be drowned out with violence during MY appearance here. Ten-minute break. Some things just need to be addressed as they happen."

He would have been wildly popular tonight had he said the above.

Everyone on this damn board knows that if this was Bush on the stage and this kid was asking tough questions and then got tasered that we would all be IN SHOCK. Everone would be saying, "Bush's not stopping the violent attack on that kid; and there's an example of America being a police state." I can hear it now - and so can you. Let's not hold Kerry to a lesser standard. Kerry should have been shouting so he could be heard and stopping the event for such a display of violence right in front of him.

I'm sorry, but that's how I see it - and turn it around and make it a Bush event and nobody here would be defending the violence against this kid.

Bush screens people, this guy would never have gotten in. Bush never takes unfiltered questions.

What you do know is that Kerry let him ask a question and then started to answer it - but he shouted over Kerry. Kerry did not ask that he be removed, that was the school's and the police's decision.

From what can be heard on the kid's video, it is hard to hear all Kerry said. Now the filmer was near the kid. If Kerry, speaking with a mike is hard to hear, how distinctly would Kerry, who has a hearing loss, hear the kid who did not have a mic. It is very posible that he thought the kid was simply arguing with the police.

As to what he saw, he was on the stage - they were between the last two rows of chairs. He also was attempting to end the event by finishing that question - and was not focused on the noise in the distance.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I'm a "fake" Democrat??? Because I think we should hold our own party and our leaders to the same standards we would hold members of the other party?

If someone on my side is acting like such an ass, It would quell my desire to bitchslap them for being stupid and making progressives look like arrogant, self important assholes.

For the record, those Code Pink folks at the Congressional hearings were WAAAY out of line!!!

Ok.

After watching that it's clear that this must be Vince Vaugn's love child.

Although, I have read elsewhere that the student is a Ron Paul supporter. If that is indeed true, I can't have much sympathy for him. He would only be having a taste of what his kind loves to do to it's opposition.

how quickly cops resort to using tasers. In some people with certain medical conditions it can be considered deadly force and deadly force isn't warranted unless there is a life at stake. We've had a recent case in my neck of the woods where cops tasered nonviolent protesters who had chained themselves to something. There were certainly enough cops to wait them out (they would need water or to use a toilet), but the cops chose the quick method. IMHO (as a former cop), tasers shouldn't be used for convenience. This guy will probably be getting his college education paid for and then some. (The nonviolent protesters' attorney is already negotiating a settlement.)

You may be surprised to find out that a Senator, a Senator from another state no less, can't order local law enforcement around.

This guy was out of control and the cops did everything they could before tasering the guy. I don't like tasering but those cops didn't know what he had on him and they had to get him under control.

Ask this-could this guy have even gotten into a W event or a Republican "debate" let alone being allowed near a mic???

"...could this guy have even gotten into a W event or a Republican "debate" let alone being allowed near a mic???"

But if he did, and what happened in front of Kerry, happened in front of Bush, and he too just stood there, this board would be exploding - and rightfully so.

I'd feel embarrassed that one of our own just made us look like raving loons who can't control themselves.

Maybe I'm wrong.

The campus security went berserk because a student was getting "rowdy". Probably their standard procedure.

:shrug:

You might need to practice the jump.

Hell, they're public servants, I pay their salary....that means I should be able to knock 'em around a little, right?!?

...if John Kerry were President today. I feel sorry for the tasered student, but he was behaving like an attention-seeking sixth grade child. Choices have consequences. The Florida student made a very loud, public choice...and he's intelligent enough to predict the police reaction.

Sorry for that result at your speech, Senator. I've attended a few of your public events, and you handle every one with dignity and integrity.

If he starts fighting back like he did in the video, taking him down would result in bruises between both the cops and the dumb punk. After he's released from jail he could come at them with a lawsuit for the bruises he was given and possibly win that. A taser wont do anything but make you drop to the ground, the death rates for them are few and far between.

I actually laughed at his dumbass for resisting the cops. They warned him many times that they would tase him if he didn't shutup. He deserved it.

after a person is subdued. With 6 cops on the guy, he was subdued. I imagine he has attorneys lining up around the block to represent him.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/12/earlyshow/main648859.shtml

What do you think this is, a democracy?

Asking the wrong questions, however = punishable.

He should have received help from others against those fascist cops if you ask me

People came there to hear Kerry speak....not listen to this putz pontificate. There are rules to the Q&A section, and he broke the time limit, plus the number of questions he would ask. He spent the first minute or so, rambling on his views and perceptions before he even asked the first question. He even said out loud when approached to move along: HeThe female cop audible warned him if he did not comply and roll onto his stomach, he WOULD be tazered. He still continued to resist.
He deserved what he got.

How many people were holding him down? The Tasing was completely unnecessary. Get a brain, please.

Not to get him up on his feet and out the door? Kind of counter-productive to ask someone to leave when they're a disturbance, then just hold them down in the corner and let them scream.

That brain of yours must have worked overtime on that one.

I'm truly disgusted by this event. At least the glorified security guards were put on leave.

The gun-happy neanderthals here who support Tasing anybody who gets out of line are an embarrassment to the DU, in my opinion.