Police Brutality of the Day

This morning on the train, a friend of mine told me about an incident at a UCLA library in which police officers used unnecessary and unprovoked forced against a student. The college newspaper wrote a story about the incident when it happened in November of 2006 and also wrote a follow-up that includes links to video of the incident. That video can be found on youtube:

Despite the fact that the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, relented to the police's requests to leave the library when he failed to produce his student ID, the police stopped him from exiting the library and tased him. While on the floor, shocked and stunned and recuperating from the experience of having his muscles lock up, Tabatabainejad was ordered to "stand up or get tased again" by the police.

Police also refused to answer requests that they identify themselves by providing their badge numbers. One officer responded to such requests by threatening students -- "get back over there or you're gonna get tased too." Such a threat constitutes "illegal assault" by an officer.

In a follow-up from The Sanfrancisco Chronicle, the paper reports that Tabatabainejad only refused to show his student ID because he felt that he was being unfairly targeted because he is Iranian-American. Tabatabainejad stated that he would show them his ID if the officers asked the other students to show their IDs. The police's response was to taser him. Tabatabainejad said, "Here’s your Patriot Act. Here’s your fucking abuse of power." While the police claim that he resisted them, the video evidence does not support that. Tabatabainejad even yelled, "I’m not fighting you" during the confrontation.

So far, the only facts coming out are that the student has filed a lawsuit again the University, the campus police and officers Terrence Duren and Alexis Bicomong. I really hope these officers get nailed to the wall for this shit -- lose their badges and serve time in prison for abuse and assault.