I am simply stunned at the number of letters supporting the police in this utterly disturbing video. Are you people out of your minds??? What a profound failure of imagination not to recognize that that could be you or your child or your friend being tasered.

We all act like jerks sometimes, and pride and youth certainly get in the way of reasonable behavior. For those of you shaking your heads right now and thinking, "Not me or my kids: We follow the rules. We would have shown the ID."--Don't be fools. It's called human behavior. It's complicated and messy and nuanced, and it's always entirely possible that otherwise reasonable, rules-minded people can get caught up in a heated situation where ego and anger overcome restraint or common sense. That's why it's so important to build in, solid as rock, rules preventing authority figures from going hog-wild on immature behavior. The behavior of the kid is IRRELEVANT as long as it doesn't cross the line of being life-threatening to the cops or others. Tasering a cuffed, prone college kid doesn't make the cut.

For those of you who asked, apparently sincerely which itself shocks me, what else they could have done, the answers are as plentiful as there are personalities. They could have changed tactics and acted "cool" with the kid, playing that whole "Hey, I know it's a pain and all that, but we gotta do it," or simply carried him off, or medicalized the situation by calling a paramedic. They also could have shown a little more patience as he collected himself, allowing him to depart with ego intact. The cops' job should never be winning an ego contest but rather to ultimately achieve compliance. If that means letting the kid walk out with ego intact, then so be it. They will have peacefully accomplished their mission. All of which brings up the point that it's not incumbant on me or any of you to come up with solutions to these very human confrontations: What on earth do we train and pay police for? Surely they get more training than to simply pull out the taser at the first sign of noncompliance.

I read a "My Turn" column in Newsweek recently by a cop who whined that people always want to talk to her about publicly known instances of police brutality instead of all the good stuff that all the good cops are doing. Well, guess what: There's nothing special to cops about that situation, and as a teacher, I will never defend bad teachers. It's this kind of closing of ranks--among cops, politicians, teachers, etc.--that make it all the harder to get rid of abusers of authority. I run across many bullies in the classroom, and I'm not talking about students here, and I have nothing but contempt for them. We need to pay special attention to professions that carry an authority image, and we need to weed out, one by one, the members of those professions who have brought inappropriate anger or ego to their jobs. It's a recipe for abuse.

I barely managed to get through watching the video the first time. And that was an edited version shown on the local news. I hunted down the full version and watched that as comparison. By the end of it, I was both crying and screaming at the computer screen. And I don't mean in a good way.

If a police officer randomly asks you for ID on the street, the law has said that you do not have to show him your ID. In a library late at night, the only ones around are faculty and students (and ever-so-rarely, somebody related to one of the two, such as me). The fact is, a refusal to leave does not give these officers carte blanche to taser an unarmed, nonthreatening student FIVE times. In front of witnesses.

Nor does that give the officers an excuse for threatening to do the same to any Samaritans who rise to defend their fellow student. Nor does it excuse picking a stunned and helpless student off of the floor and tasering him at the base of his spine. Or manhandling the very civilians that they are sworn to defend.

If my campus police did this, I would sue them. And given the evidence that has come to light (including the fact that this is the SECOND time campus police have done this to this young man), I do believe that this student has a case. A case that he will, in all likelyhood, win.

As a college freshman, I am sickened and disturbed by the actions of these officers. I realize that not all people are like these gentlemen. But honestly? These officers deserve- no, they NEED to answer for their actions.

They shame their coworkers. And they shame themselves most of all.

Turns out Terrence Duren, the cop in question, wasn't exactly a saint to begin with.

http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_325092414.html

I completely agree with elaine that those who could consider supporting the police actions lack imagination and empathy. For a helpful dose, try this NPR piece in which reporter Laura Sullivan bravely lets herself be tased on the air. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4571973

Empathy lesson #2: Remember back to the days when you were of college age. Probably occasionally unreasonable and hotheaded. Excepting you perfect types.

Empathy lesson #3: Imagine a time when you overreacted out of surprise, indignation, or fear.

For those who think that when someone steps out of line they deserve what they get, please consider as well that lines aren't always clear or correctly enforced, that a perceived violator is not always an actual violator, and that proportion in punishment is essential in a civilized society.

Why do so many of the posters here think it is okay to humiliate and torture a man because he refused to show a little plastic id card?