Police Taser Man for not Leaving Library

[WaTcHeR]

11.16.2006 - LOS ANGELES - A camera phone captured a UCLA student being shocked with a stun gun by a police officer after he allegedly refused repeated requests to show his student identification and would not leave a campus library, university police said Wednesday.

The incident occurred about 11 p.m. Tuesday after police did a routine check of student identifications at the University of California, Los Angeles' Powell Library computer lab.

"This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.

She said police tried to escort Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, out of the library after he refused to provide ID and would not leave.

Tabatabainejad, who was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer, was later released on his own recognizance.

"As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building," Greenstein said.

Instead, Greenstein said, Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to join his resistance. When a crowd began to gather they used the stun gun on him.

The arrest was recorded on another student's camera phone and showed Tabatabainejad screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. The video also showed the student shouting, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," according to the campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin.

There is no phone listing for Tabatabainejad and neither he nor his attorney could be located for comment.

Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams promised that an investigation of the incident and the officer's action will be "thorough, vigorous and fair."

www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16021566.htm

[Random Passerby]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP_M8s0GFEc <---Video of the confrontation. IMO the guy deserved it. He wasn't as innocent as the article makes him seem.

[WaTcHeR]

11.17.2006 - LOS ANGELES - A UCLA police officer shocked a student with a stun gun at a campus library after he refused repeated requests to show student identification and wouldn't leave, police said.

The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday at about 11 p.m. as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer lab.

"This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.

She said police tried to escort Tabatabainejad, 23, out of the library after he refused to provide identification. Tabatabainejad instead encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, police used the stun gun on him, Greenstein said.

Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance. He declined to comment Wednesday night.

news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20061116/ap_on_re_us/student_stunned_1

[WaTcHeR]

UCLA Tasering officer: history of violence


Terrence Duren, a 2001 UCLA officer of the year, has been the subject of two other use-of-force complaints.

11.22.2006 - The UCLA police officer videotaped last week using a Taser gun on a student also shot a homeless man at a campus study hall room three years ago and was earlier recommended for dismissal in connection with an alleged assault on fraternity row, authorities said.

UCLA police confirmed late Monday that the officer who fired the Taser gun was Terrence Duren, who has served in the university's Police Department for 18 years.

Duren, who was named officer of the year in 2001, also has been involved in several controversial incidents on campus.

In an interview with The Times on Monday night, Duren, 43, defended his record as a campus police officer and urged people to withhold judgment until the review of his Taser use is completed.

"I patrol this area the same way I would want someone to patrol the neighborhoods where I live," he said. "People make allegations against cops all the time. Saying one thing and proving it are two different things."

While he would not directly talk about why he used the Taser on the student, he said a videotape of any arrest doesn't necessarily tell the whole story.

"If someone is resisting, sometimes it's not going to look pretty taking someone into custody," he said. "If you have to use some force, it's not going to look pretty. That's the nature of this job."

A student's cellphone video of the incident has been broadcast around the world and focused much criticism on the officer.

But Duren — who was back on duty at the UCLA campus Monday night — said he can roll with these punches and wants to explain himself to students critical of his actions.

"In this line of business, you have to have a thick skin," he added. "I am proud of my service as a cop."

The incident occurred about 11 p.m. Nov. 14 in a library filled with students studying for midterm examinations.

Senior Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, was asked by Duren and other university police officers for his ID as part of a routine nightly procedure to make sure that everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.

Authorities said Tabatabainejad refused repeated requests to provide identification or to leave. The officers decided to use the Taser to incapacitate Tabatabainejad after he went limp while they were escorting him out and after he urged other library patrons to join his resistance, according to the university's account.

The video shows portions of the incident, in which Tabatabainejad can be heard screaming in pain when the Taser shocks are administered.

The tape, which has been broadcast on the YouTube website and TV newscasts, prompted widespread criticism both on campus and from outsiders. On Friday, more than 200 students held a march to the police station, while acting Chancellor Norman Abrams tried to quell the critics by announcing an independent investigation of the Taser use. Abrams said UCLA had received numerous e-mails and calls from concerned alumni and parents.

