Did anyone else think that the UCLA students should have stormed the cops?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

If this was the Seventies, they (the cops) would have gotten their asses handed to them on a platter.

It made me a bit ill to watch the students act as if this was an action that could never affect them.

[Cleita]

1. UCLA students have always been a bit wimpy.

My mother worked there for twenty years. I got jobs on and off there over the same period. I remember though in the height of the sixties student protests over the country, my mother calling me from her work to come and get her because the students had stormed the chancellor's offices and the campus police had shut everything down including the parking garages. She said she would meet me at a bus stop in Westwood Village (off campus).

I was all excited that it was a war protest. No, it was because USC had been selected to play in the Rose Bowl over UCLA. So the only time they rose in protest was about a football game. Now I know that there were always minor radical groups that organized rallies on campus, but UCLA was never Berkley.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Point taken....

Berklry was something special then.

[mitchtv]

52. almost as hot as SFSU

[Erika]

2. Yep. The kids did ask for badge numbers but then ran

away under the threat of being tasered. Of course, with W's new America, maybe they feared being locked up for years without counsel since the student had a "strange" name.

[Horse with no Name]

3. No.

The only difference it would have made would be that they would be talking about the several kids who got tasered instead of the ONE who did.
I do think someone should have used their telephone to call 911 and report an assault in progress.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. Spot on! Anyone with a badge should always be allowed carte blanche

because...

Well, they're cops. Okay?

[Horse with no Name]

13. These guys weren't cops

They were security guards.
If they were simply beating the shit out of someone then yes--these guys could have taken them easily and I would recommend that heartily.
However, the research that I have done on the TASER lends it to the same classification of a gun. I wouldn't rush anyone who had a gun and I wouldn't rush anyone who had a TASER. And it would make me feel bad because I wasn't brave enough to risk my life for someone else.
Special exceptions where I didn't mind giving my own life of course--if it were one of my children or grandchildren.
But I still think someone should have called the real cops.
This was total bullshit.

[Cleita]

15. When I worked at UCLA the campus police were allowed

batons and handcuffs. They could make citizens arrests until the real police arrived. This is how that department functioned. Who gave them tasers? Not a good move.

[MADem]

33. Bernie Kerik, perhaps? He made millions selling them to every other asshole with a blue uniform NT

[Election]

61. The campus police are real police

n/t

[tishaLA]

56. wrong

they are real cops. they are UCPD and they are one of the largest police forces--believe it or not--in the state. they are the "authority" on campus as surely as LAPD is in brentwood.

[Kiouni]

5. I don't get how a taser is different from a baton?

it's like a giant step forward in publicity for cops. Now if they taser some poor minoity guy on the street its seen, as oh that was too harsh. But use a baton and the whole nation blows up in disgust. Its the same thing, both are weapons.

[readmoreoften]

27. Because a baton leaves marks, you have to use it judiciously

or you get a lawsuit. Even those tasers are a form of paralyzing pain, they leave no marks. Well, unless they kill you.

[Kagemusha]

6. Assaulting cops is serious felony stuff. No govt jobs for life, for one thing

My sentiments go out to the students but the law and society are firm that you may not assault the police.

[al bupp]

7. It almost immediately crossed my mind

And I have to say that I agree w/ you, but then of course cps in the seventies didn't have tasers, did they?

[XOKCowboy]

8. The Draft...

is the difference. The kids of the 70s (at least my part of the 70's) had the spectre of VietNam hanging over our heads. We knew that it would be us next. We had a more personal connection to what was happening in Washington and in the world.

The terrible thing is that those kids in the video SHOULD be incredibly angry since Bush has saddled them with paying for all of his failures.

[calmblueocean]

10. Not stormed the cops, but encircled the victim, yeah.

I practically wanted to jump through the screen when I watched it.

If they could've just surrounded the victim so the cops couldn't get at him without pummeling everyone, I think that would've been best. Attacking the cops could've led to guns being drawn, which would've been bad for everyone.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. That would have been great, but I feel these kids were no more than

rubberneckers at best.

[951-Riverside]

12. I don't think you understand the end result

The officers would start screaming on their radios, hundreds of cops would arrive within 15 Mins and everyone would either be beaten, tasered, tear gassed or simply detained then to add salt to the wound a few will be kicked out of the UCLA campus for good.

Those kids are not idiots, they did the right thing by simply observing and video taping.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Jesus. Let's videotape our fellow student getting the shit zapped out of him.

