UCLA Police Using Taser On Student

[crash187ct]

LOS ANGELES - A 23-year-old student was administered multiple stun gun shocks by UCLA Police Department officers in the Powell Library computer lab, it was reported Wednesday.

Video shot from another student's camera phone shows the man screaming while on the floor of the computer lab as officers used the stun gun on him at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Daily Bruin.

Watch Channel 4 News at 11 a.m. to see video of the incident obtained by NBC4's Robert Kovacik. It will be posted here afterward. He had been working at a computer in the back of the lab and had failed to produce a student ID during a random check performed by community service officers, the newspaper reported.

According to a UCLA police sergeant, the student was identified as Mostafa Tabatabainejad of Los Angeles.

He was given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty and then released from custody, the sergeant said.

The sergeant said he saw Tabatabainejad after it happened and that he did not appear to have suffered serious injury.

"If he was able to walk out of here, I think he was OK," the sergeant said.

Officers were escorting Tabatabainejad out of the computer lab when the trouble started, according to the Daily Bruin. One of the officers placed a hand on one of his arms, to which the student objected.

As a second officer approached, he repeatedly yelled "get off of me," the newspaper reported.

It was then that one of the officers shot Tabatabainejad with a stun gun, dropping him to the floor as he cried out, according to the newspaper.

"Any student who witnessed it was left with an image you don't want to remember," said a witness who asked not to be identified.

When asked whether the student resisted when officer attempted to escort him from the building, the witness said, "In the beginning, no. But when they were holding onto him and they were on the ground, he was trying to just break free. He was saying, 'I'm leaving, I'm leaving.' It was so disturbing to watch that I cannot be concise on that. I can just say that he was willing to leave. He had his backpack on his shoulder and he was walking out when the cops approached him. It was unnecessary."

The video shows the student shouting, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your f---ing abuse of power," the newspaper reported.

Officers told Tabatabainejad to stand up and stop struggling, which he allegedly refused to do. He was then struck with the stun gun at least once more and taken into custody, the newspaper reported.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs

[DSM4Life]

I would have to say the rent-a-cops were in the wrong. One stun OK . Then just drag him out of the school. There was no reason to stun him so many times.

[Red Ketchup]

I smell a lawsuit!!!

Red

[sooners04]

Rent a cops, were they not LAPD? These types of situations are so hard to find the truth unless you were there and involved. First of all,the guy had to be escorted out of a library for some reason. Secondly, if an officer escorts you out of the building and just happens to put his hand on your arm, just go with it. The minute you try to be tough and pull your arm away, you become a threat because you are now unpredictable and the officers, especially in LA, are not going to waste time wrestling with you or playing tug of war with your arm. Your going down. Bottom line, do what they say.

[crash187ct]

he said "ok fine, i'm leaving", on his way out...a police officer stopped him. the use of force here, was in the wrong IMO. i think they should have been a lil bit more polite about it. there was no reason to go up on the use of force scale, and use a taser. i'm really interested to see what happens in the future with this case

[Logan13]

$10 to the person who can say this guys last name on the first try with no hesitations. Mostafa Tabatabainejad

[biglouie250]

hope they get fired. are those campus police? what are they doing carying weapons of any kind? and why would the others just stand there and not help the guy out. cop or not i see you tazer a 130lb kid multiple times your getting smashed in the face!

[perfectbeast2001]

sorry to disagree but i just watched that clip, the guy is a total ****ing jerk, screaming and shouting at them. If he had of just complied then they wouldn't have to do anything. If i was there he would have got a lot worse than a stun gun. Annoying little boy!!!

[biglouie250]

sorry to disagree but i just watched that clip, the guy is a total ****ing jerk, screaming and shouting at them. If he had of just complied then they wouldn't have to do anything. If i was there he would have got a lot worse than a stun gun. Annoying little boy!!!

lol i dont get how they can ask him to get up after they blasted him. isnt the point to tazing to render the victim incapacitated?

[perfectbeast2001]

Yes I agree they didn't seem to use the tazer properly. They should have dragged him out afterwards (then beat him up outside). Just listening to the video made me angry with him LOL maybe Im having a bad day!!!

[godkilla]

sorry to disagree but i just watched that clip, the guy is a total ****ing jerk, screaming and shouting at them. If he had of just complied then they wouldn't have to do anything. If i was there he would have got a lot worse than a stun gun. Annoying little boy!!!

my thoughts exactly.

[J.S.N.]

haha so funny on so many sad levels.

[givemethejuice]

hope they get fired. are those campus police? what are they doing carying weapons of any kind? and why would the others just stand there and not help the guy out. cop or not i see you tazer a 130lb kid multiple times your getting smashed in the face!

Cop or Not? Your telling me you would smash a cop in the face for somebody you don't even know and face 5-10 for assault on a police officer. Give me a break! That kid could have walked out but chose to make a scene from what I saw. But then again I guess you would have to be there to get the whole story.

