UF student Tasered at Kerry speech
A UF student was Tasered during a speech by Sen. Kerry on Monday. Here's the story (with video on that page):
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070917/NEWS/70917016/1002/NEWS
Here's the entire video from a local-ish news channel:
http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=157250
Watching the video in its entirety, the guy did seem to be a bit of a jerk. He hijacked the mic, and ranted for a few minutes, but did his ornery behavior and conspiracy theories deserve that reaction from police? Hard to say. He was definitely a hinderance to the forum, but I don't believe he was a threat to officers. They Tasered him when he was already down, for crap's sake!
From The Gainesville Sun story:
Capt. Jeff Holcomb of the UPD said there would be an investigation into whether the officers used force appropriately, adding that employing a Taser gun would only be justified in a case where there was a threat of physical harm to officers.
Doesn't seem like there was much evidence to support that the Tasering was justified, if you go by what the police captain said.
Thoughts? Reactions?
EDIT: This story has blown up! It was on CNN every 10 minutes yesterday. I'm sure it was on all the other news channels too. There are You Tube videos with half a million hits. It's crazy. I still want to know what you all think!
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070917/NEWS/70917016/1002/NEWS
Here's the entire video from a local-ish news channel:
http://video.nbc6.net/player/?id=157250
Watching the video in its entirety, the guy did seem to be a bit of a jerk. He hijacked the mic, and ranted for a few minutes, but did his ornery behavior and conspiracy theories deserve that reaction from police? Hard to say. He was definitely a hinderance to the forum, but I don't believe he was a threat to officers. They Tasered him when he was already down, for crap's sake!
From The Gainesville Sun story:
Capt. Jeff Holcomb of the UPD said there would be an investigation into whether the officers used force appropriately, adding that employing a Taser gun would only be justified in a case where there was a threat of physical harm to officers.
Doesn't seem like there was much evidence to support that the Tasering was justified, if you go by what the police captain said.
Thoughts? Reactions?
EDIT: This story has blown up! It was on CNN every 10 minutes yesterday. I'm sure it was on all the other news channels too. There are You Tube videos with half a million hits. It's crazy. I still want to know what you all think!