Probably most of you had heard the story about Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student who was at a John Kerry event on the UF campus who got a little annoying and disruptive. The result was several cops taking him down and while holding him down, shocking him with a ‘taser’ in order to subdue him.
UF’s president, J. Bernard Machen, states on UF’s website;
University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.
Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
From the video, it seemed like a lot more than TWO officers involved… maybe math has changed at UF since I graduated from UF in ‘96! The ‘exaggeration’ of the facts by Machen seem to signal at least some felt ‘wrong doing’ on the University’s behalf - if not, why mis-represent the facts that are clearly visible to the thousands who’ve seen the video of the incident?
So, what do you think? Was the use of force excessive, or did Andrew Meyer deserve everything he got from the police?
Hi! I'm Steve Webel and this is my blog. Thanks for stopping by!
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I always thought tazers were supposed to be a safe replacement to guns… if they would have shot him then I guess the use of the tazer was appropriate. (removing tongue from cheek)
The whole thing is ridiculous … that kid ran up to the mic and stole it from someone else. He didn’t allow the speaker to answer, instead displaying a complete lack of respect for the former presidential candidate (and lack of knowledge about the statements he was making).
He threw his camera to someone he didn’t even know (yes, it was HIS camera) and repeatedly asked this stranger if she was “getting it” on tape. Furthermore, his publicity stunt rant disappeared when he got off-camera. He then cooperated with police completely … illuminating his real motivations. And according to one of his friends, “He wants to have his voice heard and he wants to get into the entertainment journalism field and all that.”
Famey McFamester was asked to leave because of his behavior. He was tasered because he was resisting with violence and insulting the officers. He escalated the situation by his own behavior and deserved to have that camera confiscated. not broadcasted. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up serving time (maximum penalty for his charges is 5 years and $5000).
I agree that Andrew Meyer was annoying and was clearly gunning for publicity - but does that warrant the amount of force used against him? The police are supposed to be the “professionals” in these situations displaying ‘cool heads’ in the midst of jerks and activists. By tasing him, didn’t they give him exactly what he wanted?
At least one of those officers could have cuffed Andrew without ‘needing’ to tase him (IMO). Did you see the size of some of those officers in the video?! It seemed to me the cops were angry with Andrew and the order to tase was a ‘punishment’ rather than a way to subdue him. It’s not the police’s role to ‘punish’ criminals - that’s the the role of the judicial branch.
Anyway, that’s the way it ’seems’ to me, but I wasn’t there, so I’m subject to the media bias of the various outlets that I read as well as the YouTube videos of the actual event.
I disagree. I didn’t see, in any of the videos, any officers that lost their cool or became angry. In fact, they did the opposite … they calmly ignored his rhetoric and bantering and immediately sought to remove him from the situation instead of arguing with him in front of the crowd. They were smart enough to see that he was just performing … and in a public setting like that, every second counts … it’s the responsibility of the police to resolve the situation ASAP and avoid an escalation.
When he violently pushed and pulled (from the very beginning), resisting arrest, they got him to the ground but literally couldn’t get the handcuffs on him in a timely fashion. He ignored their blatant warnings so they tased him to subdue him enough to safely cuff him. THAT’S WHAT TASERS ARE FOR … he is lucky that they didn’t choose to use more physical force.
Just watch the videos again and look at the officers, not at him … you’ll understand their actions a lot more. And if you think about the same exact scene with a drunk guy out on the street then you can see why they are trained to react in the way that they did.
Lance, you may be right. It will be interesting to see if anything more comes from this.
I think it’s the teacher in me … when I see people acting junior-high-ish, I tend to empathize with those in authority. Maybe to a fault.