UF Student Tasered at John Kerry Speech
Well, I'm sure you guys have already heard about this, but if you haven't, a UF student was tasered when he tried to ask a question to John Kerry who came to my school for a public forum which was sponsored by Accent, the student government speaker's bureau. Catch this video of it on Youtube if you haven't already:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s
*Andrew Meyer is the student asking the question*
This incident has profoundly affected a lot of the students here. Students are protesting the actions of the police and saying how they need to drop all charges against Andrew Meyer and possibly fire the cops who were involved. They are saying how we are being denied our rights to free speech.
Here's my thing: this is NOT a free speech issue. The first amendment does not say that we have the right to say WHATEVER we want, WHENEVER we want, to WHOMEVER we want, WHEREVER we want, and HOWEVER we want. It says that Congress can make no law abridging our freedom of speech. And dozens of Supreme Court decisions have placed certain restrictions on our freedom of speech. The Supreme Court is constantly weighing governmental interests versus the interests of the people and their constitutional rights. Mr. Meyer was on a university campus trying to ask a senator a question after the Q&A session had already been terminated. I have been to a lot of these debates/speeches here at UF and before the Q&A session even begins, they already address what limitations they feel they need to place on the session in order to ensure safety, security, peace, etc. of those attending the forum. If Meyer does not cooperate with those limitations, then those who are sponsoring the speech have the right to cut the microphone off. If the students wanted to protest his microphone being cut off because it denies his right to freedom of speech then I believe that that would be more relevant.
The real issue here is not free speech, but the police' use of force. Andrew Meyer resisted the cops. Whether you like cops or not, you can clearly see in the video that the cops were trying to get him out of the building and/or take him into custody. Andrew Meyer clearly knew that was what they were doing because he kept asking them what he did and why were they cuffing him and he said, "If you let me go, I'll just walk out of here." The police told him to stop resisting, to lay on his stomach and put his hands behind his back, and they warned him that they were going to tase him. He was still resisting. My father was a cop and my sister was a corrections officer, and I hate to use personal experience as part of an argument, but I have always been told that it is not as easy to subdue someone as you think. Sometimes, it's the more force, the better. When subduing a suspect, it's not just about preventing injury to the suspect, but also about preventing injury to the cops. You might think that's crap but the cops would have had to use more force since he was still resisting. His arm kept wriggling free, he kept squirming, and he wouldn't stop screaming.
I'm sorry, but I don't feel sorry for the kid, and I don't think he should get off scot-free. I don't think the cops should be fired. People hate cops and are quick to criticize. Am I 100% and completely certain that the use of a taser was justified? No, I was not one of the cops and I was not there in the huddle, but I do not believe that its use was completely out of the realm of justification.
Yeah, cops can suck. There are corrupt cops. But there is good and bad with everything, and to demonize all cops is wrong.
Lieutenant Corey Dahlem was the cop who died on the night of our third championship. He was hit by a drunken driver. He, like many of the other cops, was out there on University Avenue helping us to stay safe, while we were out on the streets celebrating. It just really pissed me off that this cop died while on duty trying to help us out and people want to tag his memorial.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. Feel free to comment.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s
*Andrew Meyer is the student asking the question*
This incident has profoundly affected a lot of the students here. Students are protesting the actions of the police and saying how they need to drop all charges against Andrew Meyer and possibly fire the cops who were involved. They are saying how we are being denied our rights to free speech.
Here's my thing: this is NOT a free speech issue. The first amendment does not say that we have the right to say WHATEVER we want, WHENEVER we want, to WHOMEVER we want, WHEREVER we want, and HOWEVER we want. It says that Congress can make no law abridging our freedom of speech. And dozens of Supreme Court decisions have placed certain restrictions on our freedom of speech. The Supreme Court is constantly weighing governmental interests versus the interests of the people and their constitutional rights. Mr. Meyer was on a university campus trying to ask a senator a question after the Q&A session had already been terminated. I have been to a lot of these debates/speeches here at UF and before the Q&A session even begins, they already address what limitations they feel they need to place on the session in order to ensure safety, security, peace, etc. of those attending the forum. If Meyer does not cooperate with those limitations, then those who are sponsoring the speech have the right to cut the microphone off. If the students wanted to protest his microphone being cut off because it denies his right to freedom of speech then I believe that that would be more relevant.
The real issue here is not free speech, but the police' use of force. Andrew Meyer resisted the cops. Whether you like cops or not, you can clearly see in the video that the cops were trying to get him out of the building and/or take him into custody. Andrew Meyer clearly knew that was what they were doing because he kept asking them what he did and why were they cuffing him and he said, "If you let me go, I'll just walk out of here." The police told him to stop resisting, to lay on his stomach and put his hands behind his back, and they warned him that they were going to tase him. He was still resisting. My father was a cop and my sister was a corrections officer, and I hate to use personal experience as part of an argument, but I have always been told that it is not as easy to subdue someone as you think. Sometimes, it's the more force, the better. When subduing a suspect, it's not just about preventing injury to the suspect, but also about preventing injury to the cops. You might think that's crap but the cops would have had to use more force since he was still resisting. His arm kept wriggling free, he kept squirming, and he wouldn't stop screaming.
I'm sorry, but I don't feel sorry for the kid, and I don't think he should get off scot-free. I don't think the cops should be fired. People hate cops and are quick to criticize. Am I 100% and completely certain that the use of a taser was justified? No, I was not one of the cops and I was not there in the huddle, but I do not believe that its use was completely out of the realm of justification.
Yeah, cops can suck. There are corrupt cops. But there is good and bad with everything, and to demonize all cops is wrong.
Lieutenant Corey Dahlem was the cop who died on the night of our third championship. He was hit by a drunken driver. He, like many of the other cops, was out there on University Avenue helping us to stay safe, while we were out on the streets celebrating. It just really pissed me off that this cop died while on duty trying to help us out and people want to tag his memorial.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. Feel free to comment.