Friday, November 17, 2006
UCLA police tasered a student who repeatedly refused to show ID while the officers were making a usual 11:00PM safety sweep of a campus library. Tasers are meant to be non-lethal weapons which immobilize people by discharging an electrical charge into their bodies. Their use has been considered controversial.
A statement put out by the University of California, LA police department says that the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, was asked to leave multiple times during the incident and refused. It goes on to say that when officers tried to escort him out of the library he continued to refuse to cooperate.
Some witnesses refute this statement saying that Tabatabainejad had been walking toward the door of the library when police grabbed him.
Police tasered Tabatabainejad multiple times after the student attempted to encourage other students to join him in his act of resistance. This action was caught by another student via a cell phone. The video has been posted to YouTube. Tabatabainejad repeatedly said in the video that he would leave, but they would not let him.
This is the third incident this month where the Los Angeles police department has been taped engaging in controversial behavior.
Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams in a statement promised an investigation saying that the safety of the university students is a paramount concern.