" Meyer did ask, at one point, if the cameras were going to be at the jail."

[Clintonista2]

That was from the police report. Meyers asked this on the way to the jail. How can anyone on DU be supporting this guy? He bragged about how he is a "pro at heckling", he then cut to the front of the line and began distrupting the forum. This guy is an attention-seeking prat, and I really thought the people of DU were smarter than to support this guy.

[IndyOp]

1. Wikipedia on Narcissistic Personality Disorder -

At least five of the following are necessary for a diagnosis (as with many DSM diagnoses, they must form a pervasive pattern; for example, a person who shows these criteria only in one or two relationships or situations would not properly be diagnosed with NPD):

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by other special people
4. requires excessive admiration
5. strong sense of entitlement
6. takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious or believes others are envious of him or her
9. arrogant affect.

He did not deserve to be tasered and, still, he is no one to look up to.

I would like to see the video of all of the other students who were asking questions after having listened to Kerry until Meyer barged in and pushed himself to the front of the line.

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. I agree with you.

If one more person suggests that he was tased because of his speech, I am going to scream. He was obnoxious and disruptive.

[kirby]

3. I dont give a rats ass if he farted in the cops face...

With 6 cops around to subdue him and with him not being a public threat to anyones safety, tasering was police brutality.

[Clintonista2]

When you resist arrest, the police don't give you a lollypop to calm you down

This guy was asked SEVERAL times to calm down before being tasered. Other students attest that they felt that this guy was a danger to himself & others, and after having watched the video, I would have to agree. This guy was out of control.

[kirby]

5. Who said a lollypop?

There were 6 officers. They could have tackled him to the ground. Tasering is extreme and has even caused death in some individuals. Tasering was WAY over the top. Police are allowed to use way too much force in this country and worse the public condones it.

In an even more absurd abuse of power, the guy will be charged with 'resisting arrest using violence'. By adding violence to the charge, it turns it into a felony act. So just because you jerk your arms and dont comply like a sheep, they slap you with a felony...

[Maribelle]

10. Tasering was a legal procedure, and not over the top under the circumstances.

Sorry, but if I were a student at UF and there was a person acting as irratic, vulger, and disrespectful of the law as this person was, that left shoulder of his being tasered would bring a welcomed relief to me.

How about asking students at Virginia Tech about this poor widdle student being tasered.

[kirby]

31. Oh please...

"How about asking students at Virginia Tech about this poor widdle student being tasered."

Oh please, someone armed with a microphone and a stenopad is a far cry from someone armed with guns. So I guess all of you here that condone this police behavior think the same tactics would be fine on Code Pink when they resist the Capitol Hill police? Taser them all, let God sort em out...

[TwilightGardener]

15. At some point, the cops might get injured trying to subdue him--

how long were they supposed to keep holding him down if he kept insisting on flopping and flailing (for theatric effect)? I have some sympathy for cops in this situation, because as a former nurse, I know what it's like to struggle with thrashing, difficult-to-control patients--wrenched backs are common in the profession. At some point, if the guy doesn't stop fighting, he gets a zap--entirely fair.

[onenote]

20. the chances that he would be injured were far greater if the cops had continued

to physically wrestle with him. They obviously used a stun device on a low setting that got his attention by causing moderate pain and discomfort for a couple of seconds. If you watch the video, he screams "ow" a few times, but shows absolutely no ill-effects after just a few seconds.

Wrestling with him on the ground posed a far greater risk to him, to the cops, and to onlookers.

Tasers can be and are abused. But this doesn't appear to be a case where tasers were used in manner that caused a threat to this guy's well-being.

[Maribelle]

7. How do you know he was not a threat to anyone's safety?

You know the guy is so what, sweet and innocent?

After the fact?

Crystal ball gazing?

You are positive that what happend on the Gainseville campus will never happen again?

Likewise Virginia Tech?

Resisting arrest is a crime, regardless if you agree with the charges or not.

[endarkenment]

9. I am confident that an unarmed individual surrounded by 8 policemen

all trained in restraint techniques that do not require a taser is not a threat to anyone's safety.

[Maribelle]

11. How on earth do you know he was unarmed? Monday morning quarterbacking?

And would you rather have had the police break his left wrist to get it into the cuff, because this kid was headed there with all his violent twisting and kicking? He had his left shoulder tasered. Not his chest. Not his head.

[endarkenment]

17. He was unarmed. A simple fact.

However if you believe that the police should act on the assumption that every individual they engage with presents a lethal threat and should be assumed to be armed and dangerous, we are going to have a lot of dead citizens to account for.

