University of Florida Taser incident

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On September 17, 2007, at 12:00 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator John Kerry addressed a Constitution Day forum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which was organized by the ACCENT Speaker's Bureau, an agency of the university's student government. Toward the end of the question and answer period, University police forcibly removed questioner Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old fourth-year undergraduate telecommunications student, from the forum, restraining him through direct force and drive stunning him with a Taser. Several videos of the event were then posted on the Internet.

Details of the event

Student

Andrew William Meyer (born 1986 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida[1]) is an undergraduate currently doing his journalism major at the University of Florida. He attended Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida, where he worked at the school newspaper and was a member of the National Honor Society.[2] At the University of Florida, Meyer worked as a columnist for the college paper Independent Florida Alligator. Meyer has stated that he writes "mostly whimsical nonsense columns about nothing in particular, yet occasionally finds himself angry enough to rain down fire and brimstone on an unsuspecting politician or celebrity".[3]

He received international publicity when videos were posted of police Tasering him at the incident with Senator Kerry.[4] The Miami Herald has stated that "Meyer's grandmother, Lucy Meyer of Pembroke Pines, Florida, told The Miami Herald that he is a hardworking student with no prior run-ins with the law." She also said "He gets very, very overcome with passion for whatever he is feeling. Maybe the passion took over".[5]

Incident

University of Florida police forcibly attempt to escort a resisting Andrew Meyer out of the auditorium

Meyer was in line to ask a question of Kerry when it was announced by former Ambassador Dennis Jett, a University of Florida political science instructor and the forum's moderator,[6] that no more questions would be taken.

According to a statement later released by Senator Kerry's office, Andrew Meyer was "barging to the front of the line."[7] According to Officer William Wise:

I was signaled by the ACCENT supervisor (sponsors of the

event) in reference to the individual. I was stationed at the rear corner of the auditorium during the event. When I approached the area where the microphone was placed for questions for the Senator, a young man was causing a disturbance by shouting loudly at the Senator. The individual began to shout that the Senator needed to answer his question and

stated that he was going to jail. These statements were made before I reached the individual in question. I proceeded to Meyer’s location and advised him that he needed to stop yelling and causing a disturbance or he would be escorted off the property.

[1]

According to Wise's statement, Meyer continued to yell at Kerry, and Wise began to escort Meyer out, his arm "in a transporter position." As Meyer was being escorted out Kerry intervened and requested that Meyer be allowed to ask a question. [1] According to officer Wise's statement in the Police Report, Meyer was then brought back to the microphone and with police officers on either side of him.

Meyer then handed his camera and gave verbal instructions to the woman who was standing in front of him in line (later identified as Clarissa Jessup). Kerry then finished answering a previous question, Meyer was then recognized by Kerry to ask a question.

According to Colleen Kay Porter of the Gainesville Sun, Andrew Meyer interrupted Senator Kerry's last answer by shouting, rather than barging a physical line. [8]

Meyer's questions

U.S. Senator John Kerry

According to The Washington Post, Meyer's question turned into "an increasingly agitated three-parter."[9]

Meyer spoke for approximately 1.5 minutes, beginning by citing the book Armed Madhouse and its author Greg Palast's description of the 2004 U.S. presidential election and reports of election irregularities.[9][10]

Meyer questioned Kerry's concession of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Kerry's support or lack of support of the movement to impeach George W. Bush [9], and Kerry's involvement in the Yale University secret society known as Skull and Bones [9]. After Meyer used the term "blowjob," and while he was asking about Kerry's involvement in Skull and Bones, Meyer's microphone was cut off. Later, Steven Blank, ACCENT chairman, said, "We make it clear that any profanity and vulgarity by anyone asking questions will result in a cutting off of the mike." [11]

Meyer's exchange with John Kerry was captured on several videos distributed on the Web.

