UCLA Taser incident
Encyclopedia
The UCLA Taser incident occurred on November 14, 2006, when Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

 student, was stunned multiple times with a Taser
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...

 by campus police
University of California Police Department
The University of California Police Department is the police agency charged with providing law enforcement to the campuses of the University of California system.-History:...

, for allegedly refusing to be escorted out of the College Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) lab at Powell Library
Powell Library
Powell Library is the main college undergraduate library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles . It was constructed from 1926 to 1929 and was one of the original four buildings that comprised the UCLA campus in the early period of the university's life...

. The police had been called after Tabatabainejad had refused to provide his BruinCard (student ID
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...

) to a UCLA Community Service Officer during a routine check. Part of the incident was recorded on video by a camera phone
Camera phone
A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture still photographs . Since early in the 21st century the majority of mobile phones in use are camera phones....

.

Tabatabainejad, an Iranian-American
Iranian-American
Iranian-Americans are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship.Iranian-Americans are amongst the most highly educated groups in the United States...

 who adheres to the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

, said through his lawyers that he refused to identify himself because he believed himself a victim of racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...

 and that the tasing was an instance of police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....

.

Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the officers used excessive force and that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....

. The case was settled on May 15, 2009, with UCLA agreeing to pay $220,000 to Tabatabainejad.

Incident

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on November 14, 2006, Community Service Officers were conducting routine checks of students' BruinCard IDs in Powell Library
Powell Library
Powell Library is the main college undergraduate library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles . It was constructed from 1926 to 1929 and was one of the original four buildings that comprised the UCLA campus in the early period of the university's life...

. UCPD
University of California Police Department
The University of California Police Department is the police agency charged with providing law enforcement to the campuses of the University of California system.-History:...

 Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in the 24-hour library after 11:00 p.m., when use of the library is restricted to staff, faculty and students.

When Tabatabainejad refused to produce university identification, he was asked to leave the premises. When Tabatabainejad failed to leave, UCPD officers were called to the scene, arriving approximately 10 minutes later. Following a confrontation, the officers used the Taser in its "Drive Stun" capacity. In this mode, the Taser causes pain without incapacitating the target.

Tabatabainejad was released from custody after being given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty. According to a press release issued by the UCPD, he was also issued a court date.

Officers

Terrence Duren, a former Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 and 18-year veteran of the UCLA Police Department, tasered Tabatabainejad multiple times. The 2001 UCLA Officer of the Year, Duren has been the subject of other use-of-force complaints and previously recommended for dismissal. In an October 2003 incident, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man in a University building, a case that went to trial. In May 1990, Duren was accused of using his nightstick to choke Kent S. Scott, who was idling in front of a fraternity late on a Saturday night. Scott sued and the university moved to have Duren removed from the force, but later gave him 90 days’ suspension. Duren has stated all of the past allegations against him regarding police misconduct and use of excessive force were investigated by the UCPD and proven false. (The homeless man was convicted of assaulting an officer.) Prior to joining the UCPD in the late 1980s, Duren was fired from the Long Beach Police Department
Long Beach Police Department (California)
The Long Beach Police Department provides law enforcement for the city of Long Beach, California, USA.-History:In 2004, the department introduced Tasers and distributed them to officers...

 due to "poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge". Following the Tasering incident, Duren remained on active duty.

Also on the scene were Officers Alexis Bicomong, Kevin Kilgore, and Andrew Ikeda. *

Video and eyewitness accounts

Part of the event is recorded in a six-minute cell phone video recorded by another student. The video has been widely disseminated online, and an edited version is available on the Daily Bruin
Daily Bruin
The Daily Bruin is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles.-Frequency and governance:When classes are in session, the Bruin is published Monday through Friday during the school year and once a week on Mondays in the summer quarter.It is overseen by the ASUCLA...

site. Tabatabainejad is first heard (though not seen) repeatedly shouting "Don't touch me!" to the officers. Over the course of the video, he is stunned multiple times, while officers repeatedly order him to stand up and stop fighting, and threaten to administer further stuns. Tabatabainejad repeatedly states that he is not fighting and that he will leave the premises. He shouts that he has a medical condition, and shouts "Here's your PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...

! Here's your fucking abuse of power!" Witnesses say that when it was clear none of the other students were going to help him, Tabatabainejad said "Am I the only martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

?" According to one witness, "[Tabatabainejad was] no possible danger to any of the police. [He was] getting shocked and Tasered as he was handcuffed." Bystanders can be heard demanding the officers' names and badge numbers, and shouting for them to stop using the Taser on Tabatabainejad.

At one point, the officers told the crowd to stand back and threatened to tase anyone who approached too closely. A female student said that the officers threatened to tase her when she asked an officer for his name and badge number. According to an ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

 attorney, such a threat of force in response to a badge number request constitutes illegal assault. At 6:36 in the video, an officer tells a male student, "Get back over there or you’re going to get tased, too." The student, wearing a white t-shirt in the video, can be seen "using intense body language" and "talking heatedly and with raised [voice]" prior to being confronted. The officer first tells the student to "back up" before threatening tasing.

A press release issued by the UCPD claims that the officers "asked Tabatabainejad to leave the premises multiple times", and that Tabatabainejad refused to leave.
Witnesses dispute this account, saying that Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, whereupon Tabatabainejad told the officer several times to let go.

Tabatabainejad has said through his lawyers that he was stunned five times, which is the count reported in the media immediately after the incident. The reported count was reduced to three after the release of the independent report.

The independent report clarifies:

Official response

According to the UCPD press release from soon after the incident, "Tabatabainejad went limp and refused to exit as the officers attempted to escort him out." The release also states that Tabatabainejad "encouraged library patrons to join his resistance." At this point, the officers "deemed it necessary to use the Taser in a 'Drive Stun' capacity".

