Question about the UCLA taser incident

[ourbluenation]

If I saw it correctly, it looks like in the end they dragged him out...why didn't they just do that in the first place, without tasering him 5 freaking times?

[nini]

1. good question

My guess is because they're assholes.

[POAS]

2. Because they were enjoying it.

[Karenina]

11. They were competing for the "Taser Award!"

The prize is a lapel pin.

[POAS]

12. In the shape of a lightning bolt?

edited to add

[Karenina]

14. Looks about right.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-ucla17nov17,1,4599352.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

"The incident follows the recent announcement that four of the campus police department's nearly 60 full-time sworn officers had won so-called Taser Awards granted by the manufacturer of the device to "law enforcement officers who save a life in the line of duty through extraordinary use of the Taser." The award stemmed from an incident in which officers subdued a patient who allegedly threatened staff at the campus' Neuropsychiatric Hospital with metal scissors.

Jeff Young, assistant police chief, declined to indicate whether any of the honored officers were among the several involved in Tuesday's incident."

[shraby]

3. There was no need for any tasering after he

was in handcuffs, and I seriously doubt that there was a need for the first zap.

[babylonsister]

4. Because they appear to be vicious rent-a-cops who enjoyed

inflicting pain.

[etherealtruth]

8. That's the only plausible explanation n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. because they are sadistic bastards

[wavesofeuphoria]

6. A question ... early in the video of the incident ...

.. he is on the floor and the cops are telling him to get up. He doesn't .. so they taser him more. Its my understanding that he was tasered before this. I don't know about the effects of tasering .. is it possible he couldn't get up or get up without assistance (I think he was hand cuffed as well) .. because he had been tasered?

[1monster]

7. It is an exercise in teaching students that if they do not comply

immediately with any order given by a person in authority, they, too, will be tortured into compliance.

If you witness someone writhing and screaming in pain, are you likely to do what he/she did to get in that state?

Fear is the tool of choice for these people. They get a real rush from having the power to cause fear and pain at their own whim.

[ourbluenation]

9. ok - so if I have it right that they did drag him out in the end...

then this was absolutley a classic need for control, not professional policing. At some point their goal changed from removing him from the building, to teaching him a lesson, to getting him to submit to their control. The sickening irony is that they actually the ones who lost control. Two bits says they know deep down they fucked up. Another two bits says this video will become classic police training on how NOT to subdue someone.

I really think that when the shit hit the fan, these particular cops showed that they are not ready for prime time.

[LibDemAlways]

10. Why are rent-a-cops roaming the

library at UCLA in a pack at 11:00 PM in the first place?

Wouldn't their services be better utilized outside providing escorts for students walking back to the parking lot or dorm at that hour or simply patrolling the campus making their presence felt?

This was a blatant abuse of power and show of force against a young man of Middle Eastern descent. I suspect an attractive blonde coed would have been treated quite differently.

[uppityperson]

13. power.eom