YouTube Video, "UF Police Taser Student During Kerry Forum"

  • 0:00 on YouTube video
John Kerry: [Finishing the answer to the previous question]: "...and to continue to pile name upon name upon some wall in the future for a strategy that has failed. That's the distinction." [Recognizing and pointing to Andrew Meyer]: "Sir..."
Andrew Meyer: "I first and foremost want to thank you for your time. You spent a lot of time talking to us here today. I want to thank you for coming and being open and honest. You recommended a book to us earlier; I had wanted to recommend a book to you. It's called Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast.
Kerry: "Yeah, I have it, actually."
Meyer: "Yeah, he's a top investigative journalist in America."
Kerry: "I've already read it."
Meyer: "And [holding up a copy of a yellow paperback book, Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast], he says [in this book] you won the 2004 election!
Kerry: "Right."
Meyer: "Isn't that amazing! Isn't that amazing, you won in 2004! In fact, there were multiple reports on the day of the election of disenfranchising of black voters in Florida and Ohio."
Kerry: "Right."
[Police officer interrupts Meyer, saying "Ask your question."]
Meyer: [Turning to police officer] "I'll ask my question. Thank you very much. I'll ask my question. I'm going to preface it. He's been talking for two hours, I think I can have two minutes. [Sarcastically]: Thank you, thank you—thank you very much." [Turns to side] "I'm going to ask him my question. I'm going to inform people, and THEN I'm going to ask my question. So there were multiple reports of of disenfranchising of black voters on the day of the election in 2004."
Kerry: "Right."
Meyer: "There was also voting machines, electronic voting machines in Volusia County, Florida that counted backwards. So, amidst all these reports of phony, bogus stuff going on, how could you concede the election on the day? [small applause] How could you concede the 2004 election on the day? In this book, it says there were five million votes that were suppressed and you won the election. Didn't you want to be President?
[Police officer interrupts Meyer, again saying "Ask your question."]
I'm not even done yet, I have two more questions."
  • 1:21 on YouTube video
Meyer: "If you were so against [attacking] Iran, how come you are not saying let's impeach George W. Bush now? Impeach Bush now before he can invade Iran? Why won't we impeach him?! Impeach Bush! Clinton? Clinton was impeached, for what, a blowjob?! Why don't we impeach Bush?! All right? Also, are you a member, were you a member of Skull and Bones in college with Bush? Were you in the same secret [Meyer's microphone is cut off] society as Bush? Were you in Skull and Bones?" [turns to side and says, sarcastically]: "Thank you for cutting my mic. Thank you." [Police officers begin to escort Meyer away] "Are you going to arrest me?! Excuse me, Excuse me, what are you arresting me for?!"[12]

Removal and arrest

After speaking for one minute and twenty seconds, at the request of event organizers, Andrew Meyer's microphone was turned off, and two University of Florida police officers attempted to escort him away.[13] Steven Blank, Accent chairman, later said “They (the police) acted independently of Accent." [14] A few members of the crowd began to cheer and applaud. This physical contact by the police occurred right after Meyer remarked “Thank you for cutting my mic!”. Kerry responded to the police action, "That's all right, let me answer his question."[9] , but two police officers continued to hold Meyer and attempted to escort him towards the exit. Meyer demanded to know why he was being arrested. He struggled for several seconds[10] shouting "Get off me! What are you doing? What is going on?" while a third police officer kept a Taser aimed at the student. Meyer managed to get back towards the stage and stated, "I want to stand and listen to the answers to my questions!" A fourth officer joined in who single-handedly managed to remove Meyer to the back of the auditorium while being escorted by the three other officers. Meyer was part of the way carried by officer King, holding Greg Palast's book up in the air with his one free arm and shouting "Why are you arresting me? Help! Help!" Close to the exit Meyer managed to break free for a short moment and was wrestled to the ground. Two more officers joined in and Meyer was now held down by four officers on the body and two on the legs. The officers managed to handcuff only one hand.

As Meyer requested to be allowed to leave of his own accord, they informed him that he no longer had a say in the matter and threatened several times to taser him if he did not comply. Meyer asked again to leave, and yelled "Don't tase me bro, don't tase me!" but was drive stunned (referred to in the police report as a "contact tase") in the shoulder by officer Nicole Lynn Mallo with her department-issued X-26 Taser when he failed to comply [10] [9] [1].

