...The rest of the people just standing and watching the guy being tortured and not lifting a finger. Pussies.

The cops could have simply pulled him aside, they could have frisked him. I'm aware that this is "ye olde war on terror" and I wasn't there so what do I know. But I do know that what I saw was outrageous - by the cops and maybe more so by the students. The inaction, the cowardly watching, the voyeuristic watching of the man being tortured, including the camera guy/girl - could you have been more timid?. I assume they will spend many years of sleepless nights knowing they should have done something physical to stop it. It's a Brave New World. Save the Whales, not your fellow student. Pussy cowards.

The cops told the other students around to shut up or they will also be tasered:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=emEK7t2m35Q

Gee, i guess that's really protecting the students eh?

Being a librarian is more dangerous than it appears. Either we're in combat with the federal government over patron records or the local government over censorship, or we're trying not to get molested/raped/robbed late at night.

Think about it ... most of us are women and we're in a large building late at night in which there are dozens of places where one could be attacked without drawing attention. It's not just dangerous for us, it's also dangerous for our patrons. Students should not be afraid to use the library in the wee hours.

So what do we do to keep safe? Usually we close off part of the space late at night because we can't police the whole area. Also we require that people prove they have a right to be in the library via ID checks and we have campus police to support us if there is a problem.

If the patron can't comply with our simple request that he help everyone remain safe by showing his ID, then he must leave. It's not just the safety factor - the students have paid a lot of money to have exclusive access to our expensive library. We must maintain that integrity as well. This person refused to do comply with a simple ID check and was quite roughed up as a result. I don't like to see patrons tazed but in this case I think the campus police handled this correctly.

If you read police training manuals, they don't limit semi-lethal weapons to situations where the officers are in danger. If the officers are in danger, they are to use firearms; if the officers are merely being disobeyed or disrespected, they are to use 'pain compliance.'

If using tasers or pepper spray, pain compliance begins with sudden, incapacitating pain, and escalates until the victim complies, or the charge runs out (with tasers), or the cannister runs out (with pepper spray).

I was once pepper sprayed (without warning). This induces blindness and seizures, so that if the cops had issued any orders, I would not have been able to comply. They unloaded at least two cannisters into my eyes and mouth, and given the photos of the incident, kept beating me with large clubs at the same time. I have often seen other people pepper sprayed, and they usually fall, writhing, to the ground, where the police continue gassing them. I have never seen anyone who was still able to comply with police orders, whether or not the police issued any orders.

I have not seen or suffered taser-pain-compliance, so I cannot say whether it causes similar effects.

As an older person I am grateful that police can now coerce the uncooperative with tasers instead of billy clubs, fists, feet, or blackjacks because the one thing I have learned about police is this - they must control the situation or fail in their duty. They will escalate their response till they are in control and they, not the subject, decide when and how to escalate. If it means that an occasional asshole gets tasered after repeated defiance of reasonable authority then he gets some intense pain. Think of it as a learning experience for those with unrealistic expectations.

By the way, this need for control also explains the taser threat to the students who the police felt were a threat to their control of the situation.

Some of the comments here are heartbreaking. You really think that being an asshole is a crime worthy of repeated electric shocks while you're helpless? Seriously?

Are you people in therapy? I think it would really help with your anger issues.

Some people ask, what did we expect the cops to do? How about they put their egos aside and let the kid rant, rave, show himself off as a screaming asshole until he gets it out of his system, and then escort him out? Or if he doesn't stop, pick him up and carry him out. Are you telling me that 4 cops can't carry a handcuffed kid out of a library?

Those cops weren't protecting anybody. They weren't doing their jobs. They got pissed off at a smart-ass kid and wanted to teach him a lesson. That's called being a fucking bully. They have no business being officers of the law.

A couple of letters have said a suspect actively resisting arrest should be tasered. I’m a little unclear about the meaning of actively resisting. I thought the kid went limp, and I would think it would be called passive resistance. My picture of active resistance involves fighting and running. I might be completely wrong here and would appreciate clarification if someone knows.

When you a such a loser you can't even meet the standards of the LAPD, I guess you become a campus cop.

If tasering shocks and incapacitates someone, how does that further the stated goal of removing him from the building? He's said to have gone limp and resisted being moved. Well, duh. He was being tasered, repeatedly. This is clearly an over-reaction. He was not a threat. He was shouting? So what? Pick him up and carry him off. We see that happen all the time at demos when the police cart protesters off, that is, when they're not mounted police running them down in Houston.

All together now: "I like to be in America, everyone free in America. . . ."