Author Topic: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question  (Read 14064 times)

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Christians4LessGvt

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #30 on: September 19, 2007, 08:28:11 AM »
New details cast doubt on Tasered student incident

By TRAVIS REED - Associated Press
Sept. 18, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Hordes of Internet and TV viewers have seen police Tasering a college student who was either passionately questioning Sen. John Kerry or staging his most popular video stunt yet.

At a University of Florida forum Monday, Andrew Meyer loudly peppered Kerry with questions about impeaching President Bush, why he didn't challenge the 2004 election results and whether he and Bush were members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.

Police tried to escort him out after he went over his time, and shocked the student after he resisted and yelled, "Don't Tase me, bro!"

"What did I do?" he screamed as he was led from the room.

An officer, however, alleged in a police report that Meyer's "demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight" and that he was "laughing" and "lighthearted" on the way to jail.

Details from Meyer's online writings and videos also raised the question of whether his harangue was genuine.

Meyer, a senior telecommunications major from the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Weston, has a Web site featuring several homemade videos. In one, he stands in a street with a sign that says "Harry Dies" after the latest Harry Potter book was released. In another, he acts like a drunk in a bar while trying to pick up a man dressed in drag.

The site also has what is called a "disorganized diatribe" attributed to Meyer that criticizes the Iraq war, the news media for not covering the conflict enough and the American public for paying too much attention to celebrity news.

Another site had pictures of Meyer licking a woman's face and making a suggestive pose as he stood behind a fake cow. The site listed his activities as "getting wasted" and "being ridiculous."

None of those things came close to drawing the amount of attention Meyer has received from Monday's incident. Various videos of the arrest had been viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube as of Tuesday evening and were in heavy rotation on TV news.

Police said Tuesday that just before he started speaking, Meyer tried to make sure the moment would be saved for posterity, asking a woman to tape his exchange with Kerry.

One officer said in a police report that the woman was "there to film him" and that Meyer asked, "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?"


Another officer said the 22-year-old woman said she was in line to ask a question ahead of Meyer when she was asked to tape, but she did not know him.

Meyer, 21, had no comment after he was released on his recognizance on various charges following a night in jail.

University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Monday's takedown was "regretful." He asked for a state probe of campus police actions and placed two officers on leave.

Machen would not say whether the university had any previous conflicts with Meyer but indicated some such issues would come up in the investigation. He declined to elaborate and would not say whether he thought the latest episode was a prank.

University police said in a news release that officers had been summoned by the forum's sponsors to escort Meyer from the building, though organizers disputed that and said his microphone was cut off after he used a sexually explicit term.

Police added that Meyer was Tasered because he resisted when officers were attempting to place him in handcuffs. His lawyer, Robert Griscti, said it appeared Meyer was shocked after the cuffs were already on.

About 100 students gathered on campus Tuesday to plan protests, some wearing T-shirts denouncing police violence.

Benjamin Dictor, a liberal arts junior speaking for the group, called for the officers to be disciplined, Tasers to be banned on campus and the charges dropped.

"For a question to be met with arrest, not to mention physical violence, is completely unacceptable in the United States, especially in the halls of education," Dictor said.

After Meyer repeatedly and loudly refused to walk away at the forum, two officers took him by the arms. Kerry can be heard saying, "That's all right, let me answer his question."

Audience members applauded, though it was difficult to tell whether it was for the officers' action or Kerry's remark. The audience for the most part sat quietly and watched the fracas.

Meyer struggled for several seconds as up to four officers tried to remove him from the room. He screamed for help and tried to break away from officers with his arms flailing, then was forced to the ground and ordered to stop resisting.

As Kerry told the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer yelled at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro," just before he was shocked.

Kerry, D-Mass., said Tuesday he regretted that a healthy discussion was interrupted, and said he never had a dialogue end that way in 37 years of public appearances.

"Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine," he told The Associated Press in Washington.

Meyer was arrested on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace but the State Attorney's Office had yet to make the formal charging decision. Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor.

Griscti said Meyer was resting and wouldn't speak with reporters.

"He's had a long night, obviously," Griscti said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5143496.html



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Michael Tee

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #31 on: September 19, 2007, 11:59:11 AM »
Even an obnoxious, self-promoting ass-hole (IF that's in fact what he was) should NOT have been tasered in the circumstances.  In fact, nothing in that article adds even the tiniest justification to those cops.  That was just disgusting.

BT

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #32 on: September 19, 2007, 12:11:05 PM »
Quote
That was just disgusting.

Again Mikey, Watch the video. Don't accept the authors filter. Decide for yourself.


