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UCLA Student Arrest
• Mostafa Tabatabainejad
August 2, 2007From the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucla2aug02,1,5087569.story?coll=la-headlines-californiaReport criticizes use of Taser on UCLA student
Officers violated policy, says expert, who also faults man for failing to identify himself.By Scott Glover
Times Staff WriterEven with use of force policies that are "unduly permissive," a UCLA police officer violated department rules when he repeatedly shocked a student with an electric Taser gun last fall during a confrontation captured on video and posted on the Internet, according to a report released Wednesday.
Los Angeles police accountability expert Merrick Bobb found that the decision to use the Taser on student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was "unnecessary, avoidable and excessive."
The findings are at odds with an earlier inquiry by UCLA Police Chief Karl Ross, who cleared Officer Terrence Duren and two colleagues of any wrongdoing.
Tabatabainejad, then a 23-year-old senior at UCLA, was in the campus library one night last November when a security guard asked him to provide identification during a routine check to make sure everyone in the library after 11 p.m. was a student or otherwise authorized to be there.
Tabatabainejad, a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent, refused repeated requests to provide his identification, explaining later that he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance.
In an ensuing confrontation with university police, Tabatabainejad was shocked at least three times with a Taser when he failed to get on his feet and walk out of the library as officers demanded.
Much of the encounter was captured by students with cellphones or digital cameras.
Some of the footage was posted on
http://www.YouTube.comand
drew viewers from around the world.
After student protests, a flood of angry e-mails and calls from concerned parents, then-Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams asked Bobb to conduct an independent review.
Bobb's 77-page report, titled "A Bad Night at Powell Library: The Events of November 14, 2006," was critical of Tabatabainejad and campus police.
The student has filed a federal lawsuit against UCLA, the police and several officers over the incident, contending that his civil rights were violated and that officers failed to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The lawsuit states that Tabatabainejad has bipolar disorder.
"This story has no heroes," the introduction reads. Bobb faulted Tabatabainejad for failing to identify himself in the first place and the police for a response that was "substantially out of proportion with the provocation."
Bobb points out, for example, that Duren used the Taser in the "drive/stun" mode in which the device is pressed against a person's body as opposed to shooting a wire-bearing dart from a distance as police typically do.
Shooting the dart is intended to momentarily incapacitate a person so police can place handcuffs on him to take him into custody. The drive/stun mode does not incapacitate but simply causes great pain.
Bobb also found that "it appears more likely than not that Tabatabainejad was tased at least once while in handcuffs." However, Bobb and his coauthors found that it was unlikely that racial bias played any role in the incident.Ross, the UCLA police chief, said he also hired outside investigators to examine the incident and — based on their investigation — found that Duren and two other officers had done nothing wrong.
The chief declined further comment, saying that he was barred by law from discussing the details of an internal investigation.
Beyond the specific incident involving Tabatabainejad, Bobb found that the UCLA Police Department's policies regarding use of force by officers were "inconsistent with the policies of other universities and leading police departments across the country, including the University of California campuses, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department."
The report added, "The UCLA PD policy stands alone in its legitimization of the Taser as a pain compliance device against passive resisters."
Bobb called for the university to, among other things, limit the use of Tasers to violent or aggressive people and to bar the use of the device on people who are passively resistant or handcuffed.
Ross said he agreed with those recommendations and was in the process of implementing them.
Abrams, who served his last day as acting chancellor Tuesday, praised Bobb's report for "providing a window to the general public into what happened that evening."Bobb's report wasn't the only window, however. The footage on YouTube provided plenty of fodder in the court of public opinion.
The footage begins with Tabatabainejad screaming in pain, apparently in response to being shocked.
"Here's your Patriot Act. Here's your [expletive] abuse of power," he can be heard saying, his voice filled with anger."Stop fighting us," one of the officers interjects.
"I'm not fighting you," Tabatabainejad responds. "I got tased for no reason. I was leaving this Godforsaken place. You stopped me. You're abusing your power."
By this time, many people, apparently students, have gathered around and are watching the incident unfold. A male voice tells officers he wants their badge numbers. A female says plaintively, "It's so wrong."
Meanwhile, officers are repeatedly shouting "Stand up!" with one adding "or you're going to get tased again."
Seconds later, Tabatabainejad is again heard screaming in pain. This time, the electrical clicking sound of the Taser is also audible.
Police used a Taser on the student at least one more time.
Before the final jolt is administered, an officer says, "Stand up. That's all we want."
A female voice chimes in, "Pick him up."
Moments later, Tabatabainejad again screams in pain.
Shortly thereafter, he is dragged from the library.
As students mill about and express their displeasure to police, one officer tells a student who apparently is not following instructions, "Back over there or you're going to get tased too."
