It appears there have been some interesting developments. First of all - the student DID file a lawsuit.
(content in itals below taken from the incident's wikipedia entry)
"On January 17, 2007, Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging the campus officers used excessive force, and that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He is seeking unspecified damages.[29] According to the lawsuit, Tabatabainejad has bipolar disorder and informed the officers of his condition, but was treated in a way that constitutes discrimination under the ADA.[30] His attorney, Paul Hoffman, has said that a February 2008 court date has been set.[19]"
Also, both an independent and an internal investigation on the incident were done. The internal investigation is not available - but apparently found no policy violations. In constrast, the independent investigation did find policy violations and recommended that the campus tasering policy be changed. Read the full independent report (in pdf), released in August 2007.
Further, it's notable that the student was NOT prosecuted for resisting arrest.
--------------------------(original blog entry from 11/18/06)-----------------------
UCLA Student Tasered Repeatedly by Campus Police in Library
This is the cameraphone video.
If the embed doesn't work, go here.
When I first saw this (at neph_politics and other journals).. I was skeptical. It made my stomach turn and made me cry, but I suspected it was a youtube stunt. I thought, maybe the cops are faking it. So I did some research. See below. Read the articles and listen to the interviews. Some of the facts are still unclear, and some will likely continue to be debatable. But it is a compelling and disturbing story, any way you cut it.
Here are a few allegations/facts I'd like you to keep in mind.
- This was a routine ID check late at night at a school library
- The student is named Mostafa Tabatabainejad and alleged racial profiling when he, rather than the other white students around him, were asked for ID
- It's debatable whether he was getting up to leave or refusing to show his ID when the police grabbed him.. (but regardless)
- After going "limp" - he was tasered repeatedly while the police yelled at him to "stand up."
- He was tasered repeatedly AFTER being placed in handcuffs
- There are no allegations that the student was ever violent or threatened the officers. He went limp/prone and did not comply when they ordered him to stand up.
- Other students repeatedly asked the police for their badge IDs and asked them to stop
- One student who protested the tasering was told "Get back over there or you'll get tasered too." (see original video and Olberman report)
LA Times initial report
a-me-ucla17nov17,1,1813095.story">LA Times article on planned lawsuit
PDF report from UCPD
PDF taser use policy
UCLA newspaper report
Another UCLA newspaper report
Daily Kos writeup with links
Olberman on MSNBC (interview, narrative, video)
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZiIebst4fc
MSNBC interview of Mustafa's lawyer regarding potential federal civil rights lawsuit (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhYCeO67fCs)
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