Here is some photographic proof of UCLA student Rustin O’Neil being tasered on November 19, 2009. You already saw the video evidence of another UCLA victim being tasered on November 20. UCLA officials now admit that two students were tasered on Wednesday, November 18, so that brings my count to four. As I mentioned earlier, I’m still working on getting some more info from my UCLA source which might bump that number up even higher. Did I mention that UCLA initially denied that anyone was tasered? LAist has them admitting to the two victims on Wednesday, but in an official press release from Thursday, they make no mention of anyone being subjected to the cruel and unusual punishment of electrocution simply for exercising their first amendment rights.
Student Rustin O’Neil, center, is stunned with a taser gun as Vianney Vargas, left, looks on. They and others sit on a road on the UCLA campus where vans holding attendees were driving, leading away from the Covel Commons. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
UCLA student Vianney Vargas is moved from her position as she and others sit on a road on the UCLA campus where vans holding attendees were driving away from the Covel Commons building. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
A University of California police officer moves a woman from blocking a road on the UCLA campus where vans holding attendees where driving away from the Covel Commons. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Students security members hold hands to create a barricade between protesters and campus police and California Highway Patrol officers armed with beanbag guns, guarding the UCLA campus Covel Commons building where University of California regents were scheduled to vote on a 32 percent student fee increase, on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. The UC Board of Regents is considering boosting undergraduate fees, the equivalent of tuition, by $2,500 by summer 2010. The annual education cost would jump to more than $10,000.(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Kudos to LAist for pointing out the memo from TASER International, Inc. that specifically warns users of their products to avoid aiming it at the chest of their victims. Oops, looks like the UCPD cop is actually tasing Mr. O’Neil directly over his heart in the first image of the gallery above. He might be one of the few students who will be able to afford the 32 percent tuition hike after winning his lawsuit against UCLA and their draconian police force.
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#1 by Nate on March 4, 2010 - 5:50 pm
This is very messed up stuff that is happening. I just wanted to point out, electrocution is to kill or execute with electricity… What they experienced is an electric shock.
#2 by Patrick T. Lafferty on March 5, 2010 - 2:42 am
Just to clarify: to electrocute is, according to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English, to “injure or kill someone by electric shock.” However, according to Wikipedia, electrocution is a portmanteau of “electrical execution”. In either case, the best data available shows that at least 400 people have been killed through the use of TASER devices. I’d say that reality (and the usage in this piece) meets the standard of either definition.
Thanks for commenting, Nate! Keep ’em coming!