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Andrew Meyer, College Student, Tasered During John Kerry Forum: The Video
University of Florida student Andrew Meyer seems a bit like your typical 21-year-old: young enough to think he knows everything and brash enough to try and prove it. His efforts to get a rise out of Senator John Kerry at this campus forum, peltering the 2004 presidential candidate with questions, are thus the actions of any brash young man. Given that colleges are full of brash young men, though, the University of Florida support staff should be used to dealing with them -- which is why their actions here feel more than a little out of line.
The Gainesville Sun's Kyle Mitchell gets up close and personal with this footage, tracking with Meyer as several security officers drag him away from the microphone and towards the back of the auditorium, where they subdue him, cuff him, and taser him -- all while Meyer shouts, "What did I do?" Perhaps Meyer was being a bit melodramatic, but that's no excuse for tasering a kid in khaki shorts, while he screams "Don't taser me, bro! Don't tase me!" Everyone may be overreacting in this clip -- but not everyone had tasers.
I think your description of what is going on is inaccurate. The camera with it's onboard microphone at the back of the room will naturally pick up the audio of the student featured in the video much louder than what Mr. Kerry was saying through the amplification system. The location of the microphone nearby the student helps reinforce the perception that this is a loud, brash student who needs to be put down.
Those closer to the front of the room probably heard a more balanced mix of sound between the front of the stage and the back of the room whereas the video you are displaying clearly favors the microphone at the back of the room and makes the student seem disporportionately louder.
I only watched the video once but it appears to me that the officers decided to detain the student when he went forward towards the stage. However it also looked like the student was trying to prevent the officers from grabbing a piece of paper he was holding in his hand which I presume had his question on it. It never looked to me for a moment like he was charging the stage, rather it looked like he was preventing the officers from grabbing & taking his stuff and since they were behind him he could only go forward to do this.
What if the student's outburst had been a diversonary action that drew everyone's attention towards the back of the room while something more sinister was going on at the front of the room?
I hope there were other security people closer to Mr. Kerry looking out for a second more heinous manuever. If all the officers at the scene were only involved with the kid at the back of the room, they did a piss poor job of keeping Mr. Kerry safe and should all be disciplined, perhaps even suspended for a week or two, and most certainly need additional training as to what their real purpose is at an event such as this.
Mr. Kerry should have been whisked off of the stage as soon as the officers decided the student was out of control as this would help prevent a more heinous situation from arising.
In other words, most of the additional security we are seeing since 911 is not designed to really stop tragedies, it's designed to give busy work to officers who in turn get to bully around people expressing their passions. If there was no attempt to keep Mr. Kerry safe at the front of room while the disruption was going on at the back of the room, then the officers in my opinion grossly mismanaged their roles and frankly both the student and Mr. Kerry should consider a lawsuit.
I question Mr. Kerry's lack of fear or concern. Mr. Kerry either should have gone into the audience to help settle down the situation, or been escorted off until the situation was deemed safe and he could reappear. Mr. Kerry neither interceded nor it appears did he think he was at risk, he just stood by assuming he was safe, which is more than he had a right to assume.
Perhaps I'm sensitive to this kind of lethargy from our elected leaders after seeing it in "action" for the last 7 years from the current president, "I'll just stand around and look stoic even as others see things falling apart". "I'll give my undying loyalty to anyone who ever did something to support me, no matter how unethical or questionable their actions may be. In this instance, Mr. Kerry stays at the microphone and actually addresses the student in the fray, but the officers ignore Mr. Kerry and continue with their tactics. Mr. Kerry seems quite comfortable with that scenario. Either the entire situation was dangerous, or it was not. What I see in the video shows that increased security is just an excuse to beat up on people.
So Mr. Kerry, are you member of Skull and Bones, or not? Tell us what is good about Skull and Bones, Mr. Kerry.
