Only Mostafa knows for sure.....
It is tough to get away with anything. Cameras are everywhere and there is no place to hide. For my 2nd post later in the week, I will try to embed the cell phone video of the awful shooting in Virginia today. A student’s cell phone captured some of the melee including the sound of gunfire.
There are a few conflicting events during the taser episode. Mostafa was in the library without his Bruincard, the student ID for students at UCLA. As was policy at the library, there were random checks of ID’s to ensure that only students were in the library. It is said that the campus security announced that night that they were checking ID’s and if a student didn’t have their ID with them they would have to leave. Sources state that this was standard procedure. Mostafa was a 3rd year student pursuing a double major. He should have known the procedure. The police were called to evict him from the premises when he didn’t comply and he didn’t feel he should be forcibly removed. When the officers tried to remove him he passively resisted. He went limp and fell to the floor. That is when he was “drive stunned�. The drive stun is a milder jolt of electricity and it doesn’t involve penetration of the skin. The problem is when a person is tased they lose the ability to stand and walk. The behavior of the police contradicted the end result they were looking for.
The flip side of the event is the aggressive nature of the police. Did they have a potential riot on their hands? Were they attempting to remove Mostafa as quickly as possible? The cell phone video shows Mostafa kicking and screaming as the police tried to remove him while he was handcuffed. He was tased five times before he was removed from the library. Was that a little excessive? Perhaps
Was Mostafa looking for trouble? Was it a set-up to make a statement? Why wouldn’t he just stand up and leave when requested? He knew the rules and he had probably seen other students asked to leave the library in his three years at the school. Only Mostafa knows for sure.
The UCLA Taser case continues with Mostafa Tabatabainejad filing a complaint in January against the school and the officers. He is attempting to sue the parties for excessive force during his arrest.
Comments
I agree with you. There are more than one side to the story. Mostafa should have known the procedure. However, reports say he was leaving the library, did the officers need to check his ID if he was already leaving? I do not think so. Video allows us to view and question the procedures of authorities. This makes me wonder if this is good or not. In the case of the Rodney King beating we saw how officials can abuse their power. If no one videotaped it, the outrage wouldn't have been as great and maybe the riots would not have occurred. Whether cameras are a good thing is up to question, but I do know that they are here to stay.
Posted by: Mark Mahan | April 22, 2007 01:48 PM