UCLA student tasered by UCPD in campus library

[Wrent]

I'm sorry, I just can't feel sympathy for this guy.

I live in Chicago. Typically the police here are pretty casual and avoid escalating scenes whenever possible. That is until you act like a jackass and make pointed efforts to give them a hard time when they're just doing their job.

You don't argue with police. You don't give them a hard time. You don't raise your voice towards them. You don't try to ignore their requests or instructions. You don't see how close to the line of 'resisting' those requests or instructions you can get.

In this case, with the info we see so far, this kid was doing exactly the last. He was trying to push just the line and see how LITTLE he could do to comply with their doing their job. His exclaiming about the patriot act makes me inclined to believe his quasi-resistence WAS premeditated.

Sorry, you don't fuck with police. You definitely aren't going to win. The fact that police left and returned with MORE police leads me to believe that the scene before this video was started involved an exchange that REQUIRED MORE POLICE. I really doubt the initial responding officers said, "Hey, let's call some more dudes here and taser the fuck out of this guy! It'll be great".

The level of response must be justified by a few factors. Most of which we can only speculate on...

Actual Threat - the target was a danger to someone at the scene. In my opinion, that is what all these "witnesses" are evaluating. He at no point physically endangered others or the police at the scene.

Perceived Threat - the target of the response creates probable reason to believe that there is some yet unseen threat they pose. This case, perceived threat, is what I believe led to the response.

You have an adult male trespassing in a populated location. He refused to validate his presence. He refused to leave the location, several times. At that point, it must be assumed the man has some MOTIVE for trespassing, refusal to leave upon being informed that his is not allowed to be there implies it was not simply a 'mistake'. He didn't say "Oh, I didn't know it wasn't a public library. Sorry, I'll get my stuff and leave now.". Now, officers (for the sake of public safety) must assume he is intentionally refusing to cease breaking the law and peacefully comply with the requests of police in a timely manner.

You don't fuck with the police. The fact that you disagree with the patriot act does not give you the right to create a perceived danger to citizens and police officers. I don't know about you all, but when someone with a badge and taser gun tell me it's time to leave, I leave.