We'll put it on UTube, that'll teach 'em!

And, by god, if they try that shit again, I'll tape in a higher resolution!



No, they're not idiots. They're complacent sheep.

[951-Riverside]

18. ....You still don't get it

but since you're such a big hero next time you see a cop abusing someone be my guest and punch the cop square in the face and while you're at it try disarming the 'pig' too. :eyes:

[Pithlet]

48. That video just may land those cops in jail

And convince enough people that at the very least, Tasers aren't as safe and harmless as people were led to believe.

Honestly, I think you're being way too hard on them. Save it for the cops who deserve it.

[Cleita]

20. I agree with you.

I'm very familiar with the UCLA campus culture and any violence from the plebians there has severe repurcussions.

[ContraBass Black]

14. No, that would get them arrested, ruin their academic careers,

And possibly get them shot.

[TomInTib]

17. Correct, CBB... It is a New World.

And It sucks.

[treestar]

55. Years of sheepdom by those who went before them

Got them there.

We've really let things slide, due to fear.

Trumped up fear, mostly.

[Selatius]

19. If this happened at the Sorbonne in Paris, I guarantee you there'd be a student protest of...

massive scale. They protested heavily when the government tried to pass a law last year making it easier for employers to terminate workers in their early 20s easier than older workers. Protests were all over the universities there. In the end, the government had to withdraw the proposal.

They would've definitely protested if this event had occurred on campus grounds and continued to do so until the authorities addressed the situation.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

21. Through ignorance, we have become a nation of sheep.

[malaise]

36. It will change

believe me. Young people are waking up slowly.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

46. God, we can only hope.

Or the dream that was once America is gone.

[pnwmom]

22. I'm wondering where the adults were. Weren't there any

forty or fifty year olds in the vicinity? Someone in authority who could talk to those out of control officers?

I don't blame a bunch of young kids for not knowing what to do.

[Bill McBlueState]

53. college students are adults

Although that may actually be part of the problem that the OP raises. Today's 20-year-olds are in many ways treated the way 16-year-olds were treated several decades ago. And, like teenagers, they tend to expect other people to solve their problems instead of taking control of their own lives.

[4morewars]

23. Yes

By about the third assault some of the witnesses were yelling at the cops, and I think they wanted to intervene.

It's a very tough call, not everyone has the balls to fight with another civillian, let alone armed security thugs. Many 20 somethings have never been in a REAL fight. And they are still at the age where cops are kinda the good guys, or at least, in charge.

BUT, I have seen citizens intervene and save other citizens. I've been at protests where we stood up to the police and they backed down, It's fuckin intense.

I've also seen the police beating the living daylights out of people and there was just no way we could have stopped them. They were too many of them, or they were ready to start shooting. I've been in riots where people were killed by the police.

Having said that, There are plenty of kids out there with that kind of "fuck the police" mentality. They just don't hang out at the library, I guess.

[dysfunctional press]

24. no.

not to save some obnoxious rule-breaking punk.

[gaspee]

26. OK

O-Kay!

[readmoreoften]

28. Yeah, fuck people who can't find their student ID cards! /nt

[dysfunctional press]

35. "can't find"???

somebody needs to maybe at least audit a course in remedial comprehension...

the article says "refused to show"...either way- it's a RULE- although i realize that many collegians seem to think that those don't apply to them, seeing as they are above all else and all others...

:eyes:

[Der Blaue Engel]

32. Guess who they're coming for next, smart guy?

:eyes:

[dysfunctional press]

34. well...it's not me...so, i'll bite-

who?

[Der Blaue Engel]

47. "First they came for . . . " etc.

My point is, if you are ever in a situation where the powers that be deem you worthy of tasering, there will be no one left to object. But go ahead and keep thinking that could never happen, 'cause you're not doing anything wrong.

[mondo joe]

41. Actually, YES, even to save a rule breaking punk.

The use of the taser was inappropriate to the situation, and should have been stopped.

[justinaforjustice]

25. They Were Real Cops, Not Rent-a-Cop Security.

My first thought when I watched the video was why didn't someone call the cops to stop the assault. But, it turned out, the thugs doing the Tasering were official cops, apparently there is a separate UCLA branch with all the same police powers as the LAPD. Apparently they received the same training in brutalizing arrestees too.

Some of the UCLA students tried to stop it, but they were threatened by the cops. I expect they didn't take action because everyone was stunned by the unexpected attack on a student in a library. At demonstrations in the sixties, we were prepared for police brutality, but who would expect it in a university library?

