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• Tuesday, September 18, 2007 09:21 AM

  wow

  I made the mistake of reading the comments before watching the video. I was expecting the Pinkertons. What I saw was a student persistently resisting arrest, with the Taser being used only after all other reasonable measures had been used to remove him.

  Before I'm jumped on, I want to add that he should not have been Tasered. It's clear to me that that last step did not need to be taken by the police. With that many others, they could literally have picked him up and carried him out. It was reprehensible, but not surprising. Go to Youtube, type in "Taser" and watch video after video of cops Tasering suspects, some armed, some not. It's the non-lethal weapon of choice now.

  But it is just downright misleading to say that the campus cops resorted to the Taser too quickly.

  First they tried to talk him away from the mic. Then they tried to take the mic away. Then they grabbed him, tried to walk him away from the stage. Then they tried to handcuff him. Then they dropped him, tried to cuff him again. THEN, they tasered him.

  With each escalating step, the gentleman in question grew louder and more uncooperative. He kept evading the officers, and it is clear from the video that when they tried to cuff him, they broke free of their grip and deflected the cuffs.

  Like I said, they didn't need to Taser him. But if there were only two officers, let's say, instead of the four or five that were there, then it might have been appropriate.

  This guy was NOT a passive protester, going limp in a cop's arms while being dragged away bodily to the paddy wagon. He was disruptive and rude, and I do understand why people were clapping when he was being walked away. (No one was clapping when he got zapped.)

  Diomedes

  —Diomedes Read Diomedes's other letters
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