Amianthus

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #33 on: September 19, 2007, 12:34:44 PM »
Even an obnoxious, self-promoting ass-hole (IF that's in fact what he was) should NOT have been tasered in the circumstances.

No, only those resisting arrest should be tasered.

And this guy was resisting arrest.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Michael Tee

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #34 on: September 19, 2007, 01:20:45 PM »
<<One article I read said that part of the audience cheered when he was taken out.>>

Great line further up in the thread says that there were probably people cheering at the Crucifixion.

Anyway one of the comments I saw said it's hard to tell if they were cheering at the removal or at Kerry's remarks at about the same time that he'd answer the question and there was no need to haul the kid away.

Xavier_Onassis

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #35 on: September 19, 2007, 03:08:14 PM »
No, only those resisting arrest should be tasered.

And this guy was resisting arrest.
============================================
But the IMPORTANT thing is that after they turned the mike off, this guy was zero threat to anyone, and there was NO reason to arrest him.

Suppose you are being arrested by storm troopers. Should you submit to them as well, as they lead you off to the Zyklon Playpen?

Once the protester is off-camera, cops can be quite cruel. There are cops who become cops just because they enjoy stomping the crap out of arrestees. This is pretty well-known and has happened quite often here in South Florida.

There was some sort of Interamerican Globalization Forum, and a dozen or so unprotesting bike riders were arrested, clobbered and thrown in jail overnight. We have Banana Republic cops here.

There was no reason to arrest this dude, and no reason to taser him, either.
Of course in ze auld country, perhapz zis is kommon...
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_JS

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #36 on: September 19, 2007, 03:13:17 PM »
It might also be noted that a taser can be deadly. There have been suspects killed after being hit with a taser.
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Amianthus

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #37 on: September 19, 2007, 03:38:39 PM »

Yeah, that's what we need in this country. Everyone deciding for themselves that their arrest is reasonable or unreasonable.

Guess we'll zero unreasonable arrests after that. I don't think there will be any reasonable arrests, either.

Hey! XO has a plan to save the government money! No more police! That's the ticket!
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

sirs

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #38 on: September 19, 2007, 03:55:32 PM »
Yeah, that's what we need in this country. Everyone deciding for themselves that their arrest is reasonable or unreasonable.  Guess we'll zero unreasonable arrests after that. I don't think there will be any reasonable arrests, either.  Hey! XO has a plan to save the government money! No more police! That's the ticket!

 ;D
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Xavier_Onassis

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #39 on: September 19, 2007, 05:10:13 PM »
I suggest that if it is determined that there was no need for force, such as tasering or handcuffs, then (a) the cops should be disciplined in some way and (b) the perp should have all charges dropped against him. And if there is any physical damage done to him, that he is allowed to sue the sumbitches.

These cops were way out of line. Asking long questions is never a threat to the security of anyone.

Politicians like to give long non-answers to questions, and this is also not illegal, although it is a pain in the butt when they do it.

I am pretty sure that in the Netherlands or Denmark or even in most of Europe, this guy would not have been manhandled. Not unless he seemed to be a physical threat to Kerry or others.

These are supposed to protect and to serve. These goons were doing neither.

The ideal number of unreasonable arrests is zero. Any moron could see that this guy posed no threat to anyone.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

BT

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #40 on: September 19, 2007, 08:27:29 PM »
Police report student told them: 'You didn't do anything wrong'
5:52 p.m., Sept. 18, 2007

Police have released the incident report detailing the Tasering of a University of Florida student during a campus forum with Sen. John Kerry Monday, and the officer who actually Tasered Andrew Meyer wrote in the report that Meyer later told police, "You didn't do anything wrong."

In the 12-page report, which gives accounts of the incident from the perspective of eight different officers who were present Monday afternoon, Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present.

"As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again," Mallo wrote.

Mallo was one of two officers who actually rode in the vehicle as Meyer was escorted to the Alachua County jail, and she said said he told them during the ride: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job," according to Mallo's account.

Mallo also wrote in her report that he asked, at one point, if cameras would be present at the jail.

The report details the events leading up to Meyer's arrest, saying that Meyer was in line to ask a question of Sen. Kerry when it was decided that no more questions would be allowed.



http://www.starbanner.com/article/20070918/NEWS/70918007/1053/BREAKING_NEWS

Meyer continued down the aisle toward Sen. Kerry angrily, according to police, saying he wanted the senator to answer his question because he had been waiting for two hours.

Though Sen. Kerry directed that Meyer be allowed to ask his question, police reported that Meyer did not ask any specific question and instead "badgered" the senator, and at one point said something about President Clinton being impeached over a sexual act.

