Is there a longer video of the University of Florida tasing incident?

This video begins slightly before Andrew Meyer asks his question.

I found a third video, but I can’t find it now, and it started between the two other videos. I have seen a story since then that this Andrew Meyer has a history of “pranks” and “producing” youtube videos showing this sort of conduct, which is sort of a “reality TV” version of something Jon Stewart might do. I suspect even more that the guy with the camera that Mr. Meyer keeps talking to was no fortuitous stranger, but that the whole incident was orchestrated by Mr. Meyer with Mr. Kerry and the police as unwitting cast members, with the taser being a little unforeseen extra publicity for Mr. Meyer.

In fact, to quote a newspaper: “Not everyone has sided with Mr Meyer. Critics have suggested that the entire incident was a planned attempt to win attention for a student who has already posted dozens of videos of himself on his website www.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.com. (I’ve deleted the address, as I have no desire to assist Mr. Meyer with his publicity stunt, which would increase his hits and encourage him to continue to force police to be his unwitting henchpersons in Mr. Meyer making an ass of himself and disrupting the rights of others, ‘cause if this becomes popular, how on earth is security supposed to know the spoiled “look at me” brats from serious security threats?)

Indeed the video of the arrest was taken on his own camera, which he had brought to the John Kerry Q&A session.

Police claimed that Mr Meyer’s behaviour [sic] was very different when the camera was no longer rolling. One officer told the Associated Press that Mr Meyer asked, “Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?” before beginning his questions.”

So I’m pretty sure this wasn’t some outrageous deprivation of Mr. Meyer’s sincere attempts at political discourse, and I’d love to taser him myself (as long as I had been justified by Mr. Meyer’s conduct). Meyer’s attorney claims Meyer was tasered after he was cuffed, which would be wrong, but the best I can see from the 3 videos is he was tasered, and then cuffed immediately afterwards while he was temporarily unable to resist, which is the purpose of using a taser in that situation.

And if you need to know anything else about Mr. Meyer, his e-mail address refers to himself as “famouswriterman.” Hey, at least hossman is a nickname SOMEBODY ELSE gave me.

I would also like to see a fuller video to see if Mr. Meyer was disruptive before he started his questions, because I get the feeling from the long version of the video there was probably a few minutes of rudeness before that video starts. I do think Kerry handled this as best he could, and for those people that have criticized him for not “rushing out” to stop the police, I must say it is both dangerous and inappropriate for him to second guess the event security, in the midst of the moment it is difficult to think through every possibility, and, since he has had Secret Service security in the past, the first thing they train the principal to do is to shut up and stay out of it and let them do their job. It’s not like a college student is an improbable person to be a security risk, considering recent history.

My sympathies are totally with the UF security who have been suspended. They acted completely in accordance with standard procedures. The point at which Taser Boy was asked to leave by three police and he began waving his arms and pulling away and fighting them he became a menace to himself and everyone in the room. It is not a judgment call on the part of the police to determine “Oh, this is just a very excited young man, we need to calm him down” v/s “this is a lunatic who is about to randomly attack innocent people or a U.S. Senator.” No. Their job is to contain him and remove him. It’s no longer a free speech issue when he’s fighting the police. If he’s a (legitimate) protester he can go limp and passive and not cooperate, that’s what we did in the anti-war movement and the civil rights protests. Fighting the police will get you…tased, bro. Speaking of which, this young punk calling the hard working office “Bro” has got to be one of the most offensive things I’ve heard. At least they didn’t go Rodney King on his ***. HIs screaming “Help Me” was an attempt to incite a riot. Just image if 20 of his frat bro’s descended on the security people. I just hope those two guys belong to a good union or benevolent association. Wait, this is Florida. Never mind. Regarding the tasering. Maybe excessive. Probably necessary. Is “Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow” a typical response or a continuation of his theatrics? I really don’t know but I suspect the latter.

In my experience, when I’ve tasered someone they have made a more of an involuntary noise, usually a sort of grunting (I’ve been tasered myself, and that is the noise I made) or rarely a sort of in the throat high screaming. I’ve never heard anyone, tasered by me or someone else, go “ow, ow, ow.” Although it’s probably possible, usually while being tasered a person is incapable of enunciating as clearly as Mr. Meyer.

And I agree, these officers (although I don’t believe they showed much competence, I believe they underreacted) were damned if they do and damned if they don’t, and I certainly hope they don’t receive any punishment other than a brief vacation with pay while this is investigated.

And Modern Classic has a great point. A few months ago there was a, oh I’d say, 1/3 of the way to a riot disturbance of a Minutemen speech at a college campus. What if a bunch of well-meaning college students had tried to help this moron, not knowing it was a prank, and somebody accidentally or intentionally got shot? Some cop would end up losing his job, and this schmuck probably would get zero consequences.

Although the old-fashioned Chicago-style “station house adjustments” were wrong and it’s a good thing they seem to have largely stopped, under these circumstances, you can see how and why they sometimes happened.