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I was present for Meyer's incident and have to say that the police were 100 percent right in their actions. He was acting extremely aggressive and being very loud and disruptive, growing angry right from the beginning. He seemed to be almost provoking the officers as well. This was not in any way an issue of free speech. Mr. Meyer was not Tasered because of anything that he said. He was Tasered because he was violently resisting arrest. Contrary to rumors, he was not handcuffed while being Tasered. He was Tasered so he could be handcuffed. He was also given repeated warnings that if he did not calm down and comply with the officers, he would be Tasered.
Such brutality as conducted by the campus police at the Kerry event shows that campus Police Chief Linda Stump is either culpable for their behavior because she ordered the excessive force or gave permission for it, or she is out of control of her officers.
Considering all that's happened this week - Andrew Meyer, Tasers, UPD, worldwide news coverage and so on - everything else just seems boring in comparison. Take, for instance, the Gator Party platform.
An anonymous e-mail sent to the Alligator around 4 a.m. Wednesday contained two photographs of two people clad in Guy Fawkes masks - most of us would recognize them from the movie "V for Vendetta."
Meyer is no victim. I first came in contact with Meyer in fall 2004. Disgruntled that he was passed over and I was chosen as the Alligator's humor columnist that semester, he set about ranting about me on his personal Web site. He spent that semester dissecting my weekly columns and writing about what a horrible writer I was. He was my "biggest fan."
I know everyone just can't stop talking about their new favorite expression, "Don't Tase me, bro." As much fun as it would be to tackle this obviously worthy issue, or not, I'm sick of it.
Some people seem to be confused about Monday's events surrounding Meyer, accusing the UPD of censoring Meyer's free speech. This is not the case, so let's give credit where credit is due.
The irony of the Taser incident is that it took place on Sept. 17, the day the country celebrates Constitution Day. It is unfortunate both sides could not remain calm and work to a peaceful resolution. But that could be said about anything, including our own national government.
I am appalled at the aggressive tactics used by University Police Department officers to remove Andrew Meyer from the presentation by Sen. John Kerry. How does using profanity or asking why you are being arrested justify the use of a Taser gun on a defenseless college student?
The UF student's arrest brought back memories of my years at Florida and students' protests for civil rights. It seems this student was more interested in his 15 minutes of fame than in his message.
The UF administration is in trouble.
For all of those vehemently against what happened at Kerry's speech Monday, I say this: There are two sides to every story.
The UF administration needs to Taser UPD after its recent display of excessive force, poor judgment and downright bullying of unarmed student Andrew Meyer. These "officers of the lawC should be ashamed of themselves.
A Taser is hardly "vicious weaponryC as Kyle Cox's Tuesday column stated. The whole point of a nonlethal, safe weapon is to avoid bringing out the actual "vicious weaponry.C
Andrew Meyer's arrest on Monday has no doubt sparked debate about how much force officers can use. Some believe Tasering him was out of line; others think the punishment fit the crime. But before we pass judgment on anyone, consider this snippet from Florida law:
The broadcast media's spin on this situation is akin to that of a reality television show. Every video I've seen, including on CNN and MSNBC, has shown only the most controversial parts of what happened.
UPD was most definitely justified in using a Taser on Meyer. If it hadn't, he might have overpowered those police officers. Who knows what could have happened then - he might have asked Kerry another question.
I just watched the video of Meyer being arrested on CNN, and I was horrified.
We'd be lying if we said we weren't overwhelmed with the response to Monday's event. We're overwhelmed with the work it's generated for our newsroom, but mostly we're overwhelmed by the community's response.
Solutions by The State News