Tasers have to be outlawed. They kill people. Also, as we saw on the video, they result in excruciating pain. I thought there were laws against torture...oh yeah, Bush made those obsolete.

[Cleita]

30. The campus police are employees of the State of California.

They have no provenance over the city police or sheriffs so they act in the capacity of a security force. They can make arrests but they are considered citizens arrests. They handcuff the suspect and then call the LA police to decide whether to take them to jail and make charges.

[LoZoccolo]

29. Yes, this was clearly an illegal abuse of power and warranted defense. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

31. I can't believe the students did not stop those torturers!

:wow: ... let alone beat the fuck outta them. :mad:

[Election]

37. Assaulting a Peace Officer, what a great lesson for our youth

:eyes:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

39. Peace Officer??????? What do people do when "Peace Officers" go wild?

Stand there and watch as they ait their turn for abuse?

[Election]

59. They weren't going wild

You get tased if you resist arrest, if not worse. The defendant here tried to make a scene, and he found out the hard way that wasn't going to work.

Nothing against you, but to teach impressionable youth that criminal behavior is OK and glorious is irresponsible and I doubt that those that do encourage such behavior would be willing to give money to these people three years later when they are homeless and can't get a job because of their criminal record.

http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/ucpd/zippdf/2006/Taser%2011-15-06.pdf

[Vinca]

38. They should have rushed in to protect the poor, tasered student.

If they had, the whole lot of them would be in line for free educations, not just the guy on the floor. The attorneys must be lined up for blocks.

[Generic Other]

40. I found the students incredibly polite and docile

I expected to see books fly through the air. At the very least chanting of police brutality...

[helderheid]

42. they filmed it and got it to the media - I'm pretty impressed they had their wits

about them to do that, though I see your point.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. My surprise is that the students so far haven't demonstrated and shown unity. nt

[Pithlet]

44. I wouldn't have blamed them if they did.

But I'm not going to judge any one of them for not reacting the way I personally think they should have. I've never personally witnessed in person someone being tortured that way. I can understand just being in total shock(no pun intended at all, this is too serious). The cops are the ones that deserve 100% of our ire.

[treestar]

45. Reminds me of Mad Magazine

Years ago, they had a piece on how you react against your parents, so that the sixties/seventies generation would have children who were very respectful of authority! The parents would think the kids were square. But then it would turn around again and the grandchildren would be real cool dudes!

[blogslut]

49. Not sure if they shoulda

But they just about were gonna

Another reason those campus cops should be fired. They had a potential riot on their hands but were too obsessed with machismo dickery to even see that. These men were not acting in the best interests of the student body.

[grizmaster]

50. And commit an act ALMOST as criminal as the cops did?

Actually I might have, but I wouldn't advise it. In my experience the ones with the guns and the jails win those arguments.

[flying_monkeys]

51. That crossed my mind.

Without hesitation I can say that is what would have happened at my alma mater in the early 80s. We would have become a huge mob and probably gone totally nuts...


But, things were different then - - so perhaps today's students just don't have the same reactions/expectations that I had when I was their age.


On the plus side, video was captured so I am pretty sure those cops will not be employed with the Uni for long...

[robertpaulsen]

54. PS3 vs. library user taser target: Americans priorities are FUCKED UP!!!

Apparently, Americans will fight with eachother over their space in line waiting for a goddamnded toy, but if they see their fellow citizen abused in an act of police brutality, they film it at best, look away and walk the other direction at worst. Disgusting.

[StraightDope]

57. You nailed it.

Talk about your fucked up priorities. Fight Club was on to something, wasn't it Robert Paulson?

:mad:

[robertpaulsen]

62. Damn straight.

We need more space monkeys! :argh:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

58. If they'd pulled out a gun and shot the cops...

I'd have said that was self defense.

[Election]

60. And I'd say send them to the lethal injection table

Well actually, probably not since I oppose the death penalty, but I would definitely support life without parole.

[akushuki]

63. I think they were ready to do so.

they just needed one student to take the leap of faith, run past the 'move along or I'll taser you cops' and go to the student being assaulted.

If one person went forward, the circle would have shrank around the cops.

[Jed Dilligan]

64. I'm torn

There was no way for them to know that T. would survive the assault. In that sense, they should have rushed in to save him.

However, in hindsight they did just the right thing: witnessed and recorded. I bet for some this was a tough call to make.