Tasered For Speaking

B_rocK1 2007-09-18 13:13:17 UTC #1

What do you all think about this bullshit?

I feel horrible for the kid; all he did was try and get answers out of a poltician You would think that if you were campaigning for that type of a position you could handle speaking with the public; apparently the gov'nt isn't ok with free speech.

G'ah!!

CrewPierce 2007-09-18 14:12:13 UTC #2

Dude did you read what questions he was asking? He asked about impeaching Busch and if they were in a secret group the Skulls at Yale together.

Umm yea he deserved to be tasered for asking dumb questions let alone not leaving after his time was up, not walking away when they asked him to, fighting with the police ect.

How many times have you seen on cops the perp swinging at police while yelling "I'm not doing anything man, I'm trying to give up!"

It's not like he was asking a well thought out question in a calm manor and got shocked.

CrewPierce 2007-09-18 14:31:17 UTC #3

From CNN.com

"Videos of the incident posted on several Web sites show officers pulling Andrew Meyer, 21, away from the microphone after he asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University."

Ok Maybe the first question has merit since Bush does pretty much suck. However the second question is just dumb.

Everyone is yelling about freedom of speech however since he was on campus, a school does have the right to set limits on the freedom of speech. At least it was a taser not a kent State issue.

Zap_Branigan 2007-09-18 14:32:12 UTC #4

I wish I could see the video. Some people need to be tasered. I have no idea if this guy was one of them but based on CrewPierces description he may have deserved it.

Yo_Momma 2007-09-18 14:33:16 UTC #5

Someone should have tasered Sally Field at the Emmys.

Zap_Branigan 2007-09-18 14:35:55 UTC #6

Just found one I could view. Whenener you spaz out in front of cops you will get taken down.

Zap_Branigan 2007-09-18 15:05:20 UTC #7

I think someone should get tasered at every awards show. Plus it would help the ratings.

skidmark 2007-09-18 15:10:38 UTC #8

The point was that the response was out of proportion to the "infraction." Tasers are provably lethal response to an exercise in free speech, which - as I recall - is a right guaranteed us in the Bill of Rights. Perhaps his questions were unpopular and ill-timed and possibly asinine, but is tasering him a reasonable reaction?

And - If a politician is not competent enough to respond to so-called stupidity gracefully, how good a representative will he be for his constituency?

meangenes 2007-09-18 15:20:58 UTC #9

No, but it was police brutality.

I'm pretty sure that kid was trying to leave.

Oh well, just another police-state affair.

CrewPierce 2007-09-18 15:40:22 UTC #10

Well first off the politician said he would answer the questions which was very good of him. However the school didn't want to look like an idiot I'm sure so they tried to have the kid cut short so he couldn't ask anymore bad questions.

I know that for certain in public schools (say HS) they can limit what is said/worn ect so I'm assuming a public university can place limits on what people can do. This limit would be to keep their university from looking like a bunch of idiots go there.

I've been tasered before (by a friend lol) and its not going to kill you. You black out, hit the group, and wake up with your head hurting a wee bit. It's not the end of the world, and its better than the police using the knight sticks or even mace.

Zap_Branigan 2007-09-18 15:43:59 UTC #11

I think he was tasered because he refused to leave when asked and he physically resisted the police officer.

I don't see how this was a free speech issue. It was not the cops (government) that decided he should stop monopolizing the microphone it was someone from the school sponsored event that made the decision.

It looks like this guy was actually infringing on the other students speech by not waiting his turn and my not giving anyone else an opportunity.

Zap_Branigan 2007-09-18 15:50:47 UTC #12

Didn't look like he was trying to leave. Looked like he was trying to stay as long as possible.

Flow 2007-09-18 16:33:05 UTC #13

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is what he was hoping would happen.

By hopping up and down obnoxiously as the police tried to pull him away, he guaranteed something more than a simple escort out of the auditorium was in store for him.

I've met people with similar personalities; when they get the attention of others, it is bliss, so they won't easily let it go. I'm not saying he enjoyed the tazering, but I am saying that this fool got what was coming to him for resisting the cops and holding the mic for so long.

JD430 2007-09-18 16:37:57 UTC #14

Huh?

What is a "provably lethal" response?

Taser International is something like 60-0 in the win category on lawsuits where the suspect died. That means after extensive court hearings and medical testimony, it was proven that the suspect's death resulted from something other than the Taser...usually excited delirium. The Taser is most certainly a less-than-lethal response.

As far as this wingnut's behavior, he was not tasered for speaking, he was tasered for refusing to leave and actively resisting the lawful authorities trying to escort him out. There was nothing wrong with the employment of that level of force there.

If some of you rage-against-the-machiners were ever in charge, the streets of America would look like Somalia circa 1993.

jjoy1000 2007-09-18 12:42:28 UTC #15

The whole thing looked staged. He knew there were a bunch of cameras there, and he was just playing it up. He was probably hoping he would get roughed up by the police so he could try to sue them. I am sure he will try, but he basically got what he deserved.

He was told to leave and refused. Then the cops tried to remove him and kept resisting and trying to go back. At that point the cops were justified in cuffing him, and taking him away, and tasering him just makes that easier. He wasn't tasered for speaking, he was tasered for resisting an officer.

Southbound 2007-09-18 16:59:22 UTC #16

I'm willing to tolerate the continued egregious violation of our civil liberties as long as it's always filmed and we're supplied with hilarious taser videos.

Nate_Dogg 2007-09-18 17:09:14 UTC #17

I love Gainesville and UF. We always have so many exciting things going on!

system 2007-09-18 18:31:01 UTC #18

The dead give away is where he's jumping up and down adn blowing kisses to the audience. I wish they tasered him again what a dickless wonder

Avocado 2007-09-18 18:42:29 UTC #19

wow, I wish i were surprised that so many people support the suppression of human rights. No matter how stupid the question you should support his right to speak it. It's not about what he says it's about what happened to him for saying it. If you support that then you are just like the people in germany that thought hitler's regime was cool.

It's tragically ironic that people always ask "How could those germans have let such a monster do what he did?" when a comparable situation is happening right now. Those germans bought into the media they were being shown just as many people buy into the same type of media right now. Hitler's scapegoat was the jews. Who is Bush's scapegoat? terrorist's of course. Concentration camp = Guantanamo.

The styme of critical thinking was as prevalent in 1939 as it is now in 2007 north America.

-chris

AdamC 2007-09-18 19:46:54 UTC #20

i couldn't help laughing at him getting tasered.

He had a right to be angry at being ejected but I don't think resisting arrest is ever the best way to go. He could have shouted and screamed all he liked but the fact is he physically resisted.