I agree with metro. Only ONE PERSON could have controlled this room at this time … Kerry.
If he takes control of the situation it calms down in my opinion.
Instead he stood there calmly, weakly asking to answer the question.
If I am a teacher in a classsroom and one of my students is disruptive and the police come in, it is up to me to both reason with the student and the police to try to end the situation as peacefully as possible. This was Kerry’s role and he blew the chance to be a leader at a difficult moment.
The kid has issues. The police went way to far. However, if you are resisting arrest by definition you can be tased, sprayed, etc. Problem is what the letter of the law and what is prudent by the police are often two different things. They messed this one up badly.
This whole thing was a publicity stunt by the kid… Apparently the kid has all these videos of practical jokes he’s done on his website. He was trying to create a disturbance and TRYING to get tased. The cops even said that when he was getting carried away, the only time he resisted and started yelling was when there were cameras on him. Come on… “Don’t tase me, bro.” ??? This was a comedy routine.
Irregardless of Mr Meyer's antic's, police brutality should not be allowable. Our society is based on tolerance and the protection of free speech, no matter how much we may disagree or dislike what is being said. When 5 - 6 police have a man on the ground and then Tase him, all because he would'nt shut up in a public forum that's the worst IMHO.
If Andrew Meyer were a woman or minority, how would this play out? Yeah, it’d be even worse.
How were his free speech rights violated? According to police and eyewitness accounts, the guy had tangled with police prior to the video. He entered the forum late…tusseling with the police from the start…and then went to the mic to ask his question after the Q&A had been shut off. The police and people running the thing reluctantly allowed him to ask his question. After he started getting agitated and said blow job…they cut his mic.
The guys was an ass clown looking for attention…provoked the police on several occasions…and then resisted being escorted (not arrested) from the podium.
I haven't cared to watch the video. Did this dude make any foward advanced towards Kerry.
No he didnt…but this raises another great point.
The guy was clearly riled up. He had gotten into with the police prior to even getting up to the mic. The cops are instantly in a no win situation. If the do nothing…they risk the chance this dude is a wacko and we have a Va Tech 2 on our hands. If they remove him from the building…his “first amendment rights” are violated.
They made a judgement call…the kid resisted…he got the horns of the bull. Lesson learned imo.
We are still the greatest country on earth, as evidenced above…on that note, it appears this loser was a 9/11 Truther. Instead of tasing him, maybe they should’ve tarred and feathered him then publicly mocked him as punishment for disrupting the event and resisting arrest…and being a Truther of course. Or maybe a Fruitcake costume would do?
I am a HUGE free speech advocate. For example the “designated area” for free speech and protests that UNCG tried to enact a few years ago is absurd, etc.
Of course so many more examples.
In this case I do NOT see how anyone can claim that his constitutional rights were infringed upon. This was not about free speech IMO.
No matter how big an a55hole he was. The cops still had the #'s advantage. If 3 or 4 are too weak to hold down 1, then they’re in the wrong line of work, & aren’t physically fit enough to be cops.
I can certainly understand folks being unsympathetic with Mr Meyer, given his unpopular position on issues and his demeanor at the podium. However, these are the same kind of arguments that have always been made against unpopular speech -> Suppress it, ridicule and punish the speaker/ author. That’s why in America we have rights, and free speech.
I continue to feel the campus cops overreacted and used excessive force-> they were wrong in their tactics.
Observations on Kerry are spot on-> When confronted by the opportunity to lead, he chose not to. The result was chaos.
Side note: Perhaps with Tasers it’s just a little to easy for law enforcement to use them. Anyone who’s ever been bounced from a bar know’s 6 dudes can easily throw someone out of a room or building.
I agree with you 100% that it was handled horribly. All I was saying is that the police can easily claim that he was a disturbance, threat, etc. Therefore he will never win a judgement in his favor based upon the 1st Amendment. As for excessive force … therein will be the possible debate in court.
24 Fans: did this guy screaming like an unhinged ninny not remind you of the Secretary of Defense Son in the 4th season, when they had to interrogate him to figure out his connection to terrorist?
I was trying to find video of that scene on internet but couldn’t, wonder if that actor studied lunatics like this to get cues for acting like a paranoid lunatic.
agree the Taser was probably excessive use of force, from the video’s standpoint, but you also can’t see everything going on while he’s resisting.
Perhaps we should arm cops with Duct Tape, high pitched annoying voices are hazardous to your ear drums.
They kept yelling for him to stop resisting and to roll over on his stomach.
A guy I know who works in the security industry told me that they are trained to yell for the suspect to stop resisting, regardless of what the suspect may be doing, so that any onlookers will think that the amount of force being used is appropriate.
The guy was resisting the police. That is why he was tazed. Had nothing to do with free speach.
absolutely not. If the kid had hair on his arms or legs, that may hurt and could even leave a red mark for up to 24 hours. :biggrin:
I think this whole thing paints a picture of two things wrong with society:
You have a kid who wants to be bigger than what he is, and yet is a total clown, and demands “his time” that really isn’t “his”. definite “me, me, me” generation.
and
You have the politician who just freezes because he’s to busy worried about his political career over what just needs to get done. And i dont mean this as rep or dem, both would have reacted the same way.
1st anyone who has ever been pulled over on campus knows the IQ and Napolean Complexes of campus cops. They are barely better then bouncers and like to throw around their “authority”. That being said I found the cops to be quite restrained in their response.
2nd too many folks who can’t get their way and feel that they and they alone can fix the world now resort to this confrontational style of discourse. In their minds they are always right and if you won’t listen to their expert advise then you are a “facist” or a “bigot” or some other negative adjective. I believe the reason for this increasingly disturbing tendency is that many peoples’ parents over “pampered” them and allowed their children in the last 5 decades to become too self important with no humility or humbleness.
3rd free speech ends at the property line. When your free speech infringes on others it takes away their right to not have to hear you.
Wow, total overreaction, good thing those security guards didnt have tasers last year at the game that the fans got thrown out. I mean was the taser really necessary? The guy was being obnoxious for sure, but did he pose any threat to the officers? I hope UF is ready to write a check. This dude is prolly thinking “chaching” right now.
Kerry went to vietnam as a photographer and for his political resume'....please he's a puss
I think Bush is a ding-bat puss too
He got 7 medals while there including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts and he served 2 tours. Doesn't matter why you think he went, you can't say he isn't brave.
[QUOTE=metro;258715]Kerry went to vietnam as a photographer and for his political resume’…please he’s a puss
I think Bush is a ding-bat puss too[/QUOTE]
You’re thinking Al Gore. He was a photographer in Nam. Kerry was a naval officer and served in the “Brown Water Navy”.
I’ll take McCain’s years of tourture at the hands of the Commies over Kerry’s firing a machine gun into a river bank any day. Bush and Gore both used their daddy’s connections to get relatively cushy postings. Clinton used his connection to Sen. Fulbright to get a college differment and go to Oxford. I would take Reagan’s War films work in southern Cal over any of the current crop of Presidents and candidates.
River Boat Vets for Truth, or whatever their name is dispute Kerry’s heroism, claim his purple hearts were for minor injuries, that his leader wouldn’t nominate him for the purple hearts, that he applied himself, he protested w/ Hanoi Jane after he got out, & told lies about killing babies on tv to get his pol. career started.
That sounds like selling out those who you fought w/.
And even pricks deserve to not have the police go overboard. It boils down to if there are several of you, y’all should be physically fit enough to restrain one person, or get another job.
Saying stay still when someone is still so people won’t think you’re overreacting is lying, of which a cop should NEVER do.