CZ52GUY on September 19, 2007 at 10:53 AM

Not to pile on and I appreciate your honesty, but if you had a healthy respect for law enforcement you would not have come off like you believed that all in authority are jackboot thugs. The police deserve the benefit of the doubt, not a moonbat that cannot function is civilized society.

The missing elements not shown on multiple previous videos for me were:
1) Last question had been announced
2) Meyer had charged the mic’, not just “cut in lunch line”, drawing justifiable police attention given the intensity of his actions and seeking to reduce potential risk to Senator Kerry and those assembled.
3) Meyer’s exchange with Kerry that preceded his actual question is not shown on any of the videos I’ve been able to view. Accounts of that exchange which occurred after he had drawn attention to himself by doing a very aggressive charge to the mic’ paint a very different picture than has been reported in edited video content.

Eyewitness accounts indicated that Meyer behaved in a manner justifiable described as “suspicious”. If he had acted in this manner at an airport gate charging to the front to engage the gate attendant, he probably would have been arrested on the spot.

Context is an important ally in analysis. Given the additional context of eyewitness accounts prior to what was shown on videos at my disposable, the intervention of law enforcement and subsequent actions make much more sense.

That some would have justified the use of a taser based soley on the evidence shown in short versions of the video (I suspect based on the “high negatives” this foolish kid oozes in his demeanor) still is disturbing to me, but multiple credible eyewitness accounts of the incident in it’s ENTIRETY have changed my perspective.

CZ52′

Exit question per Jim Treacher: At what time today does the first “Leave Andrew Meyer Alone!” parody hit YouTube? Click the image to watch.

Exit Answer: What better way to reveal yourself to us for the first time Allah?

RightWinged on September 18, 2007 at 3:32 PM

They already have a parody on YouTube called “Leave Belichick Alone,” so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s all over a parody of this guy…

The only thing I see that the Officers could have done differently was wait a little bit longer to let his question be answered. If Lurch had gotten out his request to answer before the officers had already committed, maybe he’d have left of his own volition. That is simply an unfortunate timing issue. His flailing, short run towards the stage, and subsequent active physical contact while resisting the officers most absolutely is considered active resistance. It certainly is not passive.

How should they have gotten him to comply, then?

Jim Treacher on September 18, 2007 at 11:26 PM

???They should have asked him really nice???A whole bunch of times until he got tired of saying no and everybody else had already left and the custodians were turning the lights out anyways???

Sorry Jim, some people really just don’t understand that your actions have consequences. When a police officer instructs you that you have to leave a public place neither ignoring him or resisting him is not a legally justifiable response.

Because they have never been held accountable for their actions some people just don’t get this. If you believe that the officer is exceeding his authority or acting improperly there are legal ways to contest his actions. But as I said before ignoring him or resisting him is not a legally justifiable response.

That being said, he should NOT have been tasered. That was far too over-the-top.

How should they have gotten him to comply, then?

I love the “these guys are gonna kill me!” line. Kill him for what stupidity? How does someone this stupid even get IN to college?

Learning via life experience is really hard for those who have been spoiled stupid.

That being said, he should NOT have been tasered. That was far too over-the-top.

At the University of Florida campus during a John Kerry speech, Andrew Meyer, a journalism student, tried to ask the Senator several questions. Judging from some of the videos and eyewitness reports, the kid ……

At the University of Florida campus during a John Kerry speech, Andrew Meyer, a journalism student, tried to ask the Senator several questions. Judging from some of the videos and eyewitness reports, the kid ……

At the University of Florida campus during a John Kerry speech, Andrew Meyer, a journalism student, tried to ask the Senator several questions. Judging from some of the videos and eyewitness reports, the kid ……

The big loser was Kerry.

mustang1 on September 18, 2007 at 8:09 PM

Amen, brother! He’s always the big loser.

The guy is convinced he’s being snatched by a secret government black ops team and taken to Area 51 for deprogramming … and you’re worried about his grammar?

Professor Blather on September 18, 2007 at 4:12 PM

Nah, they’re going to take the stupid sh*t to Area 102–it’s twice as spooky as Area 51.

Bottom line, one person in that auditorium had absolute power to avoid that situation, and it was Andrew Meyer. Unfortunately he didn’t choose to exercise it. Kinda like Ron White said: “I had the right to remain silent, but I didn’t have the ability.”

