University of Florida Student Tasered at Kerry Forum
Posted on September 17, 2007
Update: e-mail from the UF president announces 2 p.m. press conference
To students, faculty, staff:
I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.
We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:
*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.
*We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.
*Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.
*Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.
I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.
Sincerely,
J. Bernard Machen [president, UF]
Update: Michelle reports that there was more than meets the eye here. He was a raging moonbat afterall.
Geez! Sure the guy asked stupid questions to Kerry, but did it really have to go this far? What happened to people’s right to question their government? Did people forget this is Constitution Day?
Expect the ACLU to get involved. I mean it. They hate tasers! When a Muslim UCLA student disrupted a library, fought the cops, and got tasered….CAIR and the ACLU were all over it! Don’t expect anything less this time. Granted, that student was Muslim, but in the ACLU’s war against tasers…you can bet that if they rallied for the kid that deserved a good shock, they’ll be there for this one….that I don’t think really provoked anything.
Then again, maybe this is just what happens when you ask someone about their membership in Skull and Bones.
UPDATE: A commenter left a tip.
A UF student who was at the event and, emailed Michelle Malkin, stating there was more to it than what was shown on video.
…However, while Senator Kerry was responding to a student’s question, all of a sudden Meyer rushed to the microphone with cops in pursuit. At that point no one knew what was going on. Could he have a gun, a bomb? Immediately, Meyer began yelling into the microphone that he had been waiting in line forever and that Senator Kerry should “spend time to answer everyone’s questions!†Senator Kerry tried to calm the student down by telling him that he would “stay here as long as it takes to get the questions answered.†The police approached Meyer who began taunting them by saying “what! are you going to taser me? are you going to arrest me?!†The police grabbed Meyer, but Senator Kerry asked the
police to let him go and that he would answer his question. Senator Kerry finished answering the other student’s question and then proceeded with Meyer. (*This entire scene is not in any video I can find so far. This is why 2 cops are seen right behind Meyer at the start of some videos*)…
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One Response to “University of Florida Student Tasered at Kerry Forum”
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The Giants
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What if all the students at the University of Florida decided to request that the balance of their tuition be refunded to either themselves or their parents and left that particular university? There are universities which do not supply T.A.S.E.R.s to their security staff.
I attended a speaking engagement by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, at Syracuse University in May of this year and was delighted to see that although she was surrounded by the Irish police upon entering and exiting the building, none of those in attendance was. None of us was threatened or man-handled in any way. Security stayed close to her and at a respectful distance from us.
That evening, upon returning to the library from the garage where I had parked my car, I sought out a campus security guard to tell him my car was in the garage and the attendant had gone home for the night. He responded with such courtesy. He said he would call someone to open the garage, and that his job was to make sure I got home safe. His exact words were, “My job is to make sure you get home safe.”
When parents entrust a university to educate their children they do so with the expectation that the students will be safe. If a university invites a guest-speaker and that speaker agrees to a question and answer format, campus security should be made aware ahead of time that this format has been scheduled. It is not their job to decide which questions will be permitted and which will not.
As a journalism student, Andy Meyer was asking a pointed question. John Kerry was not permitted to answer the question due to the interference of approximately six or seven campus security guards. They acted rashly. They acted callously. They acted with a complete disregard for the pain he suffered. Such callous disregard for human suffering is, we should not forget, often associated with criminal behavior. No university needs security guards who would stoop to doing what these guards did.