This 6 minute video here speaks for itself.
http://www.youtube.com/...=
When you watch the video it's quite clear that two cops at UCLA (Although they aren't LAPD) committed a series of felonious crimes. Taking their badges is not enough. Throwing these felons in jail (upon conviction) for a minimum of ten years is a necessity.
Having browsed through hundreds of posts on this subject here and at other sites like bruinsnation.com, the defenders of these officers seem to claim that the kid was a jerk, an asshole, should have listened to directions, etc... Consistent with the right wing creed that personal responsibility is applied selectively, many posters blame the victim for the acts of the perpetrator. But I wouldn't expect less.
But watch the video. Let's assume the kid was uncooperative, a jerk, an asshole etc... Let's assume that the kid was there for 20 minutes or 20 hours before being asked to leave. These two criminals with badges still committed felonies. (As diaried before, I separate good cops from bad cops. We must remove all bad cops from law enforcement and better compensate good cops.)
Let's even assume that we give the cops 1 free Taser shot because the video isn't totally clear at this point. (And I don't personally but I'll play devil's advocate.) Again, there's no defending what happens next.
We hear students asking for these officers badge numbers. We hear a woman complaining that "you just shot him." You hear a male voice complaining about abuse of power. You even hear the victim saying he would leave. But the officers kept going. They could not stop.
You hear the officers saying "stand up stand up or you will get tased again." You hear this repeatedly. And while we know that these cops tried to lie about their initial story, the student who videotaped this incident on the cell phone is a hero because the truth is on that videotape.
The repetitive use of stand up stand up or you will get tased again and the subsequent tasing is where you have a clear cut crime. After the man is tased, he is most likely immobile. At no point was he a threat. If an officer was using the Taser gun as a defensive weapon, we would all grant tremendous deference to that officer. But these officers and their sick "stand up stand up or you will get tased again" macho chant used their taser gun as an OFFENSIVE weapon against a person who posed no threat.
If the sickness of these "cops" wasn't apparent from the tasing, listen carefully to the final ten seconds where a cop says to a student nearby to stand back "or you will get tased too."
Bottom line is that these cops thought it was fun to tase someone. It was like a video game to them. And if it wasn't for the cell phone camera, they'd have gotten away with it. (They still might but not if justice has its way.) Who knows how many other crimes these criminal cops have gotten away of in the past when cameras were not around? But what we do know is that these cops committed several felonies. The fact that the student may have been a jerk is not an excuse.
It's in the best interests of all to throw these criminal cops in jail. We do this for several reasons.
1) A crime was committed.
2) These 2 officers are a disgrace to good cops.
3) Failure to hold these 2 officers accountable makes the job of other cops more dangerous.