Iranian-American UCLA Student Tasered Multiple Times

[nickspoon]

News story

An Iranian-American student was tasered 5 or 6 times for failing to leave immediately after failing to show ID in Powell Library.

Video taken on a phone (YouTube)

Make of it what you will.

[CodeCat]

It sucks to be Iranian. You get abused in your home country, but outside your country it's just the same. It seems obvious to me that Muslims are becoming the new Jews.

It's disgusting.

[Loeln]

Just can't wait for this innapropriate action made by Campus PD to suddenly become a blatent act of racism made by all the US government!


Oh wait,...

Video shot from a student's camera phone captured the student yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your pantsless abuse of power," while he struggled with the officers.

I'm too late, aren't I?

[Rooster]

What the hell, they're thugs dude. Did he even do anything?

I've seen drunken rugby players treated with more respect after glassing someone.

If that happened in my library, police or not, I would have launched at them. That's not justice, that's abuse. I've been on my fair share of beatings by the police, and as soon as you stop fighting they stop trying to fight you. They shouldn't have shocked the dude just for not standing up, unless he was fighting back, and it didnt look that way.

[Zaaphod]

Feh, Los Angeles police. Seems even the UCLA campus isn't immune.

[Bocaj Claw]

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.

[detrius]

What the hell, they're thugs dude. Did he even do anything?

- UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was working in the library when a Community Service Officer approached and asked him to show school ID as part of a posted library policy barring unauthorized persons after 11PM. Mostafa did not have his ID and did not leave immediately. It is unclear if he refused to leave and, if so, whether he was belligerent. The CSO contacted the campus police, which have the same authority as municipal cops.

- Multiple campus policemen arrived as Mostafa was apparently exiting the library. One of them put a hand on Mostafa, inciting him to shout angrily.

- An officer Tasered Mostafa using the “drive stunâ€

[Rooster]

Sounds messed up. I mean, The Manchester Metro beat me around the head five times with tuncheons, but they at least gave me a cup of tea later on.

[sandblaster]

I guess police aren't suppose to defend themselves from a beligerant person if they are a minority.

[Bocaj Claw]

I wouldn't classify the student's behavior as "belligerent" exactly. Have you watched the video? It's not very clear but accounts from the students present support that Mostafa wasn't being "belligerent."

[sandblaster]

From what I can see on the video is that he was yelling obsenities, not doing what the police wanted, and may have done something at the begining before the video shows them. It is better for police to deal harshly with possible problems then for them to be push overs, and let problems escalate into violence where they or bystanders get hurt.

[Bocaj Claw]

He actually started yelling after they had already tased him. That kind of thing tends to make people angry and prone to shouting, y'know what with all the electricity and such.

[sandblaster]

You can hear him yelling at the begining of the vidoe before they taser him

[Bocaj Claw]

The question is when the student with the banananancamera phone started filming.

Is it so hard to believe that these campus cops were on a power trip?

[sandblaster]

Yes I think they would think twice before attacking somebody in a crowded library for no reason. Of course I'm not some crazy paranoid person who has to jump over government offciials everytime a minority isn't treated like queen of the world