Asked whether the incident involving Tabatabainejad would be justified under the more restrictive policy that's being implemented, Ross said that it would. He declined to discuss his rationale in detail, saying only, "Let's put it this way: He was aggressive."
email: scott.glover@latimes.com
Attorney Stephen Yagman | http://www.yagmanlaw.net/ |
723 Ocean Front Walk • Venice Beach, California 90291 • (310) 452-3200
Stephen Yagman to file a civil rights case in U.S. Federal Court
UCLA Student Arrest | video | report 1 |
November 18, 2006UCLA orders outside probe of Taser arrest ~ with video |
The move comes hours after a protest march by more than 200 students.By Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II and Charles Proctor,
Times Staff Writers
LA COUNTY DA: http://da.co.la.ca.us/ | http://da.co.la.ca.us/feedback.htm |
November 17th ~ video |
a protest march by more than 200 students to the UCLA Police Department Headquarters
Hoping to calm the furor created when UCLA police used a Taser to subdue a student studying in Powell Library, the university's acting chancellor announced Friday that a veteran Los Angeles law enforcement watchdog would head up an independent investigation of the incident.Norman Abrams said he ordered the probe after the university received numerous calls and e-mails from parents and alumni raising concerns about the officers' actions during the videotaped Tuesday night arrest, which has been widely seen on TV news and the YouTube website.
"I want to assure them that the UCLA campus is a safe environment. Student safety and treatment are of paramount concern at UCLA," Abrams said. "We plan to move ahead promptly with a complete and unbiased review."
Abrams appointed Merrick Bobb, who was a staff attorney for the Christopher Commission and currently works as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' watchdog over the Sheriff's Department, to handle the probe. Abrams said Bobb has a proven track record looking into allegations of police misconduct, including the Rodney King beating and more recently the riots at the L.A. County jail system.
The move came hours after more than 200 students marched to the UCLA police station calling for an independent investigation into the Taser incident as well as the suspension of the officers involved.
Wearing signs reading, "I am a student, don't Taser me" and chanting, "Tasers out of UC," the protesters said it was an inherent conflict of interest for university police to handle the investigation of their own officers.
"What was done was unnecessary," said Rahmatullah Akbar, a senior majoring in psychology. "We as students don't deserve to be Tasered."
Tuesday's incident occurred about 11 p.m. in a library filled with students studying for midterm examinations.
According to the university, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior, was asked for his ID as part of a routine nightly procedure to make sure that everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there. Campus officials have said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.
Authorities said Tabatabainejad refused repeated requests by community service officers and regular campus police to provide identification or to leave.
UCLA Police Chief Karl Ross said the officers decided to use the Taser to incapacitate Tabatabainejad after he went limp while they were escorting him out and urged other library patrons to join his resistance.
Mavrick Goodrich, a chemical engineering major who observed the incident, said Tabatabainejad shouted, "Am I the only martyr?"
Some witnesses disputed the officers' account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door.
Tabatabainejad's attorney, Stephen Yagman, said his client refused to show his ID because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S. citizen by birth and a resident of Los Angeles.
The student was shocked five times with the Taser, Yagman said.
Another student used a cellphone camera to record portions of the incident, in which Tabatabainejad can be heard screaming in pain when the Taser shocks are administered.
One of the issues Bobb's investigation will examine is whether the officers complied with the university police rules for using Tasers.
Several local police agencies — including the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — allow officers to use Tasers only if a suspect poses a physical threat or is acting combatively.
The sheriff's policies expressly say deputies can't use Tasers simply to move someone.
"We look for assaultive conduct," said Bill McSweeney, chief of the sheriff's leadership and training division "We generally don't use the Taser on passive resisters except when an individual indicates explosive action to follow, such as a verbal threat."
But UCLA police are allowed to use Tasers on passive resisters as "a pain compliance technique," Assistant Chief Jeff Young said in an interview Friday.
Under UCLA policy, Young said, officers can use the weapons after considering the potential injury to police and to the individual as well as the level of resistance and the need for prompt resolution.
Young described Tabatabainejad as a "passive resister" who refused to cooperate with officers. He acknowledged that the student didn't actively resist the officers.
"He was 200 pounds and went limp and was very hard to manage. They were trying to get him on his feet," Young said.
The officers used the device in stun mode — which affects only the part of the body being touched — rather than the dart mode, in which tiny electrodes are fired into a person and pass a current through them, disabling the person entirely.
Young said police have used the Tasers "on several occasions" before but said he didn't know how many times.
The officers involved in Tuesday's incident were off duty Friday but had not been placed on administrative leave.
On Friday, many students remained outraged over Tabatabainejad's treatment.
"Once you have him subdued, you don't have to keep Tasing him," said Rohit Mahajan, a psychobiology major who watched the video. "You could see him crying. He's not a threat. He's maybe acting like a smartass, but he doesn't" deserve that.