Tabatabainejad's attorney, Stephen Yagman, said his client was shocked five times with the Taser after he refused to show his ID because he thought he was being singled out for his Middle Eastern appearance. Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S. citizen by birth and a resident of Los Angeles.

Duren said Monday that he joined the UCLA police force after being fired from the Long Beach Police Department in the late 1980s. He said he was a probationary officer at the time and was let go because of poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge.

In May 1990, he was accused of using his nightstick to choke someone who was hanging out on a Saturday in front of a UCLA fraternity. Kente S. Scott alleged that Duren confronted him while he was walking on the street outside the Theta Xi fraternity house.

Scott sued the university, and according to court records, UCLA officials moved to have Duren dismissed from the police force. But after an independent administrative hearing, officials overturned the dismissal, suspending him for 90 days.

Duren on Monday disputed the allegations made by Scott.

In October 2003, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man he encountered in Kerckhoff Hall. Duren chased the man into a bathroom, where they struggled and he fired two shots.

The homeless man, Willie Davis Frazier, was later convicted of assaulting an officer. Duren said Frasier had tried to grab his gun during the struggle. But Frazier's attorney, John Raphling, said his client was mentally ill and didn't do anything to provoke the shooting.

It remains unclear when the independent investigation of the Taser incident will be completed. It will be headed by Merrick Bobb, a veteran watchdog of both the Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff's departments.

UCLA police officials said in a short statement that Duren arrived at Powell Library with Officer Alexis Bicomong. Duren "discharged the Taser," the statement said. Officers Kevin Kilgore, Andrew Ikeda and Ricardo Bolanos, and Sgt. Philip Baguliao, a supervisor, were also at the scene.

"Let the independent watchdog run its course," Duren said.

The officer said that when the probe is complete, he'd like to sit down with students, particularly Muslim student groups, to explain his actions at the library.

"I have nothing to hide."

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser21nov21,1,6323632.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

[KC]

UCPD Stun Gun Use Sparks Protests

UCSB’s Campus Police Reject Electronic Weapons Due to UCLA Controversy, Funding

Partially as a result of recent events involving the alleged misuse of Tasers on the UCLA campus, a proposal to purchase the devices for UCSB Police Dept. officers has been scrapped.

According to UCPD public information officer Matt Bowman, the plan to arm officers with Tasers had already been delayed due to a lack of funding, but the incident involving the questionable use of the devices at UCLA against a student raised additional doubts about the need for the stun guns.

Bowman said the plan to buy electric stun guns for the department was originally proposed after the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office acquired the devices. Isla Vista Foot Patrol officers have been equipped with the weapons for over a year and a half, and have used them on UCSB students.

Ordering the devices was also delayed in order to evaluate the community’s reaction to their use, Bowman said.

“[Buying Tasers was planned] years ago, when the S.B. Sheriff’s Dept. brought them online,” Bowman said. “We were going to do it in conjunction with them, but we waited to see how the community would react.”

Now, Bowman said, letters of concern addressed to Chancellor Henry T. Yang’s office regarding the UCLA incident have added another reason to shelve the plan.

On Nov. 14, UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was involved in an altercation with campus police. Initially, a Community Service Officer approached Tabatabainejad while he was using a computer, and asked for his identification to prove he was a student.

When Tabatabainejad refused, UCLA UCPD officers were called to the scene. According to a UCPD statement, the student was stunned when he refused to leave and asked other students present to “join his resistance.”

Another student filmed the incident using a cell phone video camera. The footage - which has been uploaded to www.youtube.com - shows Tabatabainejad screaming in pain and being hit with a Taser multiple times, at one point telling officers he has a medical condition.

A group of concerned students then gathered around the officers asking them to stop using the stun gun. Officers told one student, who requested the officers’ badge numbers, to stop interrupting the arrest, and threatened him with the Taser.

Tabatabainejad was subsequently dragged from the library, arrested and charged with “resisting/obstructing a peace officer.”

The incident spurred a UCPD investigation. However, UCLA students held a protest on Nov. 17 demanding an independent inquiry. While he did not say that it was in response to the rally, UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams released a statement the same day saying he had hired Merrick Bobb, a police conduct authority who has investigated the Los Angeles Police Dept. in the past, to look into the matter.

www.ucsbdailynexus.com/news/2006/12661.html