Today’s Talk will focus on a disturbing incident at UCLA’s campus late last week involving a student named Mostafa Tabatabainejad. He who was tasered by campus police for not leaving the library and failing to show his ID when asked by staff workers at the library.
Mostafa was in the library late last week, when he was asked to show his ID. The university said the check was routine and that this is a routine accorance that happens after a certain hour. Mostafa who believed he was being racially profiled refused to show his ID. At appropriately 11.30 p.m on November 14, Mostafa claims he was already on his way out of the library when the campus police approached him. According to campus police, Mostafa was uncooperative and resisting the campus police when they decided it was necessary to use a taser on him five times.
My opinion on this matter is that both Mostafa and the campus police are at fault here. Having been a student, I know the drill of showing IDs when asked. If he thought he was being racially profiled I believe there are other ways to go about seeking justice for what you think is unfair treatment. But mostly, I feel the campus police did an absolutely horrible job in treating this student. This fairly small student was in no means a physically threat to the numerous police officers that came to the library. They obviously used excessive force on him by tasering him not one but FIVE times. Completely unnecessary. There should be brutal consequences brought upon the police officers who carried out this attack on him. If he was refusing to leave and fell to the ground like they said he did, use common sense and each officer grab one arm and leg and carry him out. In the end they did carry him out, why didn’t they do that in the first place? Tasering him was a grave misjudgment on those policies officers that should cost them their jobs.
Living in a technology world, this was all captured on video by bystanders who were begging the police to stop. I warn you this video is a little hard to watch.
Recent Comments