I managed to take control of Meyer's right hand and restrain it into one side of my handcuffs. Due to Meyer's erratic flailing, the inability to attain Meyer's left arm from his resistance, and increased potential for injury with one cuff on, Sgt. King attempted to deploy a contact tase to no avail. He then instructed Mallo to apply a contact tase to gain compliance in order to place Meyer's left hand into the other cuff. Mallo gave verbal commands and informed Meyer that he would be tased if he did not comply. Once Mallo applied the tase, Wise assisted Meyer's left arm to where I was able to apply the other cuff. Once he was restrained, he was escorted out of the Auditorium where I checked the fitting and applied the double-locked function on the cuffs.

— Police Report, Statement of Officer Pablo De Jesus, Jr. [1]

He continued screaming for help as the officers removed him from the room. During the altercation, Kerry urged everyone to calm down, joked that "Unfortunately, he [Andrew Meyer] is not available to come up here and swear me in as President" and kept speaking to Meyer's question, which he referred to as "very important". Senator Kerry later released a statement saying that he was unaware that any Tasing had occurred until afterwards.[10]

POLICE [in background]: "Get down!"

Senator Kerry: "Hey officers ... could we ... Hey folks ... I think that if everybody just..."

POLICE: "Do it now!"

Senator Kerry: "... calms down this situation would calm down. [unintelligible] ...I'll answer his question. Unfortunately, he is not available to come up here and swear me in as President."

Andrew Meyer: "Why are they arresting me? Did someone do something here? Are they arresting?"

Senator Kerry: "Let me just say. because it is a very important question."

— YouTube Video Tape starting at 2:34 [12]

Meyer was then escorted off the premises, remaining uncooperative with police during questioning.[15] He was detained overnight in the Alachua County Jail.[16] Some students protested outside the jail that evening.[17]

Reaction

Legal action

After the incident, Meyer was arrested for inciting a riot and charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace and taken to Alachua County Jail.[16] Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor. Meyer spent one night in the Alachua County Jail and was released the following morning.[16][18] The State Attorney's Office has not made the formal charging decision.

Meyer's attorney, Robert Griscti, stated he will seek to have the charges dismissed.[18]

Student Response

CNN.com has stated that student opinions on the University of Florida campus are evenly divided as to whether the officers acted properly.[19]About 300 students marched to the steps of campus police headquarters the following day with another 100 marching to Emerson Alumni Hall. They chanted that police used excessive force and waved signs that read "Tasers Kill".[20] They demanded that Tasers be banned from campus, and that charges be filed against the police officers that restrained and tasered Meyer.[21]

Criticism of police action

Some critics of the actions of the police have suggested that it was not Meyer's actions which led to his removal, but the content of his remarks. For example writer Palast: "When you bring up uncomfortable stuff, it's going to create discomfort," said Palast, "Obviously, if he was speaking about baseball scores - if he maybe had a different political viewpoint that wasn't seen as combative or outside of what's permissible - then the cops' backs wouldn't have been up." [22]

University investigation

The university president, J. Bernard Machen , held a press conference about the incident on September 18 in Emerson Alumni Hall. He also issued a letter [23] in which he stated that the University Police Chief Linda Stump had requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigate the arrest. President Machen stated that "We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university."[24] The State Attorney's Office will review the charges as well.[25]

The Miami Herald stated that, at the press conference, President Machen called the situation "regretful for us" [sic] and announced that two officers involved in the incident had been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe. University spokesman Steve Orlando said Meyer was asked to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up. The university president "would not say whether he thought the latest episode was a prank." [26]

Criticism of Meyer

News articles about the incident have reported that Meyer had posted on his web site numerous comedy videos. It has also been pointed out the Meyer made arrangements to have himself filmed and have speculated that the incident may have been a stunt by Meyer. The reported behavior of Meyer when no cameras were present is also cited as evidence that the incident was a prank. According to the police report: "as [Meyer] was escorted down stairs with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again." Additionally, the report states that Meyer was "laughing and being lighthearted in the car, his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight. "The police officers have said that during the ride, Meyer said that "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job."[1]

