LAT: For UCLA taser cop, not the first violent incident (shot homeless man)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser21nov21,0,1459046.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The UCLA police officer videotaped last week using a Taser gun on a student also shot a homeless man at a campus study hall room three years ago and was earlier recommended for dismissal in connection with an alleged assault on fraternity row, authorities said.

UCLA police confirmed late Monday that the officer who fired the Taser gun was Terrence Duren, who has served in the university's Police Department for 18 years.

Duren, who was named officer of the year in 2001, also has been involved in several controversial incidents on campus.

In an interview with The Times on Monday night, Duren, 43, defended his record as a campus police officer and urged people to withhold judgment until the review of his Taser use is completed.

"I patrol this area the same way I would want someone to patrol the neighborhoods where I live," he said. "People make allegations against cops all the time. Saying one thing and proving it are two different things."

[Alexander]

1. Fire this asshole. Now.

Better yet, throw him in jail. He does not belong on the force.

"Duren said Monday that he joined the UCLA police force after being fired from the Long Beach Police Department in the late 1980s. He said he was a probationary officer at the time and was let go because of poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge."

I wonder if that "poor geographical knowledge" extends to assuming an innocent student of Iranian descent is automatically a terrorist?

[AndyTiedye]

2. Oh Great. So If He Didn't Have a Taser, He Woulda SHOT That Student

[Eric J in MN]

3. Is "the homeless man, Willie Davis Frazier" still in prison...

...for allegedly assaulting this dirty cop?

[Karenina]

22. Duren needs to be FIRED and CONFINED.

http://www.bruinwalk.com/groups/DailyBruin/article.asp?articleID=79

3/16/2005
Kerckhoff suspect being held in mental institute
By Ari Bloomekatz

Willie Davis Frazier sat behind the visitor's glass at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles nearly a year and a half ago; his white shirt was stained with blood and he rubbed his hand across his forehead and kept saying he didn't belong in jail.
Frazier was arrested and charged in October 2003 for allegedly assaulting a university police officer during an altercation in Kerckhoff Hall.

The officer, Terrence Duren, shot Frazier twice in the abdomen during the incident, saying that Frazier had scratched him during a scuffle in the Kerckhoff second-floor men's bathroom and tried to reach for the officer's gun.

Frazier has since spent two birthdays in jail without being convicted of any crime. Homeless at the time of his arrest, Frazier has not paid his $500,000 bail and was moved from the Men's Central Jail to Patton State Hospital, a mental health facility where prisoners are held if deemed incompetent to stand trial.

<snip>

Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose, a lawyer in the psychiatric unit, said Frazier was sent to Patton after he was found incompetent to stand trial on Dec. 8, 2004.
Frazier's trial had begun over a year before, but Judge Katherine Mader, who preceded over the hearings, raised questions about Frazier's competency to stand trial several times during the course of his hearings, said Deputy District Attorney Frank Tavelman, the lead prosecutor in the case.

<snip>


Speaking from inside the visitor's station at Patton in February, Frazier said he was just happy to be out of jail for the time being.
He wore clean, brown standard-issue clothes from the hospital and his speech was often haphazard and random.

John Raphling, Frazier's public defender at the time, said Duren, a former university police officer of the year, used excessive force when arresting Frazier and had a long history of using excessive violence in past encounters. During Frazier's hearing in January, Raphling said there is a long history of complaints against Duren and that university police have looked the other way.
"I wonder where the outrage is about an officer who shot an unarmed man who was trying to get away from him," Raphling commented about the Frazier trial in January 2004.

Raphling also added that Duren was given a notice of termination from UCLA on Aug. 16, 1990, a hearing was held and Duren retained his job but served a 90-day suspension. Raphling also said in January 2004 that Duren testified under oath that he had been fired from the Long Beach police department.

Late Monday night, Duren said he didn't know too much about Frazier's trial right now and that he had put the incident out of his mind.


Copyright © 2005 Student Media UCLA

[Eric J in MN]

24. Thanks. So the homeless man is confined to a psychiatric hospital...

...while the cop who shot him is walking around tasering college students.

[uppityperson]

4. This line stands out: "Saying one thing and proving it are two different things."

Just by that I declare him an arrogant power-mad jerk.

More from the story, history of this arrogant power-mad asshole.

Duren said Monday that he joined the UCLA police force after being fired from the Long Beach Police Department in the late 1980s. He said he was a probationary officer at the time and was let go because of poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge.

In May 1990, he was accused of using his nightstick to choke someone who was hanging out on a Saturday in front of a UCLA fraternity. Kente S. Scott alleged that Duren confronted him while he was walking on the street outside the Theta Xi fraternity house.

Scott sued the university, and according to court records, UCLA officials moved to have Duren dismissed from the police force. But after an independent administrative hearing, officials overturned the dismissal, suspending him for 90 days, according to court records. Duren on Monday disputed the allegations made by Scott.

