The latest in a recent spate of cellphone videos documenting
questionable arrest tactics surfaced Wednesday, this one showing a UCLA
police officer using a Taser to stun a student who allegedly refused to
leave the campus library.
Grainy video of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library was
broadcast Wednesday on TV news and the Internet, prompting a review of
the officers' actions and outrage among students at the Westwood campus.
The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
According to a campus police report, the incident began when community
service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their
nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library
after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.
Campus officials said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.
When Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community
service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave
the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus
police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave "multiple times," according
to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers
attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to
cooperate with officers or leave the building."
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police
arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his
backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the
witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling "Get
off me" several times.
"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance,"
police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.
The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act,
here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he
used a profanity.
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los
Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the
stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like
it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they
just kept doing it."
Campus police confirmed that Tabatabainejad was stunned "multiple" times.
By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were
shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge
numbers.
Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.
(Amanda Covarrubias and Stuart Silverstein, 'A Third Incident, A New Video', Los Angeles Times,
November 16, 2006)