I comment from a Fed LEO background, with training on the use of tasers. This defensive weapon is only to be used as a last resort when you or others are in physical danger. Tasers carry the same use-restrictions as the discharge of your firearm. I say this knowing it applies to properly trained LEO’s, and may not apply to ‘hire-a-gun’ campus police.

My visual review leads to this conclusion. On meth or otherwise, the campus police had sufficient numbers to restrain and cuff the subject. Without the use of a taser. That being said; the tape speaks for itself. The officers involved were not using accepted techniques in the control and cuffing of a disruptive citizen. Perhaps the school will spend a lot more money on the training of their private police force. They certainly charge the students enough to pay for proper police training.

We don’t need young people tased for asking tough questions, even if their approach isn’t perfect.

CZ52GUY on September 18, 2007 at 5:22 PM

Of course. And that’s what he was tased for. “Asking questions.”

Which I guess is why, after he rushed the microphone, they let him get through not one, not two, but three questions. Including blow job questions and Truther conspiracy silliness questions.

Still, I’m sure it was the questions. I’m sure it had nothing at all to do with causing a disturbance, refusing to obey a lawful instruction from a police officer, resisting arrest, or taking a back-handed swing at the first officer to touch him … you know, AFTER the microphone was turned off.

And I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he wouldn’t go peacefully when they took him gently by the elbows. Or resisted at least three times, escaping even after they tried to bodily carry him out. You know … AFTER the questions.

Yeah. It must have been the questions. That was definitely it.

“It puts the lotion in the basket…or else it gets the hose again”

I’ll decline your offer of linkage research as “authoritative” to alter my perspective.

CZ52GUY on September 18, 2007 at 4:49 PM

Of course. Why let facts or law get in the way of your ill-informed opinion?

And you – equally predictably – didn’t even attempt to tell us what the officers should have done.

Typical.

Apparently our police state needs work on their mind wipe devices. John Kerry can still recall the incident.

I hate it when people ride to the aid of those who resist/disobey the instructions of our cops. We have a court system which will clear your name if you’re innocent. Do what the cop tells you to do.

I vote the guy is mentally not okay. That’s sad, but it reinforces that the cops were actually acting on his behalf by restraining him, as well on behalf of the audience.

Who cheer when he gets escorted out. Gripe about the monday morning quarterbacking of the incident all you want, but those in attendace agreed with the intitial move of the cops to remove him. Everything else was a consequence of his decision not to comply with the police.

TexasDan on September 18, 2007 at 6:59 PM

There are times when the public should intervene, but this was not even remotely one of them. With the introduction of the camera phone the odds of a law enforcement officer doing something so egregious that a public outcry is demanded on the spot to prevent a major travesty of justice just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

This wasn’t a case of brutal racist cops turning high powered water cannons on peaceful protesters like in Selma. It wasn’t a case of multiple police officers striking a suspect 30 or 40 times with their k9 batons about the head and shoulders.

What it was, was police attempting first to escort a disruptive individual out of a public meeting and only resorting to force when the individual aggressively resisted.

I hate it when people ride to the aid of those who resist/disobey the instructions of our cops. We have a court system which will clear your name if you’re innocent. Do what the cop tells you to do.

I vote the guy is mentally not okay. That’s sad, but it reinforces that the cops were actually acting on his behalf by restraining him, as well on behalf of the audience.

Who cheer when he gets escorted out. Gripe about the monday morning quarterbacking of the incident all you want, but those in attendace agreed with the intitial move of the cops to remove him. Everything else was a consequence of his decision not to comply with the police.

CZ52GUY: You do realize the guy cut to the front of the line, right? If anything, they waited too long to deal with him.

Jim Treacher on September 18, 2007 at 6:28 PM

Some people are so afraid of authority that any time they see it they start screaming about conspiracy theories or black helicopters. Oddly enough these are almost always the first people to scream bloody murder when the government does not protect their perceived rights.

Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example of how people like this act. The federal government didn’t act quickly enough, even though to do so would have been a blatant violation of constitutionally guaranteed states rights.

Everyone’s talking about it, on both the right and the left, so I feel I have to weigh in on my t…
……

He wasn’t tased for asking tough questions. He was tased because he forcefully refused to comply with the instructions of a police officer.

Jim Treacher on September 18, 2007 at 6:19 PM

And right there we have the winning answer…….