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Police Apparently Electrostun Boisterous U of Florida Student at Kerry Lecture

September 18, 2007

University of Florida student Andrew Meyer was apparently shocked with a stun gun and then arrested for disrupting a speech by John Kerry on campus with a long stream of loud questions. I’ve watched the video. Meyer was asking questions of Kerry, apparently monopolizing the microphone for a minute and a half (the video starts at the end of this period). Two police officers grab him and start to drag him away. More officers join the fray. They drag Meyer to the back of the lecture hall as he protests and asks why he’s being arrested; they get him on the floor; and then they audibly warn him that he will be Tasered if he continues to struggle. Seconds later, Meyer starts screaming “Ow! Ow! Ow!” He’s apparently being shocked with a stun gun from the sound of it.

Here in San Jose, as many as five people have died from being Tasered by police in certain circumstances, one in May of this year, despite the electronic Taser and other electro-stun weapons being billed as non-lethal devices.

Thirty seven years ago, US National Guard soldiers opened fire and killed four Kent State students who were protesting the Vietnam War. (Added note: apparently only two students were protesting. Two were just walking to class and got caught in the deadly fire.) Neil Young wrote a song about it. “Four dead in Ohio” sang Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

The ghosts of Kent State students Allison Krause, Jeffrey Glen Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer, and William Knox Schroeder look on. The wheel turns.

Posted by Steve Leibson on September 18, 2007 | Comments (2)

September 18, 2007
In response to: Police Apparently Electrostun Boisterous U of Florida Student at Kerry Lecture
ra commented:

It is every citizen's duty to resist false arrest There is no such crime as "resisting arrest." This is a fictitious crime dreamed up by law enforcement to accuse a citizen of a crime when they refuse to surrender to the illegal demands of the police. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on numerous occasions that resisting a false arrest is not merely a citizen's right, but his duty! In fact, the Supreme Court has gone so far as to rule that if a law enforcement officer is killed as a result of actions stemming from a citizen's attempts to defend themselves against a false arrest, it is the fault of the officer, not the citizen. "An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any other assault and battery." (State v. Robinson, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL. 260). "Each person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the position of a wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in self- defense." (State v. Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100). Not one person attempted to rush to the aid of Meyer who was screaming "HELP! HELP ME!" Do individuals have the right to come to the aid of another citizens being falsely arrested? YES! "One may come to the aid of another being unlawfully arrested, just as he may where one is being assaulted, molested, raped or kidnapped. Thus it is not an offense to liberate one from the unlawful custody of an officer, even though he may have submitted to such custody, without resistance." (Adams v. State, 121 Ga. 16, 48 S.E. 910). And on the issue of actually killing an arresting officer in self defense: "Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary." Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306. This premise was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529.


September 18, 2007
In response to: Police Apparently Electrostun Boisterous U of Florida Student at Kerry Lecture
OakRaidFan commented:

I watched all three (3) videos and the student did absolutely nothing wrong. He held up his hands as soon as the cops led him away from the microphone. The two female officers then continued to move in his direction, right in his face, pointing at him and trying to grab him. He kept backing up and kept asking what he did. Kerry should have intervened, at least by telling (asking?) the officers to refrain from unprovoked aggressive actions.

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