The gentleman (and I use the term loosely) asking the questions was only there to make a scene and grab some attention. It is hard to feel sorry for him, but the cops (5 of them) should have been enough to take one belligerent trouble maker. If he was pulled by the officers out of the room he would have lost his audience and been less of a trouble maker.

Sent by Chris | 3:43 PM ET | 09-19-2007

I don't think he was doing anything wrong when they arrested him. He was being a nuisance, but an overzealous person with a lot of questions seems like something that pops up at a lot of college speaking engagements. I don't think he should have been forced away.

As far as the tasering goes, it looked like he got tasered while several cops were subduing him face-down on the ground. I can agree that he needed to calm down a little, but that wasn't the way to do it.

Sent by Will Kistler | 6:15 PM ET | 09-19-2007

And of course, what would a fast-spreading internet story be without an opportunity to get a t-shirt. http://www.goodstorm.com/item/dropsoul/dont_tase_me_bro_dark_brown_black_or_olive_green_t_shirt_sweat_shop_free

Sent by Will Kistler | 10:17 PM ET | 09-19-2007

BPP,

With the Taser gun back in the spotlight, can you do a follow up on the UCLA Taser incident from last November?

Has Mostafa Tabatabainejad, the "tased" student, received an apology or continued shunning for what he did in that library? What about the university personnel who "tased" him? Do they still have their jobs? Are they still on duty?

Sent by Steve Petersen | 11:08 PM ET | 09-19-2007

Why has this incident not been covered on NPR???

Sent by Paul Cooke | 11:57 PM ET | 09-19-2007

Wasn't really talked about much at the time, but Mostafa Tabatabainejad has bipolar disorder. And he told the cops that right before the tased him.

Young adults with psychological disorders such as bi-polar, anxiety-issues, Asperger's, or etc can easily get confused around police and at times it makes things go less smoothly.

So basically odds are that the people most likely to get tased are disabled individuals who don't totally have a grasp of what is occuring in these high stress situations.

I don't know Andrew Meyer, never met the guy, but from the video its hard to think he was any sort of threat. He comes off as little eccentric, but being a little different isn't a crime, especially when we don't know if he has any issues. I disagree with the first poster here; it is very easy to sympathize with Andrew.

It's a confusing time to be alive. Wars that don't make sense, environment falling apart, economy failing.... a lot of young people are confused, emotional, and have a lot of questions. It's inappropriate for the baby boomer generation to think that zapping The Youth is the best way to handle them.

John Kerry needs to be taken to town for not making an effort to stop what was happening. He really wimped out, very softly very calmly saying something... but he should have jumped down from the stage and/or loudly on the mic said stop. If he was as angry then as he claims to be after the fact in that press release; it would have stopped.

And Meyers peers need to do a little soul searching. At the least they should have talked to the cops. Obviously the cops shouldn't have been attacked, but at most a mild tug at the cops to pull them away. A room full of healthy young adults doing nothing, watching like sheep, is disgraceful.

"Don't tase me, bro." It's such an honest pure response to the situation. How could anyone tase that bro?

Sent by Joe | 3:50 PM ET | 09-20-2007

Act like a fool, expect to be treated like one.

Sent by Mo | 5:34 PM ET | 10-02-2007