Update: Please unrecommend this diary and recommend Nic's diary over here, which was both earlier than mine and more detailed. Thanks!
Strike another one for the Camcorder Truth Jihad. (A reference to a very good Jello Biafra spoken word CD that I recommend highly.)
Youtube has a new video up capturing some severe abuse of power by the UCLA police.
Tuesday, an unnamed student was in the Computer Lab at UCLA, when a random check revealed he did not have his ID. The security officers went and got a pair of police officers.
When they returned, the student had logged out of his machine and was preparing to leave the building. The police officers intercepted the student and restrained him, preventing him from leaving.
When he protested, they tasered him.
When he then refused to stand back up (after being tasered), and asked for their badges numbers, even after screaming that he has a medical condition, they simply tasered him again.
And when, twice tased now, he couldn't stand up, they simply tased him again. And again.
The officers slowly began dragging him out of the computer lab as a crowd gathered. The students began demanding the officers names and badges, the officers ignored them.
And tasered the student again, for good measure.
In the end, out in the hall, with dozens of people watching, they finally stop tasering the student, handcuff him, and physically drag him out of the building.
The crowd demands the officers badges, so they simply do what any ethical, polite, respectful police officer would do in this situation.
They tell the woman who asked to stop asking or they'll taser her, too.
So, who here thinks the DoD researching a Pain Raygun is a bad idea?
Somewhat Important Update: From the comments, the UCLA police force is apparently a subdivision of... guess who... the LAPD.
Big shock, huh?
Another important update: From the LATimes story on this:
The student's name was Mostafa Tabatabainejad. What do you want to bet if the student's name was Billy Armstrong or whatnot we wouldn't have seen him get tasered SIX TIMES for complying with the officers demands.