In October 2003, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man he encountered in Kerckhoff Hall. Duren chased the man into a bathroom, where they struggled and he fired two shots. The homeless man, Willie Davis Frazier, was later convicted of assaulting an officer. Duren said Frasier had tried to grab his gun during the struggle. But Frazier's attorney, John Raphling, said his client was mentally ill and didn't do anything to provoke the shooting.

[NOLADEM]

14. Absolutely that is the key line in the story.

He said 'Saying one thing and proving it are two different things." rather than 'Saying one thing and it being true are two different things."

BIG difference.

A badge and gun for some people is like taking a little cocaine every day. They become detached and I think in a way, they are hungry to use the tools they are given.

What works to prevent this? Hire only cops with a four year degree. Several departments are trying this around the country. The catch? You have to pay well enough to attract a 100% college educated crowd. Studies have shown that this results in fewer ethics and force complaints.

[Eric J in MN]

5. How does it increase safety to demand IDs after 11 PM?

Cops shouldn't bother people who are minding their own business.

[Ms. Clio]

7. He was in the computer lab, using a computer that probably required a username & password

So he clearly was a student with a legal right to be there -- why hassle him for a stupid card?

[lithiumbomb]

15. well passwords can be stolen...

Usernames and passwords are easily obtained through a whole pile of methods (one of which is simply using a friend's account).

[Ms. Clio]

16. Then you ask the guy's name, and check him in the computer

What the hell is all the high-tech for if the entire universe revolves around a plastic card? The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

[Igel]

21. Because after a certain hour staff goes home.

That leaves the students in study lounges and computer labs, with no controlled access.

There have been assaults and thefts by off-campus people on students; the students work, they doze, and they wake up to find their stuff gone or a hand on their genitals. There are student-on-student assaults, but short of hiring people to stand watch those can't be stopped. Homeless people also wander into the lounges to sleep; sometimes they don't bother students, sometimes they do. The best UCLA and ASUCLA can do is make sure that everybody in the lounges and labs are allowed to be there.

Students agree to ID checks by virtue of being in the lounges and labs that late at night.

[Ms. Clio]

23. oh, bs

Computer labs require user names and passwords to access -- that is controlled access. In fact, many universities link the student's photo ID with their account, and the faculty or anyone else with access to that information could see and verify that the student was exactly who he claimed to be.

[Bitwit1234]

6. Doesn't he know they have tape

of the incident. And the whole world by now knows what happened. Why are we supposed to with hold judgment. He can't defend anything he has done. And to top it all off he threatens to taser someone because they asked for his badge number.

[Pastiche423]

8. Kinda arrogant, eh?

Sure I'll withhold judgement, as long as real justice prevails.

[TheWraith]

9. "I patrol this area the same way I would want someone to patrol the neighborhoods where I live,"

Okay then. In that case, let me wander around outside your home at night, and if I see you outdoors, I'll electrocute you a few times, since you're obviously doing something suspicious.

Asshole. Reading about guys like this makes me want to kick them in the nuts.

[bluestateguy]

10. A campus cop for 18 years?

This guy couldn't get a job as a real cop?

[tkmorris]

11. Upthread

He HAD a job as a real cop, in Long Beach. He was fired in 1980 I think it said, for being too stupid to write a report and having no real clue where he was on the planet.

OK, so I'm biased, sue me. :D

[Trillo]

12. I was just thinking,

what a wonderful world it could be if only schools c/would teach as efficiently/effectively as they punish with zero tolerance. If lessons remaining in students' minds could be made as permanent as this memory of being tasered will be for this student.

[MadHound]

13. Well, I hope that UCLA has paid up their liability insurance

Because I think that they're going to be paying out through the nose over this one. Retaining such person as a police officer, when it has been clearly demonstrated before this incident he wasn't fit to serve is just asking to get sued.

[Blue_Tires]

17. my thoughts as well

how does a major university continue to employ someone with such a spotty track recoed?

[depakid]

18. Saying one thing and proving it are two different things.

Having the scene on videotape tends to help in the proof department.

[Naipes]

19. "Independent" investigation my ass...

What gauls me is that any time law enforcement is involved in some sort of dispute like this, whether it be a shooting or a taser incident, THEY ARE the ones that investigate the incident! WTF? They get to investigate themselves? Gee, I wonder how it will turn out? (sarcasm) That's like letting a bank robber investigate whether there was a robbery. It's such total bull shit. I don't know why people put up with it.

[BadgerKid]

20. He's toast

Good thing none of the students tackled this out-of-control cop, or else he would have gotten another free pass.

His partner cop should also be reprimanded for standing by.

[shanti]

25. whoa, it's getting better....

digging up ALL kinds of dirt.

[Seabiscuit]

26. "I have nothing to hide"??????????????

"The officer said that when the probe is complete, he'd like to sit down with students, particularly Muslim student groups, to explain his actions at the library. 'I have nothing to hide.'"

Yeah, he sure doesn't "hide" his taser. Is that what he wants to tell Muslim students???

Friggin' arrogant criminal pig.

BTW, he's black. Arrogant criminal pigs don't come in any color. They come with the territory.

[Bonobo]

27. To all the "Videos don't show it all" crowd:

Sometimes they do.



oh, yeah...and I told you so.