News: UCLA Taser Incidence.

It wasn't necessarily racial profiling like Tabatabainejad claimed, but it does seem like the police was overreacting. Tabatabainejad was not cooperative (had his ID card but didn't show it to the CSOs, according to ABC7), and calling the police is standard procedure. For other students' safety, they should assume that he's not one. However, I don't believe that suspected troublemakers should be manhandled. Especially if said troublemaker was already heading out the door, student or no.

Is it an unofficial "standard procedure" to escort someone with bodily contact because of safety issues in L.A.? I, for one, am not exactly comfortable with physical contact, even in everyday situations. Given that Tabatabainejad was probably feeling a bit ruffled from the assumed racial profiling, I wouldn't be surprise that he refused police contact at all. Now, if he was really heading out the door, then why didn't keep their hands off him, since he was walking out already?

Were the police's way to escort wayward citizens (or fugitives) usual for them but is an act that Tabatabainejad wasn't used to? That seems to be a rather possible cause. He could also be just making trouble, in which case the police shouldn't resond with a Taser anyway. He was non-cooperative by sitting on the floor; he wasn'tactively resisting the police by struggling to get away. A resistance passive enough to not justify the Taser, in my book.

I think in one of the sources I listed below mentioned one officer threatening the eyewitness who asked for the officer's name and badge number with the Taser. Is that a form of crowd control that they're used to? The crowd that formed around the police and Tabatabainejad probably made the police nervous.

Interestingly, the one who videotaped the clip didn't go forward to get a clear view of what happened, probably out of fear of getting punished. Most didn't seem to have a mind to record it. Sociology is such a fascinating subject, really. Humans are rather interesting.

So my view of the whole thing is this: both sides overreacted and didn't respond properly. It's not that one side is evil and cruel or the other is "just asking for it," but this seems to be based on miscommunication.

...Despite being familiar with the internet and some related technologies, I'm still amazed by its reach and spread. It's like the HK "Bus Uncle" video..except with a lot less entertainment and quite a bit more news value.


■ 20061115 Daily Bruin (UCLA school newspaper): Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers
■ 20061115 ABC7 (+video news clip): Student Tasered By UCLA Police Department
■ 20061116 LA Times: A third incident, a new video
■ 20061117 LA Times: UCLA student stunned by Taser plans suit
■ 20061117 ABC7 (+video news clip): UCLA Acting Chancellor Agrees to Independent Probe of Taser Gun Incident
■ 20061117 SJ Mercury News: AP Wire - Angry UCLA students demand probe of Taser incident

■ Youtube: UCLA Student Tasered by Police in Library