Taser Incident in UCLA Library Sparks Outrage, Investigation
-- Library Journal, 11/17/2006
In an incident caught on a cellphone camera and sparking outrage after a YouTube posting, an Iranian-American senior at the University of California, Los Angeles was stunned five times with a Taser after he refused to show ID in the library and then would not exit promptly. While campus police defended their tactics, the university announced it was investigating the incident and a lawyer for the student announced he would file a lawsuit charging police brutality and false arrest. According to the Daily Bruin, Mostafa Tabatabainejad was in the computer lab in Powell Library at 11:30 p.m. when an unarmed Community Service Officer asked him to produce ID. (Campus policy requires those in the library after 11 p.m. to be prepared to identify themselves, because the library is then limited to students, staff, and faculty, but it's unclear why the student was chosen.) He did not produce it—apparently he thought he was being racially profiled. He went limp rather than leaving promptly, after which the officers used the Taser. Tabatabainejadwas surrounded by students urging police to stop their tactics.
His lawyer told the Los Angeles Times that, though Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library, he went limp after an officer refused his request to take his hand off him, since he considered it a case of racial profiling. “Here's your Patriot Act. Here's your fucking abuse of power," the student yelled during the incident with the police. “Stop fighting us,” police responded. “I’m not fighting you,” he responded.
According to the Times, police said they used the Taser only after Tabatabainejad urged other library patrons to resist the police; however, some witnesses said that he was already cooperating. A witness told the Daily Bruin that police used the Taser even when Tabatabainejad was already handcuffed, while police responded that they didn’t know if he was armed or a student. Tasers send an electrical shock to immobilize people, but can be deadly; they’re linked to some 150 deaths in the United States and Canada in seven years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. It’s not clear whether the use of the Taser prevented Tabatabainejad from complying with the command to “stand up.”
Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that he asked “the investigation into the actions of all involved move at the quickest pace possible without sacrificing fairness. I am committed to our country's system of due process—which counsels us not to rush to judgment. It would be best if everyone, within and without the university, would withhold judgment pending review of the matter. I, too, have watched the videos, and I do not believe that one can make a fair judgment regarding the matter from the videos alone. I am encouraged that a number of witnesses have come forward and are participating in the investigation.”
