UF Student Tasered, Arrested During John Kerry Forum

[controlledImmigration]

University of Florida Student Tasered, Arrested During John Kerry Forum

Monday, September 17, 2007


Sept. 17: Student Andrew Meyer struggles with University Police trying to remove him from a question and answer session with Sen. John Kerry.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested Monday when he attempted to speak at a forum with U.S. Sen. John Kerry during a question and answer session, university officials said.

Andrew Meyer, 21, asked Kerry why he did not contest the 2004 presidential election, which he lost to President Bush, and why there had been no moves to impeach Bush.

"He apparently asked several questions — he went on for quite awhile — then he was asked to stop," university spokesman Steve Orlando said. "He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off then he became upset."

While as many as four police officers tried to remove Meyer from the forum, he yelled for help and asked "What did I do?" Minutes after Meyer started speaking, he was Tasered.

Meyer was charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, according to Alachua County jail records. No bond had been set. Meyer was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, a jail official said.

Orlando said university police would conduct an internal investigation on the incident.

"The police department does have a standard procedure for when they use force, including when they use a Taser," Orlando said. "That is what the internal investigation would address — whether the proper procedures were followed, whether the officers acted appropriately."

The event was sponsored by the UF student government speaker's bureau, according to a news release. A telephone message left at the speaker's bureau office was not immediately returned Monday evening.

It was not known if Meyer had an attorney.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297126,00.html

Andrew's mistake was not claiming to be an illegal alien since they can not be tasered in many jails.

America is imploding from within.

While TV news spoon feeds us another round of OJ Simpson - Congress is giving away America, George Bush is racing to attack Iran, our civil liberties are eroding ... the national debt teeters on insanity .... our borders and ports are wide open .... we no longer manufacture the goods we buy .... illegals receive more benefits than Americans .... and leading presidential candidates are nothing more than elitist - corporate, lobby backed sell-outs.

We are in desperate need of down-sizing the US Government and reducing Presidential powers. Equally important, we need to slash taxes to the bone so as to defang those who claim to represent us. The less money our government receives, the less damage it can do. It's time for Americans to take back America. (Now I will get off of my soap box and fight the Dream Act)


Lou Dobbs, where are you when we need you the most!

[ALIPAC]

Well if this guy tried to disrupt the meeting or monopolize the time allowed to let many people ask questions, they had to remove him.

Otherwise, any one person could wreck a meeting like this and deprive others of their right to speak.

W

[controlledImmigration]

Well if this guy tried to disrupt the meeting or monopolize the time allowed to let many people ask questions, they had to remove him.

Otherwise, any one person could wreck a meeting like this and deprive others of their right to speak.

W

The part I don't support is using a taser on the student. It brings us closer to Big Brother and 1984. But, that is only my opinion which comes from the slant of a very disgruntled citizen at the moment. But, we very much agree on illegal immigration and I will try to keep that my focus here.

[jbird]

WOW!!! Since when is asking a question a reason for getting arrested?
Did you notice the suit giving the "cut the mike signal". This is the United States of America we live in today. Im afraid were closer to the end of our great "Republic" then we realized.

[ALIPAC]

Well if this guy tried to disrupt the meeting or monopolize the time allowed to let many people ask questions, they had to remove him.

Otherwise, any one person could wreck a meeting like this and deprive others of their right to speak.

W

The part I don't support is using a taser on the student. It brings us closer to Big Brother and 1984. But, that is only my opinion which comes from the slant of a very disgruntled citizen at the moment. But, we very much agree on illegal immigration and I will try to keep that my focus here.

Yea, I agree. With four cops they could have removed him without tasering him.

W

[MountainDog]

Why would anybody even bother talking to john fonda?

[TexasGal]

I saw the video on this whole incident this morning on the news. The cops were standing behind him and asked him to leave. He refused, and they attempted to escort him out. He fought them from the beginning (bouncing around and yelling). He escaped and they were forced to take him down to the ground and he fought harder. They spent several minutes trying to calm him down. He was yelling and screaming for help the whole time, and I feel the female officer felt there was nothing else to do at that time but taser him to subdue him. The student yelled louder than ever, but they were able to handcuff him at that point and lead him out of the theater, screaming. He's a lunatic if you ask me.

The student was fighting the officers and disrupting the entire forum. I can see why the tasered him. Yes, I understand he wanted to protest, but when you have 4 officers approach you and ask you to leave, you leave peacefully. You don't fight them trying to remove you. You don't scream "help" to everyone in the auditorium as you are being escorted out, then break away from the officers to run back into the auditorium yelling "help," and then have to be taken down by officers. And STILL you don't stop fighting.

This almost seems like a total set up to make the police look bad, as the student is supposedly of Iranian decent and there are already cries of racial profiling. I think this is entirely untrue, as when you look at him, he's just an average American kid (although an unruly one), with no foreign accent at all.

Here's the video and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runni ... tudent.php

TexasGal

[crazybird]

All I could think of was the students violent and rushing the Minutemen at a college and basically nothing was done. Maybe I'm being a jerk saying this but isn't screaming a little louder and making a scene what seems to get the attention these days? I agree he should have complied because he went past his time.......I just question the tazing and all when there have been other situations where people weren't asking questions....they were making threats and acting violently and everyone was supposed to "respect" their right to free speech. This was 1 guy.....not a mob.

It just makes me think about if no means no or sit down and shut up means the same for everybody.....then they better start enforcing it on everybody......not just the few lone people who aren't being violent and making threats.

They hauled off that lady at some senate thing when she started saying something. Granted....she seemed about as whacked as this guy but they got hauled off........there's been much more violent and threatning "free speech" in which nothing is done and it's mob action..... Which is more frightning to me than 1 crazy person.

[Cthelight]

I watched this video many times.
Sorry, but I think the campus police over-reacted.
I heard Kerry say he was going to answer the
questions. AND I did see the "suit" motion to
cut him off. AND IT IS A COLLEGE CAMPUS WITH
STUDENTS WHO ARE ALLOWED TO ASK DIFFICULT
QUESTIONS. THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Watching this video, I thought I was in Russia or the Middle East.
How can any of you seeing this not understand what you saw?
They aggravated this student. AND he is a student and young so
he is going to react.

[Hapexamendios]

Get a rubber swim suit, and wear it, next time a cop wants to taser you, just look back and laugh. The taser uses your body as a ground, if you insulate yourself with a wet suit, or anything that is an insulator, the taser will be ineffective.