8 policemen can easily handcuff one person without breaking anything.

[Maribelle]

19. Sorry, it truly was not known that he was unarmed. He was acting crazy. He was resisting arrest.

But by you're crying "every individual they engage with" you give the impression you would rather inject hysteria rather than discuss facts. And so goodby.

Est-ce que, que des faits me dit importe quand j'ai tout ce bon sang à bouillir ?

[endarkenment]

23. You claimed that since they couldn't know for sure he was unarmed

that they should act under the assumption that he presented an armed threat. On that assumption they should have shot him.

In your opinion he was 'acting crazy'. I watched some of the videos and I did not observe a crazy person. I observed a person upset at the fact that the police had inserted themselves into something that was none of their business. He barely resisted arrest, and resisting arrest is not evidence of insanity, at least not yet.

[FormerDittoHead]

21. If they thought he was armed, they wouldn't have used a taser. They don't use tasers against guns.nt

[onenote]

22. Now its eight policemen?

Soon it will be the entire United States Army.

Here is a video shot from a different angle than the one's I previously viewed. It confirms a few things.
First, when he was first being escorted out, he was not being manhandled by the two cops involved. Even after he began struggling and pulling away, minimal force was applied. Ultimately, as the struggle continued, he was taken to the ground and additional officers came in as he continues to try to avoid being handcuffed and struggles to get away from them. THe video is not very pretty at this point as you hear him being tasered and screaming. But its also clear that the pain was of short duration and that he suffered no lasting effects from it, as is further made clear from videos shot outside the hall moments later.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s

[endarkenment]

24. Yes 8.

The youtube video clearly shows 6 policemen on top of him and one more watching, accounts indicate two were watching the other 6. Six plus two usually amounts to 8.

[kirby]

32. Resisting arrest wiht violence == felony!

"Resisting arrest is a crime, regardless if you agree with the charges or not."

Normally resisting arrest is a misdemeanor and will be punished accordingly. This guy will have the added trumped up charge of 'resisting arrest with violence' which becomes a felony. Did you realize that abuse of power? How absurd.

[Mist]

28. Yes--I thought the incident was more about out of control cops and their taser toy. nt

[peacetalksforall]

4. What's your timeline for this accusation? Immediately as we heard

about that evening? Or yesterday?

[karynnj]

6. A large part of the problem is that Meyer's did control muchof the

early information. It was his video, linked by the Miami Herald, that people saw and he obviously was a major source of their article. This led to significant distortion. Here is another first person account I found via google.

ttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1838972&mesg_id=1842397

[endarkenment]

8. I am opposed to police brutality and the excessive use of force.

[Apollo11]

12. Thank goodness I am not alone!

Maybe we should set up a group for DU members who support human rights? :eyes:

[endarkenment]

18. indeed.

but this is fairly typical, and really discouraging.

[Double T]

13. Many on DU believe the police are ALWAYS wrong and at fault.........

for confrontational outcomes between the perpetrator and the police; it is not so.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Some are, but too many are of...

the same pack mentality that made them jump to a kneejerk defense of that asshole with the Circuit City reciept.

There's a few more examples that I can't remember right now, but someone the right kweyword based on an incomplete story and all hell breaks loose.

It's not that WE would ever spin a story, would we? That's only the rightwing and MSM that would spin. Right?

[endarkenment]

26. Yes like those idiots who objected to the execution of

de Menezeres for no apparent reason. They should be tasered.

[TreasonousBastard]

29. False argument. If the cops used undue force...

that is one thing, but to use that to spin the story to make this asshole a hero is just plain wrong.

A-- Were his actions acceptable or not and should he have been stopped or restrained?

B-- When it was decided he should be stopped or restrained, was undue force used?

Two separate, although related, issues. Keep them straight.

[endarkenment]

30. Yes indeed only you may use broad brush smears

and hyperbole. I apologize.

[William769]

16. I have learned that several on du buck the establishment.

weather it's right or wrong.

[endarkenment]

25. rain or snow?

[Kelly Rupert]

27. You see, many on DU exhibit black-and-white thinking.

See, Bush = Bad, totally without merit.
Kerry 2004 Campaigh = Not Bush = Good, flawless.
Kerry admits defeat = More Bush = Bad, totally without merit.
Attacking "Kerry admits defeat" = Not More Bush = Good, flawless.
Stopping attacking "Kerry admits defeat" = Not Not More Bush = Bush = Bad, totally without merit.