At that point, police reported that ACCENT Director Max Tyroler turned off Meyer's microphone and asked police to escort him out of the auditorium, saying, "He had said enough," according to Officer Mallo's report.

Officers then proceeded to attempt to remove Meyer from the room, but when he resisted, they placed him on the ground and tried to handcuff him. The six officers who actually took part in holding Meyer down while he was being handcuffed reported that they were only able to get a handcuff on his right hand because he was squirming so much.

The supervising officer, Sgt. Eddie King, attempted to Taser Meyer on his chest, but he reported that his Taser would not deploy. He then instructed Mallo to Taser Meyer, and she Tasered him on his shoulder, according to one of the officer's report.

The officers were then able to fully handcuff Meyer and escort him from the building. Each of the six officers reported that Meyer yelled things like, "They're going to kill me," and, "They are giving me to the government," while he was being taken from the room.

-- Alice Wallace/The Gainesville Sun

yellow_crane

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #41 on: September 19, 2007, 11:35:25 PM »
Police report student told them: 'You didn't do anything wrong'
5:52 p.m., Sept. 18, 2007

Police have released the incident report detailing the Tasering of a University of Florida student during a campus forum with Sen. John Kerry Monday, and the officer who actually Tasered Andrew Meyer wrote in the report that Meyer later told police, "You didn't do anything wrong."

In the 12-page report, which gives accounts of the incident from the perspective of eight different officers who were present Monday afternoon, Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present.

"As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again," Mallo wrote.

Mallo was one of two officers who actually rode in the vehicle as Meyer was escorted to the Alachua County jail, and she said said he told them during the ride: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job," according to Mallo's account.

Mallo also wrote in her report that he asked, at one point, if cameras would be present at the jail.

The report details the events leading up to Meyer's arrest, saying that Meyer was in line to ask a question of Sen. Kerry when it was decided that no more questions would be allowed.



http://www.starbanner.com/article/20070918/NEWS/70918007/1053/BREAKING_NEWS

Meyer continued down the aisle toward Sen. Kerry angrily, according to police, saying he wanted the senator to answer his question because he had been waiting for two hours.

Though Sen. Kerry directed that Meyer be allowed to ask his question, police reported that Meyer did not ask any specific question and instead "badgered" the senator, and at one point said something about President Clinton being impeached over a sexual act.

At that point, police reported that ACCENT Director Max Tyroler turned off Meyer's microphone and asked police to escort him out of the auditorium, saying, "He had said enough," according to Officer Mallo's report.

Officers then proceeded to attempt to remove Meyer from the room, but when he resisted, they placed him on the ground and tried to handcuff him. The six officers who actually took part in holding Meyer down while he was being handcuffed reported that they were only able to get a handcuff on his right hand because he was squirming so much.

The supervising officer, Sgt. Eddie King, attempted to Taser Meyer on his chest, but he reported that his Taser would not deploy. He then instructed Mallo to Taser Meyer, and she Tasered him on his shoulder, according to one of the officer's report.

The officers were then able to fully handcuff Meyer and escort him from the building. Each of the six officers reported that Meyer yelled things like, "They're going to kill me," and, "They are giving me to the government," while he was being taken from the room.

-- Alice Wallace/The Gainesville Sun



This plucky kid is a journalism major. 

He maintains an activist blog.

He is an activist.

The upbeat signal here is that activists are beginning to emerge, with exactly the same tactics used by the activists in the sixties, used for exactly the same reasons--it is all that is left to them after the dire controls put in place by the Right.  These tactics challenge and confront a stone-walled line of protectionism wherein the truth is controlled and damage is spun.

He was merely speaking truth to power.

And in case some just think him an asshole, to many, and soon many more, he is confronting the locks and chains that have been put in place regarding free speech ever since Bush and Rove and Cheney were elected.

I salute his courage and conviction.

He did what journalists should have been doing this whole while--dismissing the spin and lies and demanding the truth.

sirs

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #42 on: September 19, 2007, 11:37:56 PM »
"As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again,"

Boy, doesn't that sum things up, nicely
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

hnumpah

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #43 on: September 19, 2007, 11:40:19 PM »
Quote
It might also be noted that a taser can be deadly. There have been suspects killed after being hit with a taser.

Probably fewer than those who have been killed or seriously injured by 9mm, .38 Special, .40 S&W, etc.
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BT

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Re: Rude Student Tasered After Asking Kerry A Question
« Reply #44 on: September 19, 2007, 11:59:49 PM »
Quote
He was merely speaking truth to power.

Yeah. I bet his role model is Abbie Hoffman.

Lights Camera Action.

It's all been done before.