John Levy, a graduate student at the university and a friend of Meyer's since the second grade, has said that he spoke with Meyer shortly before Meyer entered the Kerry forum. He said that Meyer felt excited, had come up with several questions, and wanted to hear the senator's responses. Levy also said that Meyer was "really upset that people are more concerned with the police attack and not with the dialogue he was trying to start with Kerry" and that "What kind of message does that send? He wants to show students it's okay to ask hard questions, and then he gets tased for doing it."[9] When "asked about speculation that Meyer staged the confrontation", University spokesman Steve Orlando has stated that a member of the Office of Student Affairs told Orlando that Meyer brought a video camera to the forum and gave it to Clarissa Jessup, the young woman who was next in line to ask a question,[27] with whom he was unacquainted, before he spoke. Henry Perlstein, a university senior who has known Meyer since high school, said, "My first impression was that [the video] was a home movie he made for his friends because it was so surreal. Then I heard the screams and he sounded genuinely afraid."[28]

Response from Senator Kerry

On the day following the incident, Kerry's office issued a statement:

In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted.

— John Kerry[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "University of Florida Police Department offense report" (PDF). CNN.com. September 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Student from Weston Tasered at John Kerry forum". The Miami Herald. September 18, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Andrew Meyer". The New Forum. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  4. ^ Moses, Asher (September 20, 2007). "'Don't Tase me, bro!' a global sensation". The Sydney Morning Herald. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Student Tasered at Kerry forum has a penchant for practical jokes" in The Miami Herald
  6. ^ Stripling, Jack (September 20, 2007). "Stun gun case fuels claims of repression at UF". The Gainesville Sun. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ a b "Kerry Statement on Florida Campus Incident". Office of Senator John Kerry. September 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Speaking Out: Before the videos rolled
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Hesse, Monica (September 19, 2007). "Aiming to Agitate, Florida Student Got a Shock". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ a b c d "Florida College Student Who Was Tasered, Arrested at John Kerry Campus Forum Is Released From Jail". FoxNews.com. September 18 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ [http://www.alligator.org/articles/2007/09/18/news/student_government/accent.txt The Independent Florida Aligator Meyer incident won't affect Accent security policy, chairman says By DEVIN CULCLASURE, Alligator Writer]
  12. ^ a b "Video "UF Police Taser Student During Kerry Forum"". September 19, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Leusner, Jim (September 19, 2007). "'Don't Tase Me Bro' becomes rallying cry at UF following arrest of student". Orlando Sentinel. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ [http://www.alligator.org/articles/2007/09/18/news/student_government/accent.txt The Independent Florida Aligator Meyer incident won't affect Accent security policy, chairman says By DEVIN CULCLASURE, Alligator Writer]
  15. ^ "Kerry Taser Incident....raw footage of after he was tasered and led away". www.liveleak.com. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
  16. ^ a b c "Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum after election question". September 18, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Andrew Meyer, the student who begged: 'Don't Tase me bro!', becomes internet star". The Times. September 19, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ a b Wilmath, Kim (September 18, 2007). "Meyer released from jail". The Independent Florida Alligator. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ Ortiz, Eunic (2007-09-19). "Students stunned -- and tired -- about Taser incident". CNN.com. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  20. ^ Tiegen, Alex (September 20, 2007). "Students continue protesting Taser incident Wednesday". The Independent Florida Alligator. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Students Erupt In Protest, Demand Charges Filed Against Officers At Kerry Event". WKMG-TV's website www.local6.com. September 18, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Taser sparks debate Gainesville sun
  23. ^ "President Machen presents update on issues related to student arrest".
  24. ^ "Two officers suspended in Tasering".
  25. ^ "State Attorney's Office to expedite review".
  26. ^ Reed, Travis (September 18, 2007). "Student Tasered at Kerry forum has a penchant for practical jokes". Miami Herald (AP). {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Washington Post article Sept 24 "Got a Camera by Howard Kurtz
  28. ^ Hesse, Monica. "Student Tasered While Questioning Sen. Kerry". Retrieved 2007-09-23.

External links

News coverage

Videos of the event

Videos of the protest

Commentary

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