[biglouie250]

Cop or Not? Your telling me you would smash a cop in the face for somebody you don't even know and face 5-10 for assault on a police officer. Give me a break! That kid could have walked out but chose to make a scene from what I saw. But then again I guess you would have to be there to get the whole story.

not cops, campus police. they are citizens just like you or me. if i saw you getting tazed and screamed at "get up" when obviously you cant and get tazed again because you cant get up yea im gonna help you out and get in the guys face. No one is above the law. your telling me that 2 grown men couldnt handle a skinny college kid without zapping him? im actually surprised tazers are legal in california, they arent in NY.

[scriptfactory]

not cops, campus police. they are citizens just like you or me. if i saw you getting tazed and screamed at "get up" when obviously you cant and get tazed again because you cant get up yea im gonna help you out and get in the guys face. No one is above the law. your telling me that 2 grown men couldnt handle a skinny college kid without zapping him? im actually surprised tazers are legal in california, they arent in NY.

I gotta' agree with you.

[givemethejuice]

not cops, campus police. they are citizens just like you or me. if i saw you getting tazed and screamed at "get up" when obviously you cant and get tazed again because you cant get up yea im gonna help you out and get in the guys face. No one is above the law. your telling me that 2 grown men couldnt handle a skinny college kid without zapping him? im actually surprised tazers are legal in california, they arent in NY.

In your post you said cop or not? Also, I beleive they are LAPD because who in their right mind would give some random security guard a Taser. Also, yeah if I saw you or some random guy being beaten or tased unnecesarily (sp.) I would help out, but if it were cops I would have to assume the guy deserved it and their is no way I am going to a jail for some random guy.

[J.S.N.]

i don't know about everywhere, but the uni's i attended had real cops on campus. are you guys sure they weren't actually cops?

[Logan13]

sorry to disagree but i just watched that clip, the guy is a total ****ing jerk, screaming and shouting at them. If he had of just complied then they wouldn't have to do anything. If i was there he would have got a lot worse than a stun gun. Annoying little boy!!!

Funny how they just told the students side on this, when we see the whole story our perception changes. But if they would have presented the whole story, it would not have been as news-worthy!

[J.S.N.]

Funny how they just told the students side on this, when we see the whole story our perception changes. But if they would have presented the whole story, it would not have been as news-worthy!

no it's still bad. he's a little prick (with hilariously unoriginal lib rhetoric) but he didn't do anything that warrented a tazing. he wasn't being violent and as far as the video shows he was leaving and they stopped him.

[Logan13]

no it's still bad. he's a little prick (with hilariously unoriginal lib rhetoric) but he didn't do anything that warrented a tazing. he wasn't being violent and as far as the video shows he was leaving and they stopped him.

Don't you think it strange that the bystander just started his video record at the time that this guy was just leaving, what would have been the point in that. This must have started prior to the video record, so the question becomes what happened before the camera started to roll?

[J.S.N.]

it doesn't really matter because when it was rolling he was leaving. it's not like the cops accumulate points for every insult that they can use 3 minutes later via electroshock.

[CSAR]

I laughed my ass off when the dude was screaming. What a little prick. But the cops/campus security should've just dragged his ass out rather than shock him multiple times in a crowded library.

Speaking of getting tased...watch this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CQ7GYxnGo&NR

[stayinstacked]

he deserved it, first off he was screaming at the top of his lungs at them before he was ever tazed first. As a police officer you are taught to control the situation, even if force be necessary. He wasnt standing up because he was refusing to, not through incapacitation. Those stun guns only drop you when they are using them, he had plenty of time to get to his feet, and plenty of warnings. That kid figured he had a lawsuit after the first taze, so he just kept on with it.

[perfectbeast2001]

agreed tazers only incapacitate while they are on and then leave you a little dazed for a few seconds. I know this because fellow doormen have done it to me for a hilarious "joke" before.

[J.S.N.]

agreed tazers only incapacitate while they are on and then leave you a little dazed for a few seconds. I know this because fellow doormen have done it to me for a hilarious "joke" before.

they're not as funny as you think. they can kill, and have in the US.

[Logan13]

they're not as funny as you think. they can kill, and have in the US.

I got a phonecall last night from my brother. He was just leaving at Walmart and saw one guy on the ground with two tazers on him. Today in the paper, the cops said that this is why they have tazers. When an assailant refuses to do what he is told to do, they then have the right to use tazers. As they said in the paper, this is the "law of the land" when it comes to tazer use.

[crash187ct]

he deserved it, first off he was screaming at the top of his lungs at them before he was ever tazed first. As a police officer you are taught to control the situation, even if force be necessary. He wasnt standing up because he was refusing to, not through incapacitation. Those stun guns only drop you when they are using them, he had plenty of time to get to his feet, and plenty of warnings. That kid figured he had a lawsuit after the first taze, so he just kept on with it.

i will agree you are taught to control the situation. but you are also taught to understand and respect a level of force.