In a statement released November 15, 2006, the day after the incident, Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said:
On November 17, 2006, a press conference was held by Abrams and UCPD Chief Karl Ross, during which it was announced that the UCPD was planning to conduct an independent investigation into the incident led by Merrick Bobb, president of the Police Assessment Resource Center.

On November 18, 2006, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned the incident, and urged punishment for those responsible.

On August 1, 2007, the results of the internal and independent investigations were released, nine months after the incident. The independent investigation found a number of policy violations, but the internal investigation found none. According to Abrams's statement, the difference in conclusions "is not unusual in the legal system. Reasonable people may disagree regarding the inferences to be drawn from the same set of facts, and the facts may differ if some witnesses testify in one investigation and not in the other." The internal investigation is confidential, but the full independent report is available for review.

On December 10, 2007, the UCLA Police Department released its new policy governing Taser use. The policy was developed from recommendations made in the independent report and with input from experts on Tasers and police use-of-force policy. School administrators and student leaders were asked to review and comment on the policy before it was finalized.

Community response

On November 17, 2006, 400 protesters, including UCLA faculty and staff, parents, community members, and UCLA students, gathered at Kerckhoff Hall to protest the incident. This was followed by a march to the UCPD police station, where protesters were met by officers in riot gear.

The protest was organized by more than fifty student organizations to demand an independent investigation into the incident, and to demand the inclusion of students in the investigation.

Combiz Abdolrahimi, chairman of the National Iranian-American Council at UCLA, said that the chancellor should "appoint students who will be able to make sure the investigation is transparent". He also called for a temporary suspension of the officers.

On the same day as the protest, Abrams announced an independent investigation in addition to the internal investigation.

On November 18, 2006, the University of California Students Association
University of California Students Association
The University of California Students Association is a higher education student advocacy group organized to voice the interests of students attending the University of California system. It has been noted for its opposition to education funding cuts and increases in student fees and for its...

 passed a "Police Brutality Resolution" regarding recent incidents at UC Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...

 and UCLA. A Daily Bruin editorial criticized the UCLA portion of the resolution, describing it as "full of inaccuracies".

On November 21, 2006, the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a resolution "opposing inappropriate force against students by university police".

Lawsuit

Tabatabainejad's former lawyer, Stephen Yagman, announced on November 17, 2006 that he planned to file a lawsuit against university police alleging "brutal excessive force" and false arrest. According to Yagman, Tabatabainejad was asked to show his university identification card and did not do so because he believed he was being singled out for racial profiling. Yagman, who characterized the incident as an example of police brutality, claimed Tabatabainejad was the only person who was asked to show ID. A November 22, 2006 article in the Los Angeles Times reported that Yagman had said on November 21 that he was no longer representing Tabatabainejad.

On January 17, 2007, Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging the campus officers used excessive force, and that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....

. He was seeking unspecified damages. According to the lawsuit, Tabatabainejad has bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...

 and informed the officers of his condition, but was treated in a way that constitutes discrimination under the ADA. His attorney, Paul Hoffman, said that a February 2008 court date had been set. On May 15, 2009, UCLA announced that the university would pay $220,000 to settle the civil rights lawsuit.

UCPD policy on Taser use

The UCLA PD policy in effect at the time of the incident calls the Taser a "less lethal device" and says that "although not absolutely prohibited, officers should give additional consideration to the unique circumstances involved prior to applying the Taser to ... Individuals who are handcuffed or otherwise restrained" (4C). According to the policy, the "Drive Stun" capacity is appropriate "to eliminate physical resistance from an arrestee in accomplishing an arrest or physical search" (6A) as well as "pain compliance against passive resistors" (6B).

Of the ten UC campus police departments, six have equipped officers with Tasers, but only UCLA had a flexible policy authorizing Tasers to be used as a pain-compliance tool against suspects who are passively resisting.

The UCLA PD released its new Taser policy on December 10, 2007. According to UCPD Chief Karl Ross, the new policy is considerably longer, includes specific definitions of appropriate and inappropriate use, and explicitly prohibits use against a "passive resister".

See also

  • Taser controversy
  • Taser safety issues
    Taser safety issues
    TASERs represent a safer and less lethal alternative to handgun usage in law enforcement situations. While there have been deaths related to TASER usage, they are generally considered a less lethal form of weapon than the standard issue police sidearm....

  • Taser International
    TASER International
    Taser International, Inc. is a developer, manufacturer, and distributor of the Taser less-lethal electroshock guns in the United States. It is based at Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Taser is the most common brand of electroshock gun.-History:...

     - Taser Manufacturer
  • Braidwood Inquiry
    Braidwood Inquiry
    The Braidwood Inquiry was a public inquiry conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, examining the safety of Tasers and the death of Robert Dziekanski. The two-stage inquiry is being conducted by retired Court of Appeal of British Columbia and Court of Appeal of the Yukon Territory Justice...

     - Official Canadian inquiry into Tasers and similar devices
  • University of Florida Taser incident
    University of Florida Taser incident
    On September 17, 2007, U.S. Senator John Kerry addressed a Constitution Day forum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which was organized by the ACCENT Speakers Bureau, an agency of the university's student government...

  • Robert Dziekański Taser incident
    Robert Dziekanski Taser incident
    Robert Dziekański was a Polish immigrant to Canada who died on October 14, 2007, after being tasered five times by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Vancouver International Airport....

  • Iman Morales Taser incident
    Iman Morales Taser incident
    On September 24, 2008, 35 year old Inman Morales died after falling off a building ledge from being tasered in Brooklyn, New York.-The incident:...


External links


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