I have been reading the various diaries and comments of people about the Kerry's visit to the University of Florida and I am appalled at the callousness many seem to have. First of all, Kerry is not to be blamed for the actions of the UF Police. There is some merit that he should have been more forceful in telling the police to back down. However, by his account through proxy, he was unable to see/hear what was happening to the boy. Having been in similar auditoriums I feel that is credible.
The actions of the UF Police, however, were horrendous. At every step they escalated the situation rather than deescalate it. The boy (and I use the term boy purposely) was rude. No question. He cut in line. He gave a rambling and sometimes incomprehensible summation followed by questionable questions. He attempted to evade the police and being handcuffed by them. Again, no question on those events.
The violence that the officers directed toward the boy was not reciprocated by him. Instead, he tried to evade the officers. All the while screaming, "Why are you arresting me?" Again, at any point the officers could have deescalated the incident by backing off and allowing the boy to calm down. And again they did the exact opposite.
The police, however, were overly aggressive. Exasperated the situation by rushing the boy. At any point in the confrontation, the police could have backed up, encircled the boy and calm him down without any violence whatsoever. Instead they chose to violently extract the boy from the room.
The officers were effective in moving the boy to the back of the auditorium. All the while using methods that agitated the boy further. When they got to the back, they could have continued to forcibly guide him out but they chose to pin him to the ground. Again, the boy did not return the violence that was being mete upon him but was attempting to evade.
While being pinned the officers tasered the boy despite his pleading with them not to. Despite his repeated statements of leaving peacefully if they would allow him to. The officers tasered him despite the fact that he was in no position to harm anyone. Despite the fact that he had shown no inclination to assault anyone. The officers tasered him not because he was a danger but because they wanted him to be more docile. That is not the purpose that Police are given tasers!
However, that is not the most appalling aspect of the story. It is a heinous example of abuse of authority by the police. As well as an example of unnecessary brutality. But what is most appalling is that there are a number of posters feel the brutality was warranted by the situation. Some of them, simply because the boy cut in line.
When you watch the videos of the incident, there is no question that the boy is in an agitated state. There is no question that the more the police rushed him out, the more agitated he got. There is no question that he was spouting tinhat scenarios. But at no time did he appear to present a danger to anyone. Yes he was disruptive. But if you have been to any similar event there are always members of the lunatic fringe that spout off. The appropriate response is to let them spout off, answer the spiel as best you can and then move on. Generally the person leaves the event at that point, convinced that everyone is blind while they have the ultimate clarity of vision. And then its over.
That isn't what happend. The police harassed the boy. Making him more agitated and then, when they had him restrained already, shot him with a taser.
Update I: Apparently most people polled believe that the person has to make a violent motion or worse in order to be tasered. Saddly there are a significant number of comments that show they don't care about Police Brutality if it isn't one of their Pet Groups.