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University of Florida Taser incident

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The University of Florida taser incident is an event on September 17, 2007 in which police from the University of Florida forcibly removed twenty-one year old student Andrew Meyer from a forum with Democratic Senator John Kerry.

Details of the event

During a question-and-answer session at forum with Kerry, Meyer reportedly asked Kerry why he did not contest the 2004 presidential election and why Kerry has not advocated for President Bush's impeachment. Meyer mentioned that both Bush and Kerry belonged to the Skull and Bones society at Yale University. The Associated Press reported that "He apparently asked several questions — he went on for quite awhile — then he was asked to stop" and "He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off then he became upset."

After Meyer asked the original question related to the Skull and Bones society, four police officers attempted to remove Meyer. The student struggled with them and continued speaking. He screamed "Help!" and "Get away from me!" as the officers physically held him and moved him to the end of the room. The officers placed Meyer on the ground and began to handcuff him. The officers threatened to taser Meyer. He continued to struggle, said he would stand up and walk out, asked an officer to not taser him:"Don't tase me bro", and an black officer then tasered him. He continued screaming as the officers removed him from the room. Meyer was arrested and "charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace."

Response from Senator Kerry

On the day following the incident, Kerry's office issued a statement saying that the Senator was unaware that a taser had been used on Meyer until after he left the event.[1] The statement quoted Kerry as saying, "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 regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Office of Senator John Kerry, "Kerry Statement on Florida Campus Incident", September 18, 2007
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