The protest march was organized by leaders of the campus Muslim and Iranian American student groups. They support Tabatabainejad, though some demonstrators said they didn't think the officers' actions were motivated by his ethnicity
The American Civil Liberties Union also said that it was examining the incident.
"It is an appalling and traumatically excessive use of force on someone passive-resisting," said ACLU attorney Peter Bibring. "The officers seem so confident in what they are doing. They need to change their policies and training."
UCLA officials urged students and others to withhold judgment actions until the investigations are completed.
"Not all the events of Tuesday evening can be heard or viewed on YouTube," Ross said at a news conference with Abrams.
The acting chancellor expressed confidence in and respect for the UCLA police, and noted that Ross' department would continue with its own internal investigation.
"But there are times when it is helpful to turn to an outside review as well," Abrams said.
email: richard.winton@latimes.com | ron.lin@latimes.com |charles.proctor@latimes.com
November 17, 2006LOS ANGELES: A student shocked with a Taser gun by a campus police officer after refusing requests to show his ID card thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer said.
Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest stemming from the Tuesday night incident at a campus library, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Yagman's client, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer lab.
Yagman said Tabatabainejad declined to produce his school ID because he thought he was being targeted because of his appearance. The 23-year-old senior is of Iranian descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.
Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library but fell limp on the floor when an officer escorting him out would not take his hand off him, Yagman said. Tabatabainejad did not want to participate in what he considered was a case of racial profiling, the lawyer said.
The student started yelling and screaming after police started using the Taser to gather attention and get the officer to stop, according to Yagman.
"Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of witnesses," he said.
But police have said Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, an officer used the stun gun on him. They said it was long-standing policy to ask students to show ID at libraries late at night to keep the campus safe.
Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance.
The incident was recorded on another student's camera phone and showed Tabatabainejad screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. It was the third incident in a month in which police behavior in the city was criticized after amateur video surfaced. The other two involved the Los Angeles Police Department.
UCLA's interim chancellor, Norman Abrams, urged the public to withhold judgment while the campus police department investigates.
Student activists were planning a midday rally Friday to protest the incident, and several civil rights organizations including Amnesty International and the Council on American-Islamic Relations were calling for an independent review.
Chicago Tribune |
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- A UCLA police officer shocked a student with a stun gun at a campus library after he refused repeated requests to show student identification and wouldn't leave, police said. The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday about 11 p.m. as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles, Powell Library."This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein. She said Tabatabainejad, 23, encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, police used the stun gun on him. Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance. He declined to comment Wednesday.
Los Angeles TImes |
Laser incident: An article in Thursday's California section about UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad being stunned with a Taser gun by campus police officers incorrectly quoted an article in the Daily Bruin, the campus newspaper. The Times article said: "The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, 'Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power.' " What he actually said, according to the Daily Bruin, was, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your … abuse of power." The ellipsis indicates a profanity.
Los Angeles Times |A third incident, a new video A cellphone camera captures UCLA police using a Taser on a student who allegedly refused to leave the library Tuesday night.
By Amanda Covarrubias and Stuart Silverstein,
Times Staff Writers November 16, 2006The latest in a recent spate of cellphone videos documenting questionable arrest tactics surfaced Wednesday, this one showing a UCLA police officer using a Taser to stun a student who allegedly refused to leave the campus library.
Grainy video of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library was broadcast Wednesday on TV news and the Internet, prompting a review of the officers' actions and outrage among students at the Westwood campus.
The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
According to a campus police report, the incident began when community service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.
For the Record: In a earlier version of this article, a quote from Mostafa Tabatabainejad read: "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power." The corrected quote reads " "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power."
Campus officials said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.When Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave "multiple times," according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building."
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling "Get off me" several times.
"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.
The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he used a profanity.
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."
Campus police confirmed that Tabatabainejad was stunned "multiple" times.
By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge numbers.
Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.
Tabatabainejad declined to comment. He was arrested Tuesday night and cited by campus police for resisting and obstructing a police officer and was released.
The incident was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.
One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.
That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.
UCLA Assistant Police Chief Jeff Young said Wednesday that he had viewed the video of the campus incident on the Internet and would view any other videos that were shot.
"We will gather as many samples as we can find, from different sources," Young said. "We'll use it for our own administrative investigation."
UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that university police are investigating the incident and the officers' actions.
"The investigation and review will be thorough, vigorous and fair," he said, adding that compliance with the ID policy is "critical for the safety and well-being of everyone."
Young said Tasers, which discharge an electric current to incapacitate a suspect, are seldom used by the campus police department.
On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.
"UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I've seen people without ID cards who are removed. But none of the time has it been this dramatic."
Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."
"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd."
Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.
"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone."
email: amanda.covarrubias@latimes.com | stuart.silverstein@latimes.com |