|
this situation--and much of this thread---is lunacy.
the idea that cops tazering this kid is in any way defensible is frankly beyond me.
even if he was really not supposed to be there, it is way way out of line.
but the fact is that this kid was a STUDENT.
AT UCLA.
he was a student who forgot his id.
dont you think that getting tazered by cops is a bit excessive as a penalty for forgetting your fucking id?
seriously folks, stop thinking about this through the mediation of those goofball tv cop shows that function to persuade you to think that every last action on the part of police officers is justified because they do them. OF COURSE you can make up some internal logic that would justify this but that you can make one up does not function to legitimate it. it just previews the cop's defense in the civil suit that should follow from this. and i would expect that the university would loose that suit if it went to trail--but the more likely outcome would be that it would get settled out of court and the kid shuttled off to another university somewhere because, like any university, what ucla is REALLY concerned about is its reputation.
so the kid forgot his id: for christ's sake, it would have been no problem to check his status--for example, most computer terminals in uni-libraries are password protected and you need to sign in to get on. if the kid did not have a uni id and password, how would he have been able to use the machine he was working on? the library has a circulation system--his name could have been searched and his status confirmed within a couple seconds. the fucking cops could have checked his status any number of ways.
this kid was not a trespasser--that entire line of jsutification is worthless:
he was and is a STUDENT AT UCLA.
not only do i hope that his family--or he--sues the shit out of ucla for this and that he gets enough money for a free education anywhere else he wants to go----i would hope that every last one of the cops who participated in this loose their jobs.
i am glad someone filmed this and even more glad that it is up on youtube.
tazering a student...."o but they are set on low".....jesus christ...what planet are you on?
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
|