scoot80's Journal: Police shoot student with stun gun for asking a question

A university student was held down and shot with a Taser stun gun by police in the middle of a question-and-answer session with former presidential candidate Democrat John Kerry, later to be charged with resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. All he did was ask a question. Was he out of line, or were the police out of line? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag

A better video capture

[Nymz]

For anyone interested, there's a video that shows the cops sitting on him while they taser him, shot from the aisleway instead of on top like the one linked here. You can find it in an earlier submission [slashdot.org] along with a link to an article regarding the incident.

Re:

[apethedog15]

The person who posted this to youtube described the video as such:

I couldnt get to my camera in time to record his entrance, but this guy basically comes running in with 4 or 5 cops in tow and says he has been running around trying to get in to ask a question and the cops are going to arrest him for it. they almost do it then but Sen. Kerry says he will answer it. he then answers a previous question someone else asked (i cut that part out because it isnt important to this video) then the guy asks his questions and when he is done all hell breaks lose.

So it would appear that this guy was being arrested for breaking into this q&a session, and the police, on Kerry's request, postponed their action until after he was done asking.

Re:

[Nymz]

So it would appear that this guy was being arrested for breaking into this q&a session, and the police, on Kerry's request, postponed their action until after he was done asking.

You missed the story, but you are correct that the guy was disrupting a forum (a crime), and was being arrested for not ceasing to do so when asked. (all legal so far) The point is that an officer may not assault someone with a taser gun unless they are a threat, and the video clearly shows him down on the ground with multiple